Disney Speedstorm

EngineJet EnginePlatform(s)ReleaseGenre(s)Kart racingMode(s)Single-player and multiplayer

Disney Speedstorm is a free-to-play kart racing game developed by Gameloft Barcelona and published by Gameloft.^[5][6] It features various Disney and Pixar characters racing vehicles on tracks themed after the worlds of their films and franchises.^{[7][8][9][10]} The game was released in a pay-for early access on 18 April 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S,^[1][2] with a soft launch on iOS and Android on 1 August 2023.^[3][4] It left early access on 28 September 2023.^[11]

Gameplay

Disney Speedstorm is a free-to-play kart racing game with a roster composed of characters from various Disney properties, such as the Mickey and Friends, Pirates of the Caribbean, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story and Beauty and the Beast franchises, among others.^{[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]} Various minor Disney characters appear as "crew members" that provide stat boosts and other enhancements for characters from their affiliated collections (franchises), such as the Orange Bird serving as a Crew Member for Figment.^[19]

The gameplay is similar to Mario Kart.^[20] Racers, as the game refers to its playable characters, can drift to improve their cornering and charge their nitro boost, which can only be used when the boost meter full. Racers also get a small drift boost from long drifts (indicated by their tires glowing blue), which also gives them an extra boost charge. Racers can sideswipe other Racers to knock them aside, jump to reach higher grounds or dodge obstacles, offensive power-ups or other Racers, perform aerial stunts off designated jumps for a small speed boost upon landing, and grind on designated blue rails to also gain nitro boost. Racers can also pick up various power-ups, called "skills", by driving through sprites with the image of Arbee, the game's emotive AI mascot, on them. These skills include offensive weapons that stun Racers, shields that protect Racers from stuns, cloaks that make Racers intangible and invisible, nitro boost charges, rushes that provide sudden bursts of speed, and hacks that flip a Racer's screen, potentially confusing them. Skills can also be "charged" to cause different effects; for example, a charged shield allows a Racer to stun another Racer who drives into them, at the cost of not being protected from being stunned. The availability of the various skills depends on the Racer (except in "Single Skill" races, mentioned below); for example, some Racers can receive and use shields while others can receive and use cloaks.

Game modes

The game includes various different single-player and multiplayer modes. Single-player modes include "Starter Circuit", a series of events divided into chapters focusing on a single racer (specifically Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy; Mulan, Hercules and Jack Sparrow previously had their own dedicated chapters during the first two seasons) that effectively serves as the game's "tutorial", limited events, which offer rewards for completing specific objectives or for getting a fast time on a leaderboard compared with other players online, and Season Tour, a limited-time campaign mode that changes each new content season. Multiplayer includes ranked multiplayer, where players race to earn points to unlock tiers of rewards for each of their unlocked Racers, regulated multiplayer,^[21][22] a separate ranked multiplayer (with its own set of rewards that change weekly) that puts all Racers at the same performance levels, "Private Track", which allows players to set up their own custom races online with friends or invited players, and "Local Freeplay", the game's only offline mode, which features custom races for one to four players (one or two players on older consoles) in split-screen multiplayer.^[23][24]

The races themselves are available in different types that feature different gimmicks: "Classic" is a traditional race; "Single Skill" forces all Racers to use the same power-up skill (usually an offensive item such as a mine); "Floating Objects" have speed boosts and power-up items floating above the ground, thus forcing Racers to jump to reach them; "Fog Challenge" covers the track in a dense fog—limiting visibility—and removes the minimap from the player's heads-up display; and "Last One Standing" is an elimination race where after a short (and declining) amount of time passes, the last place Racer either loses a "shield drone" and is teleported ahead on the track to try to avoid falling back to last or is eliminated if they have no more drones remaining. In the season two update in June 2023, the game added two new race types called "Color Match" and "Follow the Leader";^[18] the former type forces players to pick up power-up items corresponding to one of two colors—green and purple—each of them is assigned to as indicated by the HUD and an underglow effect beneath their vehicle, switching between colors during the race, while the latter adds a long slipstream trail behind the race leader that provides a speed boost to the racers following the trail.

Characters and maps

As of February 2024, the game has a total of 50 playable characters, referred to as Racers, from fourteen Disney media franchises.^{[14][15][16][17][18]} Additionally, each franchise, except for the Disney Parks and WALL-E, also has an affiliated map (each featuring multiple track layouts), with Mickey Mouse & Friends having two (one based on modern Mickey Mouse media and one based on classic black-and-white shorts such as Steamboat Willie), while Disney Speedstorm itself has an original environment called "Arbee's Arena".

The game also features a wide voice cast, most of whom reprise their respective characters from their original works.^[25][26][27]

 ‡  – Upcoming racer/franchise/map

 §  – Non-playable character

Franchises

Asphalt Dungeon Hunter Gangstar Gangstar Vegas GT Racing: Motor Academy Hero of Sparta Modern Combat NFL N.O.V.A. Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance 2: The Hero Rises Again N.O.V.A. 3 Order & Chaos Online Order & Chaos 2: Redemption Real Football Siberian Strike
Nights series	New York Nights: Success in the City New York Nights 2: Friends For Life Miami Nights: Singles in the City Paris Nights Tokyo City Nights

Individual gamesLicensed games

Ubisoft-licensed	Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles Brothers in Arms 3: Sons of War Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
Disney-licensed	Disney Dreamlight Valley Disney Magic Kingdoms Disney Speedstorm
Marvel-licensed	The Amazing Spider-Man The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Iron Man 2 Iron Man 3 Spider-Man Unlimited
Other licenses	Lego Legacy: Heroes Unboxed My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn Uno

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