Charkit

After having gotten my hands on a Switch 2 and Mario Kart World, and after having played the game for about 20 hours, and after having played all the cups and having done a good number of things in free-roam, here are my thoughts on the game.

It’s a great game. Driving around in free-roam, just doing P-switch challenges and hitting ?-panels, is very fun, and regular races are very enjoyable too.

The “intermissions,” as people like to call them, are okay, I think. They’re not bad, but there’s not a lot of spice. Simply driving around is fun, which means the intermissions are fun too. As for the format of grand prix races, I don’t mind it. I would prefer three laps on each track, but what we have isn’t bad.

The music needs no introduction. It’s the single best soundtrack in any Mario game, in my opinion, spin-off or not.


Now, as for what I don’t like; nada. There isn’t anything in the game that I don’t like. Rather, there are only missing features I would like to see, and there are only two.

The first feature is one that really should have been there from the start; separate volume sliders for music and sound effects. With a soundtrack this good, it’s a shame you can’t silence the sound effects for when you don’t want engines revving on top of the music.

The second feature is also related to music; a music player. Seriously, just let us listen to any song at any time. Maybe you could even mark songs as favorite, and then you could choose to only have those play!

Other than that, there isn’t anything I really care much to see added. I’ll take new skins anytime, though, of course.


I think the hate Mario Kart World gets is very excessive, but it’s also really funny. Seeing hour-long “I hate Mario Kart World” videos in my feed will never not get a laugh out of me. I’m just having a good time with the game.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

Charkit

After having played the likely final DLC levels for Astro Bot, I hereby declare Astro Bot the single best game I have ever played. No, really, I'm serious. I don't recall the last time a game filled me with so much joy all throughout. Never have I ever had such wide smiles on my face as I did when playing this game.

The last two bots you obtain are such a joy to finally see after their unfortunate absence from the game upon release, but I'm so glad to finally have them here. If you don't know who they are, go get them, or you can go have their identities spoiled to you from YouTube thumbnails.

Speaking of spoilers, I had the now final bot spoiled to me thanks to a YouTube thumbnail. If you are a content creator who puts spoilers in your thumbnails, respectfully, I'm not fond of you.

With that, thanks, Team Asobi!

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 2

Charkit

Before I came up with the name Charkit back in, what, 2018 or whenever the hell it was, one other name I had in mind was Chakrid. Don't ask what the idea behind it was; it was what my dumb baby brain came up with then, but I had a euphoric vision and realized that "Charkit" was way better, and I still think so. "Chakrid" sounds like a species of beetle. "Charkit" doesn't even mean anything, and it's very disjointed from what my names are on other platforms, but the name stuck around, so I'm not gonna do anything to it.

If the backstory on "Charkit" didn't interest you, my account's handle, the @, is named after the character Kit from Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Kit's serial designation is KT-7461, but Ratchet gave her the nickname while he was helping her rescue the monks kidnapped by Emperor Nefarious' troopers. I remember way too much about Rift Apart.

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 0

Charkit

I wonder how the trend of naming video game showcase clips stuff like "Yes... [x] [y] [z]" started, because I constantly see videos in my feed titled things like "Yes... The Developers Really Thought of This," "Yes... [thing] Actually Happened," or "Yes... You Can Really [do this]," and I don't like it. I think it's an ugly naming convention.

3 months ago | [YT] | 0

Charkit

For some years now, I've been playing a roguelite arcade shooter-esque game called Nova Drift, and it's a great game, but I have some major grievances with it. I'm gonna detail my biggest grievances here instead of in their Discord server or on a forum or something, because I'd rather have change served to me on a silver platter than advocate for it where it matters, because it makes me feel psychic and in charge.


Number 1: Champion Juggernauts are too overpowered

For context, all basic enemies have three forms: normal, Elite, and Champion. Elite and Champion are stronger variants of the same enemy. The jump in power between the Elite Juggernaut and the Champion Juggernaut is unlike anything else in the game. All other enemies have reasonable jumps in power between forms.

The regular and Elite Juggernauts are basic enemies that are trivial in the late-game, but the Champion is arguably the strongest enemy in the game. It has too much health, it covers the screen in lethal projectiles, it spawns Shredder Mines (more on these later) if it charges at you (it charges if you are in front of it), and its speed scales too hard in the late-game.

I would nerf its health and speed scaling, or I would just delete them. Give me the choice to ban one enemy type from a run, and I will ban Juggernauts every single time.


Number 2: Tracer shields

Tracers are an enemy in the game. They spawn with a shield that goes away after a bit. This shield is completely indestructible, so you just have to wait for it to go away on its own. There are two problems I have with these shields. First, the time it takes for them to go away does not scale with game speed (in the late-game Tracers may attack multiple times before you can even damage them, or the game is slowed to a halt while you wait), and second, the shields deal crash damage (damage when you collide).

The crash damage is only an issue in one case, but it's bad enough that I want it changed. You can become a "Leviathan" in the game, which transforms you into a serpent that grows longer with levels. In the ultra-late-game Tracers move very fast, and you're likely big enough to circle the entire arena. Tracers will spawn and move into your tail segments, dealing severe crash damage to you and only you, and you can't do anything about it. This results in you getting crippled off something you can't control, which feels unfair and stupid.

