Discovering Armored Core

Fromsoft has always been one of my biggest gaming blindspots, as the infamously high difficulty of their Souls series always left me a bit cautious about delving into their work. But this year I decided to change that... by getting into their far more niche series Armored Core instead. I've been playing through all the PS1 and PS2 entries of Armored Core over the past few months, and came away with a lot to say. So I wanted to talk about my impressions and takeaways from my experience with the Armored Core series.

Armored Core: Armored Core is a more realistic and dystopian take on the mecha genre, having you play as a mercenary called a Raven doing odd jobs as you try to scrounge up money to improve your mech. These games have some incredibly deep customization and resource management with how using ammo and losing health costs the money you get paid with, and when you add in some rigid tank controls and consistently steep difficulty curves, whichever game I played first was going to be a bit tough to get used to. And even then, this first entry puts absolutely zero effort in letting you adjust to the controls, and I spent the first few stages clumsily bumbling around and barely staying out of the negatives. It does kinda work in Armored Core 1's favor though. This is still one of the bleakest games in the series, both in terms of its dark PS1-era visuals and its woefully cynical story that has you ally with one of two competing corporations only for them to brand you as dangerous and turn on you. There's none of the goofy cutscenes, bombastic music, or pure fun arena battles that the later games would add, and that's kinda cool. Everything about Armored Core 1 feels deliberately designed to make the player understand how miserable being a Raven would be, and it leads to a unique atmosphere that helps it stand out.

That being said, this still means AC1 is held back a bit in terms of fun factor. As I said, there's no Arena here which would end up becoming one of my favorite things about the series, and the customization is a lot more lacking than in the sequels. In exchange, there's nearly 50 missions in this entry but that's not exactly a great thing. While there are some fairly fun and iconic missions in AC1, most of them tend to either be incredibly short and frustrating hostile, boasting surprise AC fights, clunky platforming, and of course, Fromsoft's very first poison level. There is a stretch in the middle of Armored Core 1 where everything clicks and doing mission after mission can get really fun, but that's only after you get past that initial hurdle of learning the gameplay, and eventually another difficulty spike hits hard. It all culminates in AC1's infamously awful final mission which has you do some brutal vertical platforming, and then fight two 9-Balls in a row just to twist the knife further. It's such a disappointing way to end an otherwise solid start to the series.

B Tier

Armored Core: Project Phantasma: Project Phantasma is very much an expansion to the first game, being a lot lighter in content and even using the same soundtrack. But that's not always a bad thing because I'd argue Project Phantasma is a lot more refined than its predecessor. For starters, the arena has been introduced and while it feels pretty undercooked in this game due to the basic opponent AI, it is a welcome addition. As for the campaign, it only has 17 missions but makes up for that with all of them feeling developed, fleshed-out, and worthwhile. Most of the missions in Project Phantasma tend to feel really dynamic, often having multiple parts to them and even some in-engine cutscenes to spice things up. There's a great level of variety to the missions and many of them have you infiltrating a variety of bases which is always a fun time. Overall, I got a lot more enjoyment out of this game solely because the missions were more interesting.

However, if there's one area where Project Phantasma drops the ball, it's the atmosphere. While I love the fact that there is a more developed story with cutscenes, a hammy goofball of a villain in Stinger, and even a partner, the tone here feels weirdly light-hearted for an Armored Core game. Project Phantasma plays out more like a fun blockbuster spy thriller which is fun in its own way but feels completely at odds with the other two games in the PS1 trilogy. It also doesn't help that this game is easy as sin, it barely gave me any trouble across its entire runtime and that's only made worse by how much money the arena gives you. So for as much as I enjoyed this one, I still think there's more potential for an Armored Core game that can blend the polish of Project Phantasma with the atmosphere of the first game...

B Tier 

Armored Core: Master Of Arena: ...And thankfully, Master Of Arena is mostly that game. In terms of the presentation, Master Of Arena is the best PS1 game by a landslide in so many ways. I love the story being a revenge tale, in which the protagonist becomes a Raven to take down 9-Ball once and for all. Considering how terrifying the run-in with 9-Ball in the first game was, this setup made me both excited and scared to get my own payback. The stages still had in-engine cutscenes and a greater story context, but the tone felt more mature once again. The soundtrack is also easily the best out of the PS1 trilogy as well, with tracks like Rescue, 9, and Synoptic Dope standing out as series highlights. 

I think the best thing about Master Of Arena is how it intertwined the Arena and the normal campaign. The game forces you to alternate between arena battles and standard missions, and doing both is what progresses the plot. This allows the game to have really strong pacing throughout, while also being a lot more balanced than PP in its difficulty since you won't be able to grind a ton of arena money before doing a single mission. Personally, I do think the missions in MoA aren't quite as developed as the ones in its predecessor, some of them are still pretty short, but at the very least, none of them are annoying either. And I'd say the improved Arena makes up for the weaker missions with its more varied opponents, each with a unique gimmick and a cute little bio explaining their backstory. It was just fun to see all the different wacky mech designs, and I can't even imagine how many more were in the postgame EX Arena. 

I'd also say Master Of Arena was the first game where I felt truly confident in my abilities, and it's so masterful at showing this off by constantly pushing you into different situations. This was the first time I fully completed an arena in an Armored Core game, and the various missions had me fighting off ACs pretty much constantly. Compared to the first game where I was terrified every time an unfamiliar mech would show up, I was wrecking house throughout most of Master Of Arena and it felt great. This all culminates in one of my favorite finales to an Armored Core game which has you face off against 9-Ball, then multiple 9-Balls at a time, and then a souped up 9-Ball all in a row. This sounds impossible and I didn't even think I'd be able to beat MoA, but I did, and it felt incredible. Maybe this is why people like the Souls games.

A Tier 

Armored Core 2: Armored Core 2 is the first entry for the PS2 and it... really doesn't change much. Like it does feel a bit smoother than the PS1 games, especially jumping, and the 60fps framerate is a boon, but it mostly feels like a direct sequel to Master Of Arena. Hell, some of the missions are straight-up reused from previous games. However, while I was still hoping for a bit more from what's supposed to be the big next gen leap, what we got was still really great. AC2 feels like a game with the same heft and scope of the original Armored Core, just with a lot of the improvements and QoL additions of PP and MoA. The mission design is some of the most interesting so far with the PS2 allowing for more varied environments and in-depth cutscenes than ever before, the Arena keeps up the level of quality from MoA by having even more memorable and strange opponents to face off against, and the customization has been further fleshed-out with stuff like extensions, hover legs, and heat management. 

The story is a bit of a slow-burn in this one, with the first half of the game mostly revolving around you doing various disconnected missions for corporations, albeit with a neat Mars aesthetic to keep it feeling somewhat fresh visually. But then the Frighteners appear, and things get a bit more interesting. Throughout the second half, you'll be having constant run-ins with these raven-hunting ACs, all building towards the reveal of their leader, Leos Klein. And continuing the trend of amazing Armored Core villains, Klein is not only another wonderfully hammy and threatening antagonist, he's also the first AC to ever defeat Nine-Ball (which means he may potentially be you from Master of Arena?!). It's such a cool twist, and the massive three-mission finale boasting multiple AC fights against Klein, an aerial battleship assault, and an atmospheric last stage on Phobos ends the game on a strong note... even if I was able to pretty easily beat Klein himself with enough pure missile spam.

I'd still say Master Of Arena is overall a more satisfying package, but Armored Core 2 is a solid second place so far. AC2 starts slow, can feel pretty derivative, and still has a few rough spots with its objective signposting, but it still feels like a more refined version of the previous games with a lot of strong missions and arena battles of its own. It's a very iterative sequel, but it does show Fromsoft figuring out what Armored Core does best and really leaning on those strengths.

A Tier 

Armored Core 2: Another Age: Compared to Project Phantasma and Master Of Arena, Another Age is more blatantly an expansion pack to AC2. There's no story nor is there an Arena, it's just a collection of 100 missions for you to do at your leisure. As a result, I hope you'll excuse me for not beating this one. This is just too many missions and I have zero motivation to do them all, even knowing that the true ending brings back the final bosses of the PS1 games which is admittedly a pretty cool throwback. It also doesn't help that the quality of the missions wasn't that great either from what I've played. After three games worth of missions that feel purposeful and varied, Another Age goes back to the AC1 formula of plopping you in a arena with a bunch of enemies and having you kill them all for many of its missions. Hell, many of these missions utilize the exact same arenas just with different enemy arrangements and it gets repetitive fast. I'm sure there are plenty of genuinely great missions I probably haven't gotten to yet, but I'd rather play an Armored Core game with 30 missions that are all great than have to wade through the filler. It's a textbook example of quantity over quality, and while Armored Core at its weakest is still pretty fun, I can't say it kept my attention.

I also think it's worth noting that Another Age kinda feels like the end of an era for the series. Gen 1 & 2 are pretty closely connected in terms of their story, aesthetics, soundtrack, and especially the overall tone, which still generally has a sense of fun to it. Gen 3 marks the series' first big reboot and a permanent shift towards much darker territory, so for all its flaws, I do appreciate Another Age being a farewell to the early days of the Armored Core series, nostalgic throwbacks and all. 

C Tier 

Armored Core 3: Armored Core 3 is yet another pretty iterative sequel, not really changing too much aside from QoL improvements. If anything, it's even more iterative than AC2 since it basically reboots the series and copies the story setup wholesale, and the few changes that were made are a bit hit-or-miss with me. So let me get through my issues with AC3 first. The economy feels a lot stricter especially in the early-game, I found myself losing money in missions a lot more often which forced me to grind out arena battles a lot at first. The arena itself while still fun also has less interesting opponents than the ones in MoA and AC2. The story is even more of a slow-burn than the one in AC2 with an even less exciting payoff than the introduction of the Frighteners, and the AI Controller plot just didn't have me as invested as everything involving Leos Klein. I also kinda prefer the more futuristic Martian aesthetics of AC2, they felt a lot slicker and more unique to me, but that's more of a minor subjective thing.

