Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Nintendo Switch 2 First Impressions - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Go to http://kindafunny.com/XREAL to grab yours now! - Start - Topic of the show: Mario Kart and Switch 2 - Greg’s Switch 2 first impressions - Barrett’s Switch 2 first impressions - Andy’s Switch 2 first impressions - Bless’ Switch 2 first impressions - Tim’s Switch 2 first impressions - Mario Kart World! - Ads - Pragmata lives! - More thoughts on Mario Kart World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up and welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast for the Nintendo Switch 2 launch day celebration. It is June 5th, 2025. I'm your host Tim Geddes. I'm joined today by Greg Miller. Hello, Tim. Barrett Courtney. What up? Blessing at aioia, Jr.

Good day, Tim. And Andy Cortez. Woo! We're on a different set, a big set, the couch set on the video wall set, because we've been playing Mario Kart all day, playing the Nintendo Switch 2. Greg popped into fantasy life just a little bit. Plus play a little bit of that hitman. A couple other things as well.

Andy played with the Wi-Fi work. Why isn't this updating? Why can't I get on the internet? Very worrisome. Yeah, Andy got his today. But yeah, this is going to be kind of our first impressions of our time with the Switch 2 thus far, telling our little stories and all of that stuff.

Of course, the next week is going to be filled with a lot of Switch 2 coverage. Our deeper thoughts, next week we will be doing a more proper review of Marr's. Mario Kart world once we have a little bit more extensive time with it. But this is our first 24 hours with the console, with the games. With each other. You know?

We had quite the stream last night. It was a great stream. Great stream. Lots of adventures. Lots of fun. Lots of fun. Joey and Roger. Taking that late night shift.

If you're unaware, we went live at 7.45 p.m. last night so that Roger and Nick could welcome you. Kick it to us over at the Nintendo Store. Shots to Kevin for filming. And even though he forgot a tripod, he had. held that camera the entire time. He was up with it. And then we came back and played and then when we all started leaving, me and

Tim at midnight, I heard Fran and Nick were here at 3 a.m. Roger and Joey stuck it out all the way until Games Daily. That's very, very impressive to keep that Nintendo Switch 2 launch stream going. That's beating games daily. Bless and I did an episode today that I highly recommend watching. It is one of those gas

leak episode types. So if you enjoy kind of funny... It's a special day. I think you're going to like it. Yes, it is a special day. It's been a lot fun. Fair? And then something else as well I saved my first time for Mario Kart World on my own just because I wanted to be

an intimate moment and so I recorded that first hour of me playing Mario Kart World which you can check out now on the videos tab on YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny Games. Go check that out for sure. I will be watching later. But this is the Kind of Funny Games cast. Each and every weekday

we get together to talk about video games and all the things we love about them. There's a lot to love right now between the Switch launch and Summer Game Fest. Of course, tomorrow we will be doing our live reactions to Summer Game Fest and then our Gamescast post show breakdown to all of that. Hopefully we get some fun stuff announced. And then, of course, on Sunday, we'll be reacting to the Xbox showcase and doing the same damn thing. Greg's going to be down in L.A. playing a whole bunch of games. So the next week, he'll be able to talk about all the games that he gets to play and sees behind closed doors.

I feel like that's actually some of the cooler stuff. I have a lot of appointments book that are just B-CD. You don't know what you're seeing. You don't know what you can. Because I'm thinking back the last couple of years, it's like, you know, armored core and Mortal Kombat, uh, one. Like, like those were like, behind closed doors special. So who knows what's going to happen this time? Um, but yeah, we're an 11-person business, all about live talk shows. You already know that. And if you know that, you probably like it. And if you like it, you should support us

with the kind of funny membership. It gets you, the shows ad free and you get a daily exclusive Gregway. Uh, today I'm doing the Gregway. And I forgot to do it earlier because I've been sitting here playing Switch. So I'll have to do that later. It will go up, though, at some point. And thank you to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster, and Delaney Twining. Today we're brought to you by

X-Reel, but we'll tell you about that later. Let's start with the topic of the show. Switch 2. It's upon us. Yeah. We've been playing it a lot. Greg? Yeah. What are your initial overall thoughts? I mean, my initial thought is, like, this is such a weird setup for you hosting.

Because you're, like, behind me. Like, I don't know if the death perception. To lose to the audience of how far back you are. The shots of Cole. He's here, too. Yeah, Cole didn't get introduced, but he's having a great time. Hey, Cole.

He's so just quiet and doesn't move. Yeah. I don't understand it. My dogs would be insane. Yeah, I mean, he's just very nervous whenever he's at the studio. And so the couches are a big get for him. He won't come in here usually. That's why when we do a games daily with him,

he's in his bag behind me usually. Exposure therapy, you got a lot more. Exactly, now he's there. Kevin, go to the one, go to the shot you had before. and then hit the fog because we got to expose him to that. Jesus. It's working, see?

He was very concerned, but he didn't flip out. I was saying, Andy, what kind of therapy is it? No, fuck you. He's going to turn this around on me. No, what did you say? I said exposure therapy. Oh, okay, no, that's perfect. I heard explosion therapy, which made sense with the fog,

so I didn't know if you had planned that out. I was like, fuck you. What's just going? Greg. My first impressions here of the Nintendo Switch 2 are mainly built around in Mario Kart World, right? You figure we got back with it yesterday started streaming that. Beforehand, we'd gotten ours from Nintendo early in the morning yesterday. We're able to start downloads, but not actually play anything because of the content we were making.

Plus, it was all just older stuff. So, based on world, the system itself, I mean, like everything's going on. I'm impressed. Like, I'm very happy with the Nintendo Switch 2. I didn't doubt that I would be. I didn't think I'd regret buying one or whatever. So weird to turn the smart background. Yeah, I'm sorry.

But it's still going to be there. It looks normal, I guess, there. But yeah, no, I'm super into it. I think it's a really nice build of the system. Again, there was so much talk in the lead-up to this of like, oh, man, it's just an incremental update. Oh, it's not this. Blah, blah, blah.

