Ladies and enbies, we live in a renaissance. Not a renaissance of information, equality, of human experience. No: we’re experiencing the good timeline, where the dopamine-inducing high-speed fun of Nadeo’s Mania series has finally been recognized by the masses of voracious indie game developers.
Leaderboard competition has never been more exciting. Discord servers buzzing about WR runs. Levels being created and shared. Communities being formed, stakes in the sand, stories being written and unwritten. Friends, it doesn’t always take a car and an engine. It takes a timer and a spark. This is racing.
This entire decade, these horrid 2020s of decay, has given us the best games of this genre I’ve ever played. COVID locked us into our houses and created some real PB freaks, I think.
All jokes aside, what makes a game a “mania-like”? I think it’s the core structure of the thing: the gameplay should revolve around doing timed runs across different maps and competing for the lowest time on a regional scoreboard. The runs should be replayable out-of-context so you can grind for lower times. And there ought to be an aire of competitiveness about the thing, an idea that a good run really means something.
I’d like to show you my favorite entries in this genre. Most of them have been released very recently. I’ll be splitting it up into subgenres based on what DNA these games share. A bit of a phylogenetic tree of racing games. Without further ado:
Trackmania-likes
You thought I’d ignore the classics? I’d never ignore the classics. Trackmania (2020) is Nadeo’s live-service game and it’s the gold standard for manialikes. Daily tournaments, weekly map drops, always-populated community rooms, and a ranked gamemode. Deterministic physics and very high skill ceiling tech. A little pricey ($20/year for full access at the moment), but well worth it if you’re a frequent player.
Rating: 4 Cups of the Day out of 4.
Trackmania’s scrappy cousin. Don’t let this game’s free, in-browser nature fool you. This is every bit as deep and competitive as Trackmania, with distinct tech to boot. Prepare for a much more drifting-oriented driving style. It’s got basic graphical style that lends itself to extremely high visibility. Because this game’s got such a low barrier to entry, the leaderboards are PACKED. If you don’t try any other game on this list, try this one. Worst it’ll do is waste 10 minutes of your time.
Rating: 10 landing bugs that make you barrell roll aggressively out of 10.
This game is adorable. It’s soapbox racing, so it’s like if you popped an Engine Off block at the start of every TM map. But without an engine, your entire concept of what it means to go fast must change. Airtime reduction becomes unnecessary. Suddenly every slope becomes a canvas on which you are to use your wheels to inscribe brachistochrones. The shortest path from A to B becomes vital, as does understanding the plethora of surfaces the game will throw at you. The controls are precise, touchy, and responsive. A controller or steering wheel is all but necessary to really enjoy this game.
Let me be completely clear — this is the most difficult game in the list. It’s got all the drifting and speedtech you’d expect from other racing games, with an extra dimension added on: air control. Yup, you’ve got full pitch and yaw control. Putting your arms up decreases the gravity on your car and also rotates it back to center, giving you partial roll control. And of course you’ve got air braking, which kills all three rotational directions. And did I mention that whiffing one single landing could do anything from popping a wheel off of your soapbox to straight up killing you?
Consider all of that. Now consider that the developer is absolutely cracked at their own game. You’ll have a lot of fun chasing author times in this one.
Rating: 150 gifts out of 150.
Monkeyball-likes
These games depart a little from the purist’s Trackmania-likes listed above. Here, there’s more… gimmick. Maybe it’s item collection, maybe it’s jumping around. But don’t get me wrong, all of these games are still manialikes. You’ll still grind these levels for top times and you’ll still be toying with your momentum to maximize your speed and jump angles.
This screenshot's ripped from the Ballest Steam page.
I need you to know that I was very conflicted as to what section to put this game. In all honesty this has far less in common with Monkeyball than anything else in this section. It probably has much more in common with Trackmania — so much of the tech in this game involves airtime reduction and smooth landing. Those are the core fundamentals. You master those two mechanics and you master Ballest. No, sorry, you become the Ballest.
So what’s in common with Monkeyball here? Well, you roll a ball… and occasionally, you bounce that ball.
Jokes aside, nesting this game at the bottom of the Trackmania-like section would be doing it a disservice. And it would be unfaithful to the developer’s intention, who’s on record saying that they’re much sooner drawing inspiration from the likes of American Ninja Warrior than Trackmania. And you know what? The game does a downright fantastic job at making you feel like you’re baller once you’ve gotten smooth with Ballest. Expect a much longer grind than you might have anticipated if you want top times, the tricks in this game are finnicky and a little difficult to read. But the community is awesome, eager to help, and growing REALLY rapidly.
In terms of raw community size, I’d say this game ranks #5 overall (after TM2020, Neon White, Zeepkist, and Polytrack). I’m calling it now, though, by the end of the year this game’s sitting at #3. That ball just won’t stop rolling.
Rating: 2 balls out of 2.
