A new racing game, called Smurf Kart, is on its way to Nintendo Switch, and the upcoming release has just gotten its first trailer. The Smurfs have been in video games as early as1982, with Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle for the Atari 2600. Nowadays, the Smurfs license is owned by IMPS, a licensing company created by the daughter of Smurfs creator Pierre Culliford, who has been working with publisher Microids to create new Smurf games.
Several Smurfs video games, two of which have not been announced yet, will be releasing within the next few years. Back in 2021, French publisher Microids made the announcement on Twitter that four Smurf games were in development. One of those games was The Smurfs - Mission Vileaf, which was released later that year and received very positive feedback from players. Microids said the other three games would be released over the course of five years, with this racing game likely being the second from that lineup.
The Smurfs will be continuing its line of new games with a go-kart racing game, Smurf Kart. As revealed in a press release from Microids, the Smurf Kart trailer introduces fans to the "Smurfs Racing School," giving fans their first look at some of the tracks, characters, and skills included in the rather strange-looking kart racer. The game includes twelve different racetracks that all feature locations familiar to Smurf fans, including the Smurfs' village, and Gargamel's house. There are also twelve playable Smurf characters such as fan-favorites Smurfette, Papa Smurf, Handy, and Hefty. Smurfs is becoming a large gaming franchise, and with plenty of characters and locations to pull inspiration from, it was perhaps only a matter of time before the characters got their own kart racer. Smurf Kart releases on Nintendo Switch on November 15.
New Smurf Racing Game Features Familiar Characters And Courses
Smurf Kart is full of mechanics that fans of other go-kart racing games will be familiar with, such as getting the timing of starting the kart's engine right to earn a speed boost at the start of the race. Special items, secret shortcuts, boosts placed throughout the track, ramps, and drifting to help make difficult turns are all present as well. However, in addition to regular items such as acorns and bubbles, each Smurf has a special item that is completely unique to them. Players will be able to race solo or in 4-person local multiplayer, or try to beat "Time Challenges" to compete for a spot on the online leader boards. Fans of Mario Kart's infamous roster of items are sure to quickly get a comfortable feel for the gameplay.
Nintendo Switch has become a good home for family-friendly kart racing titles in recent years, and Smurf Kart is set to join a similar range of games already available on the system. While Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is one of the console's best-selling games, other kart games based on cartoon IPs, like Garfield Kart Furious Racing or Nickelodeon Kart Racers have seen mixed reception from players, with many preferring Mario Kart when it comes to racing on Switch. Whether or not Smurf Kart can challenge Mario and Luigi when it comes to sales remains to be seen, but fans don't have too long to wait to find out.
Source: Microids/YouTube