Escaping the Shadow of Mario Kart [NASCAR Rumble] 

This. This is the best NASCAR Rumble video on RU-vid. It explains everything that makes the game special and a hell of a lot of fun to play even today.

> me, someone who played Rumble Racing on PS2 as a kid > me, watching this video suggested by RU-vid > me, realising that Rumble Racing is pretty much the sequel of NASCAR Rumble > me, curious about this game

In my opinion, this games flaws are a side effect of being an experiment from the NASCAR franchise. Even with these flaws, this game doesn't even feel like a cart racing game, it feels like UNCONTROLLED CHAOS INCARNATE WOOOOOOOOO. And it's the best arcade style simulation game I ever played. Good music, good physics, good personality, good graphics (for the system), insane unlocks. It's just ridiculous and I love it

1:15 that transition was funny

10:17 That Speed Racer reference was golden

4:45 Wait! You can drive an Alan Kulwicki paint scheme on a Superbird body in this game?!?!?! Sign my ass up!!!!

I like the idea that Rumble is a "more racer-friendly alternative" to Mario Kart. I always thought that MK was too luck-based, or that everything was too cartoony, and the physics were too stiff, and I didn't gel with the focus on chaining drifts together, or... Still managed 4th out of 16 players at a local MK8 tournament last year, somehow. Bet ya I could have won the gummy bear if we were playing Rumble! Mostly because there aren't many people that have heard of NASCAR Rumble, compared to Mario Kart...

This game was my CHILDHOOD So glad to see someone do a video essay on it!

It puts a massive smile on my face knowing the love Rumble has been getting lately and it’s been one of my favorite games since I was a kid. This is a top 3 PlayStation title for me, sitting up there with the likes of Driver and Sled Storm

Another item-based racer that escapes the Mario Kart clone label for me is Jak X, the racing game for the Jak & Daxter series. It’s like this game where it’s a mix between Mario Kart and Burnout with other vehicular combat inspirations, but it’s a lot grungier and edgier to fit in with the world of Jak II and 3.

Nascar Rumble Hammer is one of the most satisfying power-ups to ever come out on a racing game

You know damn well no one would be able to handle a game with Bill “218 mph like it’s nothing” Elliot.

This is the kind of video I have been waiting to see for a LONG time. One of my favourite video games of all time is a video game adaptation of the Wacky Races cartoon on the PS2. The graphics have this beautiful cell shaded look which still holds up today, the controls are buttery smooth, the track ideas are super inventive and it's got an extremely unique item system where items are set to an individual character rather than just being items you find on the track, and you have to collect fuel to reuse it. And most people didn't even give it a try because of two reasons. A: It didn't have much of a release outside of the UK (I mean, it was localised for EU markets, but it pretty much DIDN'T sell anywhere copies anywhere else) B: People couldn't stop comparing it to Mario Kart by looking at the unique aspects of it, saying "that's cute" and then leaving. Games like these deserve more changes.

It's about freaking time this game gets the love it deserves! Well done!

Subbed, this is the obscure games/content with humor I look for. 10/10

Huh. I never heard of this game until now, but I did spend a lot of time with what I instantly realized was actually it's spiritual successor. Rumble Racing. Same items, same speed classes, long courses, all they didn't have was the nascar license

I remember discovering the game through emulation in the early 2010s, when I downloaded a complete save file of it through one of those old PlayStation Underground CD magazines, and when I first played it, I had a blast. Speeding through the tracks with power-ups set to mayhem, and just going to town on everyone on sight. Definitely one of my favorite arcade-styled racers I've ever played.

Been curious about this game since I was a kid, after seeing a trailer of it on NASCAR 2000. Finally ordered a copy because of this video. Looking forward to trying out the RetroAchievements set

I'm definitely adding this to my game list, THANK YOU!!✨

Re-Volt and the Rollcage series (2 main-series games only made, plus 1 spin-off game) have pickup systems, yet the physics make it stand out better.

you know this means you gotta do the sequel, Rumble Racing now

I appreciate the Mappy comparison. For sure the most underrated NAMCO arcade game

NFS Hot Pursuit 2010 is a Mario Kart Clone that hides it NASCAR Rumble rejects mario kart as a whole