Like, you're, I understand that. And I understand when we're looking at the UI and holding it and like this all feels very reminiscent of the switch one. But the speed at which it moves, which you could just say the switch should have always moved at, but whatever. The store, the load times, again, you know, for somebody who's playing Fantasy Life, like, I was very interested in a game

that has nearly instantaneously loads on the Rog Ally. How would that feel here? It's a little bit longer, but it's not bad. It's not to where I would call it out as an actual con or anything about a thing, right? Like, it feels good. Mario Kart as a game feels good. And then we'll talk about that extensively,

but like the fluidity of moving from that main menu to free roam from anything there. We were talking in streaming, right, of cool we're all just joining on Kevin or Barrett in terms of our friends list and then it was all right well let's make it public and it was these were just and done it was just out there it wasn't like a big to-do which I think and when I think of Nintendo online when I think of how they've been behind before I think it's gonna be a big to do the game itself super impressive we can talk about that but in general top level for basically

you know 12 hours do whatever you want to call it 24 hours with the switch whatever I'm impressed and I'm very excited to get home tonight and have one on one time with it. Yes. As am I. If you have any questions for us, please YouTube super chat them in and we'll get to those throughout the show. Barrett Courtney, I can't get a good eye line with you, but what are your initial thoughts on the switch too? Tougher to say right now just because I've had even less time at this point, right? Like I went to Best Buy last night. Shout out to Kev who joined me and shout out to John, aka Filipino Mamba, in the chat who we ran into last night. And so last night I came back here

Helps y'all with the stream a little bit Didn't really unpack my Switch 2 Or like even really get a moment with it Until I got home at like Midnight or something like that Downloaded a bunch of games And then didn't really play anything substantial Until this morning

Playing Mario Kart World So at least with first impressions Of the Switch 2 itself It feels like a Like a one Like a great 1.5 in a way Like not quite so a two, not so much of like, holy shit, this is a new experience. And I don't think that's what the Switch 2 needs to be per se.

But I'm not like, I don't have like the giddy feeling of like poking around and all this stuff. When it comes to the hardware itself. Yeah, you know it itself. And now the hardware itself runs great. The Nintendo Store actually functions. You know, the game card feature that we saw like you and Kevin playing around with like literally just a couple minutes ago. That stuff is cool. all feels a little bit like, uh, it feels like, um, for 2025, I feel like this is the base,

you know, like this is what we should have. I feel like there's a lot of that going around where we talk about it. It's like, oh man, like last night we were joking around with Fran of like how good Mario Kart looked when it was split screener one player. Oh, like, yeah, this is great. And it's funny that we're going to giving Nintendo flowers for something that theoretically should have happened last generation as well. Exactly. And so when it comes to the hardware side, uh, like the, the, the feel of it is good. I, I do love the, uh, you know, like, how sleek it feels. It weirdly feels thinner and stuff like that.

Just like the feel of the console, even though I don't think it's technically thinner. It feels definitely more premium. But again, I think all of that being an iteration upon hardware that we've known for the last eight years at this point, nothing is like truly blowing my mind. Holy shit, this is crazy. And with the little time I've had with Mario Kart World,

everything you've said so far, Gregi has been, like I echo that of like, handling the online stuff, all of that seems so much better. And then in terms of Mario Card as a game, I feel like I'm too early into, like, really say anything. I will say the game card stuff is already kind of confusing

with, like, Switch 1 and Switch 2 versions, because I didn't realize I bought the Switch 1 version of Delta Rune last night. But it was nice that you get the Switch 2 version for free if you bought Delta Rune, Switch 1 version. So I was able to just download that. So already getting a little bit confusing with that kind of stuff.

But I'm happy with it. having a good time so far. Bless. Yeah, I think it's a really interesting question to ask as far as like first impressions for Switch 2 because I don't know how to give a non-boring answer. Because I'm like, cool, as I'm playing the Switch 2, it is, to what Barrett mentioned, right? It feels like a 1.5 in a way. And to what Greg mentioned, right?

This is way more of an iterative, like this is not a from the ground up. Let's do something different. It is very much. All right, we did switch one. What do we need to do to make this thing better in all the, the ways that people expect and want and desire out of this thing because we know what people want. People want the Switch to. And for all the things they made better, I'm enjoying all that stuff, right? I like to feel the Joycons. I like how much better Mario Card looks and feels in this

generation. And like, you know, I think jumping into the software itself is going to be such a big conversation as far as like why Mario Car World is exciting itself. But sticking to the Switch hardware, like waking up this morning and finally getting a chance to look through it and play with it a little bit, right? Like hopping into the GameCube stuff, you know, popping open, Soul Calibur too and being like, damn, this is here. Like, this is really nice to have. Going through the Nintendo e-shop and seeing how smoothly and quickly it runs now with this improved version, I'm like, man, I absolutely love this.

Seeing how the wish list and having the feature of, like, you know, getting notified when, like, your wish list items are on sale and stuff like that, it's like, cool. These are all the steps that I want to see being made to make my Nintendo experience that much better. But it's not necessarily, like, I'm not sitting here feeling. the same way I felt with the Switch 1, nor do I expect that, because that's, it's impossible for it to give me that.

I think the thing that I am more excited about is just it being the start of a new generation, right? Like, thinking about the Nintendo philosophy of, like, one big franchise title each generation. We know we're going to get a big new Zelda. We know we're going to get a big new Mario cart, a big new Metroid, like all these things. Big new Donkey Kong.

Yeah, and like to be back in the stage where now I'm like, Damn, I can't wait to see what the 3D Mario is. Like, for me, that's what fills me with excitement. It's now the races have officially started with that. And being with a, having a hardware that is a bit more tuned for a, I guess, more modernized, more up-to-date technically, as much as you can with a handheld thing, right, version of that. That gets me excited.

But yeah, as far as my impressions with the switch to itself, I'm like, it's a nicer switch, and I'm happy with that. Yeah. Why did you just fist pump a while ago? I fist pump. Oh, because this challenge that I've been working on for, You know the challenge I was doing on the street? The wall jumping one? Yeah, I finally beat it.

