Gotcha Racing

Overview

Gotcha Racing is a top-down racing game featuring 2D car sprites set on 3D raceways. The view of the track spans both screens of the 3DS with the player car centered on the bottom screen. There are 12 courses and multiple class-based championships to work through.

Winning races rewards players with coins that can be used to buy new car parts through gashapon machines. All car parts can then be upgraded by fusing them with other similar car parts to boost their stats. As the gashapon drops are random this requires players to re-play previous courses again and again to win coins and buy more parts. This way progress can be made through driving skill or leveling up various vehicle parts.

Gameplay

A very barebones experience, Gotcha Racing doesn’t explain why it exists in a world where car tuning is done by way of capsule toys. You begin on an oval-shaped speedway with a random vehicle and a few messages about how the controls work. Once you’ve completed this race it’s off to the lowly Grade-F class to start working your way through the ranks.

Each graded class consists of a handful of single races and a final Grand Prix that features three courses with a points-based ranking system. Progress is gated by the performance of your vehicle which can be upgraded by buying and fusing various car parts through gashapon machines. Even if you finish a race in 4th or 5th place you’ll earn some money so it’s always possible to buy and level new parts, though it may take many, many races to do so.

Event Races will randomly appear after completing regular races. These can be one of six types of races. Rumble requires you to pass as many cars as possible to score the most points. Regicide awards continuous points to the race leader and the winner is whichever car has the most points by the final lap. Third Man requires you to stay in 3rd place. Daredevil has you run the course in reverse with prize money awarded by simply finishing the race. Doppleganger puts you in a one-on-one race with a copy of your current car. Rival is a race against other players which requires StreetPass to be enabled.

Time Attack mode allows you to race alone on any course you’ve previously raced on.

Car Parts and Stats

Parts that can be won from capsule machines are Body, Engine, Tires and Accessory. All parts aside from accessories augment the five stats of Top Speed, Acceleration, Cornering, Drift and Brake by both positive and negative values.

All parts are compatible with all Body types and all parts of the same type can be fused together. This way, inferior or duplicate parts can be used to slowly increase the stats of superior parts though each part can only be fused a predetermined number of times. All parts can also be sold for coins.

Some Accessory parts have durability and will fall apart after a prescribed number of races. Special parts can be had by trading in 3DS Play Coins or by StreetPassing with other players.

Controls

The analog thumb pad is used to steer left and right while A is used for acceleration and B for brakes. By default the Right and Left shoulder buttons are also mapped for accelerate and brake, respectively.

Drifting is accomplished by pressing the brakes, then the gas as you are turning. Press the touch screen for the horn!