Beach Buggy Racing
Games Like Mario Kart for Xbox One
With a name like Beach Buggy Racing, it’s not hard to figure why most people probably have never heard of this game. However, if you’re looking for a pure, unsullied, kart-racing experience on the Xbox One that sticks as closely to Mario Kart, without having to dip into backwards compatibility, Beach Buggy Racing is your type of game.
While it’s no Mario Kart, it’s still a very serviceable kart-racer that will check all the genre boxes if you’re looking for something to scratch that itch. There’s lots of power-ups, customizable cars, kart-racer style controls, and split-screen so you can play with friends that you have over.
OnRush
Games Like Mario Kart for Xbox One
If you’re willing to venture out of kart racing, and open up your search to include wacky arcade-style racers, the recently released OnRush is an excellent choice, especially if you like the battle mode of Mario Kart. OnRush is every bit as chaotic as Mario Kart, just in its own different way. Just like in Nintendo’s kart-racer, everyone is out to get you, especially if you’re in first.
There’s a variety of game modes that encourage both solo and team play. There’s Overdrive where whichever team boosts the most wins, Switch where each time you get taken out you’ll be put in a different less desirable car, and even a King of the Hill-style mode called Lockdown where you’ll try to beat your opponents to capture points.
If you’re intrigued but want to learn more, you can check out our full review written by resident racer enthusiast and Twinfinite assistant editor Tom Hopkins.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Games Like Mario Kart for Xbox One
Technically, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a Xbox 360 game, but it is backwards compatible, and is by far the most Mario Kart-like game on this list.
The most recent series of Sonic racing games has been one of the very few high-profile games to directly compete with Mario Kart at its own game, and while Mario Kart continues to do just fine, there are some that prefer the heavily inspired Sonic All-Stars racing games. Transformed is the most recent entry, which adds boats and planes into the mix, and if you’re a fan, an actual current-gen entry is on the way called Team Sonic Racing.
Burnout Paradise Remastered
Games Like Mario Kart for Xbox One
Like OnRush, Burnout Paradise is more along the lines of, well, Burnout-like games that emphasize high-speeds, and crazy over the top action and crashes. The remastered version enhances the classic 360-era game and brings it up to current-gen quality, featuring 4K/60-FPS support, and all of the DLC released.
Burnout Paradise Remastered features an open-world where you can mess around and at any point engage in “Showtime” where you are tasked with driving as recklessly as possible without crashing. The more dangerous you are, the higher your score. Not only is it just a silly fun game, it’s great for younger kids too as they have more fun crashing cars than actually racing them… as long as they know that’s not how they should drive when they turn 16.
Joy Ride Turbo
Games Like Mario Kart for Xbox One
I’m going to level with you. Joy Ride Turbo is a very average game. It’s also a last-gen XBLA game that happens to be backwards compatible with the Xbox One. That said, this is games like Mario Kart on the Xbox One. It’s not amazing, fantastic games like Mario Kart on the Xbox One. Your pickings are very slim to be honest, but if you don’t want to open your mind up to games like OnRush, and you’ve already given something more renown like Sonic All-Stars Racing a go, then Joy Ride Turbo is a decent option to scratch the kart-racer itch.
All of that said, Joy Ride Turbo isn’t a bad game by any means. It’s comes with all the bells and whistles you would expect out of a kart-racer and it controls well. It should feel very familiar to anyone who is a veteran in the genre. You also get to use your Xbox avatar if you still have one made, and it has a fairly unique Stunt Park mode which lets you mess around and preform crazy tricks off of ramps that will send you flying across the map.
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Games Like Mario Kart on Xbox One
Way back towards the end of the 1990s, a PlayStation 1 classic was released in the form of Crash Team Racing. Allowing you to pick a racer from Crash and his various pals (and frenemies), CTR was essentially the closest thing you could get to Mario Kart on a non-Nintendo platform.
Fast forward a couple decades later, and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, a remake of the original game, is available for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S players.
This isn’t some cheap knock-off of Mario Kart, either. It’s fully-stacked with a story mode, time trials to compete against, and online multiplayer thrown in for good measure. It’s got a unique arsenal of weapons to unleash on your opponents, too, giving the karting action an ample dose of chaos to really up the ante.
If you’re looking for the very best game like Mario Kart on Xbox One, then look no further than Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled. It’s a stellar game in its own right, regardless of its inspirations.
