Five franchises that could use a Kart Racer

Mega Man

Before we get into why let me address something. Yes, I know Mega Man already had a chance at a kart racer with “Battle & Chase” but I am absolutely ignoring it. While it had some clever ideas and interesting kart design, it also completely dropped the ball by not having the variety that would make a kart racer in the Mega Man world shine. Plus, it has not aged well.

Now, I’m previously said that Capcom needs to take a note from Nintendo and make Mega Man appear in more titles and I honestly think nothing would make him shine like his own, dedicated, kart racing title.

One of the things that make the early Mega Man games shine is the level design. Obviously making stages for Heat Man and Ice Man is easy enough, but the fact that they made an entire stage to accommodate characters like Snake Man, Dust Man, and more shows the dedication to the craft. Heck, they even made an entire stage that justified constant downward slopes just to justify Top Man.

The same dedication could be applied to the tracks. Like Mario’s four-track circuits, you could make similar circuits here each utilizing four of the Robot Masters from the game. Mega Man could feature a slipper Ice Man stage and a quarry owned by Guts Man. Mega Man 3 could have you traversing wiggling snake tracks, ala Snake Man, before winding through the dark catacombs of Shadow Man’s lair. Heck, you could even have a Charge Man stage where the track is on the back of a massive train that occasionally has to twist and turn.

Power-ups could resemble famous weapons from various games. Guts Man’s Super Arm can create stone cubes that block the path. Dive Man’s Dive Missile can hunt down an enemy like a red shell. Astro Man’s Astro Crush would literally call down a meteor shower while making you invincible for a short time.

And, this is important, you could play as the various Robot Masters. Mega Man spin-offs whether soccer games or fighting games will often only allow you to play as Mega Man and his friends. Much like Mario Kart lets us play as Bowser and the Koopa Kids, let me play as Wily and the Robot Masters (which would be a dope band name).