Video Game / Nicktoons Racing

Nicktoons Racing is a 2000 Mascot Racer that was released on PC, Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and as an Arcade Game. The plot is as follows: various Nickelodeon characters receive a mysterious invitation for a racing tournament, hosted by the enigmatic Mystery Rider. The prize for winning? The Krusty Krab Big Bun Award, which comes with a year's supply of Krabby Patties. The game features most of the Nicktoons that had been released at the time, with the exceptions of Doug (which had already become a Disney property by then), Rocko's Modern Life, Kablam, and Rocket Power.

The game received five sequels: Nicktoons Winners Cup Racing for the PC, the arcade-only Nicktoons Nitro by Raw Thrills, and Nickelodeon Kart Racers and its sequels, Grand Prix and Slime Speedway.

The roster consists of the following shows and characters:

• SpongeBob SquarePants: SpongeBob and Patrick
• CatDog: Cat and Dog^note Both of them ride together, obviously.
• The Angry Beavers: Norbert and Daggett^note Both of them ride together in most versions, but are separate characters in the Game Boy Color version.
• Hey Arnold!: Arnold and Helga
• Rugrats: Tommy and Angelica
• Aaahh!!! Real Monsters: Ickis
• The Wild Thornberrys: Eliza and Darwin
• The Ren & Stimpy Show: Stimpy^note Removed from the arcade version due to it launching the same year as Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon".
• Original Generation: Mystery Rider^note Later revealed to be Plankton.

This game provides examples of:

• Adapted Out: In the 2003 arcade version, Stimpy is completely absent due to Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" airing that same year. The Gritty Kitty Litter item was also removed, though the Ren and Stimpy themed track, Race Madness, was left in.
• Amusement Park: Reptar Raceway, the first track of Cup 1 takes place in the EuroReptarland theme park. The racers drive past a variety of rides, including a carousel, a swinging ship, a Ferris wheel, and the giant Reptar robot from the movie.
• Big Bad: The Mystery Rider is revealed to be Plankton, who set up the tournament as part of his plan to steal the Krabby Patty formula.
• The Cameo: Ren and Oblina appear in the intro, but nowhere in-game.
• Cosmetically Different Sides: In the console/PC versions, each character plays identically to each other with no noticeable differences. This is averted in the GBA version, which explicitly has differing stats for every character.
• Developer's Foresight: The cutscene that plays upon completing Cup 3 where the player character drives off with their supply of Krabby Patties doesn't play if you're using the Mystery Rider. This is because the Mystery Rider reveals himself as Plankton and suffers a Villainous Breakdown upon losing.
• Down in the Dumps: Monster Mania, the first track of Cup 3 takes place in the dump the Monsters live in. The road is littered with garbage cans that the racers must maneuver around, there are pipes emitting stinky smoke around the track, and towards the end, there is a trash compactor that crushes drivers that pass under it at the wrong time.
• Electric Jellyfish: A jellyfish from SpongeBob appears as an item that chases after the racer in front of whoever fires it, before stopping them in their tracks with an electric shock.
• Excuse Plot: A sinister mystery racer invites a bunch of famous Nicktoons to race against him for the Krusty Krab Big Bun Award and a year supply of Krabby Patties.
• Fake Shemp: Every single character directly reuses voice clips from their series' episodes.
• First Town: Race Madness, the first track of Cup 2 takes place in Ren and Stimpy's neighborhood.
• Floating in a Bubble: One item is a giant bubble that racers can fire at the opponent in front of them. The bubble homes in on its target and encases them inside before briefly lifting them off the track and bringing them to a stop.
• Fragile Speedster: In the GBA version, SpongeBob has one of the best top speed stats in the game, but the rest of his stats are sub-par, especially his power.
• Go-Karting with Bowser:
  • Tommy races alongside Angelica, his cousin who is a selfish brat and often comes into conflict with him and his baby friends in Rugrats.
  • Arnold races alongside Helga, the resident bully of his class who keeps her crush on him a secret in order to protect her reputation in Hey Arnold!.
  • Plankton, AKA the Mystery Rider, is the main antagonist of SpongeBob SquarePants who constantly tries to steal the Krabby Patty formula and a playable racer.
• Interface Screw:
  • When used, the Camera Flash item will cause the screen of all other racers to flash white, temporarily blinding them.
  • If the player runs over a trash can item laid on the road, the can will flip onto their character's head, temporarily causing the screen to go dark before gradually lighting back up again.
• Invincibility Power-Up: The Fish Egg surrounds its user with a barrier that makes them immune to other attacks, and allows them to damage their opponents by ramming into them.
• Jack of All Stats: In the GBA version, Arnold has 3/5 points in every stat.
• Jungle Japes: Safari Speedway, the fourth and final track of Cup 2 and Bongo Bangup, the fourth and final track of Cup 3 both take place in a jungle.
• Losing Horns: Placing 2nd or lower in the PC and PlayStation versions, a wah-wah-wah-waaah! sound plays followed by the character crying over his/her loss.
• The Lost Woods: Part of Pickles Parkway, the second track of Cup 3 takes place in the forest the babies get lost in. Trees are placed in the road as obstacles.
• The Mall: Rancid Raceway, the third track of Cup 1 takes place in the Nearburg Mall. The racers move between the different floors of the mall using escalators, and a few alternate paths allowing access for them to drive through different stores, such as a toy store or a pet food store.
• Mighty Glacier: The GBA version has characters that fall into both categories of racing game Mighty Glaciers.
  • CatDog, Eliza, and Patrick are the traditional "slow, but bulky" type, with some of the highest Power stats, but they also have poor top speed.
  • SpongeBob and Angelica are the "slow to start, hard to stop" variety. They have high top speed, but sub-par acceleration.
• Production Throwback: The theme for the Rugrats tracks is a medley of the Ice Cream Mountain golfing themes from Rugrats: Search for Reptar.
• The Reveal: Upon completing Cup 3, the Mystery Rider is revealed to be none other than Plankton from SpongeBob SquarePants, confirming who the mysterious host of the tournament was in the process.
• Riding into the Sunset: The ending cutscene concludes with the player's chosen racer driving away from the screen past a finish line with a sun on the horizon, with their prized year's supply of Krabby Patties in tow.
• Secret Character: The Mystery Rider can be unlocked after clearing all three cups, though he becomes locked again after being picked.
• Sore Loser: Characters that won't finish first will end up crying.
• Spotlight-Stealing Crossover:
  • Despite being fairly new at the time of the game's release, the SpongeBob SquarePants series has a surprisingly large influence on the game: along with having two playable characters in SpongeBob and Patrick, the game's main MacGuffin is a trophy themed around the Krusty Krab (which comes with a year's supply of Krabby Patties), and the Mystery Rider turns out to be Plankton, bringing the number of playable SpongeBob characters up to three.
  • Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys also have noticeably more content than any other series in the game, with both series getting two characters and two tracks each while every other series has one less character or track.
• Under the Sea: Bikini Bottom Blowout, the fourth and final track of Cup 1 takes place underwater.
• Unlockable Difficulty Levels: At the beginning of the game, only the Easy difficulty is unlocked. The Medium and Hard difficulties can be unlocked by clearing the game on the difficulty below.