The Kart Racer War Of 2025

2025 was a crazy year for fans of kart racing games as we got three big name entries in the genre: Mario Kart World, Sonic Racing Crossworlds, and Kirby Air Riders. And as you might expect, the competition was fierce and the debate over which one is best is still raging on to this day. Since I unintentionally ended up reviewing the tracks of all three of those games, I thought I might as well wrap this little series up by comparing the trilogy and figuring out which one's my favorite. I'll go over each game and pick out what I think are the pros and cons of each, and then weigh them to figure out which one reigns supreme. Beware, I'm probably going to go against the grain a little here...

Mario Kart World 

Pros

• The core movement and mechanics are fantastic. The parkour, wall-riding, air-tricking, and rail-grinding systems add so much depth and freedom of expression to the gameplay loop, but it's just streamlined and accessible enough so that anyone can pick it up and start messing around. The drifts are weighty and have a level of mastery to them, and everything about the steering feels completely polished.
• The track lineup is consistently strong with barely any weak links, and the vast majority offer a ton of varied paths and routes to increase their replay value. MK World's time trials are easily the most fun to watch out of any kart racer solely for how crazy the shortcuts can get.
• The sheer amount of routes, over 200 in fact, help prevent Mario Kart World from feeling too stale or repetitive because there's so many of them that it's hard to actually memorize all of them. Their open nature also once again allows for an incredible level of freedom in terms of finding shortcuts.
• The item system is probably my favorite in any Mario Kart game, perfectly balancing the chaos of earlier games with the more generous QoL features like the double item slot and the Super Horn. The fact that item recovery is the fastest its been since Double Dash also means that being hit doesn't slow down the pace of gameplay nearly as much as it did in prior entries.
• The Grand Prix feels more like a proper campaign than it's ever did, with each of the first seven cups having a rival to fight, and the Rainbow Road getting a lot more build-up to it.
• Knockout Tour is a brilliant addition to the Mario Kart formula that forces you to be constantly vying for the lead so you don't get eliminated.
• Free Roam is mostly a chill affair but I found it a joy to mess around in. There's fun little easter eggs all over the place, the P-Switch missions and Peach Medallions do a great job at encouraging you to master the tech, and simply messing around with the mechanics with no goal in mind is addicting on its own. I didn't really feel like the game was missing a Story Mode or a greater objective, the Free Roam on its own was enough for me to sink 30-40 hours into.
• The open world also serves as a great social hub to hang around with friends. Some of the best online this game offers comes in the intermissions where you're just goofing around in the world waiting for the next race to start.
• Local VS is pretty much perfect. You have the choice to play whichever tracks you want, routes and 3-lap tracks included. As of a recent update, you can even do Mushroom-Only races which are an absolute blast on routes as they turn into a chaotic race to find the biggest shortcuts.
• The roster is really charming and pretty big too with an impressive 50 total characters. The introduction of NPC drivers may seem weird at first, but I quickly grew attached to a lot of the new enemy characters like Para-Biddybud, Stingby, and Peepa thanks to their adorable animations. And speaking of which...  
• Mario Kart World is an absolute visual treat. Every character is animated wonderfully, the environments are bright and vibrant, and the whole game has this cartooniness to it that really stands out. I especially love the ragdoll physics on the vehicle whenever they tip to the side or get hit by an obstacle, really helps add to the chaos of everything.
• And of course, Mario Kart World has my favorite soundtrack of the year. Not only are the new track themes incredibly catchy and memorable, but there's also a massive 200+ selection of live-performed tracks remixes of old Mario tracks in a variety of genres ranging from jazz fusion to rock to EDM.

Cons 

• Online is a bit of a mess. As of right now, you don't really have a choice between playing routes and 3-lap tracks. If you like solely playing on the 3-lap courses, you're going to be forced to play a route around 50% of the time. And if you actually like the routes, you're gonna have to deal with the playerbase constantly selecting 3-lap tracks every chance they get.
• The routes are very hit-or-miss, particularly depending on the region. I think the stereotype of them all being straight-lines is a bit overexaggerated, but there are quite a few stinkers particularly when it comes to the water routes.
• The Battle Mode is a real let-down only boasting eight overly large arenas built into the open world, and a mere two modes. I do like the Balloon Battle ruleset, but the arena design just doesn't take much advantage of it. 
• Mario Kart World at launch had some rough edges that have thankfully been patched out like NPC drivers only being unlockable through the unpredictable Kamek system and not being able to see the collectibles you've already found on the map.
• There are some weird missing features in MK World. Particularly no stats menu, no individual lap times for Time Trial, no jukebox for listening to the aforementioned massive soundtrack, and no 200cc.
• Speaking of which, this is the slowest kart racer of the year, and the lack of 200cc only compounds that. If you like going really really really fast, this is not the game for you.
• Some of the tracks feel a bit too short and lacking in hazards, likely to compensate for Kamek who's too rare to actually make up for this. 
• It's $80 if you don't get the bundle. I don't think anything else needs to be said about that. 

Sonic Racing Crossworlds

Pros

• The drifting feels really nice, especially if you can get a gadget that speeds up how fast your drift charges since it basically allows you to snake ala Mario Kart DS. I can't understate how much snaking improves this game for me, I'd find Crossworlds a lot more boring without it.
• The gadget mechanic is great and allows you to come up with so many different racing builds. While I personally love my snaking build, you can basically configure Crossworlds to play however you want. Heavyweight builds? Builds focused on stealing rings from other players? Glass cannon builds? They're all valid. 
• The track design is consistently pretty solid, and I don't think there's a single course that's downright bad. While there are less Crossworlds than there are routes in Mario Kart, none of them come even close to being as bad as MKW's worst routes, they all have enough turns and cuts to feel engaging.
• Crossworlds' approach to Grand Prix is pretty great. It takes the rival concept that MKW introduced and fleshes it out even further, and the final race being a mix of the previous three tracks works better than it sounds.
• The Time Trial Mode is probably my favorite in any kart racer to date, it's filled with features to help you improve, the addition of a Sonic-esque ranking system is brilliant, and the fact that completing Time Trials unlocks music makes you actually want to do them.
• This game is incredibly fast-paced especially on Super Sonic Speed. Some tracks will straight-up force you to let go of the acceleration because you won't be able to make a turn otherwise, which I always love to see in these racing games.
• There's achievements and most of them are pretty fun to do, they're a great addition if you need extrinsic motivation in these party games.
• For the most part, online is quick, streamlined, and easy to get into. There's no frills, you're most-likely gonna get a track you enjoy, and the emotes are charming.
• The roster is solid and has pretty much all of the important Sonic characters you'd want, and the free updates are adding even more great Sega characters for no extra cost.
• The soundtrack is very fun and very diverse, lots of catchy J-rock and memorable vocal tracks like Blizzard Valley and Aqua Forest. It didn't make the best first impressions, but I can definitively say that Crossworlds' OST is the best Sonic soundtrack since Frontiers, it's genuinely really good.
• There's an actual jukebox and you can even assign music to races which is a fun addition.

Cons

• The default settings feel pretty awful. You pretty much need to go into the settings menu and crank down the sensitivity if you want to have a good time with Crossworlds.
• Race Park is one of the worst VS Modes I've seen in a kart racer. The AI rival mechanic is a dreadful grind, all of the team-based modes are incredibly unfun as they force you to stick behind with your team, and the custom match doesn't even let you disable Crossworlds entirely.
• Speaking of which, I don't actually like the Crossworlds that much. With how little of them they are, they got repetitive fast and often feel less engaging than the standard tracks. I also don't like how you don't actually get to hear full music tracks in this game because they get cut off after 40-50 seconds.
• Like with Mario Kart, some of the tracks can feel too short and too lacking in hazards. Unlike in Mario Kart though, there's no Kamek to make up for this.
• The online Festivals are a big mistake. You're not allowed to do standard online races while a Festival is active, so you're forced into team races for the entire weekend. And as I mentioned, I think the team-based modes in Crossworlds are really unfun.
• The single-player content here is the worst out of these three games. There's nothing on the level of Free Roam or Road Trip, but what's especially shocking is that this is the first Sonic racing game since R to not have either a Story Mode or a Mission Mode (or both in the case of Riders!).
• The jukebox doesn't actually let you assign individual music tracks to individual tracks. Instead, you pick a record and it'll play a random music track for each lap which feels oddly restrictive for no reason.
• The vehicle customization simultaneously feels too limiting and too overly-complicated, especially with how clunky the menus are. This is a problem with the whole game actually, Crossworlds' UI is really bad and screams live service game with how many annoying pop-ups there are all over the place.
• Crossworlds' art direction is really bad. The decision to make this game in UE5 really harms it with the harsh bloom and poor lighting. The character and vehicle animations are also very stiff, the textures are rough, and the game as a whole feels pretty sauceless and lacking in visual identity.
• The progression in Sonic Racing Crossworlds is such a massive grind. Many of the achievements require you to do tons and tons of races, and the amount of tickets the game gives you feels way too small for how much there is to buy. The Friendships mode is the biggest culprit as you'll need around 50,000 tickets per character to unlock everything in it.
• While the soundtrack is good for sure, the actual sound quality can sound a bit cheap and muffled on occasion. It's definitely not as crisp-sounding as the live-performed tracks for Mario and Kirby.
• I can't really say that much of what Crossworlds brings to the table feels especially novel within the genre. Like half of its best ideas are ripped straight from the much better Transformed, and the main Crossworlds gimmick doesn't land for me so I don't really see myself coming back to this one over Mario Kart 8 if I ever want a no-frills kart racing experience.
• Not a fan of how the DLC has been handled. The crossovers with non-video game characters like Spongebob and TMNT feel awkward and gimmicky. The DLC tracks so far have felt a lot less polished than the main game ones, and the DLC characters lack voice-lines so what's even the point.
• It's a $70 game with $20 DLC and honestly, it feels the least worth its price out of any of these three games. I put like 15 hours into Crossworlds before getting bored.

Kirby Air Riders

Pros

• Kirby Air Riders' mechanics are weird, but so damn fun once you get the hang of them. I love how punchy the drifting feels, and the game manages to balance a ton of wacky concepts like aerial movement, taking out enemies to speed up, combat mechanics, copy abilities, and special moves impressively well.
• Each and every vehicle in Air Riders plays entirely differently, but they all have their own strengths that make them viable in any of the modes. Further adding to the complexity is the fact that there are also over 20 racers to play as, each with their own unique strengths and perks, so finding a racer/vehicle combo that synergizes really well feels especially good.
• Air Riders is fast and it doesn't even have speed classes. Even the basic Air Ride mode will have you darting across the track and it feels exhilarating. And in City Trial, you can build up your vehicle to go nigh-uncontrollably fast, and it's wonderful.
• The Air Ride mode has some of the coolest tracks I've ever seen in a racing game. Waveflow Waters, Crystalline Fissure, Steamgust Forge, Cavernous Corners, Cyberion Highway, and the final track are instant classics for their varied biomes, large amounts of branching paths, crazy setpieces, and stunning visuals. You also get all the Air Ride courses from the original game and they feel fantastic with these new and improved mechanics.
• Top Ride is a cute little addition that may have the least depth out of any of the modes, but it's still a wonderfully fun and chaotic battle mode that absolutely trounces any of Mario Kart's Battle Modes.
• City Trial is still the best mode in any kart racing game, and it's somehow even better here. 16 players, way more events and challenges, a new map with shifting terrain, more legendary vehicles, tons of quality of life improvements that keep up the pace, and of course, online play to really help the mode live up to its fullest potential.
• There's an actual Story Mode here in the form of Road Trip, and it's a ton of fun. Road Trip brings together all three gameplay styles into one campaign, and its fast pace and roughly 3-4 hour length prevents it from overstaying its welcome.
• The checklist is easily the most addictive and rewarding progression system in any kart racer, boasting a whopping 750 achievements to chip away at. Despite how overwhelming it may seem, completing the checklist never feels like a grind because you're constantly unlocking stuff and all the missions are smartly designed to encourage you to experiment.
• The customization in Kirby Air Riders is on another level, you can really transform the look of your machines but the UI remains easy to parse through. You also have hats to put on the playable characters, a customizable license card to use online, and garages to display all your vehicles.
• The online functionality is easily the best out of all of these three games. The paddock system is immensely charming and gives you a lot of freedom when it comes to playing matches with friends. All three major modes have online support and their own separate ranks, and while there are events, they're never forced on the player.
• In general, the sheer amount of content in Air Riders is staggering. I'm over 20 hours in and I'm still discovering tons of new secrets, features, and unlocks. There's a ton of online and accessibility features, an incredibly robust stats page, and a wide variety of superfluous features that only make the game feel even more complete.
• The UI in Kirby Air Riders is some of Sakurai's absolute finest, it's all visually-interesting, well laid-out, and easy to navigate.
• Visually, Kirby Air Riders looks incredible on every level. The character animations are wonderfully fluid (especially for Lololo & Lalala who are a joy to watch with their constant character switching), the tracks look gorgeous and cinematic, and the game is filled with thrilling and snappy visual effects that accentuate everything. Sakurai's art direction is also at its best here, with some Road Trip sequences in particular giving off Subspace vibes in the best ways possible. Simply put, I'd argue Kirby Air Riders is one of the most stylish kart racing games I've ever played.
• And of course, the soundtrack by Shogo Sakai and Noriyuki Iwadare is incredible. The main themes are massive ear-worms, the track themes are all incredibly catchy and varied, and the remixes of old Air Ride tracks are lovingly crafted and often surpass the originals. There's also a music player and a functioning My Music feature so you can listen to whichever songs you want in City Trial.
• It's a $70 game... but it actually feels worth the price in terms of its content and production values. And on top of that, there's no DLC, no microtransactions, and no live service bullshit whatsoever. It's a complete package through and through.

Cons

• Kirby Air Riders isn't going to be for everyone. It's a very unconventional game and a lot of people have bounced off of it. But that's not even really a con, is it? I'd rather a game be entirely itself even if it alienates a more mainstream audience.
• The music player doesn't show who composed each track which is especially jarring in a series otherwise great at crediting its composers. I'm genuinely desperate to know which songs Noriyuki Iwadare was responsible for.
• The roster feels like it has some gaps. In particular, the lack of Adeleine or Ribbon anywhere in the game is baffling.
• One or two events in City Trial cause the framerate to dip a noticeable amount. You could argue it adds to the chaos, but I found it distracting.
• Road Trip doesn't randomize the missions with each playthrough, so I can definitely see it getting way too repetitive if you try to beat it with every character. 
• The Time Trial modes don't have any online leaderboards, you're just racing against yourself here. 
• There's only 18 Air Ride tracks which means this game has by far the least amount of courses out of these three games. That being said, the other modes do make up for this, especially if you count the nine Top Ride tracks and the 50 Stadium events.

So... Which One's The Best?

It's Kirby Air Riders, obviously. I don't even think it's especially close. Mario Kart and Crossworlds both have their share of pretty blatant flaws, but I could look past them in Mario Kart's case because it pushes the genre forward in so many exciting ways. I love the parkour system, I love the interconnected world, and I love the more chill and lax approach to kart racing. It's a very cohesive game and all of its design choices, both good and bad, feel like they're contributing to one deliberate vision. Crossworlds is a more traditional and safe kart racer that lacks some of Mario Kart's more baffling omissions, but I also find it a lot more boring and a lot less remarkable. Kirby Air Riders, at least for me, is the best of both worlds. It has the sauce and the mechanical ambitions of Mario Kart, and the greater breadth of options and features that Crossworlds touted.

Winner: Kirby Air Riders 

Ranking Kirby Air Riders Tracks

Well, I suppose I ranked the tracks for Mario Kart and Sonic Racing so I might as well come back to complete the trilogy. Kirby Air Riders has just released and I'm still kind of stunned it exists. I've gone on about how much I love the original game despite its obvious balancing issues. The sheer variety of vehicle builds, creative modes like City Trial and Top Ride, multi-tiered track design, and immensely satisfying "push and release" drift system made for a kart racer unlike anything else on the market. It's such a strange oddball of a cult classic that a sequel or even a remake felt like a pipe dream, and yet we somehow got both in the same package.

Sakurai's sequel to Kirby Air Riders feels like the full realization of his initial vision, fixing pretty much every single issue with the original game and elevating everything that did work. Air Riders is faster, snappier, more polished and yet more chaotic at the same time. The vehicles are far better balanced, there's more playable characters than just Kirby, City Trial has more events and challenges, Top Ride's gameplay is less mechanically simplistic, there's a Story Mode that's actually kinda solid, the list goes on. And just to sweeten the deal, this game even brought back the original nine tracks allowing me to enjoy them in clean HD with those improved controls, it's truly euphoric. For as much as I loved Mario Kart World and... reasonably enjoyed Crossworlds, Kirby Air Riders is easily my favorite of the three. Hell, it's probably my new favorite kart racer period, and an easy contender for my Game Of The Year. It's got all the mechanical weirdness I love to see in this genre, but with the polish, presentation, and content to further elevate it into something truly special.

But enough with the rambling, time to rank all 18 Air Ride tracks in Kirby Air Riders:

18. Nebula Belt

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Nebula Belt was Air Ride's sole unlockable track and it was a massive let-down, basically played out as a very sluggish drag race with a few wide turns. There's the occassional ramp and item box, but for the most part, Nebula Belt is a track where pure raw speed beats out pretty much everything else and it's just plain boring. The one thing carrying this track is the stellar visuals and atmosphere which is only amplified in Air Riders, but unfortunately the improved mechanics just can't save such simplistic track design. This is still easily the weakest track in the game and it only sticks out even more like a short thumb with how stellar all the other tracks in Air Riders are.

17. Fantasy Meadows

Fantasy Meadows is obviously an iconic first track and it does look spectacular. The big-ass windmill tree in the center makes for a very striking visual setpiece, and the music is stellar as usual. Unfortunately, the actual track design is pretty barebones even for a first track. It's got one wide turn with optional rails and boost pads, and a sharper turn near the end, but that's pretty much it. It's a 20-second-long track that felt overly short even in the original game. It's a great pick for grinding out races or if you want to try the 99-lap endurance run, but that's pretty much it.

16. Floria Fields

Floria Fields is a perfect showcase of how well Kirby Air Riders improves on the faults of its predecessors. While this is still a fairly simple first track, it is quite a bit longer with more turns of increasing narrowness and a bit more visual variety with an extended cave section and a gorgeous rail-grind through a storm of petals. It accomplishes everything Fantasy Meadows does while feeling a lot more developed and replayable, and the stunningly beautiful floral scenery helps give Floria Fields an identity of its own. I'd easily say Floria Fields beats out both Mario Bros Circuit and E-Stadium as the best first track out of these three kart racers, and the only reason it's not higher is because the standards here are just that high.

15. Magma Flows

Magma Flows is a track that never fully came together for me. It has a fairly bit of memorable setpieces like the split rail paths, the spinning boost panels, and that one big flight over lava, and the hellish molten atmosphere is incredibly striking, but the sense of flow that I tend to love in Air Ride tracks just isn't fully here. I also think Magma Flows is seriously harmed by that aforementioned lava flight because if you don't have a vehicle with aerial mobility, you are severely screwed and right at the end of the track too. The better balancing in Air Riders does make this less of an issue, but it still holds Magma Flows back compared to other tracks in the game.

14. Airtopia Ruins

The fact that Airtopia Ruins is this low is a testament to how good Air Riders' new tracks are because this is a really cool course. It's a very platforming-heavy track that has you boosting across floating islands in the sky, and there's a lot of cool split paths and jaw-dropping vistas. I also have to appreciate how well Airtopia Ruins is able to accomodate ground vehicles while still giving aerial vehicles clear advantages with its upper paths. However, what holds Airtopia Ruins back just a bit compared to other courses is how bumpy it is occasionally, with simply driving on the terrain often being enough to send you into flight mode when you're not intending to. It's not a deal-breaker by any means, but with such a high bar for quality, even little gripes like this can mean a lot when I'm ranking the tracks.

13. Celestial Valley 

Celestial Valley is a rare retro track that I actually think got worse in Air Riders. The original Celestial Valley for me was a highlight with its moody moonlit atmosphere and the way it fluidly integrates rail-grinding, but this version ends up having very similar issues to Airtopia where the bumpy terrain keeps sending you into flight mode on accident and interrupting the flow. I also think the brighter visuals just don't look as striking as in the original. That's not to say Celestial Valley is bad in Air Riders though, far from it, it's still a very fun track with lots of branching paths, a very fun water slide at the end, and a standout musical track to this day. 

12. Sky Sands

Unlike Celestial Valley, I think Sky Sands got a massive glow-up here. This is a fairly cramped track that I always felt didn't play too well with the original game's controls, but the improved mechanics of Air Riders lets Sky Sands' track design truly shine like never before. The enhanced visuals look stunning, the abundance of bumps and blockades makes it so any vehicle type feels viable, and I love all the hidden paths and secret nooks that make Sky Sands feel like these truly mysterious ruins. I do still think Sky Sands' overall track layout is a bit too simple for it to be a truly standout course, but I am glad to say I got a much better appreciation for me thanks to this incarnation.

11. Mount Amberfalls

Mount Amberfalls is a fun change of pace for the Air Riders formula, being a mostly linear gauntlet that has you riding down a mountain. There are a few small split paths, but the vast majority of this course is focused entirely on razor-sharp cornering. You'll be having to do back-to-back-to-back hairpins which would be a nightmare in any other racing game, but in Air Riders, it feels so damn satisfying. The flow state you can enter in Amberfalls is absolutely unreal, and it became my go-to course for testing out vehicles in the demo. However, this focus on pure driving does come at the cost of Amberfalls lacking a bit in crazy gimmicks, not to mention just how much aerial vehicles really struggle here. I'm also a bit confused as to why this is the penultimate track, it's really not as hard as some of the ones to come before it. Still a very fun and original course though, and visually stunning to boot even by the standards of Air Riders.

10. Waveflow Waters

From what I can tell, Waveflow Waters seems to be the big fan favorite course so far and it's not hard to see why. It's easily one of the most original beach tracks by kicking off with you driving through a parted sea before spending the rest of the course drifting over a raging whirlpool. It's an incredibly fast and frantic course high on visual spectacle, and it's all set to a banging earworm of a rock tune really solidifying the mood. The track design is also quite varied featuring a lot of sharp turns and a dedicated aerial path that pretty much transforms the feel of the course depending on what vehicle you use, it's very well-balanced. That being said, Waveflow Waters is still the second track of the game so it does feel a bit short compared to some of the later courses. Still incredible, but once again, the bar is very high.

9. Cavernous Corners

Some of the best Air Riders courses feel like they're telling a story through the track design, and Cavernous Corners is one of the best examples of this, having you start in a jungle and slowly descend down into a cave. You travel through a mineshaft, ancient ruins, and a treasure room, each with their own unique gimmicks like rolling boulders, Waddle Dees in minecarts, dangerous spikes, Golems, and geysers that push you up. This is a track that changes things up every few seconds and it makes for an incredibly thrilling experience, only amplified by the stellar atmosphere and gorgeous soundtrack. My only gripe here is that Cavernous Corners is a bit lacking in branching paths, though that's partially made up for by it having arguably the most hidden and hard-to-reach shortcut in the entire game.

8. Beanstalk Park 

Beanstalk Park may seem a bit unassuming after Frozen Hillside and Magma Flows, but it's actually an impeccably-designed course that utilizes rails to implement a ton of branching paths that you can hop between pretty much at will. Everything flows really well too, pulling off a clean run of Beanstalk Park just feels really nice, even if it's not especially hard. Though what really elevates Beanstalk Park for me is, of course, that iconic ferris wheel shortcut. There is no better feeling than being caught by the ferris wheel in Beanstalk Park, and it adds this perfect element of luck/skill to make races feel more unpredictable.

7. Crystalline Fissure

I'm just gonna say it, Crystalline Fissure is the most visually-stunning track in the game. This entire course is made up entirely of shimmering crystals and it looks absolutely gorgeous especially coupled with its heavenly music track, and that's not even mentioning the downright trippy rail-grind sequences that have you fly through caves of multicolored stalactites and bizarre crystalline formations. But how's the track itself? Very good actually. It starts off unassuming enough, but the track keeps amping up the pressure as it goes on with increasingly tighter pathways, culminating in you being sent down to the track's molten core to fend off against a giant dragon that shoots crystals at you. The turns are tight and have a wonderful flow to them, and there's a lot of really thin upper pathways that are deceptively challenging to stay on which helps give Crystalline Fissure a really great skill ceiling. This is one of those tracks that's just begging me to master them, and I can't wait to keep improving at its many twists and turns.

8. Frozen Hillside

Frozen Hillside was always the point where Air Ride let off the kiddy-gloves with its track design, and it makes for such a frantic and memorable course. The opening section with its precarious upper path, the wobbly bridge, the ring boosts, the icicle cave, the infamous U-turn staircase, the ice slide, there are so many standout setpieces here so it never feels like there's a dull moment. It all makes for a consistently challenging course that still feels satisfying to master. The atmosphere in Frozen Hillside is also an obvious standout with its gorgeous aurora sky and iconic giant frosted whale flying around, all adding up to an easy contender for best track in the original game. Unfortunately, in the context of Air Riders, the competition is just that steep.

5. Checker Knights

With Nebula Belt being such a disappointment, Checker Knights ultimately ends up being OG Air Ride's big final gauntlet track, and it nails that role perfectly. For starters, the surreal visuals are still so striking, especially once you enter the lower section of the track with its neon lights. But the track design itself is also stuffed to the brim with memorable setpieces, awe-inspiring moments, and rewarding bits of challenge. The icy hairpins at the start, the shortcuts hidden behind breakable walls, the spinning tube, the powerful rail cuts that require extremely tight turns to hit, and the final two forts that can easily screw over your run if you're not careful. Just a truly wonderful track all around.

4. Steamgust Forge

Theming-wise, Steamgust Forge is definitely a standout for being a factory track set in a steampunk city. As you'd expect from a factory course, the track design is very tight with lots of sharp turns, branching paths, and cool obstacles like molten lava pools and conveyor belts making for a solid challenge. Out of all of Air Riders' tracks, Steamgust Forge feels like the one that splits up the aerial and ground vehicles most often with both vehicle types basically getting their own separate paths, culminating in a jaw-dropping final cinematic setpiece that has you hopping across blimps. The better your flight stats, the faster this sequence will go by, but the rest of the track feels balanced enough that you can still fare pretty well with a ground vehicle regardless unlike in, say, Magma Flows. There truly is a lot to love in Steamgust Forge, it's visually-inventive, mechanically dense, and absolutely lives up to the original game's factory course while still having a unique identity of its own.

3. Galactic Nova

Wow, what an apology for Nebula Belt! Kirby Air Riders' secret unlockable track isn't just an actually good track, it's hands down the coolest spectacle in the game basically letting you play out Super Star's battle with Nova in the form of a kart racer. It starts with a frantic intergalactic war set outside Nova, before you enter the giant comet and work your way through to its heart. While I do think the early stretch is admittedly a bit flat, once you enter Nova, this track just kicks into overdrive with a slew of crazy setpieces, tricky track design, dangerous obstacles, and split paths that accomodates for pretty much every single vehicle type you can think of. It's a perfect final test of everything you've learned throughout the game while still being able to get in a ton of impressive visuals along the way. You can definitely make the argument that Galactic Nova is one of the best final tracks in any kart racer now, and the fact that it's still not #1 is a testament to how stellar Air Riders' track design is.

2. Machine Passage

Machine Passage was always my favorite track in the original Air Ride and one of my favorite kart racing tracks ever, and guess what? It still is! Machine Passage is a tense and frantic factory track known primarily for its constant back-to-back 90 and 180-degree turns that may seem brutal at first, but feel immensely satisfying once you can get them down consistently. But being a factory stage, there's also a lot of fun gimmicks from split paths to conveyor belts to slanted platforms to bumpers to fans to windmills, it's all so perfectly paced. The icing on the cake for me, though, is the stellar atmosphere. The cold blue interiors juxtaposed by the haunting sunset-lit exterior makes for such a moody setting for a race track and that's only amplified by Jun Ishikawa's intense and heavy techno score that still stands out as one of my favorite pieces of Kirby music ever. I've played Machine Passage so many times and it still hasn't gotten old, an absolute stone cold classic if I've ever seen one.

1. Cyberion Highway 

Cyberion Highway shouldn't work. This track is absolutely nuts, tossing so many crazy ideas at the player and a frenetic race. There's hidden rail shortcuts all over the place, parts of the track that just disappear on you or straight-up turn into boost panels, a split path that either shrinks you or turns you big, fake-out rail grinds, and lots and lots and lots and lots of branching paths all over the place. There's so much going on and it should all feel really gimmicky, but it just doesn't. Cyberion Highway actually has a stellar flow with a great sense of rhythm to pulling off all its turns, and the sheer amount of split paths and mechanical variety make this course pretty much endlessly replayable. And of course, that's not to mention this track's unhinged and visually-overwhelming cybernetic visuals that still manage to stand out even by this game's high standards. I wasn't sure if any of Air Riders' new tracks would manage to beat Machine Passage in terms of sheer elegance, but Cyberion Highway managed to by being the exact opposite. This track is unhinged, chaotic, and frenetic as hell just like Air Riders as a whole, and it's all the better for it.

Ranking Sonic Racing: Crossworlds Tracks

Well, I just played Sonic Racing: Crossworlds and it's really, really good. While I still personally prefer Mario Kart World myself for its parkour and open world, Crossworlds is still able to carve out a unique identity for itself with its lovely drift mechanics, fast-paced arcade-y gameplay, and some very tight track design. Not every track is created equal, particularly the titular Crossworlds, but there's a lot to love here and the high points really stand out. So, let's rank all the tracks in Sonic Racing: Crossworlds:

39. Dinosaur Jungle 
My thoughts on the Crossworld stages in Crossworlds are similar to my thoughts on the routes in Mario Kart World. I don't dislike playing on them, but they're often linear, straight, and lacking in fun drift chains due to their abundance of hazards. Dinosaur Jungle is probably the biggest example of this, as its middle third is taken up by a long straightaway that has you doing nothing but dodge annoying dinosaurs with janky hitboxes. I actually think the final stretch of Dinosaur Jungle is pretty fun with the cactus shortcut and the ending that has you driving on the side of a dinosaur, but it can't make up for how boring and wonky the first 70% of the track is.

38. Roulette Road
I actually really like Roulette Road in its previous appearances, but this cut-down Crossworld version is just such a nothing-burger of a track. After a decent start with a fun shortcut and some poker chips to dodge, the rest of the Crossworld is just a long straightaway and some very wide turns. I really can't think of anything else to talk about, it's that basic of a track.

37. E-Stadium
E-Stadium falls into the tutorial track issue that a lot of Mario Kart games do in that it feels too simple to be fun. It has a few bumps to trick off of, and I like the shortcut tunnel in the third lap, but most of this track is composed of basic, wide turns that just aren't able to engage me. 

36. Digital Circuit
Digital Circuit is yet another really short and simple Crossworld, but it is carried a bit by its stellar aesthetics and music. The two-path concept doesn't really work when the bottom path is so obviously slower, and outside of the fun laser grid hazards in the pitifully short flying section, this track is pretty barren. It's fun to snake on in a similar vein to DS's Figure-8 Circuit, but if I'm comparing a track to Figure-8 Circuit, that's not exactly a good sign.

35. Water Palace
Water Palace makes a strong first impression. It looks great, the soundtrack is wonderfully ethereal, and it kicks off with some satisfying 90-degree turns that feel so good to drift through. But after that first section, there just isn't much here. The rest of Water Palace has a lot of lengthy straightaways, and a very basic boating section that's so obviously meant to be the boat tutorial. I do like that massive off-road cut right before the finish line, but a lot of this track is just kind of a bore.

34. Crystal Mine
Crystal Mine feels like a bit of a missed opportunity because the concept of a track built on a cliffside mining station is so cool, but there just isn't much done with it outside of a single moving crane obstacle that's super easy to dodge. There are some tight turns befitting a Cup 4 track, but most of Crystal Mine feels pretty short and lacking in noteworthy shortcuts.

33. Galactic Parade
Galactic Parade suffers from a similar issue to Roulette Road where it feels like a cut-down version of its original version in Transformed, but not to as bad of a degree. Following the Starlight Carnival paths while dodging robot lasers is as fun as always, but it does drag a bit since this is most of the Crossworlds, and the interior and asteroid field sections have definitely been downgraded.

32. Kraken Bay
I'll be honest and say most of my disdain towards Kraken Bay comes from how hard it was for me to A-Rank. It has a really cool setting and was super cinematic at first, but the cracks do start to show. This is a very awkward track to drive on with a lot of bumps and sharp turns, and the tentacles have pretty janky hitboxes and poor telegraphing so weaving under them feels unreliable and not worth the risk. 

31. Market Street 
Man, I was really hoping the Rooftop Run track would be better. I do like the main concept of hopping across elevated platforms and rooftops, but I think Market Street is primarily let down by just how muted and empty the visuals are. Spagonia is such a vibrant and bustling setting, arguably the most out of any location in Unleashed, and I just don't think Market Street is fully able to capture that same magic. 

30. Rainbow Garden
The second of the three tutorial tracks is easily the least bad since it keeps the flying tutorial to a very short part of the track. Most of Rainbow Garden is actually still pretty solid, with a fair amount of satisfying turns, a fun alternate path that opens up in the third lap, and a memorable section where you trick down a bunch of stacked flower beds. This is still a fairly simple beginner's track, don't get me wrong, but it's the only one in the first cup that I still think holds up even after hours of playtime.

29. Sky Road
Sky Road is a perfectly solid Crossworld track, though it peaks pretty early with that tight twisty path with its surprisingly challenging alternate routes. While the second half of Sky Road is still pretty linear, bouncing atop balloons is still enough of a fun gimmick to carry me through to the end. I also think the aggressive bloom is at its absolute worst here, so despite what's supposed to be an awe-inspiring setting, Sky Road isn't that much of a looker either. 

28. Urban Canyon
Urban Canyon has a really fresh setting, being this futuristic metropolis built into a canyon. However, despite the cool premise, most of this track is set on a twisty metallic highway and barely utilizes the canyon aspect of the setting outside of a few shortcuts that only open in the third lap. Urban Canyon does have a great sense of flow to it as it's pretty much all back-to-back drifts, but with no obstacles or fun gimmicks, it does feel a bit forgettable.

27. White Cave
Being the one stage returning from Riders, White Cave is pretty solid. It does a pretty good job at capturing the same vibe as the original track, and it's legitimately challenging with its bumpy terrain and tricky vine obstacles. That being said, like several other Crossworlds, a lot of White Cave is still just driving straight. If the track was a bit more twisty, it would probably get bumped way higher on the list.

26. Metal Harbor
Metal Harbor is another fairly unremarkable track but it is a lot more complex than anything in the first cup, and it represents the source material quite well. I especially like the two shortcuts right at the end of the track that really reward skill, along with the robot enemies that serve as solid obstacles. The third lap shift that sends you into a giant ramp is also a pretty cool spectacle at first, but I do think it loses its luster a bit upon replay. 

25. Sweet Mountain
Sweet Mountain is easily one of the more twisty and varied Crossworld tracks. While most of its parts are fairly basic in isolation, the sheer variety on display helps elevate the track for me, between boating along a chocolate river, tricky through donuts, recreating the drift segment at the start of Sweet Mountain Act 2, and dodging gumball cannoballs being fired out of an airship. There's a lot to love here, even if I think the track feels a bit undercooked.

