Super Arcade Racing [Switch] Review – Road Rage?

A name like Super Arcade Racing doesn’t inspire confidence. It’s painfully generic, and it’s a shame. As this is an endearing throwback with a few interesting ideas of its own. An overhead racer in the style of Micro Machines, the …

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A name like Super Arcade Racing doesn’t inspire confidence. It’s painfully generic, and it’s a shame. As this is an endearing throwback with a few interesting ideas of its own.

An overhead racer in the style of Micro Machines, the game actually reminds us aesthetically of the long-forgotten Racing Gears Advance for the Game Boy Advance.

This is largely due to the artwork used in between races – because yes, this is actually a racing game with a story. It’s not entirely terrible either.

It involves your brother being kidnapped by a criminal organisation, which you have to get past by – you guessed it – getting involved in the underground racing scene.

There are sixty stages to get through, with the vast majority needing you to just finish in the top 3 to progress. And there are only four cars competing in each race.

You can only get the higher star ratings by finishing first of course, but it’s welcome that there’s a fair amount of leniency in how you progress. 

Which is more than can be said for the occasional one-on-one boss races, which can be hugely unforgiving. Often making one mistake in these is enough to have you choosing the retry option.

As for the racing itself, it’s actually fairly satisfying – if a little slow overall (despite the ability to upgrade your motor during the solo campaign). 

Drifting is just the right level of tricky to make it satisfying when you properly nail a tough hairpin turn for instance, and hitting computer opponents bumper to bumper doesn’t always see you end up worse off – unlike in many other games in the genre. 

Judged on just the above, Super Arcade Racing is still fairly middle of the road stuff – if you’ll forgive the pun. But there’s a local multiplayer mode that works well, and even an online option alongside this.

The latter obviously has few players mooching around (although you can search in the background for competitors while you play solo), but the option worked well when we connected up with a friend. 

Super Arcade Racing ultimately doesn’t do quite enough to stand out amongst the many old school racers available on the Switch then, but it certainly manages to compete with the majority. 

And that’s enough for us to recommend it if you’re looking for a new title to try out in the genre, and one that certainly won’t break the bank.

The good

  • Tight controls
  • Enjoyable focused solo campaign
  • Robust multiplayer modes

The bad

  • Racing is a little slow
  • Occasionally frustrating boss races
  • A lack of solo modes
70 out of 100