I just saw Tiger Woods like. I was doing that for the entire episode, just failing, killing. And I finally made it. I love that. Andy, I know you've had, I think, the most limited experience so far with the Switch, too. Yeah, but I just love the way the hardware feels. And I am, it's still the most excited I've been because I think that these games have deserved so much more for such a long time.

Can't wait to get back that Pokemon. Oh my gosh. So it's really awesome that even the games that don't have these enhanced ports or whatever, you are seeing a lot of games that either had maybe unlocked frame rate from the jump, but you were still getting 27 frames or 32 frames or whatever, 38, whatever it may be. But now the power of the Switch 2 is just brute forcing them into, you don't even have to down, you don't even get the new version of the thing, but now it's just running on better hardware.

So you are getting a higher frame rate. You are seeing a lot of different titles kind of just get helped out and brought into a newer generation. And as somebody who's such like a visual snob, I'm just so pumped to see these Zelda games running the way that they deserve to run, you know, without stutters and without, you know,

looking really fuzzy in certain moments. even busing out Pokemon Violet on your switch last night Tim was still really awesome to see just like oh my God this is how it should always should have been the rocks still look like garbage

and a lot of that is just a rush development process but holy shit it doesn't run like ass anymore but yeah I was really worried at the start my Wi-Fi wasn't working and we hardwired it in downloaded an update and was able to get Wi-Fi working now so that was very scary at first I was about to like

hey, I have Elden Ring NightRate and I have a lot of other stuff I can't be playing anyway. I'll set this down for a couple of weeks and worry about the warranty process later. That is the one nice significant difference between the Switch 2 launch and now. I remember very distinctly Goldfarb back at IGN when the Switch 1 was launching. And it was like the day after the first night, he was like, I set my Switch 1 on top of my router and it still took all night to download Breath of the Wild. So being able to have like the hardwired stuff. is great this. Yeah, built in the dock. That is very, very nice because, yeah, that's the

Wi-Fi chips in the Switch. I haven't really had to experience so much with Switch 2 yet, but which one, even the OLED one, was not good at all. Very pumped to plug it into my alienware OLED tonight and really start to see exactly where the upgrades sort of come through. Yeah. Pumped. Timma, how about yourself? What are you feeling? I am just so happy it's here. You know, we've been waiting forever. We've talked about the Switch Pro. We've been talking about the Switch Pro. We've been talking about the Switch. too like all of this for so many years at this point and the switches i would say my main gaming console and uh i hate that because i like andy also really care about the tech and visuals of

of games and those things just do not play nice together i'm very happy that so far my experience is what i expected it to be from the switch two of games running so much better the zelda games Pokemon, all of that, and even just the little things of the UI being in 4K, even on the handheld in 1080P, like all these little things add up so much. The frame rate stuff is great. And yeah, overall, I'm thrilled with it. It is also, yeah, it is iterative, but I'm so happy about that. Like, I'm almost, I'm excited that I'm not excited about this. Like, it's just, this is just what it needed to be, because if they try to do something different, I feel like it really would missed the mark. And now I'm just kind of like, I can rest assured that Pokemon Zah and

Metro and Prime 4, I'm going to be playing them and I'm not going to be like, oh, I wish it was somewhere else. I'm going to be happy with it. And that would not have been the case otherwise. And yeah, just kind of go carrying on that thought, but going back to what I was saying earlier, of like not being like kind of like, holy shit, excited. Like, this is doing enough for me to like have the switch family, right, be like my kind of. of my main playing place now, you know, and bringing me back, because I was not really playing my Switch 1 a lot

for the last year or so, right? And so, like, this is going to bring me back, even for third-party stuff, right? Like, I am, when Tony Hawk comes around, I am thinking about, like, even though it might be a sacrilege a little bit, to play it on Switch 2 instead of, like, PS5 or something like that.

You ought to get in both codes. I mean, that's why you end up doing. Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely going to buy it on both, but that's because I care about that stuff. And yeah, like, it's going to run great on the Switch 2. Like, I know it's going to run great on the Switch 2. And I can't believe that because on Switch 1, it was locked at 30. And that's not good for a Tony Hawk game.

So, again, it's more just like the going forward knowing I'm going to be good for the games that makes me excited. But then also, like, looking back for old games that I have been looking for reasons to go back to, like, Breath of Wild and specifically tears of cleaning up shrines and stuff. But even Mario Odyssey, like, there's going to be things that when I'm on a plane and I have nothing else to do. I'm going to want to do that and it's going to actually work. having said that, there are things about it that I am bummed about. Like, the screen is very nice. I would put it up there with the PlayStation Portal. It's not OLED, but it doesn't need to be.

It's totally fine. But I still really wish it was OLED. And last night I was playing for hours in my bed, and I'm just like, God, this is good. But it could be better. I had the experience last night when I was doing the system transfer of picking up my OLED switch and, like, doing the thing. And as I'm going through my OLED switch, I'm looking at the OLED screen right next my Switch 2 screen, I'm like, shit, Tim's right.

The OLED just changes things, man. It just changes things. And again, that's the level that I'm nitpicking at with this. I'm very, very happy with it. I love the Pro Controller 2. I love the feeling of it. I think it's a substantial improvement over the Switch 1 controller, which I also really enjoyed.

I do not think it's a necessary buy for people, but I think it is necessary to have some form of Pro Controller for the Switch. Because I have never been a fan of the Joycons, and I will never be a fan of JoyConn 2s. The JoyCon 2s do not change any of that. And on top of that, like the Switch 2, my first impressions, a lot of this can change and adapt over time, and I'll keep you all updated.

But is it too big? It might be too big. It might be a little too, specifically just like the height of the Joycons because I like the size of the screen, right? But with you saying like never liking the Joycons, it's one of those, like, they feel more expensive, but almost because they feel longer,

they feel a bit more awkward. Yeah. And maybe it's because it's fresh and I'm not used to a lot of things, but even the rumble doesn't feel quite right to me. And again, I'm so used to how it feels in the JoyCon ones and the first pro controller. So maybe that all changes.

Do you have a steam deck? I do. How much, like, are you playing on the steam deck? A lot. Okay. So even compared to the steam deck, you feel like it's a... Oh, no, no. It seems that's way heavier.

