"Crash Nitro Kart" features 6 racing modes: Adventure, Race Time Trial, Lap Time Trial, Quick Race, Team Race and Cup Tournament. Some modes are free-for-all, while others can be played as a team. The "Adventure Mode" is a single-player game in which the player must race through all of the tracks and arenas in the game and collect as many Trophies, Relics, Boss Keys, CNK Tokens and Gems as possible. The objective of the Adventure Mode is to win all the races of the five different worlds and win the freedom of the playable characters from the tyrannical Emperor Velo XXVII. The hub world of the game is Velo's Coliseum, from which the player can access any of the five other worlds through special gates. Most of these gates are initially locked; the player must complete the races of one world to gain access to the next world. When inside a world, the player may access a race by driving the selected character onto a "Warp Pad". By winning a race, the player will receive a Trophy. When the player receives all three Trophies in a world, the player will be able to race against that world's champion, who acts as a boss character. If the player manages to defeat the world's champion, the champion will relinquish a World Key. This allows the player to engage in the special modes of that world and enables access to the next world.