Three new racing games aim for the speed and style of their arcade ancestors

Welcome to our weekly open thread for the discussion of gaming plans, nagging questions, and whatever else we feel like talking about. No matter what the topic, we invite everyone in the comments to tell us: What Are You Playing This Weekend?
This weekend, I’m going to be playing The Next Penelope: Race To Odysseus. It’s a top-down racing game that clearly draws a lot of inspiration from both Micro Machines and F-Zero. The Steam Early Access version just went live yesterday, so I haven’t had a chance to sink my teeth in just yet. It has been on my radar for over a year because it’s the first game from developer Aurelien Regard since the dissolution of his previous studio, Arkedo. I was a big fan of Arkedo’s work, from Nervous Brickdown to Hell Yeah! Wrath Of The Dead Rabbit, but I was especially taken with Big Bang Mini, a clever spin on the “bullet hell” style of shoot-’em-ups that was inspired by fireworks displays. Penelope also boasts some rather massive shmup-style battles, so I know I’ve got that to look forward to.
The Next Penelope is coming along at a rather auspicious time, as 2015 is shaping up to be a banner year for independently produced arcade-style racing games. Along with Penelope, here are two more with pre-release portions you can download and play right now: