the two things i care the most about when playing arcade racing games is that it's fast and that drifting feels smooth. because it's kart racing, we already know it won't be very fast, so let's hope that at least it's not too slow or there's an option to increase speed

smooth drifting is hard to get right and many racing games fail at it. for drifting to feel smooth you shouldn't feel hard transition when entering drift mode and you should be able to easily drift around corner by tapping brake once. the best example of smooth drifting is 2010 Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. you need to play it to feel it. other good examples are Burnout Revenge, Burnout 3, Ridge Racer 7 and the newest Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 also has relatively smooth drifting. on the other hand i absolutely hated drifting in Mario Kart 8, i didn't like the transition when entering drift mode and i had no idea how i was supposed to drift because i was either oversteering or slowing down too much

to make tracks more interesting it needs to have multiple paths and shortcuts. while Mario Kart 8 tracks are visually impressive, they are boring to drive because of how linear they are. the best example of complex tracks can be seen in Burnout Revenge. Hot Wheels Unleashed adds complexity in a different way by adding modules to the track, which create obstacles. this is also good because it can slow down players in the lead, giving a chance to players behind

giving help to people driving behind is always good. there's nothing fun to be constantly in the lead and there's nothing fun to drive behind the whole race because you made one mistake. the fun comes from close races. in Ridge Racer 7 you gain boost by driving behind other players, that's why you always see players overtaking each other instead of one player always being in the lead

even though developers probably already made decisions on how their kart racing will be, i hope they consider what i think

  • SmartisanVae, Antoine0564, and kidhuddy like this.

    • [deleted]

    • Best Answerset by Igor

    formula wild is another simple short track, but still an improvement over snowville. it has the things i was asking for - obstacles on track. with each lap the vehicles appear in different places on road making each lap different. the snowstorm event adds even more complexity to the track, snow piles serve as obstacles, while gingerbread guys give you boost. and again it makes the track more interesting when they appear in different places each game.

    snowstorm is a fun addition, but after the event is over i will not miss it, however it will be nice if there was some replacements for gingerbread guys and snow piles. such obstacles is a needed complexity to make nemo kart more fun.

    the track route is a an improvement over snowville, but it still doesnt reach the complexity of shanghai. it's understandable that nemo kart needs at least some new tracks right now, but i hope future tracks will only be improvement over shanghai. the shortcut in the end also feels like it was made just so there was at least one shortcut. i again suggest you to see how shortcuts are made in Burnout Revenge, this can give you some ideas

    as for obstacles on track i will showcase some modules from hot wheels unleashed to see what kind of obstacles can be made

    really party animals could go wild with nemo kart tracks, just like with maps in other modes. this means there can always be something happening on the tracks or maybe even the tracks could change entirely, like how it works in split/second game:

    i understand that party animals is not a racing game, but i believe improvements can be made. there are many fun racing games to take ideas from other than mario kart. i hope nemo kart can grow to be more distinct from mario kart

    now to review the other new features of this update. the snow on tracks looks great. there were suggestions last year of day and night cycle on maps, i was also thinking that it would be fun to add snow on maps. the way you changed tracks looks impressive and shows that it can be possible to make such changes for last stand and team score maps.

    the slippery road is fun. it takes time to get used to, i often hit walls now, but it feels fresh to play.

    bombardment with drones came to an end, you no longer need to use mine kart to survive in 1st place. now we can finally use any karts we like. i was suggesting there needs to be help for players driving behind, but with how many drones there were before, it was too much help. this may be a challenge for an experienced player, but for most people it just made them not want to be 1st. i think it's a good change to revert it, however the drones seems to be completely absent now. we played with @PiggyHead and she didnt get drone once in a race. now i played 3 quick match races with @Color22 and again i wasnt hit with a drone one time. but if we were to choose, to give too much help for players driving behind or too little, it's better to choose the latter. less experienced players will not be able to stop more experienced players as easy anymore, but racing will feel more fair, and it will no longer make people frustrated by being punished for driving 1st. i would still add just a little more drones

    i really like the new puppy kart ability and i want to keep using this kart after new year is over. the problem is that it's christmas themed, it will look out of place being used aside of winter holidays. it would be nice if it could back to this design:

    here's my best time on new track so far:

    and here's my buttons configuration:

    it feels more natural to have drift on left trigger. that's how it is in modern arcade racing games

    with one issue solved, another one remains - there are still no buttons to restart the game and go back to lobby. those buttons are needed

