Originally, I posted a review comparing this game to other titles with a ton of depth that demand a lot from the player (like IIDX, +R, etc). I deleted that review, because I wasn't totally sure where I stood on the game after a few more races.

And then after doing even more races, I realized I was right the first time. This game fucking rules.

The tutorial is still awful, but I'm really glad I did it because I would not have thought to use stuff like quick drop without it, and the dialogue between Tails and Robotnik is endearing. It's probably the worst part of the game, and it's irrelevant after the first 45 min outside of the on-boarding process for new players. "Oh, you think you're hot shit? Beat this max CPU level race then" is based, actually.

Otherwise, it's a kart racer that asks more from you than most other entries in the genre, and that's rad. The ring system is sick as hell. The courses aren't all bangers, but an overwhelming majority of them are, and they all look and sound so good that you genuinely forget that the game is a fan project.

The Brawlesque unlock system is only frustrating if you want all the content at once and don't give a shit about the single player experience. The actual process of unlocking everything is, much like it was in Brawl, a fantastic way to encourage new players to plumb the depths of the game, and the key system lets you skip over any challenge you find especially egregious.

Nobody's mentioned the little pets that you can have follow you. I love having a little guy around me at all times for emotional support. No notes, should be a feature in more games in general.

This game is not trying to replace SRB2Kart, and divorced from the context of that game, I don't think it would have nearly as bad of a reputation. The average rating on this page has gone up steadily since this game's release, and as I posted before, in six months after the rough patches of the game are smoothed out (as they have been already in some cases!), it'll be appreciated for the home run that it is.

Day One player, also Day One Kart player, it is a different handling beast than SRB2Kart and the tutorial does take a while, but beyond that, getting used to the curve of the new physics and juicing up the Kart with rings has been quite the new experience.

...I ended up playing six hours total last night after it launched. Six hours on DAY ONE.

...And a lot of that was spent online, as I've only completed four cups so far. It won me over.

It's absolutely wild to go from the simple, multiplayer focused SRB2 Kart to this mechanics-rich racer with a metric ton of singleplayer content. Like, holy shit, they actually made a mascot racing game with more mechanics than Sonic Riders. I think I'm in love!

Don't get me wrong, the mandatory, hour-long tutorial is very unwelcoming and the fact that you need to unlock online play and mods via singleplayer content is absolutely baffling. Even so, there's so much to enjoy here and it's all presented with so much charm and style. It's going to take a good amount of time to fully digest all the mechanics and unlock all the secrets, and I think that's really refreshing for a racing game, much less a (free fan-made) kart racer.