Oh wow never heard about this game but damn your video made it look so appealing. Judging by how you described what you like on NASCAR Rumble, I would recommend you to try Modnation Racers and Blur. Hell you might already know them if not played them already. Modnation is such a hidden gem from the kart racing genre that I wish to this day for something that at least remind me of how that plays (and NASCAR Rumble kinda did). Anyway, I liked the video a lot! The tone, your voice, editing, music, jokes, basically everything. I would love to see more from you maybe covering some more of the genre. 🦀 I'm subscribing and may the algorithm gods bless you 🙏

To fair, in that mkwii clip, the daisy player could have avoided getting wheelie bumped and getting bulleted pretty easily. They wouldn't have gotten first, but they wouldn't have gotten last if they played better.

Been playing the hell out of NASCAR Rumble as of late (in the past week btw and it's super fun).

Lets talk about Mappy because that was a game i hit up a lot at my Chuck E Cheese before it shut down. You unlocked a memory.

11:04 Getting flashbanged by 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot footage was something else... This is literally downtown next to the library. Good video, though! 👍

As a kid, I've always had the choice of NASCAR Rumble or Mario Kart 64, 9 times out of 10, I picked Rumble. 😂

If you like this, you would have LOVED Blur, because it was basically the spiritual successor to this game, but with 20 player online multiplayer, beautiful graphics, light RPG elements with levels and perks, and a diverse car roster.

This actually affirmed a feeling I had about Mario Kart for a while now. Thank you for articulating it better than I've seen anyone else do it.

def has some interesting features that new games could benefit from (the freeze power-up is such a neat idea imo)

Holy shit he’s actually back

You should play the sequel. NASCAR Rumble is good from what I’ve seen, never actually played it, but Rumble Racing I have and it’s awesome. Very hard and better graphics (obviously - PS2 vs PS1)

I actually would love to watch you play Mappy. My grandma gave me one of those plug and play games of Mappy when I was a kid. Wore that sucker out. Such a fun game.

You should have played a few laps on circus minimus on mayhem. Absolute chaos and I love it.

Really good video, you are absolutely right in every thing you say, nobody's safe from the fat plumber

me clicking on a 54car video and letting 4 minutes of ads play while I go to town on some chalupas from Taco Bell

This looks like NBA jam for nascar fans .

NASCAR RUMBLE there have be mythem settting!

Idk about that title tho, Rumble is basically a Arcade racer with Kart Racing elements. The halfway point of the vid seems hard to watch cause this feels like a casual who only played Mario Kart Wii and some of 8 but doesn’t know the differences. Even the other kart racers seem misrepresented here too.

I just played this the other day. Did you know that after 20mins in each race you get automatically disqualified? I had no idea all those years ago

Crash bandicoot team racing will be a beautiful Mario kart clone.

I need this man to review blur like right now

every game with cars that you can enter /exit ... *GTA Clone* 😂

"This seems like another daytona usa clone"...

