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MK is weirdly different?! Weapons auto-hold behind you, which is nice but needs relearning - It's a good leveller though and will mean our kids don't have such a disadvantage. Feels a bit slow to me (started with 150cc, but this feels closer to 75). The grinding is annoying, it doesn't seem to need any skill and can mean you miss things you want to collect next to a rail. Maybe I need to learn something new? I really don't understand why it was added yet. Looks lovely, runs super smoothly so far! Does not seem to top MK8 yet (although I'm only 1 GP in!).

We have no Switch 2 tag!☹️ We have a Switch 2 tag!🙂 Played through all the cups on baby difficulty so I feel like I can say some stuff about this. If you have played the previous game feel free to skip a few lines. Fundamentally this feels very similar to RMX or Neo on WiiU, which often got compared to F-Zero, but I never quite understood why. It features heavy, weighty gliders that are more reminiscent of WipeOut than Nintendo's tight racer, though it also ditches the former's weapons, so in terms of design it's somewhere in-between. Like the previous games you collect orbs around the track that feed into your boost gauge, switch colour to drive over appropriately marked speed pads – the usual. The new stuff comes in the form of, well, everything just being better. I really like Shin'en and their games, but sometimes they can have a whiff of tech demo upon which someone dropped a relatively basic videogame. Fusion is a massive step forward in that regard and actually feels like a really accomplished racing game in its own right. I think this is mostly due to two things: handling is significantly improved and track design more ambitious than before. While it does retain the heaviness, the floatiness and all that jazz it now feels more in line with what it wants to be as a racing game. It's hard to describe but like they finally figured out the right weight, the right track widths or something – I can't put my finger on it but it just straight up plays better. The tracks, meanwhile, ditch most of those rather cheap-ish hazards that could lead to instant respawns, while also ramping up the length in some cases, though without any single lap overstaying its welcome. The first cup can feel a bit tame and underwhelming but it really improves with the second and stays on that high for the other two. Also new is a surprisingly well integrated jump mechanic you can use to reach shortcuts or collect orbs that fill your boost quicker. But the jump itself slows you down a tad and there's many parts where you can just jump to your death, so it's a very deliberate feature that has to be timed well and used sparingly. Speaking of orbs, not only do they fill your boost during the race, but they also double as currency, which you can spend to unlock cups, ships and music tracks. And to keep the combo going, the music is a lot more diverse than ever before – different genres, themes and instruments make every track stand out more than in previous games where the synthetic sounds could blend together rather quickly. There's some shortcomings here, too, of course. 12 tracks isn't a ton and it doesn't have any online multiplayer. But then you consider this was made by basically only three people (the credits mention six, but three of them did the music) and I think those negatives start to be easy to forgive, especially as they already announced a free content upgrade down the line. @mfnick will also be pleased to hear that unlike the other racing game on Switch 2, which costs roughly 70 bucks more depending on territory, this one allows you to freely remap your buttons. Also, speaking of options, it has four graphics modes (two in handheld), but I can't speak too much on that because all bar one are for displays with higher resolutions than my TV. No screenshots because I haven't yet figured out how to share them without using their app. Or maybe you just can't.