There is just something about mascot characters and kart racers that makes them fit together like two peas in a pod. Ever since the first Mario Kart game was released on the Super Nintendo, it’s been a genre that continues to delight fans, even in the wild times we find ourselves in. Now, the lizard and bat combo of Yooka-Laylee is hopping into the driver's seat of Super Yooka-Laylee Kart, revealed during this year's Summer Game Fest, and IGN had a chance to get some time on the track with this upcoming racer from some of the same devs that worked on the much-loved Diddy Kong Racing!
Yooka-Laylee Kart pits eight racers against each other in a heated race around courses themed after locales from the main games. In an attempt to adopt a look that is a bit of a blend of Nintendo’s 16- and 64-bit eras, Yooka-Laylee’s maps are colorful, flat tracks decorated with 3D assets outside of the tracks. The racers themselves, like my GOAT, Trowzer the Snake, appear as 3D models rendered with a filter to give the sense of pixel art. Even as a work-in-progress, this looks to be one of the more vibrant and colorful choices in the kart genre that does a good job capturing the source material.
Being an early pre-alpha build, the core systems are in place - the driving, the zanny items, and courses - but actually playing Yooka-Laylee felt a bit rough. Driving around, even without the use of boosts, felt slippery, where I would often find myself sliding oddly into walls, frequently feeling that turning was cranked up to 11 and being far too extreme in movement. The current build lacked a mini-map or any signage to help tip you off as to what was coming up. I would find it difficult to notice what was quickly approaching, forcing me to react more violently than I normally would. Thankfully, the representative from Playtonic who was there mentioned that both the mini-map and signage were in the works, and that fine-tuning controls is a normal part of polish, so I’m not too worried when it arrives in retail, but I am keeping an eye on it.
What has me most excited and that I am more interested in is its custom rulesets that players will be able to tinker around with to create custom race types.Out of all that Yooka-Laylee Kart is looking to deliver, what has me most excited and that I am more interested in is its custom rulesets that players will be able to tinker around with to create custom race types. These custom rules look to extend into the grand prix mode too, as during my cup race, I encountered races that would not only turn all racers invisible in one map, but then in the next made each racer the same character. That change specifically made the race all about mastery of the game’s systems and skill, removing any differences in weight or handling between the participants.
In addition to getting to try out an early build, we also had a chance to speak with members of the development team and former Rare alums Gavin Price, founder of Playtonic and Studio / Creative Director of Yooka-Laylee Kart and Chris Sutherland, the game’s lead software engineer. Between them, their resumes included having worked on some of the best platforming games of all time including the likes of Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2, Grabbed By the Ghoulies, the Banjo-Kazooie series and, of course, the Yooka-Laylee titles!
IGN: How did Super Yooka-Laylee Kart come to be? When did the team decide to make a kart racer?
Gavin Price: Originally, a karting game was planned to be Playtonic’s first title before a conversation with Banjo-Kazooie composer Grant Kirkhope convinced us to start with a 3D platformer. As huge kart genre fans, we were bubbling with ideas about how we could push the genre forward, and after shipping Yooka-Replaylee, we finally had the chance to turn our attention to it following a successful prototype.
Chris Sutherland: We’ve wanted to work on a racing title for a long time, but about a year ago we started up a small team to explore the feasibility of a few ideas, and now we are so excited that we've announced it and it is going to become a reality!
IGN: Has the approach to designing a kart racer changed or evolved much from when you were working on Diddy Kong?
Chris Sutherland: Ha, my main claim to DKR fame was the voice of Banjo on the selection page, which was the only time we've heard him speak!
What I can say, though, is that back then the genre was still relatively new, and so there was no defined path for what a kart racer should or should not be. Over the years, we've seen the genre evolve and streamline in certain ways, and we've looked back and wondered: what if we were to challenge many of the widely accepted norms of the kart racing genre?
We wanted to explore what a modern kart racer could look like if player skill, mastery, and expression were pushed further, and whether those ideas could lead to something fresh and exciting.
IGN: For the folks who previously worked on Diddy Kong Racing, what, if any, nods to that series did you bring into Yooka-Laylee Kart?
