Racing Mini Game

It's hard to say exactly the whys, whens, or wherefores, but somewhere along the line, racing mini-games became one of the most common forms of Unexpected Gameplay Change.

Racing mini-games generally come in three flavors:

The World Is Your Grand Prix: Whoever or whatever challenged the player character to race makes it from Point A to Point B on whatever map you're already on. Sometimes it's in the Hub Level, but it can occur within a level or dungeon, as well. While your character may be on foot, they may also have a vehicle—either part of their usual arsenal, or provided for them—in order to provide them extra speed. Since most maps tend to be somewhat... larger than your standard race course, the game will frequently provide some sort of "marker" to keep you on course, usually with penalties if you stray too far. The markers can range from a simple line on the ground to actually making the player lose if they don't pass through every ring.
This Course One Way Only: Unlike the above, this actually does take place on its own map, designated for the race. However, such course is usually one way only. Your goal is simply to get to the end, through whatever means you have at your disposal. Because they're designed explicitly for the race, the maps for these particular mini-games are frequently more elaborate, and feature more devious twists and turns.
I Can't Believe It's Not Mario Kart!: The most elaborate of the three options, this is when a racing mini-game actually takes pains to resemble a sort of tiny Wacky Racing game in its own right. In addition to having designated "race" maps, they often feature proper laps, and even, sometimes, power ups. (They'll usually throw in a Nitro Boost, at the very least.)

Examples of Racing Mini Game include:

