Why did I start this series with the third entry, released only in Japan but blessed with a great fan translation? It's hard to say, but I had a fun time!

My initial impressions were mixed. Extremely basic courses with AI drivers that were impossible to outpace had me infuriated, and while I enjoyed driving around the game's town, I didn't feel myself progressing at all. I'd heard the game was a (ca)RPG, with you advancing by upgrading your vehicle to overcome challenges. When I eventually located the game's shop, this system began to flourish! While the game very rarely offers up interesting choices (most parts are standard statistical upgrades), you do have to consider what kind of tyres would be best suited to the track ahead of you. It's not especially complex, but it's compelling enough to keep me invested. What really works here is how the races rarely become trivial due to your car's abilities. You still have to work hard (even harder given how fast your car begins to move (steering becomes a true test of skill)) - in order to win each race.

What sets Choro-Q apart from other racers - as well as the reason I picked it up initially - is just how colourful and quaint the presentation is. While the cars aren't anthropomorphic as such, they have a certain quality to their designs that personifies them; it certainly helps that their headlights and grills make up somewhat of a face. These cute vehicles are plopped into beautiful dioramas of tracks, ranging from things you'd see in Formula 1 to Mario Kart. It brought me a lot of pleasure to see where the game would take me next, and I was rarely disappointed with the results. These tracks are twisty, and mastering each is a reward in and of itself. The game has some incredibly awkward turns, which makes mastery consistently tough. What I learnt after a while was that there was always an answer to even the bumpiest roads.

Despite there being so much more to Choro-Q 3, that's all I have to say about it. It's abundantly joyful, surprisingly challenging and full of treats that'll keep you on your toes. The town is ridiculously dense in its design and should you desite it, this game can keep you occupied for many hours.

Can't be objective about this one, it's one of my most comfort games ever and I try to play it every year around christmas dates. Dunno why, it feels fitting with the overall mood.

I love it not just for its charm but also for being unique and original in what it proposes. In a time where every racing game wanted to appeal to an adult public with super cars in a more realistic setting (without the means to do so), Tamsoft sets the player in a fantasy, open world but without either getting unbelievable by any means. It gets a bit "mario karty" in circuit designs as it goes on, but that doesn't make it lose its ground of being based on irl (toy) cars.

When I was a child, our Playstation had mostly just driving games, so I really developed a taste for that particular genre and even equate the whole platform on the great car games it had. I never played Choro Q back then, but there were almost no issues for me to dive right into this game. It felt right like going back home.

Now, despite it's cutesy and bright style, this game has some serious learning curve. The cars are really light and rather tall, so they spin out really easily on almost every curve. The cpu hardly does any mistakes, but takes the corners really slow so overcoming the difficulty in this game is mostly just about choosing the right tires and making those turns faster than your opponents. You can even use the slippery mechanics to your advantage and drift around the difficult curves, dominating everyone else. Once you get the hang of it, you feel like a god.

Little disappointingly, the difficulty drops after the second grand prix. At that point, you have most likely already mastered the driving mechanics and going into the third and last gp, the other cars are not that consistent with their placements. If you drive couple first races well enough, you can even come last in the final race since nobody can reach your point total any longer.

Still, this is a super solid game and I would highly recommend this if you like driving/racing games and want to have a little twist to the style.