The days of licensed games just aren’t what they used to be. Back in my day every blockbuster movie had an awful tie-in pumped out on the Wii like tepid meat sludge and we loved(?) it. But the move to mobile for the market means you just don’t see the same sheer level of inanity that you used to. Sure, there was genuine gold too — look at the likes of Goldeneye or Spider Man 2 — but I miss the nonsense. Where are the Shrek’s Carnival Craze Party Games? The Elmo’s Number Adventures? The M&M Kart Racers? The South Park Kart Racers? The… there were a lot of kart racers. And it turns out that not all traditions are dead.
Yes, if you can smurfin’ believe it, The Smurfs — the Belgian comic creation from the ’50s adapted into several different animated series and a couple movies over the years — is getting a kart racer in the year of our lord 2022. This actually is far from the first Smurfs game, or even the first in a while — the franchise appeared on the Atari 2600 all the way back in 1982 and on various platforms just last year in the platformer The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf. But there’s something poetic and right about the little blue guys (and one blue girl) getting a kart racer. Like Cinderella’s slipper fitting on her foot, except it’s made of worn leather instead of glass.
If you wanna know what the gameplay is like, it’s what you’d expect: Mario Kart but smurfing. This game and Garfield Kart are the proverbial Goku and Vegeta of licensed kart racers, and their battle for memetic dominance is sure to be legendary. Smurfs Kart launches November 15th on Nintendo Switch. Until then, we’ll smurf you on the smurf track, smurfers.
Leave a Comment
Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
