Super Yooka-Laylee Kart announced — SNES-style kart racer with a revenge mechanic

Playtonic Games has announced Super Yooka-Laylee Kart, a retro kart racer built around the Mode 7 visual style of the original Super Mario Kart on SNES. The game was revealed at this evening's Day of the Devs showcase and is currently confirmed for PC via Steam only, with console versions planned but no platforms or release date announced yet.

Yooka and Laylee return alongside a familiar cast of series characters. The game features a solo story campaign packed with tournaments, rival races, time trials, endurance events, and skill-based challenges, plus local and online multiplayer for up to eight players, with friend lobbies, tournament creation, and extensive race rule modifiers. The standout mechanic is the Rage system — it builds as race positions shift or rivals attack you, letting players unleash devastating revenge abilities and claw back positions. Coins collected mid-race can also be spent on perks between events, forcing a gamble between maintaining top speed or banking on a decisive late-championship advantage. Playtonic describes the game as "the most skilful, expressive and explosive racer built around mastery, rivalry, and revenge-fuelled comebacks."

The story campaign has drawn comparisons to Diddy Kong Racing, and that's no accident — Playtonic was founded in 2014 by former Rare veterans, some of whom worked on that exact game alongside Banjo-Kazooie. The studio has since shipped the original Yooka-Laylee, spinoff Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, and last year's remake Yooka-Replaylee. Super Yooka-Laylee Kart is their first fully original project in a while.

Before launch, Playtonic plans a series of online multiplayer beta tests — exact timing hasn't been announced. The game had already leaked ahead of the official reveal, so the community wasn't caught off guard, but the reception looks enthusiastic.