 ssss that's drunk and Dracula from Castlevania. Later, you can unlock Vic Viper from Gradius by getting the Diamond on Moon Road. Bear Tank from Rakuga Kids is unlocked by getting the Diamond on the Cyber Field 2 course, King from Poppin' Music is unlocked if you find the Diamond on the Skybridge 2 course, and Ebisu Maro, or Goemon's partner, is unlocked if you beat the best times on the Ganburi Doshu courses. The racers all vary in three different skills, top speed, tire grip, and acceleration. There may be 12 characters, but each circuit has 8 racers, and again the format is very similar to Mario Kart, with one minor difference being the power-ups represented in blue and red bells just like in Twinbee games, with the blue bells containing not ice cream, unfortunately, but a speed boost. While the red bells contain an attack item, just press the L button to use it, and there's everything from invisibility to missiles to a time bomb to ice spikes rising from the ground, to a hole that other racers can fall into. There's even power-ups that attack the entire field, only instead of the lightning bolts like in Mario Kart, the power-up turns everyone into pigs. Normally, you collect these power-ups on the track, but you can also collect coins, so you can buy power-ups at the item store, and there's 9 different items you can get, including all the stuff I just mentioned, as well as something called an Ally Spark, where friends of your character will appear and get you moving at turbo speed while keeping you invincible, like how Dracula here gets accompanied by death. You set these power-ups by moving to another menu screen using the L or R buttons, so that's a nice touch. The structure is set up as such. You race a circuit of four tracks, three laps each, and you have to place in the top three to advance. If you're able to win the circuit, then you have to pass two tests to unlock the next two circuits. One is a simple time test, which is pretty easy, and the other is a one-on-one race, and the tracks for both are randomized. Same thing goes for the next two circuits, which you have to complete to unlock the champion circuit. There's 16 total tracks in the game, and they're all fantastic, ranging from Dracula's Castle to a baseball diamond. I gotta admit, it's pretty funny seeing Dracula speed around the bases. Oh, and the laugh he lets out when he hits someone is so great. There's a few other game modes here. One is like playing tag, but with bombs. If you're it, you have a bomb stuck to you, and you have a certain amount of time to find another racer to tag, or you're out. There's another game called Chicken, where you start accelerating automatically, and you have to hit the brakes at the exact right time, so you stop closest to the goal, whoever's closest wins. Eh, it's kinda lame, but whatever. There's also a traditional time trial mode, as well as a free run where you just race by yourself. And that brings me to the inevitable comparison with Mario Kart Super Circuit, also for Game Boy Advance. One major plus that game had was ghost data. The game's battery save kept a certain number of time trials on file, so you could actually race against yourself. It's frickin' cool as hell. Konami Crazy Racers, unfortunately, does not have this feature. However, I will say, as a pure racing game, I think I prefer Crazy Racers. Mario Kart is paced a little more slowly, and has more of an emphasis on combat and a huge emphasis on drifting. Which is fun, of course, but in Crazy Racers, the emphasis is a little more on speed, control, and, you know, the whole racing thing. So the controls are a little more responsive. It still feels like kart racing, don't get me wrong, but it does feel differently than Mario Kart for better or for worse. One other major thing I should point out is that there is no item balancing here, meaning that if you're in first place, you can still score powerful items. It's not like Mario Kart where you're doomed to get banana peels forever. So yeah, Konami Crazy Racers is very good. It was actually a launch title for the Game Boy Advance, and it's held up well over time. It's worth mentioning that there is a sequel titled Crazy Kart Racing available now on Android and iOS. So if you like what you see, you may want to check that one out. Anyway, occasionally I run into the odd fellow who hates Mario Kart's controls. Too delayed, too drifty. Well, if that's the case, you may want to try out Crazy Racers. It's a bit more of a traditional racing game with that same Mario Kart-style combat, and it's got every bit as much personality. Heck, even if you like Mario Kart, you may want to give this one a shot anyway. It's a lot of fun. And I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.