Forza Horizon 6 is one of the best-reviewed games of the year, and has made 2026 a banner year for racing games fans. These days, the genre rarely sees such huge, big-budget, mass-market productions as this, let alone ones that turn out so well.
If you’re starting to tire of the Festival Playlists, though — or if you’re a PlayStation player still waiting for Forza Horizon 6 to come to PS5 — then early September brings another essential racing game, albeit one from right at the other end of the scale.
Super Woden: Rally Edge is an arcade time trial game made by solo Spanish developer ViJuDa. It was released on Steam back in January, to great acclaim from people who really know their racing games. On Sept. 2 it will get a console release, courtesy of Eastasiasoft, on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. (There’s a physical edition coming in October that also includes the game’s predecessors, Super Woden GP and Super Woden GP 2.)
Super Woden: Rally Edge is a retro arcade racing game that’s simplicity itself. It’s just about you and the track, and the only goal is to beat the time for the stage. Like the other Super Woden games, it has a high, top-down camera angle that gives it a kind of toylike, Micro Machines-style view. The grainy, slightly cel-shaded aesthetic is inspired by early Gran Turismo and other PS1-era games, and it’s full of unlicensed tributes to great retro rally cars like the Lancia Stratos.
Most importantly, it drives brilliantly. Rally Edge is a purist’s dream with a simple but fantastic handling model, and you can’t fail to be sucked into mastering the courses and shaving seconds off your times. There’s a surprisingly expansive career mode in which you can buy and upgrade your cars, as well as solid local multiplayer for four players. Oh, and it’s also got an absolutely banging soundtrack.
Super Woden: Rally Edge is the best kind of retro throwback — a game that does one thing exceptionally well in a way nobody else does any more. Give its immediate thrills a chance when it launches on consoles on Sept. 2.