24. Sand Road
Sand Road is a pretty fun desert track with a lot of snakey turns, environmental changes, and off-road cuts. I love tricking down the dunes ala Desert Hills, and the third lap even sends you into a water section just for some added variety which is nice to see. However, what holds Sand Road back for me is just how slippery the sand is. I'm not against dealing with slippery physics as you'll see later on, but having to pull off a bunch of counter-drifts while sliding around on the sand gets a bit annoying, I'll be perfectly honest.

23. Magma Planet
Magma Planet is the only track based on a non-Sonic Sega game, that being a shmup called Galaxy Force 2, and it's a stellar homage to the original game. Even more, as a fan of shmups, this track feels like an awesome love letter to the genre as a whole with its 90s rock music and the emphasis on flying. I'd actually argue Magma Planet is probably the best showcase for the flying mechanics, with a nice variety of obstacles like laser grids, giant lava dragons, and dripping magma to dodge. It even has a rare sharp turn that you have to take mid-flight. Not gonna lie, pretty underrated track.

22. Northstar Islands
Northstar Islands is a pretty cute tribute to Sonic Superstars which is only held back by the fact that I have zero attachment to Sonic Superstars. Okay, seriously, it is a fun track with a lot of cool environment shifts, a great sense of flow, and some fun gimmicks like a halfpipe and a press that launches you upwards, only held back by its layout being a bit too simple. Also screw that one red ring, you know the one.

21. Ocean View
Ocean View is such a weird track since it's basically the tutorial track in Transformed, but it got upgraded to a midgame track and it actually kinda works. Ocean View has quite a lot of sharp turns and satisfying shortcuts that force you to manage your accelerator, and pulling off a clean run in Time Trial in particular feels fantastic. My only gripe is the lack of obstacles, particularly those giant wheels that were in the original Ocean View. 

20. Golden Temple
Golden Temple starts off a bit slow with a pretty long straightaway, but once it picks up, it really picks up. Drifting down the twisty slide while dodging giant boulders is such an engaging challenge, and the boating section that has you taking a bunch of sharp 90-degree turns that you can even cut with well-placed charge jumps is brilliant. Add in a super cool aesthetic and great music, and you get a Crossworld that I'd actually want to play pretty regularly.

19. Radical Highway
Radical Highway is a solid track that captures the essence of the source material very well. It's fast-paced, intense, and has a solid amount of branching paths. But I think the X factor that really elevates Radical Highway for me is the Golden Gate Bridge which allows you to ride alongside the railings on the side for an amazing shortcut. Yeah, I know it's basically just the Mushroom Bridge shortcut but I'd argue it feels even better to pull off in this game. 

18. Dragon Road
Dragon Road is just plain fun. It's a great conversion of the original level as it as you do some satisfying drifts along giant dragon statues, before going into a wide open boating section as you dodge the Dark Gaia Phoenix's attacks. That Dark Gaia Phoenix section is really the highlight here, it's so fun especially since you can charge jump over his attacks which feels fantastic.

17. Eggman Expo
Eggman Expo is the last track in the main Grand Prix, and it's a great finale with some tight turns, all three vehicle types being utilized, and a deceptively devious boating section. The concept of an expo of Eggman's robots is also a pretty cool idea for a setting, and I like that the robots activate and start attacking you in the third lap. That being said, this is also my main issue with the track. Since Eggman Expo really only introduces hazards in the final lap, the first lap feels a bit underwhelming especially for what's supposed to be the final gauntlet. A common issue in Crossworlds is that it sometimes feels like tracks handicap themselves to make the third lap more exciting, and it's especially noticeable here.

16. White Space
White Space is the last track in general, and I think it's a slightly more challenging and rewarding final challenge than Eggman Expo. It's got a lot of really sharp turns, devious cuts, and some challenging boat and flying sections. Not to mention, this is kind of a section course as the final lap is entirely different from the first lap, switching to the Doom Zone and taking you through different parts of White Space. My only real gripe here is really just that I find White Space to be a pretty bland location visually, but the strong track design is just enough to make up for that.

15. Steampunk City
Steampunk City is definitely one of the coolest original settings, and the track itself is quite fun to as it has you dodging trains and smokestacks, driving across spinning gears, and even entering a giant mechanical tram. There's also an impressive amount of sharp turns, tricky shortcuts, and branching paths here, along with an entire bottom path that, unlike in Digital Circuit, actually feels worth it to race on. Out of all the Crossworlds, I genuinely think this is the one that could've easily been its own track, only being held back by the flying sections feeling a bit straight-forward.

14. Coral Town
As a certified Yoshi Valley hater, I'm so happy to say that Coral Town is Yoshi Valley done right. Despite having a ton of different routes, most of them feel totally viable and have their own pros and cons. If you're skilled enough, you can even hop between a few paths so the skill ceiling here is quite high. I also love the final section that has you bouncing across corals, especially in the last lap where you have to quickly direct yourself to the Shortcut Portal. While most of the actual turns here are fairly simple, the nonlinear layout and chill vibes really help give Coral Town a unique identity.

13. Apotos
Apotos was an immediate standout when I played it during the Open Network Test and it was for one reason: The funnel. This track starts with a long narrow corridor right after a set of item boxes, which means that each race will start with everyone spamming their items in a cramped area and cause incredible amounts of chaos... and I love it. Seriously, it's such a wonderfully devious design choice that really helps make each race on Apotos feel memorable and interesting. That being said, this track does kinda peak early. The rest of Apotos is still fun with some smooth turns, a fun split path, and a cool third lap reversal, but I can't deny that this track is primarily carried by its chaotic opening seconds.

12. Donpa Factory
Donpa Factory is yet another really cool setting as it's set in a car factory, and I'd say it utilizes this setting pretty well. There's a nice variety of hazards here along with a deceptively tight shortcut, and most of the turns feel really satisfying to pull off. While the first lap can still feel a bit barren, the third lap that activates a huge conveyor belt pushing everyone forward is an absolute blast. I also really like the sleek aesthetic and optimistic soundtrack, it helps give this track a lot more energy.

11. Wonder Museum
Wonder Museum has one of the coolest concepts for a kart racer track I've ever seen, being a riff on Night At The Museum that has you drive through a museum only for all the sculptures to come to life and start attacking you. The layout is super tight and satisfying to navigate, the hazards are a joy to deal with, and of course Ohtani's jazz score is an absolute banger. However, the only thing holding back Wonder Museum from being an easy Top 10 candidate is the same issue that held back Eggman Expo: The hazards only appear in Lap 3. 

Come on, man, we were so close to perfection. 

10. Hidden World
Hidden World is basically the Excitebike Arena or DK Spaceport of Sonic Racing: Crossworlds. It may be a straight-line, but it's filled to the brim with crazy hazards based on Sonic Lost World's trippy secret world. Tight turns on an antigravity half-pipe, a flying section that has you squeeze through tight corridors, a wince-inducing stretch that has you dodging fast-moving giant furry Pac-Mans, it's such a wonderfully chaotic ride of a track and the frenetic music only adds to the psychadelia. Hidden World is a testament to how much engaging hazards and track gimmicks can add to even the simplest of layouts.

