Here in rural armpit America this was our Ridge Racer Type 4. Sure, it lacked a cute lady waving at us or the Namco Sound Team, but you know what it did have? It had rocket-propelled chicken trucks racing around the roman coliseum with a bunch of tornados barreling around it. Instead of "Move Me" by Kohta Takahashi, we had goofy-ass sound effects like a boxing ring bell going off as we activated our battering ram power up, sending other racers into the stratosphere as bowling pin sounds rattled off and Captain Hero from Drawn Together growls "Let's Rock!".

Nascar Rumble isn't a refined simulator of any kind, it's a racing game that knows full well it's a video game. My favorite kind of sports-racer that goes for the insanity instead of trying to pretend it's realistic. You can keep your fancy shmancy driving physics and real life tracks, I'll gladly take my funny golf cart and drive against a mob of RVs in the back of some nameless southern beach town. Of course, if you're for some reason against this nonsense you can turn the power-ups and silly commentator guy off for a more boring and professional venture of some sorts. Why you would do this is beyond me, we at the Nascar Rumble sports committee recommend items to be set to "Mayhem" and for our commentator Jess Harnell to be set to max volume. Don't play something you never asked for as I always say!

Seriously, the game rules. If I had to nitpick the AI is actually too easy, even on Elite I ended up lapping it in an 8 lap race during my last play session. I'll take it over the rubberbanding bullshit that was all over the place at the time though!

The best Shantae game is the one where she isn't a genie. Huh?

The Shantae series always felt like if Zelda game fused with a 2D metroidvania. Heart-pieces, Dungeons, and variety of gadgets that open up new ways of interacting with the world are all present here. Instead of a huge map to explore, however, you instead get a few smaller maps that you can shift between. This removes a lot of the getting-lost and backtracking friction from the typical metroidvania experience at the expense of making the exploration less engrossing. It's still great fun though, especially since each island is very distinct in terms of design and the activities you participate in them (i.e. stealth in the desert island vs combatless platforming in the spooky island).
The greatest advantage this game has is the removal of the Shantae's most iconic feature: her genie powers. Instead of having to interrupt the gameplay with a belly dance and transform into a restrictive animal form, Shantae just uses a variety of pirate gear in the same way as any other metroidvania protagonist. Everything is integrated seamlessly into her moveset and this improves the flow so much, even if some of the series identity is lacking. And these gadgets are really fun. Whoever decided a cannon should be used to give the player a quadruple jump was a genius! Couple this with the best level design in the series and you have an incredibly solid game.
Presentation-wise, Wayforward's pixel art is still as gorgeous as ever and the music is an absolute delight. My only complaint here is that the music is constantly interrupted by cutscenes or pick-up fanfare and is forced to start from the beginning whenever this happens. Such a shame...
As for the story, I would liken it to something you would find off cartoon network. It never takes itself seriously and every character is an comedic idiot in their own way. I was definitely entertained, but never cared for where the story would go, only for where it took me.
If you're looking for a solid, charming platformer, absolutely give this game a try. It's the best entry in the Shantae series, and possibly Wayforward's best work. It showcases all their talent wonderfully.