Collectibles in a Race

Collectibles are elements in games placed with a specific amount meant to be collected by different means, making the exploration, challenge and the game overall more rewarding and fun for the player, however some racing games and even games out of the genre uses the same idea while having to worry with winning a race, with some games making it a bad combination for wrong and similar reasons.

When the main purpose of a race lose it's place.

Examples

• Donkey Kong 64: the Bettle Race missions require an amount of DK Coins and also win the race, an infamous example of a race which require both objectives.

• Sonic R: Sonic Tokens are hidden in certain routes and not reaching third place or above doesn't register them, Emeralds on the other hand only get registered in first place.

• Diddy Kong Racing: similar to the second example there are keys hidden in the tracks (see image above), and a mode with Silver Coins.

• Klonoa Dream Champ Tournament: features Dream Stones and a Gear in the last visions which are about racing to the finish against a rival, and free camera feature (R button) is disabled.

Why It Sucks When Done Wrong

1. The idea of collectibles while having to win a race at times doesn't go well and can make the respective games, levels or tracks annoying.
2. Who really think that having to do actual exploration and collect in a race (or even make collectibles a clear condition like the first example) is a good idea?
3. Some of them only gets registered if the character reaches first place like in Sonic R.
4. There is little to no help with finding them without trial and error or using a not in-game guide in most cases.
5. It has a chance of letting CPUs with a big advantage if said collectables are in a slow path, hidden in a place out of the race layout, near hazards or bottomless pits.
6. Not helping is if CPUs can easily hurt the playable character, resulting in slowing down the player or losing certain amount of collectibles like in Bettle Races.
   • Of course, don't forget the fact that they rarely (or never) have to worry about collecting them, even if it is mandatory like in DK64.
7. Failing one or both objectives results in having to try a level or circuit all over again.

Redemming Qualities

1. As part of the game completion those all end up being optional (despite DK64 being an expection, Bettle Races can still be ignored).
2. There are games who do it in a better way, like Kirby's Epic Yarn where some collectibles are in different routes which don't slow down the character and Mario Kart DS with Mission Mode.

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