This one really brings back some fond memories of my youth: Penny Racers! I must have owned at least two dozen of these cute little super deformed vehicles. The premise was simple: place a penny in a slot located on the back of the vehicle, wind its motor up by pulling it backwards along the floor and let it go. Now they were said to perform numerous different tricks, but for some reason I could only get the darn things to pop wheelies. In retrospect perhaps it was all about the placement of the penny.

At any rate, no longer are the days where I need worry about penny placement. No longer shall I plant my face on the living room floor, with a flashlight in one hand and a ruler in the other, as I attempt to recover my racer from underneath the couch. Those days are all but a memory. I have since moved on from playing with toys (instead I collect them), and have found an enjoyable alternative that doesn’t necessarily require the use of a penny and most likely won’t end up lost underneath my couch. That alternative is Penny Racers Party: Turbo-Q Speedway for the Nintendo Wii.

Hit the jump to join me as I rekindle the flame of my youth and to read my review of Penny Racers Party: Turbo-Q Speedway.

Published by TOMY and developed by Barnhouse Effects, Penny Racers Party: Turbo-Q Speedway (Penny Racers for short) places you in control of your very own, fully-customizable, Penny Racer. Using the Wii Remote held sideways or the Wii Remote in conjunction with a racing wheel you able to steer your Penny Racer left and right. However, this isn’t the finish line for Penny Racers Wii Remote functionality. In addition to tilting the Wii Remote to steer you can also perform a “Jump” maneuver by thrusting your Wii Remote downwards (this will help you overcome other Penny Racers and various course-based obstacles), and a “Q-charge” by literally shaking the Wii Remote up and down until your friends pin you on the ground thinking you have gone into a seizure (we’ll cover the Q-charge a little bit later on). Both tricks/tactics will come in quite handy when facing AI controlled Penny Racers in “1-Player Mode.” All of these methods of controlling your Penny Racer can be found under the incredibly brief three-slide “Tutorial” from the game’s Main Menu.

Launching into 1-Player Mode you will immediately be presented with a barrage of stock Penny Racers from which to choose from, including licensed vehicles from the likes of Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and more. The Penny Racer you begin with will act as your starting vehicle from which you can then choose to purchase, sell and modify from the in-game “Store.”

Everything from suspension to body color can be tailored to personal preference. Don’t like the tires you have equipped on your racer, no problem. Swap those boring old standard wraps out for some rubber that will allow your to drift around the hairpin turns with ease. What about that boring ol’ stock spoiler? Yup, you can upgrade that too. The ability to customize your Penny Racer is where this game truly shines and packs one heck of a punch in terms of getting the most bang for your buck out of this title. The customization features mentioned are but a fraction of the options presented in Penny Racers. And the more you play, the more you can unlock.

In order to unlock more parts, tracks, mini-games and vehicles you must meet certain conditions and overcome specified goals. These conditions and goals range from coming in first place in a single-player race, beating a specified “Boss” Penny Racer, to beating a par time or score in a mini-game. This, in turn, will supply you with the money needed to purchase new parts.

While the controls felt a bit on the wonky side from the start, they became quite a bit more comfortable once I was able to save up enough money to buy some new parts and modify the Penny Racer more to my liking by adjusting the suspension from my “Garage” and the “Recovery Power” from the “Options.”

As you race along the countless and highly colorful courses you will encounter pink colored charge zones that are marked with a “Q.” These are areas where you will have the opportunity to utilize your Q-charge (as previously mentioned). Once you pass through one of these gates you will have 3 seconds for which to shake your Wii Remote in an up and down motion in order to charge up your Startup Power, which is represented by a bar located in the top left portion of the screen. Once your charge bar fills you will have stockpiled one Q-charge which can then be activated by pressing up on the Control Pad. This will kick your Penny Racer into top-gear as you rocket down the track past other Penny Racers. It may take some getting used to (charging while steering), but once mastered it becomes imperative if you are to even place in the top three positions in later races. To get things started off on the right foot I highly recommend immediately upgrading your tires and your pullback engine as soon as possible. Not only will your Penny Racer perform and handle better, but some of the higher end pullback engines feature additional Q-charge slots.

PROTIP: If you find yourself hard up for cash you can always sell some of your unused parts in the Shop or repeat past races and mini-games for some quick cash.

In addition to a surprisingly in-depth 1-Player Mode Penny Racers also offers a “Race Mode” (which is essentially an exhibition mode where you can practice your skills in all of the tracks and mini games that you have unlocked thus far) and a “Multiplayer Mode” where you can challenge up to four friends in a split screen race or game of Penny Racers Bowling, or my personal favorite: Wind-up Dash.

Unfortunately, Penny Racers does not support online functionality, nor does it support the option to save your Penny Racer to the Wii Remote or the ability to send your Penny Racer to a registered friend’s Wii console – all features I feel would have really pushed this title into the red-zone in terms of fun and replayability. Still, Penny Racers proves to be a great game for some pick-up-and-play fun.

So if you are looking for a relatively inexpensive alternative to Mario Kart this holiday season that features creative controls, 4-player racing action, contains loads of customization options, has over 60 licensed vehicle body styles and more tracks and mini-games that you can shake a shift knob at, you owe it to yourself to pick up Penny Racers Party: Turbo-Q Speedway.

Now you will have to excuse me while I go search for some NIB Penny Racers on EBay.

Diamond:

• Easy pick-up-and-play racing action
• Near countless customizations options
• Makes effective use of the Wii Remote and Racing Wheel
• Licensed car manufacturers
• 2-4 player split-screen racing action

Coal:

• Controls can feel a little on the wonky side at times
• AI difficulty level may be too steep for some
• Lack of online racing
• No option to save/transfer your Penny Racer to the Wii Remote

Final Score: 8 out of 10 Q-charges