I have so much to say, but it's so hard to even figure out where to start. Maybe I'll just start with the "irl" stuff we did in anticipation. My mom surprised me with a gaming floor chair that's racing themed, and we happened to spend one of the final afternoons before release day putting it together. How serendipitous is that? My sisters and my mom prepared a menu that they let me pick out. I had really wanted to have chili dogs for dinner, but we don't really eat processed food anymore (and have been feeling better as a result), so I wanted to get creative to figure out how to make nothing break our diet. We made them with this wonderful homemade chili my sister makes with mayocoba beans (my favorite ever kind of bean), bell peppers and corn, over the top of Aidell's sausages, Ezekiel sprouted grain bread, cheese, and homemade onion "rings". It exceeded my expectations (a running theme for these evenings) and was the greatest "hot dog" I've ever had in my entire life.
In addition to the chili dogs we had in honor of Sonic himself, to represent Eggman, my mom made a couple of platters of her famous deviled eggs that I've loved since I was a small child, and before I developed a taste for any other kind of egg. We had a homemade chocolate cake, topped with homemade butter mint frosting that my sisters had made in reference to Tails' favorite food, mint. Finally, release day lined up with cotton candy grape season (the greatest grapes ever, imo), so we got some of those to snack on throughout the evening because grapes are Knuckles' favorite food. It was all heavenly, and I'm so grateful to my family for being so into celebrating with me that they were willing to put in all the effort to realize my vision for the day.
Okay, as for the game itself. That opening had my jaw drop when I first heard the dialog start, and the rest of the tutorial had me smiling from ear to ear, and not realizing it until my facial muscles got sore from it. I used to have a Sans profile picture here for a very long time, so I probably don't have to tell many of you, but I am a huge Undertale fan. It's one of my favorite games ever made, and that Undertale-esque presentation for the dialog made my heart skip a beat! Also the fact that that enabled you guys to use the Adventure voice cast for new dialog was absolutely brilliant! What an inspired idea. Most long, unskippable tutorials can make me antsy and ready to do just about anything else, but the way each new element was presented with such witty dialog and new areas of the beautiful Sunbeam Paradise to explore, I couldn't wait to see more! It really felt like a little Adventure mode, and it just had so much heart, that it warmed my heart too. My family loved the writing and humor, how in character Tails and Ivo were, and the fantastic presentation too. The "what's YOUR favorite color?" line in particular they said "was very cute and wholesome". This tutorial had its hooks in me from start to finish, anticipating what was around the next corner with such excitement. This has some serious implications for how well you guys would pull off a proper Story mode too. I hope so much to see that happen too!
As for actual gameplay, the momentum aspect of the game is a breath of fresh air to me. I've never really thought about the fact that in every kart racer I've ever played, driving on flats, uphill, downhill, it all feels pretty much the same. Even anti-gravity in MK8 doesn't really provide anything new either. This element of Ring Racers both made the game much more dynamic to play, and is a faithful racing game adaptation of classic Sonic physics! You know that when just driving around is fun and interesting, you're onto something good.
Speaking of dynamic systems, I love the Rival system/bots. When they bully me, it really feels personal and activates my competitive spirit. In the end, I feel much more invested in racing them and they are all the more satisfying to try to beat!
Okay, Rings themselves might be my favorite mechanic in the entire game so far. In every other racing game, I have a tendency that makes playing them less fun for me, but because nothing stops me from playing this way, I always fall into it. I am typically very defensive with little reliance on good item play and I purely out drive my opponents most of the time. Now if I ever try to do that, my rings are blocked from being used while I have items sitting in my item slot, so I have to be at least somewhat aggressive if I want my sweet ring boosts again.
Also in other racing games, you're usually encouraged to approach every track the same way. Hugging the inside of a turn is always the right answer 99% of the time and there's very little to change this up. With rings, as well as special item pods, smartly placed boost pads, alternate paths, etc., I find that I always have to take what would typically be an "inefficient route" to get ahead instead. Between this and how differently angled terrain changes up how to approach driving, I find that maps now have the tools needed to always keep me on my toes, and prevents my brain from getting complacent and doing the same "not fun, but efficient" things over and over again.
Speaking of alternate paths, I also think it's so cool how there doesn't appear to be any one right or wrong way to approach tracks, and there's enough mechanics at play that one can get really creative while racing. This is something that also hearkens back to classic Sonic games. It really feels like the only limitations are your skill, and moreover, your imagination!
Something I was willing to give a fair chance, but wasn't completely sold on were the Break the Capsule Special Stages that are sprinkled throughout a Grand Prix. Playing them in the actual context of the game, I can say that I really enjoy them a lot. The pacing of GP as a whole is stellar and the Special Stages are a big part of that. After all the intensity of regular races, it's nice to have a different change of pace and a chance to recuperate those lost lives.
Moving on from the core gameplay experience, I was so overwhelmed and delighted the first time I saw that Challenges menu! The way challenges/unlockables are implemented really takes me back to a childhood favorite mine, Kirby's Air Ride. Oh my gosh, and I can't believe you guys actually made the Welcome to the Machine code correlate with getting a Glyph follower! When I first was greeted by the beautifully sprited menus, that was the very first thing I went and did!