Kevin Bayliss: We've a lot of DNA from DKR at Playtonic, so we felt it only right to give a little nod to some of the styling of the vehicles, which you can spot in details like the rear lights. One thing I really love is how the team have created 3D models reminiscent of the DKR characters, while also doing some clever work to emulate the 'rendered sprite' look that we pioneered in Donkey Kong Country, creating a retro style that still feels fresh and modern today.
Personally, I’ve only had a small amount of involvement so far, as I’ve been working on other exciting projects, but the control and racing feel exactly how you’d hope, especially with some of the original DKR team helping to shape that side of the experience.
IGN: One of the aspects I am most interested in with Super Yooka-Laylee Kart is its custom rulesets that players can set for races. Can you go into a bit of detail on how the team has gone about creating the options and which, if any, ideas proved too outlandish to incorporate into the game?
Gavin Price: We want to make one of the most replayable karting games ever, a game where friends can gather around together or play online and still find unique ways to compete for many years. We actually want a high degree of outlandish outcomes and don’t want to police what’s possible, so players can custom-create their chaos or focus on simpler, pure-skill racing and everything in between.
A big part of this is letting players create their own races, rules, and rivalries, shaping the experience in ways that suit how they want to play. The ideas are still coming in thick and fast, and we think it’s an area of the game that can continue to grow after launch by combining our ideas with the fans’ ideas too. We’ll be running multiple open betas with a focus on this mode in future and look forward to trying the combinations popular with players.
IGN: What are some of the team's favorite settings to have turned on?
Gavin Price: One immediate favourite was to turn characters off (Invisible Racers), shrink them (‘Mini Racers’ so the camera is low to the ground) and increase kart speeds. It immediately becomes very fast and unforgiving, feeling like playing F-Zero in first-person. I like bouncy collision too; it really makes choosing a character more strategic as the weight difference can have a real impact, and it’s fun to brute-force knock people out of the way, preferably into a nicely rendered nearby pool of water they sink in.
IGN: Are there any plans to let the community save and share specific rulesets amongst each other or host their own tournaments?
Gavin Price: It’s on our mind. Players can create lobbies and host events with their own setups, and we would love to build on that further over time. We’d also like to utilise community-chosen favourites in things like ‘daily contests’, where everyone can try to top the leaderboard by getting the shortest total time across multiple events.
IGN: How does Yooka-Laylee fit into the world and story of the series?
Gavin Price: That’s to be revealed, but you can be sure it fits the tone and humour the series is known for. Rivalries play a big part in how that world comes to life, and we have lots of elements from the series to leverage in adjacent roles and features that are fun and that fans will enjoy.
IGN: Can you explain how you landed on the aesthetic look of Kart? How did you guys do the racers themselves?
Gavin Price: We really wanted our own striking art style, something that reflected the rage and revenge mechanics, fighting game-style special moves and inputs, and suited the feel of tight, high-speed karting tracks. We also wanted something instantly recognisable that felt different from other kart racers.
What we have is a balance of 2D fighting and Mode-7 style graphics with lots of modern post-processing techniques and lighting to create our own sense of beauty. We really didn’t want to go down the predictable, well-trodden path. The visuals also play an important role in readability, especially at speed, which is key for high-skill racing.
Our characters are 3D models rendered with a 2D sprite shader from a separate camera, and the effect is very versatile, allowing us to adjust the resolution as we see fit. We’re actually thinking of exposing these values to the players, allowing them to adjust the look of the game too.
IGN: How many characters and tracks are you aiming to include in the final release?
Gavin Price: We’re aiming for a strong and varied lineup, and hopefully the game is a huge hit so even at launch we don’t consider it the final release. We’d love to continue adding more of both for a long time to come, and there’s always the chance of modding and cameos too. The game has a lot of potential to grow.
IGN: Who are your favorite racers?
Gavin Price: Dr Quack and Vendi simply because we’ve already lost too many hours thinking about whether there’s a logical answer as to how they’re actually physically capable of controlling karts…!
Chris Sutherland: My go-to racer is Yooka, but for a kind of development-specific reason! Yooka was one of the first characters we had up and driving around, so I think we’ve had that as the default character during development for a while, so he sticks in my head as the most familiar. And also I did the vocal sounds for him - which is why Laylee is my second favourite!
Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and guide coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.