I have a few solutions to Tracer shields. Either make their uptime scale with game speed, or make them destructible. Even if the health of the shield is arbitrarily high, Leviathan's damage will still destroy it. It feels awful to lose a good Leviathan run because the game spawned five Tracers and they get tangled in your tail.

Not to mention, it's just boring having to sit and wait for the shield to go away when you both know that the Tracer is gonna die instantly. Why are you wasting our time?


Number 3: Shredder Mines and how they spawn

Mentioned in entry 1 about Juggernauts, Shredder Mines are enemies that move slowly toward you, and when they die they launch high-damage projectiles in multiple directions. They're pretty simple, but the ways they spawn are not done well, in my opinion.

There are many wave formations that consist purely of a ton of Shredder Mines at once, which often results in the screen being covered in a billion projectiles that each deal a ton of damage. This is really bad for glass cannon builds, or if you're unlucky enough to encounter such a wave after another problematic wave. Sometimes these waves are basically just the game going, "alright, your run is over. Thanks for playing!"

There are some other ways Shredder Mines spawn that I don't like. The only one I'll care to mention is one where they spawn in a long line circling another enemy, like a helicopter rotor or something. That's still too many Shredder Mines at once. I think they should only spawn in small groups if it's absolutely vital that they spawn in groups.

I lied. I'll mention one more formation. Sometimes they spawn one by one in a circle around the arena, and this method is really slow and brings the game to a halt as you just wait for them to spawn. It's a slog, and it sucks.


Number 4: Ultra-rare Wild Mods

A part of the game is Wild Metamorphosis, which is a mode that brings a ton of extra mods, known as Wild Mods, into the upgrade pool. These are often wackier than regular mods, and they aren't part of any mod trees. Mods are upgrades, by the way, if you didn't catch that. Some Wild Mods are recursive, which means they can be obtained multiple times!

There are three tiers of Wild Mods: regular, Rare, and Ultra-rare. The tiers are self-explanatory, but I think Ultra-rares are handled poorly. In my mind, Ultra-rare mods should be either; niche but potentially extremely powerful mods; really wacky or outlandish things; or just really unique things. Half of the Ultra-rare mods are none of those things.

Let's look at the Ultra-rares that I do think are fine as is.

Quantum Decoherence: this mod instantly grants you five levels, but it removes rerolls from the game. You use rerolls to, well, reroll your presented selection of mods to choose from. It's useless in the early-game, but it's extremely useful in the ultra-late-game, since it's an instant gateway into Ataraxia (a Super Mod). It's niche and unique enough that I think it's fine to be so rare.

Far Sight: this recursive mod increases the battlefield size. Essentially, it zooms the game out, but it also increases the damage you take from enemies. It's fun but pretty useless. At least, I've never found a practical use for it, so I'd rather have it be rare than have it appear all the time.

Challenger: this recursive mod spawns an enemy with superpowered stats, and if you kill it, you instantly get one level, lots of experience orbs, and some power-ups. This mod is very unique, and I quite like it, so it's fine to be rare. It also gets you killed sometimes because of what it spawns.

Explosive Growth: this mod is a twist on a Rare mod, Revelation. Revelation causes the next recursive mod you choose to be gained an extra two times for free. Essentially, you get three of them instead of one. Explosive Growth is the same except you get four of a mod at once, but that mod is banished afterward. A mod being banished just means you can't find it again. It's fine that this mod is rare, because it's a more volatile variant of an already existing mod.

Now, let's go through the last four Ultra-rares that I do not think should be Ultra-rares.

Maelstrom: This mod causes your shield, if you have a shield, to twist enemies and projectiles around itself like a vortex. The strength of the vortex is amplified when you take damage. This mod has potential to warp hazards into unseen dimensions or something, but why is that reason for it to be rare? Yeah, it's good, but that's not valid. This mod used to be Rare but was made Ultra-rare when that tier was added to the game.

Twin Strike: This recursive mod gives you an additional projectile and reduces weapon spread, and it reduces regeneration as a trade-off. This is too basic to be rare. I'm sure it had strong builds, but, again, that's a stupid reason to have it be rare. If this mod gave you an extra cannon (point from which your weapon fires), that would be hilarious and worthy of the status of Ultra-rare. This mod used to be Rare but was made Ultra-rare when that tier was added to the game.

Ricochet: This recursive mod causes your projectiles to rebound toward a nearby enemy or hazard when it would otherwise be destroyed (it rebounds up to the number of Ricochet mods you have), but it also reduces your number of projectiles. It's a very fun mod, but not enough to be an Ultra-rare, in my opinion. The projectile count reduction is very arbitrary too, I think.

Grandeur: This recursive mod instantly gives you two levels, and it makes you bigger and slower. It's extremely fun and arguably one of the best mods in the game overall but not worthy of being an Ultra-rare to me. Most builds will benefit well from it, but only one type of build (Leviathan builds) benefits immensely, and just because one build is all-powerful with it, it doesn't mean it should be extremely rare. This mod used to be Rare but was made Ultra-rare when that tier was added to the game.


