Wacky Wheels

Wacky Wheels takes kart racing and adds an important scientific discovery: apparently, racing around tracks in tiny cars is more entertaining when the drivers are animals. Released in 1994, this colorful arcade racer lets you choose from several cartoonish competitors and compete across a variety of tracks while using weapons to make life difficult for the opposition. The driving is deliberately accessible, with tight courses, jumps, hazards, and plenty of opportunities for spectacular mistakes. Its humor and presentation clearly owe something to the cartoon racing craze of the period, but the gameplay stands on its own thanks to responsive controls and competitive races. There is a pleasing lack of seriousness throughout the whole thing. Nobody is pretending this is Formula One; the important questions are whether you can reach the next checkpoint and whether that other player deserves a projectile to the face. For DOS racing fans, Wacky Wheels remains an enjoyably chaotic little classic.