Along with the 10 racers on the starting grid, there are three modes to choose from. Smack Attack is just a free-for-all where the first contestant to meet the required number of hits wins, but it’s still Cel Damage HD’s purest setup. Flag Rally is basically ‘Capture the Flag’, except all the flags are running about on their own respective pair of legs and need to be dropped off in a special area to ‘bank’ them. Gate Relay is the poorest of the three, with its basic racing formula falling apart mostly due to the sloppy handling model. There are 13 arenas to choose from, and 10 characters to play with, but with only three modes Cel Damage HD is still frustratingly bare almost 18 years on.
It’s easy to make the argument that Cel Damage would have a much greater chance at success with the introduction of online multiplayer – something this writer has made the case for in regards to similar ports in the past – but online servers aren’t going to elevate this game any more than its local options. This is the kind of game that works best when played in the same room as your friends, laughing out loud as you smash a mate into a croc-infested swamp while swinging a giant baseball bat. With support for up to four players, this Switch version is already a significant step up from the version that appeared on Vita many years ago. It’s just a shame this long-in-the-tooth local multiplayer affair lacks anything new to make its Switch port stand out in a very dense crowd.
Cel Damage HD isn’t going to rocket to the top of the eShop charts and become the kind of unit-selling monster that publishers only dream of, but that doesn’t mean it should be passed up if you’re a brand new player. As a local multiplayer affair, its vehicular combat is bombastic and silly in a way that makes for countless rewarding matches. It’s still too easy to unlock every new weapon and arena in a couple of hours, but with full support for four-player multiplayer, this cartoonish caper finally gets the handheld iteration it deserved all along.