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Yea I know, it’s bullshit but I pulled out nearly all my Mario games and took a photo. Here is that photo:

Honestly surprised I couldn't find an impressions thread for this, especially considering how fantastic previous entries in the series were. Anyway, I got this (and CTR) in a racing sale on Xbox, mainly because my kid keeps going on about how much he loves playing it on Switch in his mum's, so I thought it'd be a cool way for him to show me something he likes. He bounced off it when he realised I'm better than him. I'm hooked, though. Is it as good as Transformed? God no. But is that familiar Adventure mode that combines traditional races, Grand Prix events and cool little challenges still present and correct? God yes. I'm trying to take down some of the harder achievements. Up to now I have two that less than 1% of people have earned. I don't think it's because the challenges are especially difficult (although there are one or two that I've been stuck on). I think it's probably because tons of parents would have bought this for their kids without realising there are some damn punishing things to take on. I suppose this post would be pointless without a shit sandwich, though, wouldn't it? So here's the filling. It feels so. Damn. Slow. It doesn't matter if you hit a boost plate, use a wisp (more on those in a second), or manage to powerslide into one of those cool Sonic blue boosts as you straighten out of a corner. Nothing feels as fast as it should be. To the point I got irritated and started shouting 'why the fuck are you in a car when you can run faster than this you stupid blue cunt?' Some events give you a boost start. It feels like it moves at about the speed of a geriatric in Tesco on a Tuesday afternoon. A lot of reviews from when it came out said the same thing, and I just don't understand how it can feel this sluggish. Now. The Wisps. These are the Mario Kart-style power ups that these racing games use. The only difference between them is the colours. I haven't noticed any difference in their shapes. So while you're racing it's hard to see what they do, unless you know each one already. This is a pain in the ass when you're neck and neck with that annoying crocodile dude. Final complaint. The best-named Sonic character is nowhere to be seen. Sonic Advance 2's Cream the Rabbit. The joke from Games TM has stuck with me since I read the review all those years ago. "No idea if that's a name or instruction." As the other piece of bread on this poop butty, when you get into a rhythm with each course it's really satisfying. The ring challenges especially. I really like the flow as you move from powerslide to powerslide. Will I get all of the achievements? God no. Will I keep playing until I hit the unattainable goals? God yes.

So it was a toss up between this and cyberpunk. I tried them both and decided the 'punk' can wait a bit longer. This game is right up my street, even more so than origins. I thought I'd just give it a few hours then move on to a pallette cleanser before tackling it full on (as I'd just put 50 hours into origins). 27 hours later I'm level 90 and still only on the second of the 2 initial story arcs (which are level 20😀). There's nothing about the game I don't like, although having said that, if there's something I feel is a bit of an unreasonable burden on my time (like floating paper collectibles) I just dismiss them. The stuff I like, the exploration, the raids, the combat, the little world vignettes, the stealth is all spot on for me. But, surprisingly, it's the main story arcs that are really up there. The writing in this is really good. I love it.

Not bought too much retro/eBay stuff in recent years... Went a bit mad recently. Shame beatmania doesn't work