The Top 5 Disney Racing Games

If you aren’t counting a game based on the Cars franchise, it’s been an incredibly long time since Disney has put out any sort of racing game, even longer for one that is in the vein of Mario Kart that features recognizable popular characters from various properties the company owns (with the exception of the weird Apple Arcade exclusive Warped Kart Racers). Sort of surprising as Nickelodeon, arguably Disney’s biggest competitor in this space, has released several racers in recent history.

Hoping to join the somewhat small class of racing games that can even hold a candle to the juggernaut that is Mario Kart, Disney Speedstorm launches today across various platforms. I do have the game and will hopefully have a review up by next weekend at the latest when I’ve had time to really put the game through its paces (it's possible I’ll have played enough by this weekend to do so but I don’t want to be presumptuous). In the meantime, here are the best racing games published by Disney to date (and no Cars games will be a part of this list, they are all sort of the same middling but not terrible licensed racing games):

#5. Toy Story Racer

Toy Story Racer could definitely have been a rather lazy effort relying strictly on its incredibly popular IP to carry it but this is a surprisingly in-depth racer that features a ton of tracks based on Toy Story, a wide array of racing modes, a pretty solid roster of characters and fun power-ups.

The only reason this comes in at the bottom of the list is frankly the actual racing is touchy as hell, though still better than a lot of mediocre racers coming out around the same period. Toy Story Racer was rereleased as a PlayStation classic, but due to the PlayStation 3 and Vita stores being kaput, it’s not easily available unless you want to go the eBay route. Sony has been putting some PS Classics up for sale on the modern storefront so hopefully Toy Story Racer will be added at some point.

#4. Mickey’s Speedway USA

The Nintendo 64 did not have the biggest library but boy did it have some quality racers. And while the undoubted king was Mario Kart 64, there was no shortage of other alternatives including this really solid effort from Rare, Mickey’s Speedway USA. Simply put, Mickey’s Speedway USA looks great and plays fantastically. Its biggest failings are that the power-ups are kind of unimaginative and weak and a pretty small roster of racers (six to start with three more to unlock for a total of nine), but still an incredibly good time.

#3. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

By all rights, Mickey’s Racing Adventure just should not work. It’s not just a racing game, but an incredibly ambitious idea of a genuine racing adventure game with a story and a hub with quests to accomplish in order to proceed. And frankly, it wouldn’t work if the racing wasn’t excellent BUT IT IS. ON THE GAMEBOY. Like sure there were some ok racing games on that platform but nothing close to this.

People rightfully point to Rare’s Nintendo 64 efforts as their golden age of game development but Mickey’s Racing Adventure is equally impressive as a feat of concept and execution on a platform that frankly shouldn’t be capable of putting out a game this ambitious and have it work this well. Mickey’s Racing Adventure is one of the best portable racing games ever made only held back by a lack of multi-player mode but that’s a little more forgivable on a platform like Gameboy which despite Nintendo’s best efforts never lent itself well to multi-player titles.

#2. Pure

Oddly enough, Nintendo’s best efforts in the racing genre aren’t what you’d expect, their more “serious” efforts that feature no colorful tracks or recognizable characters or power-ups are the best stuff they’ve put out. ATV racing games are incredibly hard to get right. ATVs are unique vehicles and because of that, you can’t just make a straightforward racing game with ATVs and really have it work. But Developer Black Rock Studio had been practicing its trade in racing games both traditional and otherwise for years by the time they released Pure and it shows.

Pure looks great and features an insanely good trick system that is certainly difficult to master but even people like myself who have never even been near an ATV can have fun with it and the racing mechanics. Pure might be a really unfortunately generic title (maybe it should’ve been something like Pure ATV?) but it so succinctly describes what the game is, nothing overly complicated, just pure racing and pure fun.

#1. Split/Second

Disney unfortunately shut down Black Rock Studio in 2011 but not before the studio put out an inarguable classic racing game. If Split/Second merely was a straightforward racing game that would certainly be enough to put it on this list as it looks great and handles really well.

But it’s the great gimmick of Split/Second that really puts it over the top. Despite its more realistic aesthetic, Split/Second is an arcade racer where you have powers you can unleash to give you an edge. But this isn’t merely a speed boost or some kind of projectile. You can literally change up the race track by adding obstacles, opening shortcuts or even changing up the track to really throw opponents off their game. Granted, if it wasn’t implemented well this could’ve been a disaster but Black Rock Studio nailed this concept and this makes it easily the best racing game ever published by Disney and one of the most fun racing games ever made.

That’s all for today, as I stated at the start of this post I have Disney Speedstorm and I really want to take my time with it but I should have a post up with my thoughts on it by the end of the month at the latest (maybe this weekend if I get enough time with it). See ya real soon!