Play Family Circuit '91 (Japan) Online

Game Overview

Family Circuit '91 is one of those NES games that slipped under the radar outside Japan, which is a shame because it’s basically a proto-Mario Kart with its own weird charm. You pick from these tiny, oddly shaped cars—some handle like bricks, others drift way too easily—and race on tracks that feel like someone took a child’s crayon drawings and turned them into pixelated circuits.

The controls are surprisingly tight once you get used to them, though good luck convincing your friends of that during split-screen. You’ll be bumping into each other, spinning out on banana peels (yep, they stole that idea early), and laughing at how absurdly fast the AI gets on later cups. It’s janky in that very specific early '90s way, where the music loops endlessly and the graphics look like someone smeared primary colors everywhere, but that’s half the fun.

If you dig obscure racing games or just want to see where kart racers got some of their ideas, this one’s a weird little time capsule. Just don’t expect it to go easy on you.