like with the way it's used to commentate on the state of America, or how it uses its multiverse or butterfly premises to tell this story really well. This show made m cherish anything that comes from this muscular and veiny man with all my heart.

I seventh(?) this

and then in bananza there's the rain layer where all of its inhabitants are obsessed with the weather but the abilities you get have nothing to do with it and the problems of that layer are entirely unresolved and are primarily a background element

Like comparing to Odyssey, I think the process of getting a banana often times had more depth than getting a moon in mario, but if I think about the experience as a whole it feels a bit empty. Like Mario's kingdoms are such an experience, living worlds where you interact with their unique cultures

playing I'm just bumbling around the map waiting for anything to happen. The regular races reinforce what I feel, rather than interesting level design, gimmicks, or mechanics what sticks out to me the most are just the minicutscenes that play every now and then which just rely on finite shock value

I dash around City Trial with no idea of what's happening or what I'm doing and my random button mashing will occasionally result in me actually attacking someone. I'm at my most engaged when there's an event, because that gives me purpose and actually brings people together, for the rest of my time

it's always really strange seeing soma bringer characters wear things that are nearly exactly the same as xc1 characters, they had a really distinctive style