9. Chao Park
FINALLY! An amusement park track that actually takes advantage of the setting. Screw Baby Park, screw Water Park, I'm a Chao Park fan now. This track takes place entirely on a twisty rollercoaster that has you going up and down and all around, it's an incredibly frenetic track that never lets up for a second. There's coaster cars to dodge, an infamous tight turn that forces you to learn acceleration control, a bunch of tricky corner cuts, and an almost entirely different third lap that contains a twisty path through a tornado and an incredibly tight boating section. Chao Park is a fantastic challenge and takes full advantage of its gorgeous amusement park setting, and I only wish it was just a bit longer.

8. Cyber Space
I'll be perfectly honest and say Cyber Space is pretty hard-carried by its music. The saxophone-laden remix of Flowing is just heavenly, and the final lap mashup isn't half bad either. That being said, the track design is no slouch, boasting a satisfying shortcut, a whole bunch of hazards and uneven terrain, and a chaotic traffic segment reminiscent of Crown City's bridge that gives you free reign to drift to your heart's content. Once again, this is a Crossworld I'm always going to be happy to play. 

7. Blizzard Valley
Considering my issues with Sand Road, you might be surprised to find that I absolutely love Blizzard Valley. This track has you deal with ice physics and wind physics, but I actually found myself adoring the challenge here. The layout here feels deliberately designed around the slippery physics, and managing to wrestle the controls and pull off a clean turn feels so damn good. And once you get good at dealing with the ice, there's a bunch of hidden boost pads and alternate paths that you can go for that really test how well you can master the driving.

Beyond just the ice physics though, I love the atmosphere of Blizzard Valley. The concept of a desolate Eggman base drilling into an icy tundra is pretty cool, and the chill-inducing soundtrack gives the track an even more dramatic edge. This track also has one of my favorite third lap shifts as part of the base crumbles away thanks to the drill, forcing you into a sudden flying section. It's the most Transformed-ass lap shift in the game and I adore it. Blizzard Valley is awesome and if you don't like it, you are weak you won't survive the winter (literally).

6. Pumpkin Mansion
Pumpkin Mansion is one of the coolest ghost tracks I've ever played in a kart racer, and it's so dense with gimmicks that I don't even know where to begin. I love the antigravity section at the beginning, and how you can drop chandeliers from the ceiling onto racers on the floor. I love the invisible path that forces you to follow a trail of fire reminiscent of Hang Garden. I love the pumpkin maze that tests your reaction time, and all the crazy off-road cuts in the final stretch. The sheer amount of references to prior Sonic ghost levels both in the music and the track design is also just wonderful, I only wish it kept the internal name of Lah's House to fully commit to the bit.

5. Holoska
Holoska is easily my favorite Crossworld and it's not even close. Every single second of this track is fun and unique, from dodging ice spikes at the start, to sliding down a bit ice slide, to the section where you can swap between boat and plane at will, to the finale that has you crashing into the icicles. Add in some incredible music and plenty of twisty turns, and you get a track that feels like the complete package.

4. Colorful Mall
Yeah, I know this track is basically just copying Coconut Mall's homework, but you take from the best. Colorful Mall is yet another stellar mall track that still has its own unique identity thanks to the multiple vertical layers, which feel very reminiscent of an actual 2D Sonic game. There's a lot of different paths you can take through the track, and even more open up in the third lap. The cramped layout and frantic music also helps make Colorful Mall feel just as bustling and chaotic as its inspiration.

3. Mystic Jungle
Mystic Jungle was the track that sold me on Crossworlds and truly showed me that these tracks were going to have more depth than they initially seemed. It takes the pretty annoying water slide gimmick from Forces and makes it really fun by letting you trick off the sides and take these massive shortcuts. The fact that basically half the track is a halfpipe gives you so much freedom, and that's not even counting the several other tight shortcuts that help give this track a wonderfully high skill ceiling.

2. Kronos Island
Even as someone who doesn't like Sonic Frontiers, I can't deny that Kronos Island is a perfect tribute to that game and actually makes me a bit nostalgic for it? Plenty of Frontiers' enemies get involved here as hazards, there's a bunch of wide open spaces that echo Frontiers' open design, and there's even a section where you get to ride alongside Squid's tail. The music is also phenomenal, especially the synth remix of I'm Here that plays on the final lap which never fails to get me hyped up. But ultimately, I think what really elevates Kronos Island is just how clean it feels to play. Every turn flows so perfectly into the next, and pulling off a perfect run through the track will make you feel like a god.

1. Aqua Forest
Once again, the big tree track ended up being my favorite in the game. Maple Treeway, Wild Woods, Acorn Heights, and now Aqua Forest. I don't need to tell you that this track is absolutely gorgeous, easily the prettiest one in the game, and the Celtic-inspired music is just heavenly. From a track design standpoint, Aqua Forest once again has a fantastic sense of flow with plenty of smooth turns and a lengthy water slide that perfectly tests your mastery of the boat controls, but what solidifies it as my favorite track in the game are the several wonderful shortcuts that are entirely skill-based. Charge-jumping into Boost Rings that send you onto other parts of the track will never not feel amazing, but it's also not as easy as it sounds since being in the pack means someone can knock you off-course and make you miss the shortcut. So Aqua Forest really has everything I want from a good kart racing track. Stellar aesthetics, tight track design, satisfying shortcuts, and a great sense of challenge. It absolutely deserves to be ranked right alongside some of the best the genre has to offer.

Ranking Super Mario 64 DS Levels On How Much Of An Upgrade They Are

Super Mario 64 DS is such a fascinating remake because it changes so much from the original. The controls, the visuals, the progression system, and it even tweaks many of the levels in some truly fascinating ways. While I obviously prefer 64 overall for its smoother controls, replaying 64 DS made me realize that I actually prefer some of the levels in this version. So as a sort of followup to my Super Mario 64 level ranking, I wanted to go ahead and give my thoughts on each main stage in 64 DS and whether or not I think they're an upgrade or a downgrade compared to the original game.

Bob-Omb Battlefield
Bob-Omb Battlefield's DS version is definitely the most altered visually, with a far softer shade of grass. It gets off to a strong start with a new (and arguably better) King Bob-Omb fight that you can do as Yoshi. The useless sky island star was also completely removed, and replaced with a pretty fun Silver Star, so there are some positive changes here. However, as soon as the second mission, the cracks start to show. Star 2 is Koopa The Quick who you can only race as Mario, so you're forced to move on to another level pretty much immediately. My biggest issue with Bob-Omb Battlefield was always the fact that you couldn't get all seven Stars in one clean run, and that's made even worse here. My other big issue with Bob-Omb Battlefield was Mario Wings To The Sky and it's also worse here, since the modified Wing Cap physics means you can't just get all five secrets by aiming towards the first secret and letting go of the d-pad, making it a lot more irritating to get. As a result, I'd say Bob-Omb Battlefield in 64 DS has plenty of great changes but just enough annoying changes to prevent it from being a full upgrade.
Conclusion: Sidegrade

Whomp's Fortress
Whenever I think of modified 64 DS levels, Whomp's Fortress is always the first one that comes to mind as it adds an entirely new section at the bottom of the stage that takes great advantage of the Mega Mushroom and even includes the game's first Switch Star. No other stage in the game was transformed this much but I like the addition. Beyond that, the Hoot star was also dramatically fixed as not only does he feel way better to use in general, but the Star is on a floating island rather than a cage so Mario won't glitch out if he drops onto it the wrong way. With all my issues with Whomp's Fortress pretty much gone, I can easily call it one of my favorite stages in 64 DS. 
Conclusion: Upgrade