Sounds like you might like the WipEout games. Wipeout was a European launch title for the original PlayStation, and it aimed to make the item based racer mature, with pumping techno and a futuristic setting. Developed by Psygnosis from 1995-1999 and Studio Liverpool from 2002-2012, WipEout is considered a PlayStation classic. It’s definitely an item based combat racer, but I think it successfully escaped Mario Kart’s shadow in its presentation. Games; WipEout (1995) The original. It’s complete jank but it’s where the series sprang from and it had a neat soundtrack. Admittedly they had almost nothing figured out yet, collisions were too unforgiving and items sucked WipEout 2097/XL (1996) The cult classic itself. Set to the best electronic tunes of the mid 90s, this game fixed the issue of unforgiving collisions by allowing you to grind on walls if you hit them correctly. With much more diverse and effective items, as well as being incredibly skill based, WipEout 2097 is hard but incredible fun WipEout 64 (1998) WipEout 64 pushed the limits of the N64 as far as it could. Creating a sample system to bypass cartridge limitations to have licensed music from Fluke and the Propellerheads, having near equal graphics to 2097, and having smooth gameplay. WipEout 64 is unfortunately one of the hardest racing games ever made and is obnoxiously unfair about setting goals. Still interesting though WipEout 3 (1999, 2000) WipEout 3 did some cool things, such as making the PlayStation run at a higher resolution than normal, further refining the WipEout playstyle, and introducing new teams for more varied playstyles. The problem is to unlock these things, you’ll spend far too long grinding. It becomes especially annoying once you hit Rapier class because the Feisar car becomes nearly unplayable (too damn slow). However this is still probably the best WipEout game. The special edition released in 2000 also adds new content in the form of remade tracks from previous games, but it was only released in Europe. WipEout Fusion (2002) The black sheep of the series, WipEout Fusion had simpler physics to focus on heavy combat. It introduced a ton of new and interesting items and a challenging campaign that feels fair. WipEout Fusion unfortunately suffers from the ugliest ships in the series since the Designer’s Republic split. WipEout Pure (2005) Using a modified version of the physics from that weird Xbox game Quantum Redshift, WipEout Pure represents a return to form for WipEout. It’s also the first WipEout game with DLC (it’s all free if you can connect your PSP to WiFi) WipEout Pulse (2007) Another annoyingly hard WipEout game, Pulse introduces a new campaign structure. It’s not good but whatever. This game bastardized the physics from Pure, your cars now feel like boats. It is however one of the few PSP games that supports custom soundtracks. Still fun, Pure is probably slightly better though. By the way, if you play it on the PS2, for gods sake give it it’s own dedicated memory card, it’ll corrupt memory cards way too easily. WipEout HD Fury (2008) It’s Pulse on the PS3 with PS4 graphics and different tracks. Handling feels fairly better WipEout 2048 It’s WipEout HD on the PS Vita with less teams yet more cars??? Btw, easily the slowest WipEout game.

Allstars Racing Transformed actually started development before MK7

✨ Mappy ✨

There is a Disney version. It is free on most consults, but you have to know if you wanna buy other stuff it’s behind a table. It’s actually pretty fun.

10:46 … you got stuck in the goo. 😢

I think Mario Kart could beat this Nascar game if Dale could race against Yoshi in 150cc in Mario Kart. The only way they could bring it back after that is put Yoshi in the Nascar game

ive been playing this game since i was 2 (im almost 24 now) and i had no idea the shockwave makes you accelerate faster

Then their was its successor, NASCAR Unleashed

I love this. Heck yeah dude.

The 8 Laps at Hardest Difficult is probably the most interesting challenge with Mayhem

I never heard of nascar rumble looks fun.

good vid, shocked at the low view count

5:10 I was not expecting a Mappy comparison kjskljslk... maapy

I played the nascar ea sports games more but I might pick this game up sometime, also, i get ya, Mappy is a fun game, I play it on my arcade machine

Well i guess ik my next purchase

So it's basically an arcade racer with burnout takedowns and mario kart item system?

In regards to that opening, it’s funny how Mario Kart isn’t even nearly the best kart racer gameplay wise and how most of the game’s fans haven’t played other kart racers

0:52 ah but you see the difference here is that in sonic and all stars racing transformed the vehicles actually have different gameplay mechanics and they feel different to play it’s item mechanic is also a lot more strategic compared to Mario kart also there’s Sonic riders which is as far from a Mario kart clone as you can get

NASCAR Kart Racing I think is just as great as this game.

So the tornado is basically like CTR’s Warp Orb

M a a a p p y y .

I wish to see Mario get chased by Jeff Gordon

This was a game ive always enjoyed just for the chaos it can bring didn't play it when it came out but started in 2018 with a softmodded wii and then it was history always grabbing it whenever i need a game to test the viability of something for emulation

But you can counter items in Mario Kart too. Even the blue shell. You could check your Rise: Race The Future, you might like it.

I FUCKING LOVE NASCAR RUMBLE AAAAAAAAA I bet you'll also love Re-Volt (1999), nowadays accessible as RVGL

I wish we got a sequel with NASCAR vehicle but unfortunately that wasn’t the case 😢

Is Mario Kart 7 a Diddy Kong Racing clone but without an Adventure Mode?