From the Polyball Steam page. (Sorry I was getting impatient with screenshots)
Why’s this Polyball (2017) and not just Polyball? I wanted to draw attention to the fact that this game predates TM2020, and as such it couldn’t possibly have been influenced by that game’s popularity. And as such it kind of doesn’t really fit into this list. But this is my list, damnit, and I’m giving you the date as the mark of a TRUE OG GAME (epic!)
I’ll be the first to say that this game looks boring. It’s like corporate memphis downloaded Unity and placed a bunch of primitives shapes around. But that seems to be the main complaint people have in the Steam reviews. And I don’t think the fact that the game looks a little boring means it deserves that kind of harsh reception.
This game feels like piloting a chain chomp in the best kind of way. There’s no brake, and the aggressive particle and camera effects always remind you of that. Routes that require speed also require planning, you’re always looking ahead to line up angles on your next two jumps. Your ball is heavy and takes time to react. The more reminiscent of Monkeyball than the games above. The jump is huge, the air control minimal, the speed-limit nonexistent, and it really feels like the world is tilting around your ball.
Mix all that with a bunch of extremely varied maps out of the box — everything from full speedtech to RPG style maps where the main challenge is using your huge jump to collect all the goodies to unlock ball styles.
Rating: 1 default cube out of 1.
From the Paperball Steam page.
You want Monkeyball? WE’VE GOT MONKEYBALL! You saw the last game but it wasn’t monkeyball enough? This is your ticket.
Paperball’s got cute mascots and essentially identical gameplay to the OG Monkeyball. Get time-based medals to unlock progressively more difficult worlds. There’s tech here, too. Strafe-movement is faster and you can get tons of wonky corner-jumps. This game has a distinct lack of collectibles. It’s just you, the timer, and the goal. Whatever stands in-between those things is between you and Isaac Newton.
If I remember correctly, this and the next game are the only entries in this whole list that lacks a global leaderboard. (Other than Zeepkist, but that’s what ZeepCentraal is for, duh). The competitive grind is not baked into this game like it’s baked into other titles on this list. So if you want a more casual experience that’s still a blast to go for medal times on, give this one a try.
Rating: 
out of 10.
I feel a deep and distinct kinship for this batshit insane game. Made by the same developer behind the much more critically-acclaimed Creature Kitchen, CHAIRS is an LSD-addled time-attack collect-a-thon. You get three screenshots this time, a montage of loading into a single level, taken within 3 seconds of each other.
A top review calls it “a mix between Pizza Tower and Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom”. If that means anything to you, great. If not, I don’t give a shit, because I liked CHAIRS more than I liked either of those other games anyway.
In a strange way, this game controls similarly to Kirby Air Ride, if you’ve played it. Your chair is a little heavy and your jumps are tall. But you’ve got a driftboost that you can hold and release in order to propel the chair in a given direction. And the chair can slam downward, letting you recharge your boost/jump chargest faster. The route on each stage is nonlinear, too. It’s just not about getting to the finish line, it’s about collecting whatever crud is scattered around the levels and THEN making it to the finish, as fast as possible.
Like the previous game, this one’s got no global leaderboard, but this one’s got a little more of a competitive streak. I’m sorry to tell you that there are only 6 levels included, but the medals on those levels are very challenging. If you’re playing casually you can chew through this game within an hour or two, but those hours will be dripping with psychedelic charm. If you’re grinding I’d say this game’s got about 10 or 15 hours of fun in store for you. I really don’t mind a smaller experience!
Rating: 6 chair legs out of 6.
Surf-likes
Counter-Strike’s surf, what a beloved game. If you’re unfamiliar, a quirk in the movement code in Source engine games gave rise to an entire style of racing. It involves bunny-hopping, precise strafing, and incredibly smooth camera control. And it’s just so undeniably cool.
My god was I excited for this game to come out (last week). This is surf at its core, but super streamlined. Surf is undeniably hard to pick up, but Stuntboost has successfully stripped out the horrible initial learning curve while keeping all the things that make surf fun. No more counter-intuitive strafing to stick onto the track, and no more strafe-turning to speed up mid-air. But you had better keep thinking about hitting slopes at the correct angle to gain the maximum amount of speed. Even more than that, mastering Stuntboost requires you to have a deep level of control over your view direction. Your fingerboard (which is sick as hell btw) will turn sharply towards your camera whenever you’re on the ground, so you’re always flicking back and forth to pull off cool tricks and keep the board under control.
It feels undeniably like skating, like always having to feel out a curve because once you look that way you’re already turning that way. The sense of speed this game gives you is epic. You’ll be snowballing until you can hardly control it. There are tons of tracks to play — 10 across 4 worlds, along with a whole bunch of bonus tracks unlocked by collecting secrets. There are two levels of secret medals more difficult than the listed bronze/silver/gold times, and I’d be lying if I said I had the green Byting medal on more than two or three tracks. Another game (like Zeepkist) where the devs are just absolutely cracked. And the community is competitive and eager to help drive those times down.
And holy shit, the soundtrack.
Rating: 60 millimeters/sec out of 60.
