For the PlayStation Crash Team Racing was the only kart racing game a lot of gamers and people would remember playing at a young age, this was Mario Kart but instead it had Crash Bandicoot however there was another kart racing game that was released on the PS1 in 2000 which was Muppet RaceMania. I remember how much I loved playing the demo from this after receiving my PS1 which came on a demo disc, during than it was impossible to find this game in your local game stores or retail stores either brand new or pre-owned not even online shopping through the internet wasn't around back then.
Comparing this to Crash Team Racing and Mario Kart, Muppet RaceMania lets you play through 34 tracks based on sites in in Muppet films from The Muppet Movie, Great Muppet Caper, Take Manhattan, Christmas Carol, Treasure Island and Muppets from Space. What else you will also notice that you can play over 30 characters from both the TV show and movies; when starting a new game you can only play as a few characters to begin with like Kermit, Animal, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Rizzo and Fozzie. You can unlock more characters by racing against them or finding them in stunt courses in Adventure Mode it does try to give you an actual challenge if you want to get 100% including Boss Race where you race a certain character if you beat them you get to unlock that character.
It does take some use to on gameplay when it comes to a racing game especially on Race Leagues like most games if you come in 1st in each of the six races you'll earn more points but come below 3rd place you'll get less points. However if you start playing the Race Leagues right away your opponents can really get aggressive and pretty much blocking you from trying to stay in 1st place your strategy would be to find as many shortcuts as you can and using your turbo boosts at the right place at the right time. I really did like the challenge around this however another mode you may find a little challenging and may take trial and error especially if you want the fastest time is Stunt Mode on getting across the course like a 2D platformer but in a kart.
Like most kart racing games you can pick up weapons which you can use against your opponents if you want to slow them down or destroying their kart on Battle mode, you'll have weapons likes Penguins, Fish, Bombs and Chickens. You can use Special Boost or Special Move each Muppet character has their own special move that can be activated after filling up on boost. This is applied to all other players in each of the races, it move generally stuns other players and prevents them from moving forward. In race mode, this allows you to get ahead and in battle mode it allows you to stop being attacked and stop other racers so you can attack them while stunned. Example Animal makes them turn green and spin rapidly, Janice's "Flower Power" move puts them in a 1960s flower daze, or Pepe's move shrinks all others to the size of a shrimp. How much of a detriment they are to the opponent varies with each Muppet you play as.
With Traveller's Tales who developed the game I was really impressed how detailed each of the tracks were from most of the Muppet movies but however the courses you race through on Stunt Mode feel a little rushed and everything seemed a little cramped but most of it is easily ignored, I didn't had any problems with the visuals or the layout designs most of its challenges made us come back to it even more on getting a faster time on certain races. It is nice to have to have the option on having your favourite character in any kart but more you unlock more choices for you including when it comes to 2 player races. It is nice that the game had most of the original voices from the most recent Muppet shows and movies from the past twenty years after Jim Henson passed away including when you start each race you'll hear Statler and Waldorf heckling before each race most of the jokes are funny to hear.
Might not appeal to a few gamers but fans and anyone who likes karting games does offer a lot in one game, plus it’s another one of those kart racing games that's worth having a look in the PS1 library. Getting 100% can take you more or less around 6 hours just a shame you can't have 4 players at once when it comes to racing and battles because it could have worked if they had more time however 2 player mode can still offer you fun as well, anyone who grew up watching The Muppets would recommend checking this game out.