i will also add that drifting should not slow you down too much. games like Split Second and Need for Speed Unbound made this mistake of making drifting slow you down a lot, which makes you not want to use drift at all, because it's faster to go around corner without drifting

you should also not be able to ride against walls faster than taking corners properly. you should not be able to cut parts of the track, if you're not meant to. generally there should not be any exploits making you go faster than you're supposed to

this all may be too much details for a simple kart racing game mode, but because i am so much about racing games, i can't resist to add one more things. from what we saw in the trailer, the road shown there seems to be wide. this is a good thing. wide roads feel nicer to drive and it makes driving easier. the opposite can be seen in Wipeout games, that have tight roads with walls slowing you down a lot, which makes it a difficult racing game to play

what we also saw in the trailer is that Nemo drives a kart that looks like it's made of Lego. i wonder if this is official collab or not. for this reason i've played Lego 2K Drive game, and this game is a good example of very bad drifting system. all it does is oversteers you into the wall, so i hope the developers weren't learning from this game

a month later

the officials don't like me scolding them, so now let's go back to what we have been doing all this time - say something nice about better things they do. and the only better thing i can think of now is nemo kart. i think i should respond to what i was hoping for earlier

a concern was about how smooth the mechanics will be and what we got is impressive. there's no chunkiness in sight, something that even dedicated racing games often fail it. the game uses similar drifting mechanics as mario kart, which i stated that i dont like, so when you drift, it pushes you into outer wall. this is different from other racing games i played, but with time i learned how to use this drifting system properly, the idea is to start drifting long before you approach corner. then you can make tight turns and it even feels nice. still not a drifting system i am used to and some kids may have harder time with it. luckily a lot of corners can be taken without drifting, though if faster karts are introduced, then drifting will be necessary. and i hope they will be introduced, because i want faster karts

the first track is incredible, both visually and by it's course. just like i wanted it, the track features shortcuts and multiple paths. the first shortcut is pretty cool because of being risky. but with time you learn to execute this shortcut without crashing every time

another hope was for supporting those, who drive behind. and we've got it with players behind receiving boost and weapons, while leading player only gets bananas and gears. still, because of my experience with racing games, this did not help them much and i still won every race i played. i dont think any changes should be made, because not everyone spent as much time on racing games as me. so it should help other players

the gears system is impressive, and i always appreciate unique mechanics in racing games

grass slows you down just right, it feels good when it slows you down a lot and prevents you from cutting corners, so no changes needed

i didn't find any exploits, that make you go faster than you should or cut parts of the track. this is good

regarding kart balance, i cant say much about it, because in racing games i usually pick the best vehicle and stick with it. i don't like changing vehicles, as you may perform worse with unfamiliar vehicle

we have a selection of karts, but more tracks are necessary to not keep the game stale. for now it's something you play for a little and go back to other modes. but i would spend a lot of time with nemo kart, if there were more tracks

the option to turn off power ups is nice, because i dont really like power ups, unless it's boost. for my friends i will still keep it on. for some reason the buttons to restart game and go back to lobby are missing. those are needed. and preferably there needs to be fast restart, without loading the map and selecting karts again, i like practicing

maybe some of you can come up with kart ideas. for now i can only think of golf kart, because i like golf

overall nemo kart is better than i expected and there's not much i don't like about it. i even got used to bizzare controls

i have already recorded some tips for kart racing, but i will keep it for full video. i can still send you those tips in DM so you can improve racing right away. this is the time for 1 lap that you should beat:

(don't add leaderboard, it's stressful)

    I do agree that out of the bat, this is a smooth iteration of previous formulas and have nailed the party kart genre. Handling feels great; after just a few matches the flow into drifts on winding tight corners are very doable.

    Though i have a few things i would like to add to this conversation for the future of this mode. Many compare this being a direct relation to Mario Kart. And while i think that this mode is a great inspiration of this game, I hope there are some levels of branching out of the norm for its mechanics...

    That's not to say directly with just adding more "powerups" or "kart selection stats" of that sorts, but implementing elements that work in the style of party animals for the track design and dynamic play. For instance, The Last Stand maps are know to each have a dynamic aspect that drastically breaks up the map in (initially) unexpected ways. Igor makes a good point of different pathways and obstacles, as this could be one, but to take it a step further would be to have events (usually in the form of a catalyst for disaster in Last Stand) would change the track as a whole to splice up the next lap per say.

