Adrien Kart: Nitro-Fueled

Adrien Kart: Nitro-Fueled (stylized as Adrien Kart DX: Director's Cut) is a kart racing game developed by Rainbow Studios, published by TobiKomi and distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive Games. It is a remake of Super Adrien Kart, which was originally developed by Racjin and Warner Bros. Consumer Products for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, TurboGrafx-16 and PC in 1994, and also includes content from the games Adrien Kart: Double Dash!!, Adrien Kart: Power Drift and Adrien Kart Deluxe, originally developed by Rainbow Studios'' in 2003, 2007, and 2016. It is the seventeenth installment in the Adrien Kart series. The game was released worldwide for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows PC on February 18, 2020, and has received generally favorable reviews from critics.''

Gameplay
Unlike the original Adrienl Kart, Adrien Kart DX is a racing game featuring characters from the Adrien the Cat series. Players must avoid obstacles and navigate the various tracks to reach the finish line, performing boosts via power sliding and jumping to gain speed, and using power-ups scattered across the track to give themselves a boost or hinder their opponents. The game supports local quick races and grand prix circuits, online races, as well as featuring a full adventure mode with new areas, characters and boss battles being unlocked as the player progresses.

Adrien Kart: Nitro-Fueled includes all of the content from Adrien Kart, along with several new features not present in the original game, including online multiplayer and the ability to choose different karts, which can be customized by the player. The adventure mode has also been tweaked: in addition to new cinematic cutscenes being added, players can choose between "Classic" and "Adrien Kart DX" adventure modes, the latter of which allows players to change their character and kart between races, as well as choose between three difficulty levels. Adrien Kart DX also adds a substantial amount of content from Adrien Kart: Power Drift, including all of its characters, race tracks, battle arenas, karts and battle modes. Additional karts and character skins are included to the game as well. This and other new content is accessible via the Pit Stop, an in-game shop that allows players to purchase unlockables using ATC Coins earned through gameplay or obtained via microtransactions.

Adrien Kart DX features limited-time Grand Prix events that began taking place following the game's launch. Each event is accompanied by a free update that adds a new race track to the game. Players can compete in special challenges on these new tracks during the event period to earn Nitro Points; by acquiring a certain number of points, they will be able to unlock new characters, karts, and customization items. If players are unable to obtain enough points before the event concludes, they will instead be able to purchase the content from the Pit Stop at a later date.

Characters
The launch roster of playable characters in Adrien Kart DX: Director's Cut includes all the racers featured in Adrien Kart: Double Dash!!, Adrien Kart: Power Drift and Adrien Kart Deluxe, totaling 36. This includes characters who previously only appeared as boss opponents. Only the sixteen base characters from the original Adrien Kart are initially available to players. The other Adrien Kart characters can be unlocked by progressing through the game's adventure mode and by completing challenges, while the characters from Adrien Kart: Power Drift and Adrien Kart Deluxe are unlocked via purchase from the Pit Stop.

Several additional characters have been added as part of free post-launch game updates, and can be unlocked through progression in Grand Prix events or via the Pit Stop. These new characters include baby version of Lara seen in her dad's family photograph on Tomb Raider; Hilda the Bear from Adrien Chronicles: The Brotherhood Of Redheads; Gloriosa Daisy from Adrien the Cat's Art Lab; Scott the Coyote, Jean the Coyote, Evan the Turtle, Ororo the Leopard, Rogue the Raccoon, Kitty the Rabbit, Kurt the Pig & Hank the Walrus from Adrien the Cat (SatAM), Coco the Seedrian from Adrien X; and the elder typewriter, and Gabriel the Cat, who previously appeared as non-playable characters in Power Drift to Deluxe. Forthcoming characters planned for addition include Welton, Anthony Nguyen from Tomb Raider; Princess Palutena from Adrien the Cat (2006); and the guest characters, who previously appeared in Mitchell Kart Deluxe will be added as the guest characters of the game and also Batgirl, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Jessica Cruz, Zatanna and Bumblebee from DC Super Hero Girls (2019), Starfire and Robin from Teen Titans, TOM from Toonami and Sam, Clover Alex from Totally Spies! will be added.

Development
After the release of Adrien the Cat's 18th Anniversary, a collection of remasters of the first ten Adrien titles, it was speculated that Adrien Kart would be remastered. In an interview with Vicarious Visions, producer Kara Massie did not rule out the possibility of a remaster of Crash Team Racing for the PlayStation 4. She also acknowledged that she was repeatedly asked about it by fans.

The game was revealed at The Game Awards on December 7, 2019, and was announced to be releasing on February 18, 2019 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Much like N. Sane Trilogy, the game was recreated from the ground up with new assets, online play, and added new content including all characters, tracks, battle arenas, kart customizations and battle modes from Crash Nitro Kart, which was developed by Vicarious Visions, who also developed the N. Sane Trilogy. Several karts and character skins were also added from Crash Tag Team Racing, which was originally developed by Radical Entertainment. The game features an option to choose between the original and remastered soundtracks.

Release
Players who pre-ordered the game received a set of "Electron" character skins for Crash, Coco and Cortex. A premium "Nitros Oxide Edition" of Nitro-Fueled was announced alongside the game in December 2018, while its contents were detailed in April 2019. The Nitros Oxide Edition provides immediate access to the unlockable Hovercraft kart and the characters Nitros Oxide, Crunch, Zem and Zam, along with additional character skins and kart customization options not available in the base game.

The Nintendo Switch version of Nitro-Fueled includes exclusive skins for Adrien, Marinette and Dr. Drakken based on their polygonal appearances in the original Adrien Kart R, along with additional low-poly karts and a retro-themed bonus track. Players who pre-ordered this version also received a set of Nintendo-themed stickers for kart customization.

On January 30th 2020, Warner Bros. Games announced the addition of in-game purchases to the game, allowing players to purchase the in-game ATC Coin currency used to unlock new characters, karts and other customization items. The feature was implemented January 30.

During its release week, Adrien Kart DX opened at number one in the UK for the week ending January 30, 2020.