Where AC3 does excel, however, is in its general feeling of refinement across the board. Controls feel even smoother than before, with aerial combat in particular feeling infinitely better and more viable. The mission structure combines that of pretty much all the previous games, so you need to do missions to rank up in the arena, and the missions themselves are segmented into different locations like in Another Age. With 49 total missions, this is also the biggest numbered AC game to date, but it has a much stronger overall quality than AC1 and Another Age especially as it goes on. The emphasis on Raven teamups is pretty unique too. Usually it feels like you're alone and that any Raven "partner" will inevitably turn on you, but you're constantly getting to fight alongside other Ravens and can even hire cohorts on certain missions which is a neat change of pace. The difficulty curve is also the best in the series so far, AC3 does a great job at easing you in unlike AC1 and AC2 and there's an impressive lack of difficulty spikes. I also like the orchestral-techno soundtrack, it gives me some serious Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity vibes, and there are plenty of nice additions like left-handed projectiles and the garage and shop being in the same part of the menu. 

So overall, I did find Armored Core 3 to be yet another really fun Armored Core game, a big step in the right direction after Another Age with the most polish out of any game in the series. However, overall, I was kinda surprised to realize that I think I prefer AC2. Even with AC3's mechanical improvements, I found AC2 to have tighter pacing, a more interesting story, and a better Arena. At this point, I do hope that Fromsoft will start to shake things up a bit more soon because these numbered Armored Core games, while still really good, are starting to feel pretty samey.

B Tier 

Silent Line: Armored Core: Silent Line was the Armored Core game I was looking forward to the most, everything I've heard about it looks right up my alley. Basically Armored Core 3 but with a tighter campaign with more developed missions and nearly double the customization parts? Sounds great! But did Silent Line actually live up to the hype for me? Hell, yeah.

Silent Line is pretty much an improved followup to Armored Core 3, improving on all of its issues and enhancing everything it did right. The way the arena and campaign are structured is pretty much identical, as is the core movement, but everything is just executed slightly better this time around. The campaign is the obvious standout, of course. It is a bit shorter than AC3's campaign but it's a lot tighter in its pacing, with every single mission feeling memorable, developed, creative, and interesting. Silent Line doesn't even suffer from the slow start that other Armored Core games have as its early missions will already have you boarding a submarine, crushing cars to distract the enemy, putting out fires, and trying to differentiate enemies from friendlies without your radar. Most of the missions have multiple moving parts to them and surprise AC battles, and they only get more complex, challenging, and exciting as the game goes on. If I had any gripes, there may be a few too many "protect X" missions, but that's really it. And even then, these are easily the most unique and engaging protection missions to date. Silent Line's mission design is far and away the best in the series so far, leaps and bounds over any prior entry as far as I'm concerned.

I also think the Arena is a solid improvement in a lot of areas. While it still isn't quite as lovably gimmicky as the AC2 Arena, it is a lot more challenging with some of the smartest AC AI to date and the addition of destructible arms forcing you to play a lot more tactically. Silent Line's Arena can't really be brute-forced as easily as the previous arenas, and I think that's for the better. I also think customization and the general economy is the best it's ever been. While the earlier missions may still be a bit tough to profit off of, this game showers you with secret parts that you can find through exploration and completing objectives along with the fact that you can carry over your AC3 mech. The shop also really opens up boasting over 400 parts to try out including a full suite of left-arm projectiles which gives you so many build options. Even the story is a solid improvement with an intriguing mystery plotline about what lies on the surface that culminates in a far better final boss than AC3's and a pretty sweet reveal to cap off the game. The fact that Silent Line takes place above ground this time almost means the environments are way more interesting than the ones in AC3, and the game has this noir-esque foggy atmosphere that really helps it stand out. And of course, best of all, Silent Line's soundtrack is the best one so far as well with a ton of really catchy, moody, and bopping tracks like Scrambling Film, Rise In Arms, and Monkey Likes Daddy.

So yeah, Silent Line: Armored Core is incredible. It's hands down my favorite one so far and it's not even close. While it may seem overly similar to AC3 on the surface and I suppose it is, but everything about it is immaculately well-executed. Between the stellar mission design, engaging Arena, strong atmosphere, immense replay value, and overwhelming customization, Silent Line ticks pretty much all of the Armored Core boxes. If this is the last game with the tank control scheme, I couldn't imagine a better way for it to go out. 

S Tier  

Armored Core Nexus: What the hell did they do?!

Man, I was so excited for Nexus since I knew Fromsoft was finally going to add dual-analog controls, and to give credit where it's due, they're great! The original tank controls have grown on me, but there truly is no denying how much more fluid and natural the analog controls feel and it makes me wish all the previous games used them. However, Nexus makes a lot more changes than just the controls, and most of them are really bad. I'm not even going to talk about the heat changes because that's the least of this game's problems. At the very least, you can circumvent the heat with the right build, though it still doesn't bode well for PvP where the optimal strategy is now just making the opponent overheat. Where Nexus really drops the ball is in terms of its UI and its mission design, so let's start with the UI. 

AC customization has been royally fucked in Nexus. You can't sell your starting parts which is already pretty stupid, but then I learned that using parts causes them to deprecate in sell price. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA. The brilliance of Armored Core is that parts sell for the same price that you buy them for, which allows you to freely experiment with customizing your mech at any point. Having parts decrease in price when you try them out kills that sense of experimentation, because now I feel more encouraged to look up the optimal builds to save money rather than mess around on my own. There's a lot of smaller issues with the menu too, though. The shop now looks identical to the garage which means sifting through parts takes a lot longer, you can't load a file from the system menu so you'll have to go back to the title screen if you want to save-scum, the map with all the missions is now completely confusing to navigate, and briefings are incredibly short and not voiced which leaves me feeling like I have way less information going into a mission. I've also seen the criticism that Nexus doesn't really have any branching paths, and failing missions doesn't affect the story in any meaningful way but.. uhh... more on that in a bit.

As for the mission design, Armored Core Nexus feels like such a massive regression from not just the stellar missions of Silent Line, but all the games outside of AC1. Now, most of the missions in Nexus are pretty much just "defeat X enemies", and they're all incredibly short and repetitive. And to top it all off, the Arena as we know it is gone! Instead, Arena missions are peppered throughout the campaign and give you absolutely no freedom in terms of when and how you want to fight each AC. It's a real shame because Nexus does have some cool ideas and features. The story is weirdly light-hearted for an Armored Core game, with brighter environments and a catchy rock soundtrack, only for the phenomenal ending to hit you with the entire world being blown up as you struggle and fail to stop it. This is why I actually kinda like that you have so little agency in Nexus's story. For once, you aren't the most important Raven out there, you are just an average Raven. You are not better than anyone else. Any missions you don't pick will be taken up by other Ravens, and you couldn't even stop the world from ending. It's such a unique direction to take an Armored Core game and I kinda vibe with it. Of course, Nexus is also known for having an entire second disc filled with remade missions from prior games, along with an archive filled with unlockable movies, concept art, and music. This is obviously really cool, and it makes Nexus almost feel like an anniversary game even though it actually isn't.

Armored Core Nexus definitely rivals Another Age in terms of being my least favorite so far, sadly. I do appreciate that Nexus isn't just a selection of missions and actually has a pretty neat story and vibe, along with the Revolution disc, but mechanically I do think Another Age is way better. It's such a shame to have my favorite Armored Core game to date followed up by such a massive drop in quality, but I can only hope that Fromsoft learned from their mistakes with the next game. 

C Tier  

Armored Core: Last Raven: Well, I still don't really have a way to play PS3 games, so I'm gonna have to end my Armored Core marathon here for now (shame, For Answer looks really good). If you're familiar with this series, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Last Raven was the Armored Core game I was dreading the most. This is infamously the hardest game in the series, and it's the first game that Hidetaka Miyazaki worked on. And while I have been managing pretty well with the series' difficulty so far, I was worried Last Raven would be a step too far for me.

So here's the thing, I adore Last Raven in terms of its atmosphere and presentation. This game probably has the most developed story out of any Armored Core game to date, with an ingenious premise to boot. Coming off the heels of Nexus' ending, the world is in tatters, every single Raven now has a bounty placed on them, and a war between the Ravens and the corporation is going to wage in 24 hours. It feels like the ultimate culmination of this series' premise, the sense of paranoia that defined AC1 coming to a head as now, truly nowhere is safe. Every single other Raven on the planet is after your head, and depending on the alliances you choose to make, you may end up being the last one remaining. This game is so freaking bleak and I adore it. All the ACs you face have OP-Intensify to show how truly desperate they are to survive. The garage slowly falls apart as the story goes on. And the soundtrack, holy crap the soundtrack. I've heard many say Last Raven has the weakest OST in the series but I couldn't disagree more. Its harsh, abrasive, industrial sound fits the vibe of this game perfectly. It still does have a lot of bangers like Fallin Device, Vague Smoke, and Jean, but the later tracks get increasingly more tense, unhinged, and stress-inducing and it does so much to heighten the mood. No joke, this is on par with Silent Line as one of my favorite OSTs in the series to date.

But then there's the gameplay, and this is where I was a bit more skeptical. Coming off the heels of Nexus, I wondered if Last Raven would actually improve on anything and it mostly did. The UI is generally a lot snappier and more well laid-out, I'd even argue this is the best shop/garage in the series so far. Tuning your parts is more intuitive, you can load from the menu once again, there are proper briefings, and there's even an arena. The mission design is also a lot better, not fully back to the scope of Silent Line's, but they are a lot more inventive and layered. There are still a few frustrating holdovers, particularly the fact that price deprication is still a thing, but for the first few missions, I was having a lot of fun. The addition of branching paths each with different levels of difficulty also allow you to modulate your experience in a way that I find to be pretty cool. But no matter which path you take, you will eventually have to run into an AC, and this is where I started to understand why Last Raven is considered so hard.