I almost forgot about this game. I am so glad I didn’t. It’s peculiar within the realm of surf-like games. You’ve got a character with some real heft behind it, and you’ve got quite icy floors. You have no coyote time, and despite all this you’ve still got to do some strafe-boosting. I urge you to stick with it despite the low visual feedback on the jumps. There is something so exhilarating about this game, about hitting the perfect line when you’re slipping all over, about pushing jumps to the limit, and about that feeling in your stomach when you fall because you weren’t looking at the floor and messed up your timing.
This game is an incredibly rewarding grind. The individual levels don’t have bronze/silver/gold like most, but there are dev times and there are very competitve global leaderboards. Don’t expect any sort of community participation — I don’t think this game has one anymore. Maybe you can be the one to revive it?
Rating: 2 icy beams out of 2.
Shootmania-likes (2013, one of Nadeo’s earlier games)
The final category. And what a wonderful category it is. These share all the same time-attack DNA as the rest of the manialikes, but they ask you to kill stuff as fast as you can before you get to the finish-line as fast as you can.
Alongside Sinarun, I blame this game for getting me into speedrunning. It’s adorable, it’s dripping with aesthetic, it’s uncompromising, and it’s dastardly in its competitiveness. Each level begins by taunting you with the world record. And it’s drop-dead simple. WASD to move, space to jump, LMB to shoot. Walk quickly to the finish, it’s all you can do.
Unfortunately, the sanctity of the leaderboard times seem to have been ruined by cheaters. Ugh. No matter, this game still holds a supremely special place in my heart. There’s a sequel out, too, but I can’t speak to it as I haven’t played it.
Rating: 7 planets out of 7.
From the Neon White Steam page.
This might be the most critically acclaimed game I put on this list. So I won’t waste both of our times by harping on it. All I’ll say is that the Neon White community singlehandedly got me back into streaming. It was so much fun to get backseated (positive) by a community that just needs to share the wonder of their favorite game. I had one of the top runners just kicking it in chat egging me on and helping with shortcuts. And the game really is everything you’ve heard about it. The runs are satisfying and grindable, the story is enthralling, the characters are sexy. You simply cannot complain. I won’t let you.
Rating: 10/10 on both axes (hot AND crazy).
I shouldn’t have written this last. Please excuse the fact that I’m tired, boss, I’ve written four thousand words about racing games when I should have really been working. So if I don’t sound as excited about CICADAMATA” as I did about games earlier, it’s not because it’s worse.
No, CICADAMATA” is not worse. MATA”, you are doing so well. It is a thoroughly superior game. And so quintessentially non-binary. We’re kicking into OVERDRIVE. Good girl — you were made for this. Literally.
CICADAMATA” wears its inspiration on its sleeve. It’s Hypnospace Outlaw meets ULTRAKILL m—
(Huh, I should’ve put ULTRAKILL on this list.)
—eets Neon White. The main score that you get on each level depends both on how long you took and how many points you scored while killing enemies in the level. It doesn’t have an intense combo system like ULTRAKILL does, it’s much more focused on the flow of the level instead. There is a system (called being “ZONED”) that gives you double points as long as you’re killing stuff relatively frequently. Your movement options are Godspeed and Stomp from Neon White, refreshing with a satisfying sound effect according to a timer that passes quicker on the ground
There’s a leaderboard wheere you can compare your runs’ scores with others. It’s not pure time attack, it includes the points you’ve gained from being ZONED or killing enemies creatively.
The game just looks so damn cool. So you get a bunch of screenshots, courtesy of your truly. Just trying to get across the vibe.
Rating: It really does show you bootylicious fanart of the main character when you beat a new level, out of 10.
Wildcards
Here’s a couple racing games that feel relevant but don’t have a clean lineage back to the games above. Take this as the “honorable mentions” section. They don’t map so cleanly onto the genre above. But don’t worry, they’re all still time-attack and they’re all begging you to grind out some tracks for leaderboard clout.
I wanted to include this game in the “Surf-likes” section – it bears its lineage proudly. But the simple fact is that I just have not played enough of this game to write about it. Only an hour or two. I’d be recommending it based mostly on others’ recommendations, and that’s kinda silly. But, you know, people really like it.
Grand Turismo-likes
These games still have replay value, but are slightly more focused on meta-progression. Expect to have to play through the end of these games first before you can start setting competitive times on maps.
Top down rally racing game from devs that really know how to make a top down game feel good. (See their previous game: Absolute Drift (2015)) The tracks are all iconic rally locations from around the world and finding space on these tracks is such satisfying fun. The meta-progression is pretty minimal and there is a global leaderboard for every track.
I’ve played through both of these games and they’re just downright lovely. I think that these are the most arcadey of the games on the list, but don’t let that fool you. This game’s got a lot of unexpected competition. Really healthy online leaderboards, tight routing, and daily track challenges. I think I like Rally Edge a little more than GP 2 — the simulated codriver reading you pacenotes and the better camera angle really let you get into the flow state. But they’re both really fantastic entries into the “grind to win a tourney, upgrade your car or check out the dealerships, repeat” genres.