Yeah. And how thin this is, I think, also kind of just changes like the weight distribution of it all, too. But yeah, it's just, there's something about it just seems very, very big. Clearly, there will be iterations on this. And I'm excited to see what they end up going with, like what the light version looks like and wherever we get. But yeah, a lot of that stuff is just like not really that big of an issue to me. Like I'm excited to go home and keep playing it. I haven't really had the experience of playing it on my TV yet, like the theater experience.

Like that's going to be what I'm really looking for. to. And also just having more time. We had a crazy day yesterday. We were at the Nintendo store, so we couldn't really play. Then we get back here, played a little bit of multiplayer with everyone, but no HDR. It was a limited experience.

And then I went home and I played in bed for about an hour and I loved that. And I woke up at 6 a.m. today because I was so excited I played a whole bunch more. And I'm just like, oh yeah, dude. I'm very happy with this. It's just not, it doesn't feel like

the big biggest step forward and if you're not an Nintendo fan this is not for you at all. It's honestly what I want that you're mentioning about not being excited that you're not super excited that it's not a brand new thing I'm totally right there with you I would have been so bummed out

if they just moved on to something else and left all of these this amazing library on an old platform that didn't run or look as good I would have been so sad if it wasn't just this like you could say iterative bump, but like, we're

talking about a chipset from 2015 or some bullshit, and it was just so dated on the, or, wait, yeah, 2015, switch came out in 2017. Those games are just not being done justice, and it's just, I think with me right now, as somebody

who isn't like a ride or die Mario Kart fan, I want to play it, and I'm hoping to get really, really into it, and I know that some people who said, hey, if you're expecting this massive for-to experience. It's a little bit of a watered-down version of that, but you'll still have fun with it.

I think if there were a big title released with it, similar to Breath of the Wild or something like that, I think that would have done a lot more for me to have this newer thing, but I'm still equally as excited to go back and look at the things that run awesome because that's one of my favorite things to do in my free time is just do the Coke Pepsi Challenge

and see the differences in visuals and frame rate and smoothness. Breath of the Wild, like for both of you, like, seeing that on a big screen is like, fucking, it's breathtaking. It's awesome. Mello Fellow in the chat says, doesn't that say something about how bad the Switch 1 was then? Obviously, yes, the Switch 1 is under power. Do we know that? The Switch 1 also has some of the best games of all time, and I feel like everyone here would agree about that.

Yeah. My thing with the Switch to Switch 2 and comparing it to the PS4 to PS5, it's like, yeah, the PS5 is incredibly stronger than the PS4. Do we see that? Did we see that at launch? Do we see that now even? Like in some ways, absolutely. But like, otherwise, most of the games are on both. And sure, it does have better resolution and better, better, better.

But it's like, you don't really need that stuff. The switch needed to get to 4K. It needed to be able to get to 60 frames per second. Like, that is the requirements for playing games these days. And I think that because of that, we're at a different place where Nintendo games, I have trust in them that they are going to run well. Mario Card 8 ran incredibly well. looked beautiful on the Switch 1.

Yeah, so many examples. But now it's 4K. Now it's just like it's hitting the standards it has to hit. And so because of that, I'm just like, yeah, I'm very happy. And that's where I'd want to step in, I think, and just counteract one of the things you said. He said, if you're not a Nintendo fan, this isn't for you.

And I really don't know if that's accurate. Because Switch is my least played platform, Switch One was. And it would be, there's a number of reasons for that. I think our job dictates what we play in a lot. of ways because you're reviewing stuff and since Nintendo does no bit I'm not doing a bit only give us one review code it often means that I'm not on the review for Pokemon or I'm not on the

review for Zelda so I'll pick it up later but then it's competing with the games I'm trying to review in the same way for full clarity like switch two is going to get an awesome weekend with me and then I'm going to come back and I'm going to go holy shit I got to play death stranding too and I really have to just know life that to make embargo for that and so for me I'm so excited that I love this hardware so far and granted this is you know could easily be you know I mean still in the new car lot here I haven't rolled it off the parking

lot right but I love how it feels I love how it looks I'm excited to take it on a plane I am a mobile gamer I am a handheld gamer and so to do that but then also have this library built out for me of I never did links awakening I want I started Echoes of Wisdom but I stopped because I didn't do links awakening when I started links awakening it ran so poorly I was like you're you fucking kidding me and I knew this

was coming so like links awakening going to the front of the line tonight when Ben is asleep for me to sit down on my giant TV and play it because when it wasn't in motion it was very pretty on my TV I'd love to know what it looks like now right finishing off Pokemon doing these things like I feel like if you skip Switch 1 I think there are so many amazing games like you're saying they're locked in there yeah absolutely just real quick clarifying that in two different ways one I mean I'm talking about at launch I'm saying like if you're not an Nintendo guy and you're just like it's just Mario cart yeah it is like that I think that's looking past the switch one library absolutely

I mean, I still feel like you're not going to be convinced to be a Nintendo fan if you weren't ever interested in playing those games. And even knowing, hey, Zelda actually runs great now. And if that doesn't change your mind, playing them or whatever is not going to change your mind. Like, you're going into it with a different perspective. But I also think there's a group of people that are like, why would I not just get a Steam deck? Why would I not just get AlliX? I'm like, and if that's your mindset, you're right. You should get those things instead because they're going to give you what you want more than this is, I think.

Yeah, to take Nintendo out of it and thinking about third-party stuff and indie-style stuff and the kind of conversation between Switch 2 and Steam Deck, and I don't have any experience with the Raj ally. I do think there, yeah, that's great. I think in terms of user-friendliness and how deep into the kernels you want to be getting, like, I do think there is an argument for Switch 2 in terms of, like, what we talk about with like actual PC versus console stuff. If you want to have those things, like, yes, maybe the Steam Deck is going to give you a better output for some of these things. But if you want something that is either Switch 2 compatible or at least getting some sort of boost because it's on slightly better hardware than the Switch 1,

but you don't want to get into all the backend stuff. I do think this is like, even if you're not a Nintendo fan, I think this is a great platform for handheld gaming compared to the Switch 1. And again, you know, this is something Tim talked about so much in the lead up to the Switch 2. the hope is with something like cyberpunk on there, hitman on there, yeah, you're going to make concessions for it,

but it is running well enough, it is looking good enough, it is the experience you want. Back to you with Tony Hawk, right, that maybe it's able to sway that. Same thing here where it's like, I love my Rog ally and I like playing fantasy life, right?