So, as I said, all the ACs in this game are on OP-Intensify meaning they're basically cheating. They're way faster and more aggressive than anything you've ever fought in previous games, and each and every one of them is a massive difficulty wall, especially whichever one you fight first. It also doesn't help that parts can now be permanently destroyed, not just your arms temporarily like in Silent Line. And also explosions damage you so blades suck. It says a lot that Last Raven is the game where I finally learned how to properly bunny hop, and even then, I just wasn't enjoying myself with any of these fights. Last Raven is so much fun when you're doing standard missions, but whenever one of those souped-up cheating ACs show up, my enjoyment grinds to a complete halt. So now I'm really split because there's a lot about Last Raven that I love, but I genuinely don't think I can beat it. I've tried, I've been bashing my head at a bunch of these ACs nonstop, but there's only so much sadism I can take. I respect Last Raven to hell and back, but it's not for me. 

It's always a shame when my playthrough of a series ends on a bit of a downer note, as both the Gen 3.5 games left me feeling a bit disappointed. But unlike with Nexus, I still appreciate what Last Raven was going for, and I'd still rank it on the higher end of AC games. Mechanically, it's inarguably one of if not the best Armored Core game so far, and I still think the atmosphere is top-notch. I truly wish it could've been my favorite AC game because it had all the pieces, but the fact is that there is a level of difficulty and brutality that is too much for me to handle. I was hoping that maybe playing through Armored Core would encourage me to give the Souls games a shot, but while I did end up liking AC as a series a lot, I still can't say I feel compelling to try out a Soulslike yet.

B Tier

So overall, I did really enjoy my time with the Armored Core games. Despite their obvious jank, I had such a blast with the Gen 1-3 games and it was exciting to see Fromsoft slowly improve and refine the formula, culminating in Silent Line being so damn good. There truly is a lot to love here, from the banging soundtracks, to the deep customization, to the addictive arena battles, to the dark atmosphere, to those truly special missions that will always stick with you. While it is a shame that Gen 3.5 didn't fully land for me, I'm still glad I gave this series a shot and that I can definitively say that I'm a fan of at least one of From Software's franchises.

Here's my ranking:

1. Silent Line: Armored Core
2. Armored Core: Master Of Arena
3. Armored Core 2
4. Armored Core: Last Raven 
5. Armored Core 3 
6. Armored Core: Project Phantasma
7. Armored Core
8. Armored Core: Another Age
9. Armored Core Nexus 

Well, time to move on to other things while I wait for the ability to play For Answer.

UFO 50 Mini Reviews

UFO 50 got a Switch port! As someone who likes delving into console libraries, this was a game that always fascinated me so I'm really glad I was able to experience it. And after days and days of sifting through this massive 50-game behemoth, something I've noticed is just how different everyone's rankings are. With the sheer variety of games on offer, UFO 50 forces its players to open up about their personal tastes in games and how it affects their view of the collection as a whole, which I find really cool. So I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring, reviewing each game one by one and giving my own personal ranking at the end. Although, since there's a whopping 50 of these things, I'm also going to challenge myself to review them as succinctly as possible.

Barbuta: This is a game I respect more than I actually enjoy playing. As a joke against the player, I like that this feels authentically from 1982, for better and primarily for worse. The sense of exploration is still pretty well-done, but the sluggish movement doesn't really make me want to explore.

C Tier 

Bug Hunter: I'm not much of a strategy guy, but I still found myself playing this one for a bit. It's easy to pick up and really creative, but the sheer amount of deckbuilding options feels pretty overwhelming and the waves go on for a long time.

C Tier 

Ninpek: A pretty fun autoscrolling arcade game in the vein of Mr Goemon or Psycho Soldier so it's not especially original, but it plays a lot smoother that its inspirations. It's quite short but it makes up for that by being insanely hard.

C Tier 

Paint Chase: This one feels like a cross between New Rally X, Crush Roller, and Vividlope which seemed a bit boring at first but got surprisingly addicting the more I played it. The variety of powerups and stage hazards keep the game feeling fresh across its many stages, and the difficulty curve is quite smooth.

B Tier 

Magic Garden: Snake meets Pac Man. I love the pastel aesthetic here and the music is great, and the pacing is brisk enough that I found myself replaying this one a lot. But with instant deaths, Magic Garden is also very unforgiving to a degree that I found pretty frustrating.

B Tier

Mortol: A super creative puzzle platformer about conserving lives that's dripping with polish, probably the first really high-quality game of the bunch that could easily stand out as its own release. That being said, expect to replay stages a lot because finding the optimal routes will require some heavy foresight and a bit of trial-and-error.

A Tier 

Velgress: Downwell is one of my favorite roguelikes of all time, and Velgress is basically a vertical Downwell. Fast-paced, tightly designed, and incredibly addictive. Deaths can happen in an instant, but restarting is so quick that it's easy to sink hours into slowly chipping away at your record.

S Tier 

Planet Zoldath: A very boring roguelike about communicating with aliens. So much of it is RNG, down to even figuring out which aliens won't harm you, and the gameplay loop just didn't keep my interest at all. The first UFO 50 stinker as far as I'm concerned.

F Tier 

Attactics: I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this one. While a bit mindless, this is a very fun and fast-paced RTS with an impressive amount of content and a lot of charm. The campaign does an excellent job at slowly adding in new mechanics to keep things fresh too.

A Tier 

Devilition: A fine enough puzzle game about triggering chain reactions that can feel a bit too luck-based and slow-paced to be fully enjoyable. The concept is cool, but the execution could've been a bit more interesting.

D Tier 

Kick Club: Of course I was gonna adore the Bubble Bobble clone. Bright, colorful, fluid, and fun to master, Kick Club may be one of the more traditional UFO 50 games but it's no less fun and replayable.

A Tier

Avianos: Okay now this is a strategy game that I just couldn't vibe with. It's not bad for what it is and the concept of making prayers to different idols is neat, but I found it dreadfully boring.

D Tier 

Mooncat: A solid contender for my favorite UFO 50 game. I adore Mooncat's surreal atmosphere, and learning the unconventional controls was immensely satisfying, especially when I was able to use that experience to find hidden routes upon replays. This was the first UFO 50 game I was able to beat, it was just that good.

S+ Tier

Bushido Ball: A competent but very basic sports game that I got tired of pretty fast. It plays well and the aesthetic is pretty charming, but the character balancing is rough and there wasn't enough to keep battles feeling fresh, at least in single-player.

C Tier

Block Koala: This is just a weird take on Sokoban. I personally like puzzle games and Sokoban for that matter so I thought Block Koala was pretty fun, but I'm not gonna lie and say this one was breaking any new ground. Though the undo function and level editor are great additions.

C Tier 

Camouflage: Now this is a great puzzle game, incredibly creative and intuitive with its concept of playing a stealth game as a chameleon. Each level comes with a ton of ah-ha moments and being able to rewind whenever you mess up is a nice touch. It's a bit on the short side though, this concept could easily sustain an entire fully-priced release.

A Tier 

Campanella: This game reminds me a lot of Hot Air from Nitrome, tasking you with carefully navigating through tight corridors without touching the walls. It's tough but the controls feel great, the levels are quite varied, and there's lots of hidden secrets to find, no wonder this was UFOSoft's biggest hit.

S Tier 

Golfaria: I really like this one conceptually, being a top-down open-world Zelda-like controlled entirely by hitting a golf ball around. It looks and plays nice too, and there's a lot to discover. However, I think the concept of having limited strokes holds Golfaria back severely by punishing you for exploring. Minit, this one is not.

D Tier 

The Big Bell Race: Possibly the easiest and shortest UFO 50 game, being a racing game spinoff of Campanella with very exploitable AI. This is the first game I cherried, but I still had a great time with it because of the chaotic UFO combat and item balancing. I can see this being a total hit in multiplayer.

A Tier 

Warptank: The control scheme for Warptank is simple but very effective in how it blends puzzle with action, and with a good amount of levels, a big hub to explore, and lots of varied level gimmicks, this game could easily stand out as its own release. If it wasn't for the jittery scrolling, an authentic addition that I could see hurting some people's eyes, this would rival Mooncat as my favorite UFO 50 game.

S Tier  

Waldorf's Journey: Out of all the games in UFO 50, this one feels the most like a flash game, even with its poppy rainbow aesthetics. It's really short and very basic, though there is just enough RNG to make it frustratingly kinda addictive.

D Tier 

Porgy: Porgy is a slightly better Golfaria. Having to return to your base every time you get an item or run low on fuel is still kind of annoying, but the smoother gameplay, stellar atmosphere, and more intuitive map design made it a bit more palatable for me.

C Tier 

Onion Delivery: Onion Delivery is purposefully chaotic, basically asking what if Crazy Taxi had zombies, aliens, bad weather conditions, and onions that chased after you. The controls are unweildy maybe even to a fault, but I do think it adds to the hectic and unhinged vibe that makes this one so charming.

B Tier

Caramel Caramel: Man, this one's frustrating. I love shmups and Caramel Caramel has so much going for it, between the smooth controls, lush visuals, and fun camera mechanic reminiscent of Touhou 9.5. However, the godawful lives system that starts you off with nothing holds the game back from being a potential favorite, and is all the more baffling considering other shmups from the 80s were never this strict with lives. 

C Tier 

Party House: A pretty fun strategic deck-builder with a really clever and creative concept. While I personally didn't find Party House as addicting as some others may have felt, I still found it to be pretty charming and enjoyable. It feels like the winner of a game jam, and I mean that in a good way.