Donkey Kong 64 contains examples of all three varieties.
- The large tree in "Fungi Forest" contains races for Lanky and Diddy in this fashion, with Lanky racing a rabbit and Diddy an owl. Aside from their "Barrel" power-ups, they simply go around the glade. These are Type 1.
- Lanky also has a few races against a beetle—these require you to collect coins as well as beat him to the end. Also, the courses he has? Really, really perilous. They're not just Type 2, oh no...
- Finally, Tiny has several races against a toy car, in a cart just like his. She gets Nitro Boosts and missles to use against him, and they go for several laps. Type 3.
In the Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country 2, you can play a type 3 racing game with Expresso at Cranky's Cabin, using feathers collected throughout the game to boost his stats.
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue has a surprisingly fleshed-out kart mode. While you can participate in the races in-game for some prizes, a fully multiplayer version of the kart mini-game—with lots of racers, several tracks, and items—it available from the title screen from the get-go. 3.
Rocket Robot On Wheels has lots of vehicles, but surprisingly, only one race, and it's a Type 1. You race the Dune Dog, the standard "kart" vehicle, against a... corn car. It's one of those games.
The Knights of the Old Republic swoop-racing minigame, plot-critical in its first incarnation and toned down to a random source of money and sidequests later on.
Super Mario 64 has you race—twice—against a big penguin, in two Type 2 races down a very... precarious slide.
- Koopa the Quick in Super Mario 64 as well? Except it's a foot race. Type 1 obviously.
Super Mario Sunshine has Il Piantissimo, a strange man in a Pianta costume, who occasionally challenges Mario to a race within the stage. This one's Type 1.
Beyond Good and Evil has several Type 3 races—one of them, you have to participate in for plot purposes (to find a secret exit on the track). In addition to in-track speed boosters, you can also bring in your own items from outside to aid you.
The Mario Party games have featured almost too many of these over their run to list. They're typically all Type 2 and Type 3... probably because the "overworlds" are, y'know, board games.
Banjo-Kazooie has you racing Boggy the polar bear throughout his world (so Type 1) on a sled, and later, with Kazooie's Sprint Shoes.
Banjo-Tooie featured a bundle of races through two characters; Canary Mary and an Aardvark. The former appears in Glitter Gulch Mine and Cloud Cuckooland with races that take place within the levels but strictly on rails, the latter also in the floating acid trip level with a pair of short Type 1 races.
The Simpsons Hit & Run had several Type 1 races on every level.
Chrono Trigger had Johnny, that cool transforms-into-a-vehicle cyborg in the future. You had to beat him in a Type 2 race in the main quest.
All GTAs: Type 1, with multiple vehicles. One in The Ballad of Gay Tony requires you to parachute from a helicopter to a boat, race the boat, then switch to a car for the last leg of the race.
Super Mario Galaxy: Types 1 and 2 (several A-B races; the water slide)
- To clarify Super Mario Galaxy further, one of the more interesting Type 1 races is against a Boo, while one of the Type 2 races is against—you guessed it—a penguin.
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 has two type 2 levels (aka, the Fluzzard flying levels). First mission is just to reach the end, second is to beat the AI opponents to the end of the course.
Twilight Princess: Type 2 (the Zora River and the Yeti race)
Final Fantasy X: Types 1 and 2 (the chocobo race; those goddamn butterflies)
Warcraft 3: Type 3 (not in-campaign, but a custom map)
Brutal Legend has several sidequests of the Type 1 variety, where you race against Fletus the ugly demon in your ~~car~~ Druid Plow.
The hoverboard races in Ratchet and Clank.
In the The Legend of Zelda series: the race against the Marathon Man in Ocarina is Type 1; against Dampe's ghost in Ocarina and the Deku Butler in Majora's Mask is Type 2. They're both mostly on foot, though.
- The underwater Beaver race in Majora is also Type 2, combined with Pass Through the Rings.
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle has both Type 2 racing levels and an unlockable Type 3 multiplayer racing game.
- Twinkle Park Circuit in the first Sonic Adventure (Type 3).
- All of Tails' stages in the first Sonic Adventure could be considered Type 1 or 2. Most of them take place in the same areas as other characters' stages, but with differences (such as aerial speed boost rings for Tails to fly through). Speed Highway branches off in its own direction
Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven has a single level in which the player must cover for a racecar driver the Don has bet on. It's a Scrappy Level due to the frailty (as in, tip over and you die, no exceptions) and unstable nature (as in, turn around a corner or hit a slight bump at anything but low speed and you will likely tip over) of the car and the difficulty in traversing the track safely while staying ahead of the racers, but, luckily, there's a secret area that allows you to skip pretty much the entire lap and finish it with ease.
The Saboteur. The protagonist used to be a professional car racer, so we get 2 Type 2 as part of the story line, along with a few optional type 2 races to unlock special racecars. (There are laps, but beyond that it's identical to normal driving in the rest of the game.)
Psychonauts. To earn the Levitation power, you must win a Type 3 race, including speed boosts, unusual obstacles and hidden alternate paths.
In Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, one of the minigames in the Disney Town world is a Mario Kart-ish racing game. It's generally disliked because the Computer Is A Cheating Bastard and the first race course must be completed when playing Terra in order to clear that world.