But if I'm not worried about on this trip, packing both my Rog and this, and that's because of cross save, of course, but this is doing a good enough job, even if it isn't the pristine version of Rog. jumping off of hardware. Let's talk a little bit about Mario Kart. Wah-hoo. Bless.

Yes. What's your experience with Mario Kart World, Ben? Oh, my God. It's been amazing. I, you know, hopped in last night with the stream and then played a little bit this morning. I woke up, it's funny because Tim called out the fact that, like, you woke up at 6 a.m. out of excitement to play the Switch, too. I woke up at 615 and had the same thing where I'm like, okay, well, I'm up. I just want to play the Switch.

I'm just going to play some early, early in the morning. It just pops up, blessing. It's playing. I'm like, this is all. Yeah, yeah. And so like, you know, played some then and just went around in the free row mode and then hopped into a grand prix and then came into work and played a lot more. And, you know, I think, I don't even know where to start with this game because I think it is such a, it's so noticeable to jump between Mario Kart 8 coming out as a Wii U title over a decade ago and where we're at with this game coming out in 2025. And what that allows you to do as far as how forward you can. can leap with the title, right? Like, you know, Mario Car even granted, compliments to that game for still to this day holding up as far as like how good it is, how good it looks,

deluxe, and like how that brings it forward as well too. But when I'm seeing this game, Mario Car World run on a TV and we're playing it in two-player split screen in the smoothest FPS and, you know, the items are on frantic mode and you have all this shit going on and you have 24 racers and all this shit, right? Like there's a level of chaos at play that I think does bring Mario Kart forward, or at least turns into an experience that for me is fresh once again. You have all these different characters and like we can get into a conversation about like the characters they chose here because it really does feel like

all right, cool, like, you know, throw a dart at a board and pick whatever random MPC you saw on a DS game. But like, I think on a certain level, it is a testament to how much you kind of have to jam pack into this game for how big you want to make the scope of it. And I think that stuff works. free run mode, I kind of go, I keep going back and forth of it. Because like, I think when you talk about expectation versus what they're giving, the, my, the peak of what I would have wanted would have been Forks of Horizon and what they'd do with that, right? Like, around every corner is a thing to do or a thing to unlock or a barn find or I roll up to any corner and hit the two triggers and all of a sudden I'm starting a race and it's gone, like, that would have been the dream.

That's not what this is. But even say, even with that, with that being said, It is kind of, it's tough for me to not pick up my switch right now and just like drive around. You know what I mean? Like I love just driving around this map because the map they have for Mario Kart World is so well made. Like it is, it's what they said. It's all these tracks kind of mashed together. It was battle world type situation of, all right, it is everything that you want, right? And you can drive from one track to another track and you can navigate the map however you want.

It's swinging and spidey. It's swinging and spidey. And the map just comes together so well. And honestly makes me kind of sad that the activities that it's filled with aren't like the crazy, diverse, like, very thing that I would have wanted. But even with that, I just love driving around it because it is just a well-made thing. Knockout tour is like still such an amazing mode, have had such a fun time playing with you guys. Every single race of knockout mode has been, or Knockout Tour has been intense to the last moment of, you know, seeing if I, if we, who's going to get that first place to the final four. Like, this game is delivering on what they've pitched.

it as what I think it needs to be and I'm having such a good time with it. Andy? I mean, I've only played maybe two or three races with it but it's definitely more hectic with the player count which

I think is hilarious and you know could really fuck you over in some ways and I expect to see Gary Witta getting really angry on the internet. Oh, he already was last night you see. I think I'm happy to report Mario Carter still bullshit. But, but But, like, I can't wait to see more of the implementation of the webcam.

I think that's such a funny-ass feature when it comes to stuff to what we do with content creation and things like that. I think it obviously looks great. Character selection is so vast because you have 24 players on the screen at times. Really happy that I'm Monty Mole now permanently, which is really great. You beat Washburn. Good job. I beat Washburn for the Monty Mole role. And, yeah, I mean, I'm excited. I'm excited to play more, which is always kind of like that honeymoon period with a new piece of hard word when I've never been the Mario Kart guy.

I think I played probably double dashed the most way back in the day because it's all I had that in Smash. But I'm excited to kind of drive around and see if I can get sucked in. In the same way that I didn't think Forza would ever be a game for me, where I'm just like, I'm not a racing car fan. I don't I don't buy racing games. The last one I was into was maybe Need for Speed Underground 2. And then I kind of moved on. And that genre I've sort of left behind. And then when I played Forts of 4 for the first time, Horizon 4 was like, holy shit, this is amazing.

And then Horizon 5 blew me away. I'm hoping that this can kind of bring me in and I could find the appeal of doing these random challenges that require a lot of skill and bashing your head up against the wall. And then playing online with large group of friends, I'm super pumped to see if we could do anything, the 8 v8, V8 or whatever it is? Or is it 5V5? It's like 8? Yeah, I'm really stoked to see how that can go and just how much chaos we can get into. I want to keep talking about Mario Kart World right after a word from our sponsors. This episode's brought to you by X-Real.

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Greg Miller's coming back to join the stage with Cole once again. Woo, Cole! Cool, congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. On Mario Kart. World. Cole!

I'm having a great time with it. It's a fun one to return to, and like I've been talking about it. I think, for me, what killed Smash Brothers, and I shouldn't say even killed Mario Kart 8 is when the group separates too much. Smash Brothers at IGN, I felt like I was able to be competitive with Bluetooth at Link. When we started doing smash it, kind of funny, Nick had gotten way better with the suck and blow method. It was just, you know what I mean? I was like, all right, cool. I'm going to play, and maybe on a wild chance I'll win.