A Tier 

Hot Foot: This might be a bit of a hot take (no pun intended) but I found this more fun than Bushido Ball. It's a bit slower paced, but tossing beanbags around is suitably chaotic and frantic. I just wish my AI partner wouldn't keep getting in the way.

B Tier 

Divers: Booooooorrrrriiiiiiinnnnngggggg... This game has you slowly dive downwards through dark sea tunnels while grinding out turn-based battles. I like that most of the games force you to learn for yourself, but Divers' mechanics are so complex that I found the lack of guidance to be a massive detriment. Atmosphere is pretty neat though.

F Tier 

Rail Heist: Rail Heist manages to condense an immersive stealth sim into such a small and focused package and it's wonderful. The concept alone of a game entirely composed of western train heists is so cool, and each stage gives you tons of different options for completing it. An easy standout for me.

S Tier 

Vainger: Metroid crossed with Metal Storm? Sign me the hell up! This is a really solid metroidvania with a fairly open map that is still able to guide you in the right direction. My one gripe is that enemies don't give you health, something even the original NES Metroid did, but that's a really small issue. Otherwise, Vainger is another banger.

S Tier  

Rock On Island: Pretty fun tower defense game that's very easy to pick up and have a good time with. It's not the most ground-breaking one out there, but the way it plays out like a top-down RPG and the fun synergistic strategies you can come up with make for yet another great one.

A Tier 

Pingolf: Pingolf is as fun as it is comically frustrating. The dunk mechanic is such a cool concept for a golfing game, and the course design utilizes it incredibly well. But man, does it feel like the pits are perfectly placed for my golf ball to end up in every single time. It could just be a skill issue, but hey, at least I'm still enjoying myself.

A Tier 

Mortol II: Ehhh, Mortol II certainly isn't bad but it isn't quite as cool as the original. The open world and 99 lives system means that it just isn't as tight as the first Mortol, and suffers from a similar trial-and-error element to Golfaria and Porgy. It's a solid platformer that plays well, but I didn't find it too amazing.

C Tier 

Fist Hell: Fist Hell suffers from a similar issue to Caramel Caramel in that it's a really fun beat-em-up with lots of charm, cool environmental interaction, and exciting setpieces, but the difficulty is just a bit too overtuned with how many enemies there are.

C Tier 

Overbold: Overbold is for the most part a pretty fun arena-based roguelike with some cool concepts like the ability to choose to raise the enemy count for a higher price, but the massive difficulty spike that is the final match feels like it comes a bit too soon.

B Tier 

Campanella 2: An incredibly unique blend of Blaster Master, Campanella, and Spelunky that is certainly fun, but definitely shows off why I don't love roguelikes. The RNG level design just feels sloppier than the tight design of the original Campanella and runs are long enough that dying really stings. Props for having a health bar though.

C Tier 

Hyper Contender: This might be one of UFO 50's biggest sleeper hits, and easily my favorite out of the fighting/sports games. Basically a 2D Power Stone where every character has an entirely unique moveset and projectile arc making each match feel really engaging, and I love the gothic atmosphere too.

A Tier 

Valbrace: I wasn't expecting much from the dungeon crawler but Valbrace is actually really good? It's really fast-paced and snappy, and the real-time battle system is super unique and fun, almost reminds me of Crossed Swords. 

A Tier 

Rakshasa: I like the concept of how death works in this game, but the actual platforming mechanics aren't the best. For what's supposed to be a clone of Ghosts & Goblins, a very fast and frantic game, you move really slow here and it makes dealing with the fast-moving enemies pretty frustrating.

D Tier 

Star Waspir: Geez, what's with the shmups in this game? Like with Caramel Caramel, Star Waspir is really crunchy, plays quite well, and is generally pretty fun. But also like with Caramel Caramel, it gives you like barely any lives off the bat and immediately throws you into the deep end.

C Tier 

Grimstone: Grimstone just impresses me, a full Final Fantasy-esque RPG set in a unique western setting with timing-based combat and even the ability to choose your party. While it does suffer from the same grinding issues that many games of the era suffer from, especially considering XP is evenly distributed among your party for some odd reason, I still have to give this one a ton of respect.

B Tier 

Lords Of Diskonia: This is kind of a funny strategy game, with combat mostly consisting of literally flinging different enemy types at each other. It can be a bit slow since players still have to take turns, but I can see this being pretty dumb fun with a friend.

B Tier 

Night Manor: A horror point-and click, it's a fun tone shift compared to the otherwise lighthearted collection with great atmosphere. I think I still prefer more standard survival horrors to the Clock Tower formula, but this is still an undeniably well-crafted game.

B Tier 

Elfazar's Hat: Could it be? A shmup that starts you off with three lives?! Elfazar's Hat is still brutal, but it feels way more in line with other games of the era on top of being an adorable throwback to Pocky & Rocky with a snappy dodge move, fun level design, and gorgeous pastel visuals.

A Tier 

Pilot Quest: I'm pretty split on this one because I don't exactly like idle games, though this one seems more involved than most since it does actually play out like a standard adventure game. The presentation is quite nice, I just find grinding for crystals and doing fetch quests really damn boring.

C Tier 

Mini & Max: Yeah, this one's pretty great. A very fun and creative exploration game that turns a small closet into a big open world. I don't think it hit quite like Mooncat did for me, but it's still a ton of fun and an easy Top 3 contender.

S Tier 

Combatants: I can forgive Combatants being in this collection because it's obviously meant to be the point where UFOSoft lost their way, but that doesn't make it good. This game is slow, boring, and lacks any of the fun factor or strategy of something like Attactics or Lords Of Diskonia.

F Tier 

Quibble Race: Okay so I already wasn't gonna like the race betting one but on my first playthrough, I bet on a Quibble with a 100% win rate only for it to get sick and die. What an amazing first impression. I like all the references to other UFO 50 games, it is quite charming, but this shit isn't fun.

D Tier 

Seaside Drive: Yeah, this one's a banger. OutRun crossed with a shmup is such a bonkers premise executed near perfectly. There's a bit of a learning curve to managing your ammo but once it clicks, this game feels so juicy and satisfying, and the backgrounds are lovely.

S Tier 

Campanella 3: I've mostly been able to adjust to UFO 50's more unconventional control schemes, but Campanella 3 is the one case where it feels like it's actively detracting from what's otherwise a pretty good game. This is a mostly fun and creative 3D shmup, but shooting enemies on your axis feels really clunky with how you have to be moving in a direction away from your target.

B Tier

Cyber Owls: Cyber Owls feels like it was intended to be UFOSoft's last ditch effort, throwing everything they could at the wall to see what stuck. The result is very uneven but there's some great stuff here. The Shatterhand stage was awesome and could easily have been my favorite UFO 50 game if it was its own thing. The gallery shooter was also pretty good, if unoriginal. The stealth and especially the racing shmup levels, on the other hand, were a bit weaker, not enough to bring down the game massively for me but weaker nonetheless. A solid final game, I'd say.

B Tier 

So, what did I think about UFO 50? Well, overall, I like it a lot. This is a very impressive collection with plenty of great games that I found myself adoring like Mooncat, Velgress, Rail Heist, Warptank, Vainger, and Seaside Drive. It's more than worth its price for those games alone, and the whole metatextual element of how UFO 50 details the history of a fictional console developer from the 80s is fascinating. However, there's a sense of inconsistency here that I found increasingly frustrating as the collection went on. Not an inconsistency with the quality of the games, that I'm fine with, but an inconsistency with how these games stick to UFO 50's rules.

So games like Barbuta or Cyber Owls are purposefully designed with the meta context in mind, Barbuta feeling like an authentic 1982 game and Cyber Owls feeling like a rushed product by a struggling game developer. But then, there's games like Ninpek or Camouflage that feel deliberately modernized, either through more fluid controls or more generous design. That would be cool if the whole collection was like that, but there's also instances like Caramel Caramel and Star Waspir starting you off with barely any lives, Vainger not giving you health by killing enemies, Rakshasa's slow movement, the lack of any guidance even though manuals existed, all these design choices that feel regressive even compared to the 80s games they're based on. Why does Warptank have jittery scrolling but not Mortol which came out years before it? Why is Star Waspir 16:9 when it's a vertical shmup? I hate to say it but I just can't fully buy the fictional console narrative when most of these games either feel like worse versions of classic retro games or creative game jam games that don't exactly feel retro.

Still, even with those flaws, this is still, at its core, a collection of 50 games with at least half of them being pretty great, which is way more than I can say about UFO 50's main inspiration, the legendarily bad Action 52. And at the very least, I don't think I'll ever forget Mooncat any time soon.