    Though this is a lot more work especially of a map of this size compared to the cookie cutter fighting maps, I look forward to seeing the PA team step out of the box here.

    oh... one more critique, players seem very "split up". I don't know if its because i have only landed 2nd or 1st in all games (note I am just more experienced with racing games and could be a perspective from a better player), but sometimes i am so far ahead that there's not much action. I'm not sure if there's bots in some matches or what. It seems to me the item pool is more swayed towards boosts than rockets. but very little do i get combat opportunities. Maybe this is a good thing? If so there could be more of what I aforementioned.

    A side-line idea that I would personally see that might fit well with the game's philosophy that i didn't want to include in my main part: take a spin on MK double dash with a more co-op or dueling aspect of the game. The ragdoll feel of the game is lacking in this mode...

      areswacky the events you are talking about is Split Second. the game still looks impressive, although has terrible controls

        Igor really my only complaint about Nemo Kart is either how the karts are quite expensive or how little gears you get for completing a race. They both work in tandem so I'm not sure which one actually is my complaint.

            i played more mario kart 8 today and it also has tracks with multiple layouts that change with every lap. Hot Wheels Unleashed makes you drive different routes in a simple way: there is a module with a moving bridge. depending on the angle of the bridge when you approach it, the bridge will either throw you to lower or upper track. there's also a module with a dragon, who is placed on a split of tracks and would breath fire in one or another direction. this will determine where you go.

            the developers could learn a lot from other games. mario kart doesnt have many fun things other racing games have

            Cartrimino maybe you dont win much? i got 1000 gears in no time and spend nemo bucks on other karts because it's cheap and i dont need nemo bucks for anything else

              Cartrimino gears are not much of an issue for me, the General Leveling pass is much slower progression imo

                unfortunately I do have a notion that the map roster won't be very large anytime soon, looking at maps already aren't added very often to begin with. I'm slightly afraid PA is going in the direction of not having enough eggs to put in each basket. I see that they might be trying to make this game more of a general party game, but hopes to maintain development times on all fronts of the game. If they aren't careful they may not be able to juggle the concerns of both games and their differences.

                Going into another experimental mode after Smash, being not as highly received from what I've seen, could be straining, though we'll see!

                granted I've only been in this community for a short time, so maybe you guys have more to say on this

                • Igor replied to this.

                  areswacky we love smash and we even suggest new perk ideas. i don't expect a new track soon easier, but at least 2 more would be nice

                    and this is me politely asking now, if you make any changes to kart racing, please only make the karts faster and items more powerful. nothing slower or weaker. make only better changes and that's how you will make the game more fun

                    8 days later

                    i tested nemo kart on chinese server to see if maybe this could be another game mode that we can play together, aside of uno, but no. this is the game mode we simply can't play together, the delay feels massive

                    Is there a way to go in reverse gear? Today I crashed into a wall and I had to lose a lot of time because I had to go forward till the car turned against the wall so I lost a lot of positions, if there is not reverse I think is really good thing to implement, for the rest the physics feel good.

                      7 days later

                      golden trolley is now slower and it seems both trolley and puppy kart now handle worse. the time posted earlier can no longer be achieved. i can't complain, because it's beta, but i hope we get faster karts, instead of making existing karts slower. in today's testing most of the time puppy was ahead of golden trolley, but one time, with enough gears, i managed to get the exact same time


                      i wish gray blocks was the fastest, because i like it visually. or maybe the green trolley made to be the fastest, because that store reminds me of animal crossing

                      a month later

                      i was happy to see new tracks being added so soon. this was a priority and it was a right choice to do that. and while i want to make it clear that i dont complain about gifts, i still want to analyze the new tracks in hopes that maybe the officials will consider my opinion, just like they consider opinions of people asking to make weapons weaker

                      the snow track really feels like the developers wanted to add something fast and didnt have time to work on something complex. the tracks feels like something from a cheap PS1 kart game. there is nothing to it. even the jump at the end feels like it was added just that there was at least something going on. in comparison even reverse Shanghai feels more fun (i also like night tracks). on snowmobile you can do all corners without drifting and you dont need to use boost pads. this is the fastest way to go around track. a better design would be that you are required to drift so you dont oversteer into walls and you really need to use boost pads.

                      and i really dont understand the decisions to place boost pads and speed lanes (from night Shanghai) near outer walls, you wouldnt want to purposely take wrong racing line and it doesnt compensate for how much time you're losing. this should always be your racing line

                      i also want to remind the developers that we still need to be able to remap buttons and have restart and end game buttons for lobby. this shouldnt be hard to do

                      a month later

                      for those wondering how much faster puppy kart is now. this is before:

                      this is now:



                      i am human machine getting exactly the same time 3 times in a row