Mario Card 8 was a similar thing, right? Deluxe dropped. We were playing in the office. We were all great. I was really good, and then you got insane because you never stopped playing. We hired Bear. Bear was fucking insane and never stopped playing. And so eventually it was like, well,

we're not going to have these casual competitions I don't feel because I'm just not MLG enough about it. So for this launch of it, for us all to be in the scrum and be there and be fighting for it and trying to figure it out still and not have it. I love that. And I'm just to see how that evolves over time because right now every one of these races seems like that where it's like I'm in there and I'm competitive and maybe I'm in first for a little bit. Maybe I fall back. But then you get hit by one thing and I'm in 23rd. Fuck. Okay. And it's the rubber banding between the numbers, but we've talked a lot about it where

there's something going on here that makes it feel more like Smash but more like Mario Party where there's just there's more the chaos meter has been cranked up enough right now

where it is that thing of like cool I feel like we're all getting evened out and put together and that's why there's this mass of people moving that are just bouncing back even opening it up and playing online right where I won a few which is great but it's like

that doesn't happen any other time I remember opening it up on Wii U with kind of funny best friends and just giving my teeth kicked in, right, because of, like, how it is. So, granted, it's launch day. We'll see what happens when next week I don't touch it because I'm playing Death Stranding and I come back

and everybody knows how to grind or do this, whatever. The long story short is, I'm having a great time with it. It's fun to be to a new Mario Kart. As much as we loved 8 Deluxe, it was Mario Kart 8 again. It's seen this. They add new things. They do new stuff. But I'm happy to be here and be learning it

and be figuring out and asking you questions. Like, oh, wait, how do I jump? And what am I trying to? I should be, you can drive on the walls. I don't even know that. I'm having a great time playing with it with all you, and I am excited again to get alone with it on the plane tomorrow probably and actually do my own grand prix and see this and look for that.

Barrett Courtney. I need to know your thoughts of Mario Kart World. So yeah, I played like an hour on my own, did a couple of Grand Prix and then a solo knockout tour and then jumped in with all of y'all. The first thing I just want to shout out again, And you were talking about earlier, it's just like the online capabilities. And it's like, again, like, it's weird because it's coming with the Switch 2 launch.

But like to me, that's just more so just like a new software of just seeing Mario Kart 8 and how just old even that online functionality felt at the time and getting this breath of fresh air of a new Mario Kart and how that works. And we're all just kind of free roaming around until like whoever owns the room or whatever does something. potentially we 24 of us could just be hanging out for hours in like the free room and then naturally go into a grand prix or a knockouts or like all of that is so well done and so seamless and I think in terms of like online stuff like that is just gonna that's gonna what that's gonna be what makes this uh this game live for I think a really long time outside of the MLG sickos who are playing it like for two on 200 CETC for years on Mario card eight right

um it's interesting because I I love Mario card eight for the MLG sicko kind of like getting very competitive and sweaty and stuff like that. And my first impression of Mario Kart World is this is not going to be that game. And so in terms of how in depth I get with it, we'll see. I'm sure I'm still going to put a lot of hours into it like over the course of the years. But like at least off a first impression, I don't know if I'm ever going to become an expert at this game like I could with Mario Kart 8. Sure. I think there's more of a fun factor being put into this game, which I think is a fair direction for Mario Kart World to go into. With the amount of crazy items that are being introduced, 24 people racing all at the same time, it just felt so chaotic and I didn't really feel a rhythm of being in first and then being brought back to 24th and then trying to catch up to even get to like 16th.

And, you know, maybe there's going to be meta stuff throughout the coming months that we all kind of discover that, like, make the cream of the crop kind of rise up and stuff like that. But it's one of those, like, yeah, it's interesting. I think this is something I talked about a lot on our Mario Card 8 re-review a week ago, is that Mario Card is what it needs to succeed at is giving you that theme park kind of feeling when going into a new track and stuff. And I think in terms of that stuff, it is, like, exceeding my expectations on that stuff. Like, going to some of the new tracks, some of the redone tracks from older games. Like, I feel giddy again playing a Mario card. Even though, like, I'm sucking absolute ass at it so far. Do you think you'll ever see, do you think Nintendo will ever introduce competitive, like, no items mode?

Or not a no items vote, but, like, something similar to when you play Smash Bros. And you're like, no items final designation. You can do that here. When we turn it down, like, what do you want items? Do you want to frantic? But like maybe like a like a ranked sort of thing where you play this

and there are no item like, you know. Esports rules. Yeah. See, no, because I... Where's your mic? He's lost that. I've fucking pulled down.

We were still able to hear you pretty good. It was probably in Blessings Mike then. I honestly think no because I think that would have if they were to do that for any Mario Kart game it would have been eight. Just because the way eight feels and the way a lot of people

interacted with eight, more of like a competitive e-sports type of thing. To me, at least with first blush, this feels a bit more leaning into the things that Gary Wooda hates about Mario Kart. Feeling kind of chaotic and bullshity. And I think that would kind of contradict the feeling of this game,

but maybe I'm off on that. I want to give my thoughts. I want to jump off, starting with what you're saying there. I'm actually on the complete other end of you about that conversation. I think that on initial, First blush when Les and I played in New York, I was like, oh, this feels just like Mario Card 8,

and I'm so happy about that. Playing a lot more now, I'm like, oh, there's a lot of differences, and I think it's on the more high-end level. I think that the charge jump stuff and the rails and the amount of paths because of how open world the maps are, I feel like right now we're at a level where it is, we're playing with the basic people that are, we all don't know what we're doing,

and so it's frantic chaos. The moment that people can split up and be on the different level paths, because of the advanced tech, I think that's where, or tech moves, I think that's where this is going to get a lot more competitive and a lot more sweaty. Easy to learn, difficult to master types of 100%.