4.5/5 Stars 

So to wrap this up, here's my ranking: 

1. Mooncat
2. Warptank
3. Mini & Max
4. Rail Heist
5. Vainger
6. Seaside Drive 
7. Velgress
8. Campanella
9. Mortol
10. Camouflage
11. Party House
12. Valbrace
13. Pingolf
14. Kick Club
15. Hyper Contender
16. Elfazar's Hat
17. Attactics
18. Rock On! Island
19. Grimstone
20. Night Manor
21. The Big Bell Race 
22. Paint Chase 
23. Overbold
24. Cyber Owls 
25. Magic Garden
26. Campanella 3 
27. Hot Foot 
28. Lords Of Diskonia
29. Campanella 2
30. Caramel Caramel
31. Onion Delivery
32. Block Koala
33. Ninpek
34. Fist Hell
35. Star Waspir
36. Porgy
37. Bug Hunter
38. Mortol II
39. Pilot Quest
40. Bushido Ball
41. Golfaria
42. Rakshasa
43. Devilition
44. Barbuta
45. Avianos
46. Waldorf's Journey
47. Quibble Race 
48. Planet Zoldath
49. Divers
50. Combatants 

Mario Kart World Tracks Ranked

I've been wanting to make a track ranking for Mario Kart World ever since the game first came out, but I wanted to make sure I really knew what I was talking about first. Now that it's already been about a month since the game first released, I feel pretty confident in my ranking at the moment. I'll solely be ranking the tracks based on their VS versions, though I will mention any alternate variants they may have if necessary. Overall, I think Mario Kart World has one of the best track rosters in the series, barring a few weak links, and benefit from a more freeform design that gives most of them a lot more replay value. So without further ado, let's rank them:

30. Koopa Troopa Beach
Koopa Troopa Beach is sadly the one big misfire out of the 30 tracks in Mario Kart World. Koopa Beach 2 is a solid track in the original SNES game, but this iteration smoothens out the track design and removes the deep water pitfalls that you have to dodge rendering it as just a circle. I've seen some argue that KTB is this game's equivalent of Baby Park because of its simplistic layout, but it's so open that I don't think it plays well to chaotic item shenanigans which makes for a really boring track that doesn't take advantage of any of Mario Kart World's strengths. No parkour, no fun item play, and no interesting decision-making, it truly is just driving around in a circle for five laps. I do like the tropical dance party aesthetic but that can only do so much when the track is so boring to play.

29. Moo Moo Meadows
Moo Moo Meadows is definitely the most baffling addition conceptually. I get that Nintendo wanted to add the Cow as a playable character and needed an excuse to organically feature him in the world, but when we literally just had Moo Moo Meadows in the previous game, I'd rather they have just made a new farm track. Because outside of that one goofy cow bounce shortcut, I can't really say that Moo Moo Meadows feels like it fits World's movement very well, it's too open and barren. I'd even argue that this version of MMM is weaker than the MK8 version with a less pretty aesthetic and the removal of the big ramp near the end of the track. Moo Moo Meadows on its own is a fine track, for sure, but in the context of World, it's a track I never want to play.

28. Mario Bros Circuit
When MKW first came out, Mario Bros Circuit was quickly singled out as one of the best starting tracks for its unique Radiator Springs aesthetic and its variety of paths. However, the more I replay it, the more I actually find it pretty dull. The main path of Mario Bros Circuit has nothing going on at all, it's a wide empty road with very wide turns and no mandatory jumps at all. Compared to the tight layout of Toad Circuit in 7 or the way Mario Kart Stadium forces you to engage with all of 8's mechanics, Mario Bros Circuit feels too passive of a first track. You can mess around with the rail-grinding or gliding if you go off the beaten path, but it doesn't feel like this track drills those mechanics into your head because it's all optional. It also doesn't help that while the ending of MBC does have a bunch of neat alternate routes, the first 80% is still very linear and doesn't really have anything going on. So yeah, while I don't find Mario Bros Circuit bad per se, I do still find it pretty boring on replays and hard to go back to.

27. Desert Hills
Desert Hills is a weird sidegrade of a retro pick. I actually always liked Desert Hills for its catchy music, hilly terrain, SMB3-inspired visuals, and variety of Mushroom cuts and like half of those things are still intact. This iteration makes a lot of sacrifices with less hills, blander visuals, and most of the obstacles like the Angry Sun completely removed. However, I'd argue it makes up for this by adding a bunch of new elements. There are even more shortcuts than in the original track and not just Mushroom cuts too, the final stretch deviates into a bunch of cool different directions. And while the Angry Sun may be gone, the Tokotokos are a very charming new hazard that helps keep each lap in VS varied. It also helps that from a layout perspective, I do think Desert Hills is a bit more engaging than the other tracks in this part of the list so I can still enjoy this one even with its many compromises from the original.

26. Starview Peak
Man, Rosalina keeps being done dirty with her tracks, huh. I never hated Ice World even if I didn't find it especially good, but I was really hoping that Starview Peak with its gorgeous comet observatory theming would finally do her justice. Sadly, this track is probably even worse. You really don't spend much time inside the observatory, with the first half of the track being a basic Ice Ice Outpost clone with none of that track's shortcut potential, and the second half being a hyperspeed water-riding section that can be dumb fun but lacks any skill or mastery. This is one of those really wide tracks that doesn't give you much room to exploit the movement, and its short length means that it also feels like it isn't really able to explore its premise. Great vibes, but definitely one of the most underwhelming and undercooked courses in the game. 

25. Choco Mountain
Choco Mountain is definitely one of the weirdest and most polarizing tracks in Mario Kart World. Like Moo Moo Meadows, this track was just in the previous game, but unlike Moo Moo Meadows, it actually completely reimagines it to mixed results. Instead of being a simple chocolate-themed mountain, this is a heavy metal monster truck arena filled with mud and Charging Chucks. I do really appreciate how this iteration of the track commits to its new theming, especially with the cool visual of seeing how this track actually looks like a monster truck from afar. There are still plenty of cool (and powerful) shortcuts, and the Charging Chucks are really fun hazards to deal with. However, I do think that the original's pure chocolate theming still feels really novel and turning Choco into yet another stadium track makes it feel a bit less unique. But even more, so much of this track being covered in mud that slows you down makes it a fairly awkward driving experience at times reminiscent of Choco Island, and not in a good way. This is a fine track with more depth and interesting elements than most of the other low-tiers, but it just doesn't fully come together for me like I would've hoped.

24. Mario Circuit
When we all found out that one of the tracks was gonna be a fusion of the first three Mario Circuits, I think we all thought that it was gonna be the worst track of the game. But actually, I think Mario Circuit is pretty damn good and misses out on a lot of the pitfalls of SNES retros in prior games. I like how this track doesn't try to ape the Super Mario Kart artstyle, going for a more realistic circuit aesthetic that looks great. The fusion of the first three Mario Circuits means that there's a great sense of escalation as each section has tighter and tighter turns. And best of all, the Charge Jump allows you to hop over pretty much any border in the track which really allows for some crazy routing in Time Trials. So we end up getting a pretty engaging course that tests your driving skill quite well in its own unique way. My only two issues are that the big jump in Mario Circuit 2 has been neutered with its iconic corner cut removed, and that it's way too short as it ends in just over a minute.

23. Crown City
Crown City is the game's Tour-styled city track boasting multiple variants depending on which route you take, and a VS version that aims to fuse them all together. Visually, it's an incredibly dense and lively setting with soulful music and probably the best Free Roam in the game. Most of these individual variants are also really fun, between Crown City 1 having you hope across rooftops, Crown City 2 having you wallride through a tight alleyway, and Crown City 3 being a fun scenic beach drive. However, my problem with Crown City is that the route Nintendo picked for VS Mode is kind of underwhelming. Crown City 1 is mostly intact, but Crown City 2 is driving in reverse rendering most of its shortcuts useless, and Crown City 3 has been almost entirely cut. It feels like the VS version of Crown City, the primary iteration of this track, has less going on than the versions you play in the routes which is a real shame for what could've been one of the game's strongest courses.

22. DK Pass
DK Pass is one of the more mixed retros for me. I liked this track in the original game for its tight layout and solid hazards, and this version mostly keeps that intact. The first half of World's DK Pass is arguably better than the original with the feather allowing you to take some cool death-defying shortcuts, but the second half feels weirdly barren. The snowballs have been moved to the early part of the track so driving back down the pass has no stakes, and even worse, the snowmen peppering the final turn are completely gone. This is especially baffling since this game has snowmen NPCs so I don't know why they're not in this track. I'm also a bit mixed on the visual change. The shift to being a ski resort does look great, but it removes a bit of DK Pass's originality compared to DK Summit. But it does benefit free roam so I can't complain too much. Overall still a good track with some solid technical aspects, but not a home-run of an upgrade like I would've wanted.

21. Wario's Shipyard
Wario's Shipyard is right alongside Choco Mountain as the retro I'm the most split on. I love the original version of this track and I'd argue it's the best utilization of underwater driving in the entire series, so World bringing it back only to have you driving on top of the water the whole time sure was a choice. On its own merits, this is a fine track with a lot of cool shortcuts and alternate routes, and the stormy water does make this one of the more dynamic water-riding courses where there's never a point where you're not trying to get tricks. However, it does feel like a lot of the fun jumps and obstacles of the original were removed as a compromise, and the combination of bumping water and sharp turns really brings out the worst in the water-riding controls. I constantly find myself slipping around, bumping into stuff, missing tricks, it just feels a bit too unreliable for me to really enjoy mastering it.

20. Peach Stadium
Peach Stadium is a solid penultimate course that does a decent job at testing your skill with its fairly narrow layout, and I like how it visually reminds me quite a bit of the sleek look of Mario Kart 8. The infamous paperclip variants are pretty hilariously bad, but the VS Mode that I'll probably be playing the majority of the time is still plenty fun in its own right, bolstered by the colorful and grandiose setting, and celebratory music. However, what prevents Peach Stadium from ranking much higher for me is that it just doesn't make much use of World's movement. There is a fun upper path that does help you dodge the item chaos for a bit, but the second half of the track just has nothing going on making for a pretty unsatisfying ending to what's otherwise a solid course.

19. Peach Beach
Peach Beach surprised all of us when it turned into a surprise section track that opens up into a full resort after the first lap. But as a full track, it is a bit uneven in terms of quality. The first lap is basically just the Peach Beach we all know and love, but slightly worse since the rising tide doesn't feel as important and the Cataquacks are way easier to dodge. The second lap is easily the standout by putting you in what feels like this massive skate park filled with rooftops to trick off of and a variety of fun routes. But then the third lap ends with a pretty dull water-riding straightaway with not much to interact with. That second lap is so good that it pretty much carries the track for me, but the rest of it just isn't strong enough to carry it past 19th place for me.

