Super Toy Cars
Nintendo Switch

Developer: Eclipse Games
Publisher: Eclipse Games
Category: Racing, Arcade, Sports
Release Date: 03.02.2018

Super Toy Cars for Nintendo Switch is a game that knows what it wants to be; a colorful, fun, and accessible racing game…It delivers. Originally published for the Wii U, Eclipse Games has brought the game to a far more suitable home on the Nintendo Switch. Everything about Super Toy Cars is tailor made for a console like the Switch, from the aesthetic to the game play.

The first thing that will strike players about Super Toy Cars is the fun, colorful graphics the game presents, which are consistently bright and attractive from the title screen, through the menus, and all the way to the game itself. Players control a small toy car (hence the title) and race through very well designed tracks made of everyday objects like blocks, food, and furniture. There are road hazards like falling blocks and meatballs, jumps, and harder-to-navigate shortcuts that pay off if you don’t crash. Like in Mario Kart, there are items you can pick up and use to do things like shoot missiles at other players, fill your own boost gauge, and drop oil slicks and other obstacles to the track.

The racing is fast-paced and fun, and the game is perfectly suited to just pick up and play whenever you want and for however long you want. Races take about five minutes tops to complete across two modes; free race and campaign. The free race is just what it sounds like; pick a car, a track, pick a race type, and drive. No fuss, no muss. Campaign is a little deeper; there are several blocks of races to complete and finishing all the races in one block opens up the next. There are five different race types, starting with just a standard race. First one to finish all the laps wins. Next is time trial, where players have to complete a lap under a certain time limit. Time attack makes players pass check points within certain time limits or be eliminated. Elimination is a fun mode where the player in last place is eliminated from the race every 30 seconds until only one racer is left. Finally, evade is basically elimination, but with mines added to the track. Super fun!

Winning or placing in the top three in campaign mode races nets the player money, which can be spent to upgrade existing cars or unlock new ones (in free mode, cars aren’t upgradeable but all cars are unlocked at the start). During races, players can collect coins to unlock new skins for cars which can be used in either campaign or free mode. The skins are as bright and fun as the rest of the of the game, and make for a good reward for meeting certain achievements.

Super Toy Cars features an upbeat rock soundtrack by the Spin Wires. Their music reminds me of the Offspring songs used in the all-time classic Crazy Taxi. It enhances the fast paced appeal of the game quite a lot, completing an overall excellent experience.

The game looks and plays great on the Switch’s handheld mode. The style of the game lends itself to playing on the go, so handheld is definitely the recommended way of playing. However, the graphics don’t really lose anything when translated to a big screen, so there’s no wrong answer.