And I think it's going to be more like, and that's where I've been interested playing the free roam stuff is for as kind of not for it's a horizon as it is, it does function as a good tutorial to teach you that stuff that us just playing Mario Kart the way we've always played Mario Kart isn't going to do. You know, so we're all like, how do you jump,

how do you, whatever. playing the free-room stuff, you kind of are forced to using the P-Blocks. I was going to say, do that stuff. I haven't had a chance to play Mario Car by myself. Watching Bless do the challenge, right, where it was, hop on the wall and do the thing. I'm like, oh, this is such an interesting way to tutorialize what's going on in this world. And it's also like a good format to just explore the world to or explore the tracks. So we were talking about with the different paths and stuff, like, you know, I think one of the things that always entertain me when I would watch videos of people playing Mario Kart 8, we're seeing the shortcuts.

and I'm like, oh, I would have never thought about that. I think this game giving you a mode where you can literally just drive around and just discover probably is on purpose so that, like, yeah, for the ways that these tracks are designed, like, they want you to know the exact route you're going to take or the exact rail that you're going to take and how you're going to get on to it. Yeah, I think this game's going to be less about the shortcuts and more about the Sonic the Hedgehog style of level design where there's like high, medium low, and just depending on.

on how high, how fast you can keep your momentum and like find the right path. It's more about knowing paths as opposed to and be able to maintain the path as opposed to like finding shortcuts to like cut the seconds off. That'll be there too though. Saying all of that,

I don't know that that's necessarily a great thing. I do love that it's different because we've had 10 years of Mario Kart 8 and Deluxe and we just did our review. I gave it a 10. I think that that game over time has only gotten better and more perfect of the type of Mario Kart that it is.

And I do think that this being an open world one, it provides a different style of gameplay. At the end of the day, I'm going to be shocked if I like this as much as eight. I'm having a fantastic time with it, and I'm probably, I'm 90% sure I'm going to 100% this game. Okay, you know? I already have beat all the Grand Prix,

I got gold in all of them. I got three stars in most, but I need to go back and clean that stuff up. I have so much to do in free roam, so much to do in knockout tour, which is fantastic. But I feel like the open, world nature of the entire game is so cool and I think the open world is very well designed and so

interesting and I feel like we are just scratching the surface of what we're going to find and I've been surprised and delighted as they love to say many times finding little things in the levels but I don't think that there's been any level that stands out to me and I feel I was going to say I was going to mention actually you know what I have two exceptions to that It's the boo cinema. Oh, boo cinema. And the... Rainbow Road?

The Donkey Kong. Well, okay. Well, Rainbow Road's just Rainbow Road, though. Sure, yeah. Sure, sure. Like, I don't want to say anything about Rainbow Road. But, um, and the Donkey Kong, where there's the big... That one, like, that was definitely the highlight of me.

But I think that's actually a good point of what I'm illustrating what I'm trying to say. There are times where that Mecca Donkey Kong is in different parts of different levels in the open world and stuff. And I feel it makes it a little less special. and then you start to like in the open world because of how knockout tour works and there's so much straight lines getting from course to course and stuff, you're reversing the same space in different ways and because of that I feel like it all starts to feel the same a little bit

and that didn't feel that way in Mario Kart 8 because everything felt so distinct and so heavily themed. Yes. Here it's kind of what I was talking about the Mario Kart tour levels being translated over to Mario Kart where some of the signage could get a little confusing. And because you're not doing the traditional lap, lap, lap, and it's like variations on the laps,

because this whole game is that, it almost just feels harder to define bits and have them in your mind of like, okay, I know this, I know this. And cool, it's a different game. Like maybe that's the point of it. We'll see if that sticks with me. But that's kind of my top level initial thoughts.

Is it because it's Mario IP and obviously you have D.K. But you're not getting the Hyrule area or the other. in terms of differentiation and not feeling the themes, because like I really pop off when playing Mario Card 8 and seeing like, oh, the F0 track, oh, this is sick as hell.

This is, reminds you of just being in that world. But now it's kind of more environmentally themed along with some of those throwbacks. No, because I think we'll get that eventually. And I feel like I loved Mario Kart 8 before it had DLC, so it didn't have any crossovers. It was just Mario. But I think the difference also is

Mario Card 8 had such a defined theme and look at how sleep it was and the ways that the tracks would all be like inverted and all this insanity this just doesn't have that everything's very flat and wide and I think that adds to like there's

the twists and turns of even taking a super Nintendo flat level and what Mario Card 8 would do with it made everything feel more dynamic more dynamic but still part of the same hole you know it didn't feel like wacky and out there but like it felt like it made sense but

it was its own thing as at the same time. But yeah, with this one so far, I do think that the leaning into the Mario stuff, I don't think is the problem. It's more, this is a very Mario Kart as a franchise game, and I think that has some pros and cons.

I was going to say real quick, I what I get really soaked about it and even thinking back to when we first reacted to it was just the possibility of what the DLC could be and how when Mario Kart 8 adds new tracks, that doesn't do a whole lot for me, but this adding on

to this continent sort of landmass and then seeing that in the open world and how be and maybe they tease that in a way or maybe when it just finally releases the excitement of driving up to a new place from you know it's like when they fucking build a new best buyer something you know you're like I want to go you know there's that new ball being built I'm excited to see how those you know things will get added even though that none of that is even confirmed but you got to assume that's how they would sort of introduce him implement these Yeah, not to go too far into this, but I guess my, a question for Tim in the future. Okay.

But I want to some point. Look at the camera. At some point, answer. Thank you very much, Kevin. Do you know this open world? Like, you 100% in this game. When they do add DLC, am I going to remember, oh, that's next to this thing. I know how to get there.

Or am I just going to be pulling up a map and going to the new thing, not really remembering any of the landmarks or anything like that? I think you'll know. I think you'll know. See, right now, I don't think you will. I think it'll be the latter one. Like, I, as you're describing the memorability or, like, the lack of the tracks, I'm, you know, Andy asked the question of, you know, is it the fact that it is Mario IP and all this stuff?

And I think the track that's stand out, and I think you mentioned both these, right, were the, the Boos Cinema that you said, and then, yeah, D.K. Spaceport. And I think there's something about how striking those are thematically as tracks, where I'm like, the first thing I remember saying as we entered D.K. SpacePort, where I think this was last night on the stream is like, yo, they gave DK a spaceport. Like, what the fuck is up?