18. Sky High Sundae
The original version of Sky High Sundae was probably my least favorite track in the entire series, lacking so much of the polish you would expect from Nintendo. But when it returned in World, it quickly became apparent that it was meant to be in this game from the start. This version of Sky High Sundae not only looks way better than the 8DX version with less saturated colors, but it boasts far more alternate routes, a smoother design, a camera that actually works, and none of the bizarre floaty physics that hampered the original. It utilizes the wall-ride and rail-grind especially well essentially serving as the introduction to the variety of track-breaking shortcuts World has to offer, though it does still suffer a bit from its simplistic oval-shaped layout. Still, easily the biggest glowup in the game.

17. Wario Stadium
Wario Stadium is the second biggest glowup in Mario Kart World, though. I never hated the original version but most will argue that it was way too long for its own good and the various bumps didn't mean much in a game with no trick system. This iteration of Wario Stadium cuts the track by like a third and implements a ton of fun wall-grinds, trick ramps, and shortcuts to fully put World's mechanics to great use. However, I do think I wouldn't have minded if this version used the original layout because it honestly kinda left me wanting more, especially with the smoothed-out layout that lacked some of the original's more punishing turns. With how good World's movement is and how well this remake takes advantage of it, I do genuinely think that a more accurate recreation would still be really good if not even. better than what we already got.

16. DK Spaceport
DK Spaceport is a very fun finale to the Mushroom Cup, especially in how it puts all the skills you've learned to the test in a series of fun trick-ramp, rail-grinding, and wall-ride courses. I also love how this track tells a story as you chase Guard Kong up the structure ending in what almost feels like a boss fight. From an aesthetic standpoint, it's a fun modernization of the visual style that defined the original arcade game, and overall this is a very fun and replayable course with a lot of spectacle. That being said, it's hard to deny the simplistic layout of DK Spaceport with it being primarily straightaways and 180-degree turns and compared to other section tracks, it can feel a bit one-note visually. Courses like Mount Wario or Maka Wuhu are constantly shaking up the scenery but DK Spaceport commits to a single idea the entire time which is a double-edged sword. It means that this is a fully realized track, but one that can risk feeling a tad repetitive as well.

15. Salty Salty Speedway
Salty Salty Speedway is a solid water-riding course that lets the player hop between several routes and levels. The tight Venice-inspired canals can allow for some pretty cramped and chaotic races, some of the wall-rides on the higher levels feel very satisfying to pull off even if they're not necessarily faster, and the optimal routes do encourage you to make the most of all of this track's various layers. That being said, I won't deny that the water-riding section is easily the most boring part of the track to race on due to its flat surface, and unless you have a route planned out from the start, it's pretty hard to get out of it if you happen to fall in. Definitely one of the tougher courses to get into, but it can be satisfying once you've mastered its many ultra-precise shortcuts.

14. Faraway Oasis
Faraway Oasis is an incredibly dense track that doesn't settle on the same idea for too long. From jumping across a rocky cliffside to going down a river to barely hanging onto a Koopa Cape-style waterfall, there's a lot going on in terms of Faraway Oasis's layout that makes for a fun race course. It may not be as dense with shortcuts as some of World's other tracks, but there are plenty of clever decisions to make. The river section in particular is actually brilliant since you can risk going for that tricky rail-grind to the right at the cost of being forced onto the slower route if you fail, or play it safe and simply go left to the safer route. And that feather cut at the end is so satisfying to pull off. The only thing really keeping this track from being a Top 10 contender is the lack of animal hazards, especially compared to the other savannah routes. Otherwise, this is an incredibly well-designed track even if it's a bit on the subtle side.

13. Dandelion Depths
I'll get this out of the way, Dandelion Depths' layout isn't the best. Its few alternate routes are generally slower than racing the track normally, and it doesn't really pick up until the second half. That second half is really fun though, between the water pool section that forces you to find the best line to keep up your momentum with tricks and the grand finale that has you boosting up a steep slope, but overall there are other tracks with more interesting and replayable layouts. So why is Dandelion Depths this far up then? Well, it's pretty much entirely because of the presentation. The exterior reminiscent of Steam Gardens already looks great, but the cave interior has this gorgeous bioluminescent look that stands out as one of the most visually-striking locations in any Mario Kart game. And the music is easily one of my favorite tracks in the game for how it blends woodwinds with a chill-inducing guitar solo. Sometimes the visuals can totally carry a track for me and Dandelion Depths is a great example of how.

12. Cheep Cheep Falls
Cheep Cheep Falls is probably my favorite water-riding stage in the game because it really takes advantage of this mode's slippery handling to create a unique experience. The vast majority of this track is taken up by a chaotic ride down some rapids where it feels like you're constantly struggling to wrangle the controls. But unlike in say Wario's Shipyard, I'd argue the loose controls actually benefits this track as it adds to the element of chaos that the rapids section tries to cultivate. Even before the rapids section, the intense music and tight layout makes for a really fast-paced and frenetic track unlike anything else in the game, and I'm all for it. The autumn/Japan-styled theming is also very cool and enhances the track for me, and there are a lot of really subtle but brutal shortcuts that make this easily one of the toughest courses to master.

11. Airship Fortress
Airship Fortress has always been one of my favorite tracks in the series, and it is still very good here. It's a borderline shot-for-shot remake that shows Nintendo knew that the track didn't really need much improvement. Its tight layout is a great fit for World, and there's just enough rail-grinding additions to make the track feel like it's able to take advantage of World's mechanics. However, I do these rail-grinds kinda hamper the track a bit. The entire first half of the course can be very easily skipped by grinding on the sidelines, and it's the fastest route too. And while this is very fun to pull off, it also means that you're skipping past most of the obstacles, particularly the Banzai/Bomber Bills and the Rocky Wrenches. Those were some of my favorite hazards in the series too so the fact that this version encourages you to not engage with them holds this remake back for me compared to the original.

10. Boo Cinema
Similarly to Faraway Oasis, Boo Cinema is a more subtle track in terms of its layout, lacking too many crazy bits of tech or hazards to contend with. And while that may be underwhelming for some, I actually found more to like about Boo Cinema the more I played it. Its narrow layout is great for allowing for some pretty chaotic races and there are a lot of subtle cuts like bumps in the track that allow for quick wall-rides, and the giant film reels hugging the inner turns you can use as a speed boost as long as you can judge the direction they're spinning. And of course, I can't go without mentioning this track's incredible haunted cinema theming between the catchy ragtime music and the cool sepia filter whenever you enter the film. Boo Cinema is a testament to how even the more simplistic track layouts can be enhanced by World's mechanics.

9. Toad's Factory
Similarly to Airship Fortress, Toad's Factory is a very shot-for-shot remake with only a few extra alternate routes added. Not every one of these alternate routes are inherently faster, but there are some fun ones like the girder route near the end of the track. Visually, I'd say this version of Toad's Factory is a solid upgrade since it puts even more detail into showing how item boxes are created which I think is really cool, and dealing with the various conveyor belts is as fun as ever. My one gripe is the fact that the boxes that served as hazards in the first half are completely gone which is a bit of a shame, but it's a really small nitpick. Otherwise, this is still one of the series' best tracks and I'm glad it finally got a remake.

8. Shy Guy Bazaar
Shy Guy Bazaar is a track that feels perfect for Mario Kart World's mechanics, already boasting a lot of alternate routes that had you hopping across rooftops. But this remake adds even more alternate routes to the point where I'm still discovering new ones, from hidden ramps buried in the destructible objects, to a secret upper path outside the bounds of the course, there's a lot to discover here. Similarly to Salty Salty Speedway, I do think some of the routes here require a bit too much setup at the risk of missing out of large chunks of the track if you mess up, but it's nowhere near as noticeable here since Shy Guy Bazaar is still a pretty fun course even if you stick to the bottom route. I also can't go without bringing up the awesome variation that has you traveling inside Daisy's Palace which was such a cool secret to find. In general, the way this remake blends influences from both Sarassaland and Subcon is so cool, even if I do still think the original looks a bit more visually striking with how it's perpetually set at night. Shy Guy Bazaar in the daytime just doesn't hit the same.

7. Dino Dino Jungle
Dino Dino Jungle was a track I always liked, but the version of World made me love it. The shift to a Jurassic Park theming is so unique, and it allows the dinosaurs to play an even bigger role. There's a lot more different dinos here and they move around throughout a VS race making each race feel truly unique. And in Time Trials, they're always in the perfect spot to force you to adapt your route. DDJ in World feels like an entirely different experience from the original, less purely challenging and tense, but more kinetic and visually-interesting. While I can't say this is one of the best tracks in terms of utilizing World's mechanics, it absolutely stands out as one of if not the most chaotic course for racing which I think is just as important. This is my favorite retro track because of how unique of an experience it is, but the fact that it's only 7th just goes to show how good World's nitros can be and how well they complement the game's mechanics.

6. Whistlestop Summit
Whistlestop Summit seemed like a pretty basic rail-grinding tutorial at first, but it's actually way more dynamic than it initially seems. There are a lot of ways to go fast in Whistlestop Summit, from bouncing between rails and walls, to spamming forward tricks on the straighter rails, but there are even some inventive hazards like a rail that locks you into taking a wide turn and a train that can obstruct your path if you're not fully aware of your surroundings. The final stretch in particular is flowing with various potential routes including some especially daring rail jumps. Overall Whistlestop Summit has a skill ceiling that's through the roof and is incredibly rewarding to master, while also allowing for pretty varied races. And the music is great too, but that's a given. 

