What do you get when you teach a marsupial how to drive a racing kart? Massive amounts of success, because Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled has sold through 10 million copies since launching in 2019. Oh, and you probably get some confusing insurance claims, too.
The official Crash Bandicoot X account revealed the news. Fans were excited that the PlayStation icon (despite never being owned by Sony) has done so well, along with a bunch of other fans demanding a 60fps update for modern consoles. I may have been one of the people in the second group.
Of course, 10 million copies is nothing compared to Mario Kart 8, which has sold more box than your mum – 68.2 million! But let’s face it, Mario Kart 8 is a bit of an anomaly and 10 million copies sold is nothing to be sneezed at.
In fact, based on my research, Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled the most successful kart racer that doesn’t feature Nintendo’s plumber. Admittedly, the competition is thinner than the carcass of a tyre on Donkey Kong’s kart after 100 laps, but it’s still a hell of an achievement. It also indicates that even as a niche genre, there’s potential in the kart racing genre. The upcoming Sonic Racing: Crosswords is aiming to fill that gap, but I’m personally hoping that there’s still a chance for a Nitro-Fueled 2.