The chaos reminds me of the Rollcage games. Check em out, they’re also item based racers that surpass Mario Kart. Rollcage (1999) Fun but a bit basic. BTW if you want licensed music I think you have to play the PS version, but the music is amazing and the racing is fun and fast Rollcage Stage 2 (2000) Pure chaos in racing game form. Think Forza Horizon did the original soundtrack from a record company thing first? Think again!!! Rollcage Stage 2 has an original soundtrack composed by the folks at Moving Shadow, and its drum n bass Y2K style. It’s incredibly hard, but you can get incredibly good at it, and it keeps getting harder to match you in possibly one of the best difficulty curves I’ve ever seen. Probably best on the PC but the PlayStation version kicks plenty of ass itself. Firebugs (2002, 2003?) We don’t talk about Firebugs. It’s slower, more kid friendly Rollcage with less exciting racing. It suffers from the same issue as WipEout Fusion where the cars look really ugly for some reason. GRIP (2016) GRIP is nuts in the best way possible by taking what was established in Stage 2 and making tracks WAY more chaotic. This game has an achievement for BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER. You can’t go wrong with GRIP, it’s an incredible ride with Unreal Engine 4 graphics

POP TART

Dear EA, we need a NFS Rumble if you are out of ideas for next title. I mean, why is the Rumble series underappreciated?

I still think that Re-volt is the better kart game, it has the same concept of real physics of rumble but you're an rc car

NASCAR rumble looks so freaking hilarious and goofy for a PS1 game and I played Daytona USA on the dreamcast and the drifting physics feels like Mario kart and there are unlockable cars in the game like Mario kart so ya I would call it a Mario kart clone.

I don't think i encountered this as a kid, must've not gotten out of the NTSC zone. If you do like this, give grip a try too. It's kind of the midpoint between wipeout and from what I can see this game plays like

Yoooooo, Mappy

I've been a fan of the kart racing genre since the N64 and PS1 days. Mario Kart 64, Crash Team Racing, and Mickey's Speedway USA are what got me into it. Looking back, Crash Team Racing was way better than Mario Kart 64. Mario Kart 64 aged terribly. I still sort of have nostalgia for it, but that's about it. Mickey's Speedway USA aged pretty okay (I'm grateful that Disney Speedstorm became a thing) and Crash Team Racing is a timeless classic. The remake (Nitro-Fueled) is even better. I never understood why Nintendo fans seem to have this weird hatred towards other kart racing games. Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway, Disney Speedstorm, Chocobo GP, Lego 2K Drive, Joy Ride Turbo, MySims Racing, Beach Buggy Racing 2: Island Adventure, Smurfs Kart, Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing, F1 Race Stars, Pac-Man World Rally, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed, and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled are good alternatives to Mario Kart in my opinion. It's very basic asf to me to only wanna play one game in a genre. What's so strange to me is whenever people say, "wElL tHeSe gAmEs aReN't rEaLLy dOiNg aNYtHiNg tO StAnD oUt, sO wHy pLaY aNy oF tHeM wHeN yOu cAn jUsT pLaY mArIo kArt 🤓 ?" With that logic, are we all supposed to just play games that are mainstream ? That's dumb to me. If that's the case, I guess screw Sly Cooper and other platforming games out there since Mario is more popular. Screw lesser known shooters since Fortnite and Call of Duty are where it's at. It's all just dumb to me. It reminds me of the Nintendo fans who hate on Foamstars for just existing or when they throw hissy fits during Nintendo Directs because they're showing jrpgs that aren't made by Nintendo.

A s p h a l t

Got a link for the thumbnail, would love to have it as my desktop wallpaper

Too bad Nintendo will never make another F-Zero game.

Naskart

I've never been a huge fan of Mario Kart, or kart racing games in general. I usually find them annoying. I do like NASCAR Rumble, BUT... I turn the powerups completely off. I'm weird, I don't care for realistic driving games, I prefer arcade racing, but I don't want the game to be too silly. To me, this game is the closest thing to a Burnout game on the PS1.

Drift locking is Super dumb for Mario Kart. Because at times you end up locked on to a hazardous item and can barely dodge it. AND YES THE DAMAGE ANIMATION IS SO DUMB BECAUSE HOW YOUR LOCKED INTO IT AND CAN'T DEFEND YOUR FROM OTHER HITS!!! Mario Kart is too much party and luck base to the point where it becomes unplayable at times. And Nintendo need to get rid of this formula.

If I guess correctly, does Rumble Racing has any relation to Nascar Rumble?

*If you will make a video about smash bros, i know a cool smash bris clone with a very creative community workshop, called rivals of aether*

Blur next?

Daytona USA Clone..?

This could've been a hot wheels game and got more recognition