I loved "Woody the Woodpicker" when I was a child, it was the favorite of many arab people. Mario Kart clone of it definitely worth a try.

The screenshots you provided are for the PS1 version. But the post is about the Game Boy Color version, I have played neither but some of the things you said felt more about PS1 version, that's weird.

Anyway, I included this post in my Gaming Daily if you want to check it out.