5. Dry Bones Burnout
For a while, I was pretty adamant that Dry Bones Burnout would be my favorite track in the game, and it is still very good. The Dia De Los Muertos aesthetic is such a cool take on a Dry Bones-themed stage, the music is an absolute bop, the turns are fairly tight, and it boasts a fun two-tiered layout that allows for a lot of different paths. I especially love the new lava mechanic in World in which you can boost through the lava with a mushroom, and its put to great use her with several fun potential Mushroom cuts. While I do think this track suffers a bit from having such an overtly obvious optimal route, the fact that the track itself is so narrow and often sharp means that it's not exactly easy to stick to that route during a race, especially with 24 players fighting to stay on the track's tiny paths and railings. So while it may not be my number 1 anymore, I still think Dry Bones Burnout is a highlight.

4. Rainbow Road
Mario Kart World's Rainbow Road is pretty polarizing and I can totally see why. On one hand, it's a gargantuan four-minute-long spectacle of a course that feels like the fullest realization of the approach Mario Kart 64 took to its Rainbow Road. It's not especially hard, but it is a gorgeous victory lap with a chill-inducing score that is constantly showing you new things the whole way through, ratcheting up the tension with each section. From the surprise water-riding bit, to the awesome space station area that feels like a redemption of MK8's Rainbow Road, to the climactic finale where you see all the friends you met along the way. But on the other hand, World's Rainbow Road isn't especially hard like Wii's version, nor is it as tightly-paced as 7's version. I don't think this is a track you can really grind out like many of the others in World due to its length and lack of alternate routes. And yet, I still love this Rainbow Road because it always reminds me why I love this game. It's such an immersive audiovisual feast that truly feels like a celebration not just of your achievements in the context of Mario Kart World, but a celebration of a new console generation. In such a tense, tight, and chaotic Mario Kart game that is constantly forcing me to make split-second decisions, World's Rainbow Road gives me a chance to breathe and soak in the game's gorgeous visuals.

3. Bowser's Castle
Bowser's Castle is another track that really rose in the ranks over time. Initially, it seemed fairly underwhelming due to its lack of hazards compared to other Bowser Castles. There are no Thwomps or firebars, just a few lava bubbles and the occasional meteor, though they are admittedly placed in pretty devious spots. But where this track lacks in hazards, it more than makes up for in layout, shortcut potential, and atmosphere. The opening section is filled with potential routes of varying difficulties and leads to this great risk/reward aspect to planning out the fastest route without screwing up, and the hyperspeed second half is not only tense and challenging on its own merits but also boasts some daring and satisfying shortcuts. As a matter of fact, this track has not one but two of the hardest and most iconic cuts in the entire game. But beyond just the layout, the hellish lava-storm atmosphere coupled with the heavy thrash music gives this Bowser's Castle such a tense, frenetic, and chaotic vibe that I like a lot. 

2. Great ? Block Ruins
My Top 2 picks are pretty close together because they both have very similar strengths. Great ? Block Ruins is one of the toughest tracks in the game even from a casual standpoint with its tight turns and myriad of pitfalls, but once you factor in its massive amount of routes and setups, it gets even more fun to mess around in. Like with Bowser's Castle, this track has two of the game's most satisfying shortcuts to nail especially that infamous ring jump. But even beyond that, the open area midway through the track branches out into so many different routes most of which are viable that it allows for a level of freedom that makes each race feel fresh. This is one of those tracks that I just don't think is gonna get old because there are so many valid routes to take through it, and the level of risk involved in many of its shortcuts means it requires a level of foresight that I find really engaging. It truly is a contender for the best track in the game, and yet...

1. Acorn Heights
Acorn Heights basically does everything Great ? Block Ruins does, but even better. The entire track is nonstop constant decision-making and despite its gargantuan amount of paths, pretty much all of them are viable for one reason or another. But because of how many of these paths lead into the next part of the track, you really have to plan ahead and be precise with your rail hops and tricks or else you will fly into a wall or off the stage. This is an unforgiving track for those who want to take its many shortcuts, and that's not even mentioning the giant acorn hazard that can ruin your plans if you don't adapt, but pulling off a clean run feels so damn good. I also need to praise Acorn Heights' atmosphere, between its gorgeous forest setting and lovely Celtic-inspired music. It takes everything I already loved about Maple Treeway and Wild Woods' aesthetics and amps it up even more. This is an immaculately designed and infinitely replayable Mario Kart track on every level and easily stands out as my favorite in Mario Kart World.

Donkey Kong Country Returns Is Better Than I Remembered

I've talked a lot about the Donkey Kong Country games on this blog before, but there's one entry that I've always kinda neglected and that's DKC Returns. I always liked Returns but I was pretty sure that it was my least favorite of the five mainline games, since it didn't have the vibes of the SNES trilogy nor the polish of Tropical Freeze. It was a bit rougher around the edges in terms of its difficulty, and felt like Retro Studios was just trying to find their footing and bring the series back to its roots during a fairly experimental period. But recently, I decided to replay Returns just for the hell of it after primarily replaying the SNES games for the last few years, and it blew me away. I truly forgot just how masterfully Retro Studios designs 2D platformers, and despite previously remembering Returns to be a fairly derivative game, it's got a lot more sauce than I gave it credit for.

As far as the movement goes, I can't say Returns feels as tight as Tropical Freeze but it still feels pretty nice and flinging yourself around with the roll feels pretty great. I personally don't mind the infamous waggle controls much but there are plenty of ways to circumvent them in 2025. But where Returns really excels for me is in the level design which is consistently tight throughout. DKC has always had this great sense of flow and pacing to its levels, and Returns nails that pacing right from the start. Bopping across enemies and dodging obstacles always feels great, and there's a fun sense of exploration with the sheer amount of collectibles in each level. And from the Cave world onward, I'd say Returns truly excels and even surpasses the SNES games. I adore all the chaotic minecart levels in World 4, World 5 is filled with satisfying pure platforming and is capped off by a tense climax, and the Factory world especially is just nonstop banger stages from start to finish, easily rivaling Tropical Freeze's final world as my favorite in a DKC game. I remember the levels in Returns being less dynamic and creative as the ones in Tropical Freeze and that is true to an extent, but they're still immaculately designed and show off Retro Studios' signature high production values on full display.

One of my biggest gripes with DKC Returns was its difficulty, but honestly, I think that's mostly because the last time I played this game was as a kid. Upon revisit, I think most of the pure platforming stages outside of a few exceptions like Tidal Terror and Red Red Rising are tough but fair, and scale up at a natural pace. The Rocket Barrel and Mine Cart stages are somewhat held back by only giving you a single hitpoint which is especially glaring when compared to Tropical Freeze, but they're so damn fun and checkpoints are still pretty frequent that I still find them thoroughly enjoyable. The one area that I still feel is too hard for its own good are the bosses, which are often fairly lengthy and fast while also lacking checkpoints. This is an issue in Tropical Freeze as well but that game has more genuinely great bosses, where the only standout in Returns for me is Colonel Pluck.

Beyond that, I think a lot of the issues that many Donkey Kong Country fans have with Returns just don't bother me that much, or are even perks. Like the lack of Animal Buddies aside from Rambi isn't really an issue for me since I don't like the Animal Buddies much as they often felt like handicaps in the SNES games. Rambi only shows up in four stages in Returns but he's such a power trip that I'm always excited to see him, compared to DKC2 where I dread having to play as Squawks or Enguarde. The same applies to Returns' lack of water levels though I don't think this is as controversial of a take. The lack of K Rool also doesn't bother me much as while I don't think Tiki Tong is that great of a villain, I love the concept of the Tiki Tak Tribe being this force that turns the entire island against DK. They lend DKC Returns a lonely atmosphere that sticks out to me even compared to the SNES games. 

And speaking of which, this was probably the biggest surprise for me when it came to Returns. I always thought of this game as feeling pretty derivative in terms of its visuals and sound, but I truly don't know how I ever thought that. DKC Returns' world is incredibly rich and detailed, with each level naturally transitioning into the next and telling a complete story solely through the environmental details. There's a reason why finding DK Island frozen in the next game hit so hard, but Retro Studios put so much care into detailing its ecosystem in this game. The visuals are obviously stellar for the Wii, but what really stuck out to me is the lighting. Most of DKC Returns has this characteristically dark shading to it that helps give the game a more moody feel, especially in some of the bleaker areas like the Cliff and especially the Volcano. 

This is amplified by Kenji Yamamoto's pretty melancholic score which remixes many of the tracks from the original DKC in a more dramatic fashion. I've seen this soundtrack get a ton of flack for reusing too many of its tracks from older games, but I honestly think most of the remixes in DKC Returns are superior to their SNES counterparts, and many of the new tracks like Tidal Terror, the Rocket Barrel themes, Rickety Rails, Feather Fiend, Furious Fire, Sticky Situation, Mast Blast, and Sloppy Sands do a lot to round out the soundtrack. And that's also not to mention the tracks like Music Madness, King Of Swing, and Muncher Marathon that take bits and pieces of the original score and make something entirely new out of them. I love David Wise's music as much as the next guy, but just like with DKC3, I think passing off Returns' OST just because it's not made by him is pretty unfair. While the SNES games are noteworthy for their pensive and surreal atmospheres, and Tropical Freeze stands out for its detailed nature and expressive soundtrack, I think DKC Returns manages to have a uniquely moody atmosphere of its own. You can really sense a lot of Retro Studios' Metroid DNA in this game, even moreso than in Tropical Freeze, and I think that's really cool.

However, this does lead into my other remaining gripe with DKC Returns and that's the fact that we still don't have a definitive version of the game. For me, the Wii version is still the king despite its motion controls and lower resolution. The 3DS version does add button controls but the weaker visuals and 30fps performance hold it back for me. The HD version should have been a home run, but Nintendo made the baffling fumble of handing it over to Forever Entertainment who naturally fudged it up. So while the HD version does have both button controls and a cleaner resolution, it suffers from framerate dips, broken multiplayer, and worst of all, godawful lighting that ruins the mood of the original game. As I mentioned, the darker shading of DKC Returns is such a core part of its visual identity to me, so the HD version making everything super bright is such a colossal misfire that I'd still rather play the Wii version in Dolphin with waggle tied to a button for my ideal Returns experience. Sadly, after two remakes, I don't think we'll ever get another chance at a perfect version of DKC Returns and that really sucks considering how good this game is at its core.