My problem with these Ultra-rares is that they don't do enough. Most of them were made rare just because they had really good builds and synergies, but there are so many other things that also have that. I don't think something simply being good is grounds for a nerf. Additionally, this is a singleplayer roguelite, mind you, so trying to keep things balanced to this degree is silly, in my opinion.

I love doing Leviathan runs but only when I can get lots of Grandeur, but since that mod is so God forsaken rare, I get frustrated when I can't get what I want. Sure, it's incredible when I do get lots of Grandeur, but that's so rare and inconsistent that I rarely bother anymore. I know it's a roguelite, and roguelites are built off RNG, but it gets to a point where some things are too rare compared to what they grant you.

I suggest the listed Ultra-rares should be buffed or moved down a tier to just Rare.


I think that's it. Yeah, that's it. Those are my four biggest grievances with the game. I didn't go as much into detail as I could have, because I'm already wasting my time immensely on this, but hey, I enjoyed writing it.

I will keep playing the game, but I will also keep ranting out loud to myself when I die to something out of my control. Cheers, mates.

3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 1

Charkit

Youtube needs to stop deleting comments for zero reason. I’m tired of being unable to interact with people because my comments keep getting deleted.

It doesn’t happen always, but it happens enough that I’m fuming over it. It usually happens in the middle of discussions, and it blows!

3 months ago | [YT] | 1

Charkit

In regards to the high prices of the Nintendo Switch 2 and its games, I have a few things to say.

I'm being pretentious, but I think it's a complete waste of time to be so angry about the prices of the games. From my point of view, this is just the world we live in. Games weren't gonna be $60-70 forever. It was only a matter of time before someone took the step "forward" to up prices to $80, and Nintendo was probably gonna be the one to do so. Your furious complaints aren't gonna have Nintendo lower the prices, I don't think, no matter how loudly you scream and cry about it.

This isn't to say that I'm happy with the prices. Maybe I'll frown for five seconds when thinking deeply about it, but in the end, I don't really care enough to be bothered by it. I wouldn't ever endorse prices this high, but it shouldn't ever have been an unexpected thing. That's honestly one of the more appalling things in all of this; people were so shocked by the prices. I thought it was as predictable as the sun setting, but what do I know?

Also, I've gotten videos in my feed about boycotting Nintendo by not buying the games or whatever, and I think that's really hysterical. These people think that they can change Nintendo's mind, which I think is ridiculous. Again, keep in mind that I have nothing to back up this view of mine. I usually don't on topics like this. If it's any help, I hope I'm wrong and that Nintendo changes their mind, but if I'm gonna be real, I don't think it's happening.

I also want to touch on the price of the Switch 2 itself. It's fine. Most people say it's fine, but there are still some who claim outrage. To that, I respond, "preposterous!"

To summarize, I think it's a waste of time to be this upset about it, and I don't see things changing. I urge you to spend your time doing literally anything else, which I will also tell myself, because I am speaking to a wall right now.

Thank you.

4 months ago | [YT] | 1

Charkit

Something I've managed to get really good at is restraining myself when I see comments on YouTube that really drive me up the wall. In the past, I used to take bait all the time and engage in stupid arguments, wasting my time tremendously instead of doing something useful like watching a five-hour video on toilets or something.

Nowadays, I still engage in YouTube comments, but I don't respond to comments that make me irrationally upset. Every time I see a comment that irks me, I click Reply, type a comment, then hit Cancel and move on without engaging, because if the comment I thought to reply to is stupid, I will already know the rest of the argument is unwinnable, so there's no point in engaging. Of course, what is and isn't a stupid comment is up to interpretation.

Also, this isn't to say I never engage, because I still do. Despite my best efforts and what I said in the previous paragraph, I do engage occasionally. Usually, however, I don't go further than a single comment made to excite a raging fire. Naturally, I come back to see how people react, then think about how I can reply to them, but I restrain myself and leave without continuing, because honestly, other people will fuel the fire for me.

Thank you for your time.

5 months ago | [YT] | 0

Charkit

Astro Bot won Game of the Year! Did it deserve it? Yes. Did the other nominees deserve it? Yes (except for the DLC lmao). Would I have minded if Astro Bot didn’t win GOTY? No, not at all. I’m just glad that a simple, whimsical game like this absolutely swept the floor.

I think 2024 was a pretty good year for gaming, even if I didn’t play many games. I hope 2025 brings about good times as well.

8 months ago | [YT] | 0

Charkit

Funny how I didn't care at all about Astro until the release of Astro Bot. I didn't play his VR game, and I didn't even play Astro's Playroom, the tech demo that comes pre-installed on all PS5's, and yet, Astro Bot has managed to become a favorite Playstation character of mine, and of course Astro Bot is my pick for GOTY, and easily the best game I have played in years. Even better than Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

Good job, Team Asobi. The video game industry is saved!

And, for anyone curious, it took me 13 hours to get Astro Bot's platinum trophy.

11 months ago | [YT] | 0