[UPDATE: 2.0 came out earlier today, and I've played more of the game. As such, I'm adding a few notes as I promised - the original review will be present below for the sake of posterity.]

- The AI has been tuned to be less rubberbandy. Good change, and I hope they touch up the items next; some of them feel absurdly overtuned. The shrink rays last way too long, cover way too much of the track, and have a deceptive hitbox (the sparks appear to be just for aesthetic purpose, but actually hit you), tops can hit you twice, and bumpers are way too punishing.
- Track design is a mixed bag. There's a lot of fun ones here, but Marble Garden Zone and Balloon Park Zone are some of the worst tracks I've ever seen in the genre and I'm genuinely baffled they were let through. In general, it appears the game has a thing for track design that forces you to slow down if you don't play absolutely perfectly (a good example being the crates in chokepoints in City Escape), whereas in better kart racers every hazard can be dealt with without slowing down simply by knowing the map and playing well. Not even the AI can navigate some of these decently!
- The fast falling button isn't as useful as I thought, since it makes your kart bounce when you land, which makes it far less useful in tighter tracks.
- The tutorial, while still obligatory, can be skipped earlier. I'm still not keen on that - just make the tutorial optional and have a prompt asking if they'd like to play the tutorial when entering Grand Prix or Online for the first time. Time Attack is also unlocked after completing your first race (instead of requiring 82 spray cans, what the hell?!), and, thinking about it, it's absurd it wasn't like this from the get go.
- Online is still locked behind five cups, albeit the optional tutorial race can unlock it instantly now. Just have it unlocked from the get-go! I think the devs' heart is in the right place (it's a hard game and they probably don't want players jumping online immediately and getting discouraged), but this is still oddly restrictive - again, just add a prompt asking if they'd like to learn the mechanics when they start the game or try to go into Grand Prix or Online right away. Mods are also unlocked at the same time.

I'm feeling more positive about this game, albeit there's still some changes to be made before I consider it "pretty good". Personally, I'd do some more balance changes to make items less overtuned and retool tracks so that you aren't forced to slow down at all, and then by making the tutorial optional but heavily recommended.

Again, the devs' heart is in the right place and there's a lot of promise here - the game just needs to move past those aches.

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[ORIGINAL REVIEW - Based on day 1 thoughts.]

I’m learning I’m more tolerant of a lot more bullshit than most people on this site.

A lot of the complaints here are valid. To get it out of the way, yes, the tutorial is needlessly bullshit long. I get it there are many new mechanics here, and I think the presentation for it (and the setup screens before it) is charming and ooze passion from every pore, but the tutorial did not need to be 30-60 minutes long! The vast majority of what’s instructed here could be delivered in 10 minutes, tops.

I’m not too keen on some of the mechanics either; specifically the new currency system and the melee attack attached. You can have up to 20 rings, and that makes you faster (like the coins in Mario Kart and the Wumpa Fruit in Crash Team Racing), but you can spend those rings to charge up a melee attack that hits everyone around you. I don’t really see the point, because the items feel strong already (some maybe a bit too strong), and, y’know, it’s a racing game. Faster options are preferable.

Another I don’t really get is the trick system. I think the idea is fine, but there’s a few gripes I have with it - the UI element for timing a perfect trick (which covers more distance) is needlessly convoluted, and I don’t quite get the need to even have a “perfect” trick mechanic anyway given there’s a fast fall button now. Tricks are also only accessible through trick springs, which I rarely saw within the first seven cups, so it feels like an underused mechanic as well.

Unlike SRB2 Kart, this has a big singleplayer offering - I’m more of a singleplayer type, so that works great for me. What doesn’t is the AI; it feels absurdly aggressive and fucking LOVES to rubber band. It’s not uncommon for you to be doing well and the AI suddenly sails past you while cutting several corners. Maybe I just suck, I dunno, but I haven’t played another kart racing game with this level of bullshittery. There’s a bunch more singleplayer modes from what I gather, but I haven’t unlocked them yet, so… no comment.

However, the dumbest decision here is, by far, the one to lock mods behind completing five cups. The cups here are pretty big for kart racer standards, and considering just how important mods are to the scene that spawned this game… yeah, stupid ass decision. I get wanting to have players familiarize themselves with the game before modding the hell out of it, but this is, at minimum, a questionable approach to that.

Locking online behind completing a cup first is also something that got a lot irritated, and although I am a singleplayer gal first and foremost as I mentioned earlier, I completely understand the frustration - you can’t just hop on with friends online right out of the box. Couple that with the long ass tutorial, and you have a dealbreaker for many.

Another complaint I share is with color customization being locked behind finding spray cans in each map, instead of simply selecting it from the menu like in SBR2 Kart. I don’t mind the idea of having special unlockables hidden in the tracks (Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled did something similar with the unlockable metal box in its last update) but color customization feels like something too significant to make the target of a goose chase like that. Getting to the spray cans themselves can be very annoying too, with the few ones I’ve gone after so far being needlessly precise.

Moving on to the positives, this game is gorgeous and sounds great. The menu presentation and general artstyle feels ripped straight out of the Sega Saturn era, and it has a pretty excellent soundtrack, at least from what I’ve heard. The tracks look gorgeous as well, and the sheer number of them is insane. 200+! There appears to be a ridiculous number of SEGA characters, (crossing my fingers that a Yakuza character made the cut) and it’s just got generally really good fanservice.

And… honestly? Behind all the weird decisions here, there’s a really fun racing game here. It’s exhilarating to pull off a powerful drift and keep the speed going, and when the AI isn’t being a total jerk, it provides a really fun challenge! It can be a bit much visually and the game does a bad job explaining items and the new race start mechanic (ironic, given the tutorial’s length), but all in all, when it hits, it hits pretty well. It’s fun.

I absolutely do not blame anyone who decides to go back to SBR2K. Locking online, mods, and customization behind completing singleplayer stuff and that long ass tutorial can be a total dealbreaker if you’re just looking for something to fuck around in with your friends. But… I often just play singleplayer anyway. It works out in my favor here.

There’s a lot of love for the series on display here, and it’s obvious the devs are very passionate - it just needs to hold the player’s hand less.