Five franchises that could use a Kart Racer

Hyperdimension Neptunia

Yeah, I’m starting off a little obscure but hear me out. Hyperdimension Neptunia is not a household name and even I, who have played about five or six games in the franchise had to Google it to make sure I was spelling it correctly, but it’s what the game represents that would make it a killer kart racer.

For those who don’t understand what Hyperdimension Neptunia is, it’s quite possibly one of the most intentionally meta game universes ever. In a universe called Gamindustri there are four kingdoms representing Playstation, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sega without using their exact names. Each world has a representative and when they’re not battling each other they’re teaming together to fight things like bootleggers and hackers. It’s remarkably meta and even Mega Man creator, Keji Inafune, shows up as a powerful summon as shown below.

While Hyperdimension Neptunia isn’t exactly a mainstream title, it is successful. It has a number of roleplaying games, a VR game, a fighting game, even a zombie spin-off. It’s been everywhere so a kart racer wouldn’t seem too bizarre for it. It would even make sense for the story if they had one.

Tracks can be complete plays off entire genres. But better yet would be if they made a tale about cities merging together that can only be stopped by racing for whatever reason. You could have a track where halfway through a medieval RPG themed land you suddenly find yourself in the old west, where horseback riding cowboys are being chased by a dragon in a cowboy hat. A Call of Duty-esque warzone is being taken over by a colorful platformer. Things like that.

Power-ups could be blatant rip-offs of different things from video games. A random fungus that makes you larger for a moment, a golden Sonic style ring that lets you go faster. Possibilities are endless.

With Hyperdimension’s unique story and bizarre game industry-inspired world it gives them the absolute license to be as crazy as they want with it still making sense. Plus, who doesn’t want more Nep-Nep?