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus has a racing mini-game of the Type 3 persuasion.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves has a few (three) chase scenes that arguably fall under Type 1, all of which involve Sly chasing after Neyla (usually so he can prove his ability to keep up with her so she'll share information with him).
Jak and Daxter has this throughout the series, not counting Jak X, which is a racing game in and of itself:
- Jak and Daxter, Jak 2, and Jak 3 all have racing minigames of the Type 1 and 2 variety.
- Jak 2 and Jak 3 both have Type 3 racing as well.
BIONICLE: Quest for the Toa has the Great Ussal Race, Ignalu Lava Surfing, and Ngalawa Boat Racing.
- BIONICLE: Maze of Shadows has the Tunnel Flight Challenge, involving Matau with a Nui-Rama or the Red Serpent.
Lego Island features both Type 1 races as a variety of its missions, spawning obstacles that make your path very difficult, if not impossible for many routes around the island. The race car and water ski missions, however, are strictly Type 3 races.
In Okami, you can choose to battle two "postmen" in Type 1 races. The race involve to chasing the postman, attempting to tackle him before he runs out of eyeshot. In later races, spined balls are thrown at you in an attempt to slow you down.
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon features a Type 3 minigame called "Motor Kombat." It's separate from the rest of the game, which is probably a good thing—although it's a surprisingly elaborate Kart clone, it's pretty meh.
Bully has both Type 1 (bicycle) and Type 3 (kart) races.
Jak II: Renegade has a Type 1 race around Haven City against Errol, as well as three consecutive Type 3 races at the racetrack (the last of which is also against Errol, as well as other generic racers). All four are plot-required.
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 has a minigame where you can race against Might Guy. It's a Type 3 (kind of), though you run by hitting Square and Circle alternately as fast as you can until you get RSI. This is unfortunately required for 100% Completion. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 also had a Type 3 racing minigame where you were racing Sakura to the top of a tree, though this time you move forward automatically and only have to worry about dodging obstacles.
Final Fantasy XII had a Type 1 race similar to the above example, against Rikken, Raz and Eliza in The Port at Balfonheim. You only have to race him once (and that's only if you want him to tell you about a mark to be hunted - you don't even have to win), but the more races you win, the more prizes you get. You can get a total of 100 prizes, after which Rikken will finally admit that you are the fastest in Ivalice. Most of the prizes are utterly useless, but some of the later ones give you loot to make new stuff at the Bazaar. Just like the Naruto example above, you run by hitting Square and Circle rapidly.
- Final Fantasy IX has a similar Type 1 race, where you race Hippaul as Vivi near the start of the game, when playing as Vivi (though if you miss it, you can go back and do it as Eiko later, when you get free access to Alexandria). It's another one where you mash Square and Circle to run. It's completely unnecessary, though participating in it will trigger an extra Mognet letter (describing an "amazing sprinter"), and if you win 80 times or more, the letter will name Vivi as the "amazing sprinter" (otherwise it will say the sprinter's name is Hippaul).
Strong Bads Cool Game for Attractive People: Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner features the Tri-annual Race to the End of the Race. It probably counts as a Type 1, though it's done against the clock rather than specifically racing someone. You have to do it twice, first disguised as Homestar, where you proceed to make him look really bad, and then again after "cheating up" the track in order to make it easier for the decidedly un-athletic Strong Bad.
The swoop bike chase in Shadows of the Empire, and the Skyhopper bonus mission in Rogue Squadron, are Type 2.
The horse races in Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask, and the Goron race in the latter, are Type 3.
The Maw Warthog run in Halo, and the final escape in Halo 3 (both Type 2). Some of the games also have multiplayer races (Type 1 or 3).
The second PSX Dukes of Hazzardgame has a Type 3 racing mission.
A different genre of racing minigame within a racing game: F-Zero GX has three Type 2 missions in Story Mode; Goroh the Vengeful Samurai, Rescue Jody, and Black Shadow's Trap.
Call of Duty 4 had this at the end of the level "Crew Expendable" where the player must escape the sinking ship. Basically, it is a timed race where you follow your allies, but as they inevtably outpace the player audio cues over the radio and general memory of the level already travelled through becomes very important. Even at the end you have to jump into the back of a helicopter but don't worry, "Nobody makes the first jump..."
Epic Mickey has a time attack in the Mean Street where you have to follow the light from Point A to Point B within the time limit to get a one of the collectable items.
The first, second, and fourth levels of the SNES Rocketeer game are Type 3 airplane races.
Scaler features a Type 2, taking place in Desollem and featuring Scaler's Krock form. In addition to having a couple of races versus an AI opponent, there are also a couple of time trials, and a couple of 'destroy X-amount of cocoons' challenges.
Yooka-Laylee features the first two types of mini-game:
- Races against Nimble the Cloud take place in the main stage, and reward the player with a Pagie.
- Kartos Karting, meanwhile, is a top-down arcade racer, complete with power-ups, accessible from Rextro's arcade.