 The Game Boy Advance version was reviewed positively. Frank Provo of GameSpot stated that "the characters aren 't nearly as popular as those in Nintendo's Mario Kart game, but the deeper gameplay makes up for that to an extent." Craig Harris of IGN criticized the patches of slowdown in the game, but thought that otherwise it "would be a close contender for best kart racer on the handheld." Nintendo Power concluded that "although Crash Nitro Kart doesn 't bring anything new to the kart-racing genre, it's a fast and amusing play that Crash Bandicoot fans will enjoy."
