Super Indie Karts

My Saturday night co-op alarm went off the moment I saw four-player splitscreen Grand Prix listed as an active feature. That is the single most important checkbox for a couch kart racer, and Super Indie Karts clears it, which already puts it ahead of more than a few titles that quietly dropped local multiplayer somewhere between announcement and launch. One Legged Seagull has been building this thing since a 2014 Kickstarter campaign, and while the Early Access label has been sitting there for a long time, what you actually get right now is meatier than the badge implies. The roster is the headline. Over 30 characters pulled from all over the indie scene, including Lilac from Freedom Planet, Lea from CrossCode, the ToeJam and Earl duo, characters from Guacamelee, Duck Game, Canabalt, and plenty more. Every single one of them is a real character from a real indie game, which means no filler slots you skip past on the selection screen. Each kart has its own speed, handling, and acceleration spread, so there is actual decision-making in character selection rather than just picking whoever looks coolest. The tracks match the crossover theme, with themed circuits built around the worlds those characters came from, giving fans of those games a genuine double-hit of recognition. Race modes cover the main bases well. Grand Prix runs you through cups with star rankings earned by placing well and collecting scattered shrooms on track. Time Trials are clean and replayable. Mission Mania gives you objective-based challenges as a break from pure lap racing. Battle Mania has nine arenas spread across Super, Ultra, and Cage styles, and it supports the full four-player local setup. The weapon roster is its own kind of fun: Chilli Boosts in three strengths, heat-seeking Loconuts, Exploding Pangapples, and Meloons that are exactly what they sound like. There are four speed classes, including a 200cc tier the game cheekily calls Rush Hour, and mirror mode is in for all cups. Controls are gamepad-native and fully remappable, and there is an auto-accelerate option that makes drift inputs easier for anyone who finds the standard three-button combo awkward. For a kart racer this is unusually thoughtful on the accessibility front. The criticisms are real but manageable. Some tracks feel over-furnished with boost pads and item boxes, which makes certain circuits feel slightly chaotic rather than tightly designed. The indie game comparisons are unavoidable and occasionally the game leans so hard into its SNES Mario Kart reference point that it struggles to feel fully like its own thing rather than a tribute act. It is worth noting that Steam Deck performance has drawn some complaints around frame stability with settings dialled back, so PC play on a proper setup is the safer bet. The full 64-track target is not finished yet, with 16 more tracks still in development ahead of the planned 2026 Early Access exit, so if you want the complete product you will be waiting a little longer. For four friends on a Saturday night, though, this earns its seat at the table. The splitscreen Grand Prix works, the roster sparks conversations about which indie games people know, and the Chilli Boost turning a comfortable lead into a scramble never gets old. Solo players get a genuinely substantial amount of content too between the cups, time trials, and mission objectives. It is a one-person developer effort that has quietly become a better and better kart racer over time, and the community sentiment backs that up.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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