I also think the followers doubling as the new horn system is such a novel idea. 9/10 times I race with my little Glyph, and I love hearing it's little tune every time I look back.
Hunting for unlockables in Free Race, exploring the different maps with my sisters totally took me back to childhood memories of scouring every square inch of Sonic R's tracks to find different secrets and Easter Eggs hidden throughout. Over the weekend while we were waiting for my mom and eldest sister to be available to play with us, me and my other sisters had a blast working together to try to figure out and fulfill different unlock requirements as a team on previously played maps (we've been waiting to dive into new GPs for the first time until everyone is available though). It's been and will continue to be a great bonding experience for us!
The original tracks are certified bops and are such good fits for their different contexts. "Qualified, Set, GO!!", the Chao key song, and "Back of the Box are particular favorites, while "File Select (Reception Mix)" is my absolute favorite so far. I think I could listen to that one for hours and not get tired of it.
You guys just generally have superb music taste in my opinion, with the Withering Chateau song being a particular highlight. It just has so much heart that it's hard to not feel something while listening to it. WC is my family's favorite track so far too, speaking of which. My eldest sister listens to the song even when she's not playing the game, and the track as a whole made my mom misty eyed, which rarely does she ever cry, so that's something that takes some doing.
Oh my goodness, and speaking of my mom, I was so happy on her behalf when we unlocked Big, Froggy, and especially Mail! And you guys used Melissa Gulden's voice lines for Mail too! Me and my siblings all insisted that mom needed to be the first to play as her and she thought it was amazing to be able to hear the voice of someone she knows in real life inside of Ring Racers!
Aaahhh, and my heart fluttered when City Escape first showed up, especially with Security Hall as the lead-in! That is another big track highlight for me. Press Garden and Hydrocity, my favorite Mania and 3K levels were a delight, and the Sonic Gems Museum and Joypolis were delightful too. When we were kids, me and my siblings would spend hours looking at galleries in games we grew up with like the Trophies in Melee, the Sonic Mega Collection Gallery, and notably the Sonic Gems Museum. We really loved and appreciated the Sonic Screen Saver artwork in there so both of those levels were particularly nice to revisit together! Speaking of Sonic Gems, Regal Ruin is a blast in RR! I'd argue that it's a more fun Ring Racers track than it was in the context of Sonic R! Excellent work on that one too!
I also just wanted to touch on the starting roster too. Despite unlocking enough racers to have the cast nearly doubled so far, me and my family's favorites are actually still a part of the core nine characters! My little sister mains Tails, my older sister mains Rosy, and my eldest sister and my mom both main Knuckles! Personally, I don't know who my favorite is yet, but I do suspect it'll be someone in either the A, B, C, or F engine classes. I've definitely spent the most time as Tails and Bean (in hopes of getting the 100 win requirement for what I think unlocks Bark). By the way, my sisters love Fang's choice of voice. My little sister actually thought Fang's voice came from an official Sonic game with voice acting that she'd never heard of, it was that good to her.
Overall, my family absolutely loves the game. They have found the later page 1 cups to be quite hard though, so I can't wait to try out the rebalanced 2.1 bots soon! My older sister actually completely unprompted told me that she already knew that Ring Racers was the greatest racing game she'd ever played! I think this game is incredible and has been that great new racing game I've longed for for upwards of a decade now. My love for this game has been to the point that when I've been trying to go to sleep, I haven't been able to stop thinking about the game, preventing my active mind from sleeping! When I went to tell my family that I couldn't stop thinking about playing it again, and that "my mind was racing", we realized my accidental pun and it became an inside joke shortly afterwards! My little sister the following night, when telling me I needed to get some sleep, said to consider it my "pit stop" for some more racing the next day. Something hasn't made me so excited to the point of restlessness like this since I was a child! This game has made me feel like a kid again in many respects.
Following completing the Extra Cup, me and my family were happily watching the credits roll. They collectively gasped, sat up in their seats and started cheering, applauding and hollering, and to my amazement, I saw my name up there in that Special Thanks! My heart leapt and I was in such disbelief. I had told them while we were enjoying some Sonic gummies afterward that "I feel so happy, but I also feel weird", and my mom said "Yeah, it's because you're in shock!". It took a while for it to sink in, but that following night when "my mind was racing", I was overcome with tears and joy and all I could do was thank God for this blessing, and petition Him to bless all of you guys sevenfold for how much you've touched and blessed myself, my family, and thousands of others like me.
You guys have been so kind to me, so I knew I was accepted and appreciated by you guys, but I never could've imagined that you guys could've valued me so much as to put my name up there with all these other wonderful people that contributed so much to Kart Krew, Ring Racers and its community. Being up there in a game's End Credits has been a life long dream of mine, and I wasn't sure if it'd ever really happen, let alone in my most anticipated game of the decade.
On behalf of me and my family, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you! God bless you, God bless you, God bless you all! Speculating about this game and anticipating its release has been such a joyous ride, and I'm so grateful for all the connections and friendships I made along the way.