And then as we're driving up, and I'm like, oh, this is straight up Donkey Kong. Like, they're throwing the barrels. They're going up. Like, we're doing that whole thing.

That's fucking cool. And then Boo Cinema kind of has a similar, like, distinct thing going on to it. And as I'm going through the tracks right now on the map, I'm like reading, I'm like, all right,

then you have salty, salty speedway. And then you have... Four night areas. Yeah, you have D.K. Pass. You have Dana Lion Depths. You have Moo Meadows, which is a staple.

Classic. They have a lot of staples here, and it's always good to have staples. But I think there's a balance of having enough tracks where it is like, I guess there's a lot of been here done that for me with some of these tracks. As far as like, all right, cool. We got the movementos.

We got the grass. We got the this. Like, I want to see more DK Spaceboards. Like, I want to see more boot cinemas. I want to see like the mall level from the Wii Mario Kart. Like stuff where it is, oh, this. This is a landmark location unlike anything I've seen before. And I don't know if, yeah, five years down the line looking back

if I'm going to know this map in the way that you're asking to. Shout out to Daniel in the YouTube chat, who when Blessing was trying to set his back paddles for the game. Oh, yeah. And you were going to permanently change them for the whole game, for the system-wide sort of deal. And Daniel said, no, no, no, bless, hold the home button and you could set the back paddles

on a game by game basis. And it's so easy and so intuitive. I feel like the setting back paddle things on controllers, it's not rocket science. But sometimes it could be like one menu thing too far that I'm just like, eh, I don't need it right now. I can just keep going. This is perfect.

Genius. One more thing I do want to mention because as we're talking about this. I have to pick up Ben. Thanks for watching everybody. I'll see you later. To wrap on Greg Miller, everybody. I wonder how...

Come on, Cole. Oh, that got them. That got them. I wonder how much of our feelings are enhanced by knockout tour, being the mashing up of all these tracks. And so we're like, like we're doing every track at the same time, essentially, like as we're going from tour to tour,

I wonder if that's making things to feel. Yeah, it makes everything bleed together in a way that makes them feel less distinct. Absolutely. But I think that that's the design of the game. I feel like any mode you're playing, that's still the case. I just did every Grand Prix, and it still has that feeling.

Okay. Because you are still going from course to course, Even in Grand Prix. Yeah. Gotcha. It's not just not good. Yeah. Okay.

Fascinating. And all that's to say, I am loving my time with it. And beyond that, I'm loving my time with you guys with it. Like, I feel like this is like such a success of a video game of like, we are having pure joy for the last 24 hours of all of us hanging out. Like, last night's stream was hilarious. Like, it was just a good ass time. We need Fran here more. All day us, hey, like, the fact that we had variations on this couch all day of people playing together, people playing by themselves.

And it was just good fun stuff. Like, it's a good fun way. That's cool. And like, Forza probably is a better game. But I don't know that it's a better game experience when it comes to that type of stuff. It's a different one at the very least. Yeah, different one. But the Mario Kart fun factor, it's like, oh, this game's nailing that.

Like this game's succeeding at something that not any game can pull off. And yet, is it because of Mario? Probably. But this is a lot of Mario, man. hearing the music has brought me so much joy and of course it was going to bring me joy but I saw it bring other people a lot of joy you know? Can I tell you

this all goes all the way back to what Barrett was mentioning as far as like the like e-sports factor to it I'm locked, I'm locked in I'm locked the fuck in in this Mario Card 8 deluxe and I'm somebody when it came to Mario Card 8 Deluxe like that was kind of the one for me where I was like I just don't know

how to get good at this game and I'll see Barrett do his thing I'm like how the fuck let's like get and get a Mario party like I don't know how Barrett's doing it As I'm playing this game, I'm locked the fuck in. You better stop talking a big game. I'm not the fuck in. Barrett's going to humble your ass. I'm seeing you on the fucking track.

I mean, you kicks my ass so many times today. Like, you don't need a fucking posture like that. For me, like, that sounds so absurd. Because, again, very early on, but it's like the way this game feels designed. It feels like it's going to push back against you for, like, trying shit like that. And I understand your take of like, the rails and shit like that. But there's something about the feeling in the moment-to-moment gameplay.

I'm not talking about the strategies of, like, different paths and grinding rails and shit like that. The, like, feeling of momentum in the game, the way drifting feels, and then, like, the slew of items that feel way more, like, Mario Kart Wii, which, to me, feels like the most party Mario Kart game in the franchise. there's just something about the culmination of those things

that makes me... Like, I'm loving my time, like, playing with y'all even though I, again, am terrible right now, and probably will continue to be. I'm enjoying it because it feels more like a party experience, whereas Mario Kart 8 wasn't really that for me. I feel like the strata's going to be just go the road less traveled.

Where more cars are, there's more opportunities to get in. Yeah. Yeah. All right. We're going to talk a lot about Mario Cardi or Mario Cardi. And still Mario Cardi. I feel like we're going to be playing that

for a long time still there. Over the years, we're not giving up on that. You know what I mean? This is not a replacement for Mario Cardi. No, because I'll need my 200-cissi fix at some point.

That's crazy talk. You're never going to play Mario Cardi again. I'll tell you right. No, Bear will. Tim, you're never picking up Mario Cardi again. Oh, 100% I will. Yeah. I guarantee you I will.

You will? 100%. Oh, yeah. No, dude. Mario Cardi is a life game for me. It is just Mario Kart perfected In the same way Smash Ultimate is Smash Perfected.

Like, the next Smash Bros. is going to have this exact same problem. It has to be different. It has to. Or else we're just going to be like, well, it's not ultimate. It's going to be different

and because there's less players. Less characters. Definitely. But yeah, we're going to keep talking about a whole bunch of stuff. So I don't want to go too long on this episode here today. So we're going to wrap this up, mainly so I can go play more Switch 2 myself.

Thank you so much for hanging out with us all nights day yesterday, day today. Tomorrow, summer game fest is upon us. We'll be live reacting to that and doing a breakdown games cast after. Then on Sunday, the Xbox showcase with the same deal. Until next time, love you all. Goodbye. Bye.