Known as Choro-Q in Japan, this racing game is base on a series of pullback toy cars. The all have a cute deformed style and the racing game brings that to life, with upgradable cars and weapons to use against other racers.

The customisation and upgrades are a key part of Penny Racers. There’s a lot of different vehicles to choose from and you can alter the with colours and different components – some change your stats and others alter your appearance. As you finish races, the top three racers can steal components from the bottom three racers.

While the game is cute and charming, the actual racing is unfortunately not much fun. It takes ages to get up to full speed and other racers coming near you will knock you about. I also found my car to just roll over a lot, particularly on long turns and I really couldn’t work out what I was doing wrong. I eventually learned to anticipate the rolls so I could plan the quick turns and performed fairly well – unless I got stuck in the middle of the pack and bashed about by others.

There’s also a nice track editor in the game, with a few options for different kinds of straights, turns and curves. Unfortunately, there’s only one (fairly hideous) style to the track, so they’ll all look the same, but it’s a really nice feature.

I wish I could enjoy Penny Racers more than I did, the setting is adorable and I like some of the ideas. Hopefully the sequel will sort out some of the issues.

Fine

There are just too many far superior alternatives available, and a lot more exciting ways to get rid of that spare cash that’s burning a hole in your pocket. How about a nice calculator and ruler set? A plastic skeleton that glows in the dark? Or maybe some new bags for the vacuum cleaner…

Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #25. Review Score: 58%

Remake or remaster?

There’s a bunch of Choro-Q games, so some kind of compilation could be interesting – just with improved gameplay.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Penny Racers.