Okay for starters I can't write. Like, at all. So this is probably going to end up being very unprofessional and sloppy, but I felt like this is something I should type out in case it ever comes up again. Which it already has several times before.
So some of you might be familiar with Sumo, a company that makes some sports titles for Sega. Way back in 2008 they took on making a Smash Bros-esque Sega game, only featuring an array of Sega characters playing tennis. They had experience with the Virtua Tennis games, so it seemed like a good idea. I personally never cared for it. It felt very slow and clunky, made it boring. Funny, but in this case Mario Tennis was way better than that game. Another series they had experience with was Outrun, which made the next logical step a racing game. Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing was a much better game by comparison, and it's mechanics felt much better than Mario Kart's. It did have some flaws, mostly coming from it's choice of characters and locations, which weren't bad but more or less really redundant.
Last year they put out a sequel to that game, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed. Now this game I consider to be better than most, if not all, Mario Kart games. You're probably wondering, "What's so bad about Mario Kart?" Well, Mario Kart isn't a bad game by any means, but a lot of Mario Karts feature slow and clunky mechanics and gameplay centered around luck when it comes to what items you get and when. Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7 are perhaps the worst offenders, Wii being the worst of the two. Wii featured 12 players at the same time for the first time in a Mario Kart game, but it arguably made the game way too wild. A big issue with the game's mechanics are the fact that being in first place means that you'll probably see an item come at you every few seconds. Red shells, blue shells, lighting, almost everything slows you down to a halt. In both of these games you have barely any frames of invincibility. So it's more than possible to slow down so quickly and stay at a stop for several seconds.
Another issue is how the blue shell in Mario Kart Wii barely aided the person who was throwing it. And there would be several of them each round. The shell would fly over to the person in first, skipping everyone in-between you and that person. Thankfully Mario Kart 7 fixes this, and is a bit more helpful, while also keeping blue shells to a minimum.
Oh yeah, did I mention, most of these items would cause you to drop your own item as well? Because this is actually a pretty big issue. So actually trying to strategize and find the right times to use your item are usually ruined by another item knocking yours away, or paranoia from possibly losing your item. Sonic And All-Stars features a lot of items that are similar to items found in Mario Kart, the difference being that none can actually take your item away. This allows you to save a boost for after being hit, which actually prevents you from losing as much speed as you normally would, or hold onto an item that could block incoming attacks.
One thing I've never liked about Mario Kart is how stiff the characters and tracks feel. The characters only seem to move when being hit and when they win or lose a race. In All-Stars the characters are a lot more animated, jumping around and taunting during a race. The tracks in Transformed also change quite a bit between laps, and have a lot of things going on as you drive past. Crowds of people cheering, pillars crumbling, and things flying past you, almost every track has something going on in the background. It probably isn't fair to compare a game that's on systems more capable than the Wii and 3DS, but Sonic and Sega also felt quite animated at least when it came to characters moving and things going on in the background, and that was on the Wii as well.
I may add, while some Mario Karts are really stiff and unfair when it comes to items, there are a couple that are still fun to play, and hold up well in comparison to All-Stars. Super Circuit and Double Dash namely still play very well to this day.
Essentially, this is how it goes. Mario Kart, Wii and 7 especially, is quite slow, and is especially unfair when it comes to items and how they can dramatically slow you down. The games feel very stiff and uninteresting because of how little the characters move in-game, outside of basic steering, winning, and damage animations.
In contrast, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed is a much faster racing game which feels more like an arcade racer and relies more on the skill of the player than the luck of what items you get and when. The characters feel a lot more lively on the track, jumping and moving around while driving. Even the tracks themselves change and transform, allowing for a different track on each lap. Though, in comparison to the first game, the character selection is a bit lacking, with Shenmue being completely absent along with Billy Hatcher. But the track selection is miles better.
Okay I've been going on way too long, and I doubt anyone has actually read any of this. I just wanted to type this all out and link to this whenever the two are compared.
So some of you might be familiar with Sumo, a company that makes some sports titles for Sega. Way back in 2008 they took on making a Smash Bros-esque Sega game, only featuring an array of Sega characters playing tennis. They had experience with the Virtua Tennis games, so it seemed like a good idea. I personally never cared for it. It felt very slow and clunky, made it boring. Funny, but in this case Mario Tennis was way better than that game. Another series they had experience with was Outrun, which made the next logical step a racing game. Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing was a much better game by comparison, and it's mechanics felt much better than Mario Kart's. It did have some flaws, mostly coming from it's choice of characters and locations, which weren't bad but more or less really redundant.
Last year they put out a sequel to that game, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed. Now this game I consider to be better than most, if not all, Mario Kart games. You're probably wondering, "What's so bad about Mario Kart?" Well, Mario Kart isn't a bad game by any means, but a lot of Mario Karts feature slow and clunky mechanics and gameplay centered around luck when it comes to what items you get and when. Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7 are perhaps the worst offenders, Wii being the worst of the two. Wii featured 12 players at the same time for the first time in a Mario Kart game, but it arguably made the game way too wild. A big issue with the game's mechanics are the fact that being in first place means that you'll probably see an item come at you every few seconds. Red shells, blue shells, lighting, almost everything slows you down to a halt. In both of these games you have barely any frames of invincibility. So it's more than possible to slow down so quickly and stay at a stop for several seconds.
Another issue is how the blue shell in Mario Kart Wii barely aided the person who was throwing it. And there would be several of them each round. The shell would fly over to the person in first, skipping everyone in-between you and that person. Thankfully Mario Kart 7 fixes this, and is a bit more helpful, while also keeping blue shells to a minimum.
Oh yeah, did I mention, most of these items would cause you to drop your own item as well? Because this is actually a pretty big issue. So actually trying to strategize and find the right times to use your item are usually ruined by another item knocking yours away, or paranoia from possibly losing your item. Sonic And All-Stars features a lot of items that are similar to items found in Mario Kart, the difference being that none can actually take your item away. This allows you to save a boost for after being hit, which actually prevents you from losing as much speed as you normally would, or hold onto an item that could block incoming attacks.
One thing I've never liked about Mario Kart is how stiff the characters and tracks feel. The characters only seem to move when being hit and when they win or lose a race. In All-Stars the characters are a lot more animated, jumping around and taunting during a race. The tracks in Transformed also change quite a bit between laps, and have a lot of things going on as you drive past. Crowds of people cheering, pillars crumbling, and things flying past you, almost every track has something going on in the background. It probably isn't fair to compare a game that's on systems more capable than the Wii and 3DS, but Sonic and Sega also felt quite animated at least when it came to characters moving and things going on in the background, and that was on the Wii as well.
I may add, while some Mario Karts are really stiff and unfair when it comes to items, there are a couple that are still fun to play, and hold up well in comparison to All-Stars. Super Circuit and Double Dash namely still play very well to this day.
Essentially, this is how it goes. Mario Kart, Wii and 7 especially, is quite slow, and is especially unfair when it comes to items and how they can dramatically slow you down. The games feel very stiff and uninteresting because of how little the characters move in-game, outside of basic steering, winning, and damage animations.
In contrast, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed is a much faster racing game which feels more like an arcade racer and relies more on the skill of the player than the luck of what items you get and when. The characters feel a lot more lively on the track, jumping and moving around while driving. Even the tracks themselves change and transform, allowing for a different track on each lap. Though, in comparison to the first game, the character selection is a bit lacking, with Shenmue being completely absent along with Billy Hatcher. But the track selection is miles better.
Okay I've been going on way too long, and I doubt anyone has actually read any of this. I just wanted to type this all out and link to this whenever the two are compared.