[melee announcer reverb] MEESKA, MOOSKA, MICKEYYYYYYY MOUSE!!!!!!

if you're gonna use my notifs as a venting ground about the devs and want me to take your reservations seriously the least you can do is *not* do it on your main where i can easily find receipts of you casually dropping slurs on your twitter page

how i approach media discussion in general really but i single out ring racers cuz it is probably one of my favourite games. i've been in the trenches since release day, i can tell earnest critique apart from someone who's just got an axe to grind against its mere premise

the thing about me and ring racers is i've had really constructive and insightful talks with friends that *don't* fw it and were willing to discuss why in good faith but if you're clearly looking to strike a nerve you're not getting a more complex response from me than a "okay"

would pete's classic route in ultimate (his big return after being cut from 4) be taking on characters with stages that feature their home/castle/etc and be called "I'm the leader of the Clubhouse!"

(i am fully prepared to extend my condolenses on the off chance they're playing it dead straight)

if they really lean into it it could be a good way to introduce said audience to a series that hasn't had a new game in decades AND a funny commentary on the modern game design conventions metroid rejects. like you're right there with samus in her desire to throw this cunt off a cliff

whether it's the linear power trip of 1 or the dialogue-heavy mission briefing of 3, it's kind of a prime tradition to pull general audiences in with a more "familiar" shooter tone before pulling the rug out and metroiding all over the place

relevant to the talk about the arcade scene, that's exactly how the megadrive marketed itself; arcade-tier experiences in your living room. mario's stagnation and discomfort in the new environment - the one sega dominated at the time - was sonic's golden ticket

mind you all this is coming from someone that would probably put world in his top 10 marios. i find time to play it 100% at least once a year. it's just fun to look back on the historical context of it all and go Oh, So THAT'S Why Bowser Looked Like That

due to the NES cartridge shortage delaying mario 3 to 1990 in the states, you barely got to breathe before mario 4 was out in '91 ('88 and '90 in japan for comparison). i imagine that's part of why fans didn't mind that it didn't do much new. they were kinda like brother and sister games