Jolly Roger Bay
Jolly Roger Bay is yet another amazing improvement. Plunder The Sunken Ship in particular has all of its issues completely resolved. Unagi leaves the ship immediately rather than forcing you to look away, and the sunken ship only has one chest to hit making for a smoother difficulty curve. I always thought it was weird that you had to hit four chests underwater before hitting four chests on land in the cave, so I like this change a lot. And on top of all of that, there's a new Blue Coin spot with way more Blue Coins making the 100 coin star a lot easier to get. I truly can't think of any more improvements 64 DS could've made, Jolly Roger Bay is fantastic in this remake.
 Conclusion: Upgrade

Cool Cool Mountain
Cool Cool Mountain barely has any changes. My one gripe is that tracking the rolling snowball is a bit trickier with 64 DS's camera but that's pretty much it. Otherwise, it's as great as it always was.
Conclusion: Basically The Same

Big Boo's Haunt
Once again, Big Boo's Haunt is pretty much exactly the same. The only notable difference is the fact that there is now a pane of glass blocking you from skipping the library star, but I don't really mind that since I've always liked the library star anyway.
Conclusion: Basically The Same

Hazy Maze Cave
Hazy Maze Cave is a mixed bag of changes. On one hand, this is pretty obviously the stage where the bottom screen map is at its most useful, and it especially helps with navigating the toxic maze. I also like the redone Watch The Rolling Rocks since it actually involves the rolling rocks. On the other hand, this is obviously meant to be Wario's main focal stage which sucks because Wario isn't very fun to play as. This also comes at the cost of Dorrie feeling pretty useless compared to the original game as the Star centered around her has been changed to focus on Wario instead.
Conclusion: Sidegrade

Lethal Lava Land
Lethal Lava Land's improvements are fairly subtle, but nonetheless great. For starters, there's now a big Blue Coin chain utilizing the Shell which means you can get 100 coins outside the volcano fairly easily. One of my biggest gripes with LLL is the fact that you can't leave the volcano if you enter so you have to make sure you have enough coins if you're going for the 100 coin star, but that's not really an issue here anymore. On top of that, the new Silver Star is probably my favorite in the entire game as it's entirely built around using the Shell, expanding on LLL in a natural and organic way.
 Conclusion: Upgrade

Sinking Sand Land
Sinking Sand Land is the first stage in 64 DS that I felt was actively worse than the original. For starters, 64 DS's camera and controls just don't feel built for this stage, I had a lot of issues with navigating some of the thin platforms here. But otherwise, I have two main issues. First off, the original game let you skip standing on the four pillars by ledge-grabbing the entrance to Eyerok, but now it's blocked with a Brick instead. I didn't mind BBH's shortcut being blocked off, but it's more glaring here because I don't love spending more time outside than I need to. On top of that, unlike in LLL, the 100 coins star hasn't been fixed at all. The exterior and interior have roughly the same amount of coins, and you just have to hope you got enough coins from outside before entering the pyramid because you can't leave.
Conclusion: Downgrade

Dire Dire Docks
In my ranking, I mentioned Dire Dire Docks felt a bit incomplete, but I'm pleased to say this has been remedied somewhat in 64 DS. The first area in particular feels a lot more polished and fleshed-out. There are more enemies to deal with, more coins to collect, the Manta's rings have a more natural hitbox, the Chests In The Current star has less chests to deal with making it feel a bit less cheap, and there's even some land at the top of the lake housing a Switch Star. On top of that, like with JRB, there are way more coins added making getting the 100 coin star far easier. The Bowser sub doesn't even lag the game anymore, how cool is that! My only gripe here is that, due to how the Power Flower works, Collect The Caps which was my favorite star in the original DDD is not around anymore. But otherwise, this is a top-to-bottom improvement of what was easily the worst stage in the original.
Conclusion: Upgrade

Snowman's Land
Man, this one just makes me sad. I always thought Snowman's Land was pretty underrated for its unique setpieces, but like half of them are gone in this version. The ice block maze has now been replaced with a stack of ice blocks you're expected to burn as Yoshi, how exciting. The igloo also isn't a maze anymore, just a pond with some Spindrifts. The Red Coins have also been moved to the igloo to account for a Silver Star mission in its place, but that just means the exterior ends up feeling a lot more empty. The only real positive I can say is that the igloo has more coins, but that's really it. I think most people would agree Snowman's Land got the shortest end of the stick in 64 DS.
Conclusion: Downgrade

Wet-Dry World
Wet-Dry World doesn't change too much. I do like the new last Silver Star that really tests your ability to change the water level, and I like that Luigi makes it easy to not have to rely on the Heave-Hos, but that's pretty much it. This was the best stage in the original, and it's still the best stage here.
Conclusion: Basically The Same

Tall Tall Mountain
Oh my god? Tall Tall Mountain is fixed! I always thought this stage has potential but suffered from forcing you to climb all the way up the mountain for most of its Stars. But in 64 DS, you'll unlock Hoot after the first mission so you only need climb the mountain once. This is the perfect solution to this issue, and it helps TTM's pacing so much. On top of that, the annoying monkey star is made easier with Yoshi, and the lonely mushroom is less annoying to reach with Luigi. However, they also ruined the 100 coin Star and badly too. You can't exit the slide anymore, meaning that you'll most-likely have to collect your 100th coin on the slide and climb back up to the Star which is an absolute pain. Never mind, Shifting Sand Land, this is the worst 100 coin star easily, and across both versions too. Actually atrocious stuff. So despite how impactful the Hoot change is, it's also balanced out by arguably the worst stage change in the game meaning I can't in good conscience call it a full upgrade.
Conclusion: Sidegrade

 Tiny Huge Island
Tiny Huge Island still sucks, nothing's really changed there. The collision remains janky, and the island remains frustrating to navigate. I do like that parts of the huge island don't reduce your jump anymore, but it comes at the cost of some areas on the tiny island being near impossible to properly ledge-grab. However, for some reason the itty bitty secrets mission has been replaced with yet another Klepto mission for some ungodly reason. I actually liked the secrets mission because it actually made you explore the whole tiny island, so I'd easily call this a downgrade even if it is a minor one.
Conclusion: Downgrade

Tick Tock Clock
Tick Tock Clock is slightly more generous than the original stage in that you have a bit more solid ground to land on if you fall, and that the invisible walls are completely gone, but that's pretty much it. Ultimately, my big issue with TTC which was having to climb up the clock multiple times ala Tall Tall Mountain hasn't been fixed in this version.
Conclusion: Basically The Same

Rainbow Ride
Hate to end on a bit of an anticlimactic note, but Rainbow Ride really didn't change much. It's a shame too since this stage probably could've used an overhaul the most, but aside from integrating the Power Flowers into two stars, I can't say this stage is better or worse than the original.
Conclusion: Basically The Same

Overall, yeah this game is weird. While many of the level changes are absolute improvements like reworking Hoot and several 100 coin stars being made easier, there are also some baffling downgrades and omissions that left me scratching my head. It makes for a really unpredictable gameplay experience as someone who's way more knowledgeable about the original 64, but I think that's kinda cool.

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.