So this leaves an interesting question: Is Donkey Kong Country Returns still my least favorite game in the quintology? Honestly, no, not anymore. DKC Returns' flaws are fairly obvious and its longer length means it's not quite as replayable as the SNES games, but the highs it reaches with its level design and visuals far surpass its predecessors for me. At the very least, I think I'd rank Returns over the first two SNES games, as DKC1 while replayable is still way too short and basic, and DKC2 while occasionally brilliant has way too many Animal Buddy stages and difficulty spikes I dread. While not as refined as its sequel, I think Donkey Kong Country Returns holds up far better than I initially remembered and still stands out as one of the best platformers on the Wii.

4.5/5 Stars

Mario Kart World: Quality Over Quantity?

Sorry it's been a while since I made a post on here, but that's mostly because I've been busy playing my new Switch 2. It's been great, genuinely, I know it's a pretty big hotbed for controversy for a number of reasons, but I feel like I've really been getting my money's worth. It has some welcome improvements over the original Switch in terms of hardware feel and its performance improvements for Switch 1 games, and some of the new features like the mouse controls are surprisingly fun to use. I got to experience the next two chapters of Deltarune which were absolute masterpieces, finally got into F-Zero GX thanks to the Gamecube NSO, and plan to revisit Tears Of The Kingdom with its improved resolution and performance to see if maybe I was a bit too harsh on it. It's been so long since I was hit with the excitement of a new console launch, and it still feels like I've barely scratched the surface of this neat little device.

But of course, the star of the show is Mario Kart World, the big launch title and the first new console Mario Kart game since 2014. Add in the fact that Nintendo thought the sheer amount of effort put into World meant it deserved to be priced at a whopping $80, and yeah, expectations are very high. Thankfully, I'm glad to say that I absolutely loved Mario Kart World. I wouldn't say it's worth the full $80, but as a part of the bundle, it's definitely one of the best launch titles Nintendo has ever made between its gorgeous visuals, variety of modes, and mechanically-rich gameplay. But where I start to become conflicted is when I start comparing Mario Kart World to its predecessor, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Because there are moments when Mario Kart World completely trounces any prior entry in the series by a country mile, but as a complete package, it could use some work.

So here's the thing with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. I've gone on record saying that it's my favorite Mario Kart game and it probably still is, but that's primarily due to how accessible and content-rich it is. At this point, 8 Deluxe has a whopping 96 tracks, many of which being really high quality, and a bevy of options including item customization, a jukebox, robust player stats, five different battle modes, the list goes on. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe truly offers everything one could want from a kart racer and its simple controls and smooth game feel mean that anyone I show the game is able to quickly get to grips with it. In contrast, World only has 30 proper tracks albeit alongside the 100+ routes connecting them all, and it lacks a lot of the options and convenience its predecessor had. There are only two item sets in VS, only two battle modes, no 200cc, no lap records or going backwards in Time Trial, restrictive online settings, and several characters are unlocked through one of the worst RNG gacha mechanics I've ever seen in a game. Mario Kart World is by no means lacking in content, not even close, but it feels like some of the little things that prior games is missing from it.

But in terms of the core gameplay of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I'm honestly kinda bored with it? Like, I can acknowledge that it feels incredibly smooth to play, but it's almost too smooth. Too easy to control. The AI is super generous even in the higher speed classes, and turning is so tight that not a single track gave me any difficulty even when I was playing the game for the first time. Some of the BCP tracks do admittedly have slightly sharper turns, but that feels more like an accidental byproduct of the tracks being ported from Tour than an intended difficulty spike. I love that MK8 Deluxe is so accessible that most of my friends can play it, but I'm starting to feel like I want more from my kart racing games, which I suppose is natural after over a decade of playing the same one. As you can probably tell, I've been getting into some of the stranger and more technical kart racers out there like Ring Racers, Sonic Riders, and Bomberman Fantasy Race and I've grown to absolutely adore them. So now going back to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, it almost feels like I'm playing on autopilot by comparison. Even some of the earlier entries like Double Dash, DS, and Wii can still give me a run for my money, but Mario Kart 8 just doesn't. It's a great game, but I just want something with a bit more substance, a bit more sauce.

And this is where Mario Kart World truly excels for me. Mario Kart World is the most mechanically-rich game in the series and it's not even close. You have the ability to charge up a jump, grind across rails, wall ride, do multiple directional aerial tricks in a row, bounce off of rival racers' heads, and so much more. There's Wave Race-style jetskiing with its own complex trick system, more freeform gliding akin to how it was in Mario Kart 7, physics-based collisions like in Double Dash, and it all makes for a game that feels amazing to play. Best of all, the track layouts do a fantastic job at facilitating the use of this new tech, often being far more open-ended and sprawling than you'd expect from a traditional Mario Kart track, boasting so many shortcuts that we're still finding new ones over a week after launch. It feels like you have to make so many more decisions while you play, there's so much more to consider and you need to plan out your path through each track more deliberately.

In addition, Mario Kart World is legitimately tough in a lot of ways. While the drifting still feels great, it's a bit looser than it was in Mario Kart 8, so you need to commit to your drift a bit earlier than you might be used. For as counterintuitive as this might sound, I love that I have to put a bit more effort into drifting because drifting in MK8 just felt too mindless. Beyond that, the AI is way more aggressive this time around. I found myself having to content with a lot more blue shells than I used to and I'll admit that it caught me off-guard at first. But as I got to grips with World's item system, I actually quite like the item balancing in World. It's certainly more intense, but unlike in say Mario Kart Wii, you have more tools for dealing with the deadlier items like the Blue Shell and the aforementioned physics-based collision system means getting hit doesn't completely bring you to a stop. The level of challenge in Mario Kart World is pretty much perfect, the closest thing we've seen to Double Dash in terms of difficulty balancing in my opinion.

There's a lot of other things to love about Mario Kart World too, though. As I said, I think the track design is overall stellar with only a few low points. Dry Bones Burnout, Great ? Block Ruins, Shy Guy Bazaar, Dino Dino Jungle, Toad's Factory, Boo Cinema, Cheep Cheep Falls, Dandelion Depths, Acorn Heights, and of course the fantastic iterations of Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road, there's a lot of heavy-hitters here. The routes are fun for the variety of hazards and cool course variations they offer, Knockout Tour is an instant classic mode for its tense and frantic item play, and the new Balloon Battle ruleset might be the best one to date. I adore how low stakes Free Roam is, encouraging you to explore outside the bounds of each track just to see what you can find. It's purely driven by your own curiosity rather than a massive checklist like so many other open world games (I do think the map could be a bit more detailed though). And of course, the presentation is stellar. There's an incredible attention to detail in terms of the world design, the character animation is some of the most expressive in the franchise, the colors are super vibrant, and the soundtrack is stellar between the catchy original tracks and the whopping 200+ remixes you can listen to in Free Roam.

But then that brings us back to Mario Kart 8. I recently replayed a bit of Mario Kart 8 with some friends and it stunned me how less engaging it felt compared to World, and it's in a lot of ways too. Obviously, the lack of all that movement tech was sorely missed but even the track design felt so much more restrictive. That's obviously not to say MK8's movement and tracks are bad, far from it. There are still a lot of incredible tracks in 8 and I stand by praise towards how smooth the controls are. But at that moment, playing both games back to back made it abundantly clear how much more engaged I was with World's mechanics, my neurons were firing on all cylinders with World, but with 8, I was right back to that mindless slump. But it's not just the gameplay and tracks that felt less exciting, the visuals did too! I used to think Mario Kart 8 stood up as one of the most gorgeous games Nintendo has ever made for its more hyper-realistic environments, but coming off the heels of the far more colorful and expressive World, Mario Kart 8 looks kinda muted and stiff by comparison. I do really love the more slick and futuristic overall aesthetic that MK8 has and the soundtrack is obviously still pure distilled perfection, but beyond that, the less stylized art direction is really starting to show its flaws.

And yet, it feels like despite how tired I've grown with it, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe always just ended up being the best Mario Kart game by default. Double Dash has more fun item play and vibrant visuals, but it lacks a single-player VS Mode and only has 16 tracks, unlike Mario Kart 8. Mario Kart DS has the cool mission and battle modes and fun controls, but its retro courses suck, unlike Mario Kart 8. Mario Kart Wii has top-tier nitro tracks, but it looks ugly and the item balance sucks, unlike Mario Kart 8. I can't say there's much that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe does that was truly exceptional compared to any other game in the series, it's just a really refined and content-rich game on every level with so few holes I could poke in it. But Mario Kart World feels different, because even though it has its fair share of glaring flaws just like all the other Mario Kart games prior to 8, the heights it manages to reach in terms of its mechanics, track design, challenge level, mode variety, musical ambition, and visual presentation is so far beyond any other game in the series.

So then, that begs the question. What's more important? Is it the pure quality and depth of Mario Kart World's design, or the quantity and robustness of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's content? For some, this would probably be an easy answer, but for me, I can't really say yet. This is mostly because Mario Kart World literally just came out so there's plenty of room for it to get plenty of updates that end up fixing most if not all of my gripes with the game. After all, that is what happened with Mario Kart 8, which I'd argue at launch was way worse than Mario Kart World at launch. So... uhh... sorry to cop out like this, but I'll get back to you in about a year. At the moment, I'll say that 8 Deluxe and World are close to tied for me, both with their own strengths and weaknesses, but there's always a chance that World can overtake it some time in the future...

5/5 Stars