Most Wonderful Sound: Many people were rather excited when the trailer for the upcoming World Series revealed that BRIAN BLESSED was the announcer for the game.
No Problem with Licensed Games: It helps that the licence is for a series of toys rather than a film or something, but up to and including V3 (followed by dropping the party element and including the very different Micro Maniacs) the series were some of the best party games ever produced. 64, Turbo, and the remake of the original also got adequate reception, and while Micro Maniacs would naturally be a little far out for fans of the franchise, newcomers to the series liked it.
The best known ones are the original, which is loved for it's simplicity and eclectic design, and V3, which managed to smoothly transition into 3D.
That One Level: The sandpit levels in the first game. If your dune buggy went into the water, it took a very long time to sink - eating up a large period of time while your opponents got ever further ahead. Happily avoided in the later games with water hazards, as the cars would sink much faster.
ALL the desktop sportscar levels, due to so many falloff points and the cars moving far faster than most reaction speeds. MM1's finale, "Win This Race To Be Champion", is particularly heinous.
The real offender, however, was the Rufftrux levels. Not only are you likely to sink, but it's against an unbelievably stingy time limit. With all the sinking, it's very difficult to actually finish one. To add insult to injury, if you get 1st on all the races, this'll get you a Rufftrux level just after a Formula 1 race, which also qualifies for this trope. If you lost lives falling off the table (or onto the table), you won't be able to get them back (they're the prize for completing a Rufftrux level).
This is one of the main reasons the games have such a large fanbase; memorizing the course's tricks and finding specific ways of clearing them is a major part of the game's challenge.
