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Mickey’s Speedway USA    NA release: 13th November 2000 PAL release: 1st December 2000 JP release: 21st January 2001 Developer: Rare Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: 80% A Mario Kart clone with Mickey Mouse sounds like it will be a cheap cash in, but this was developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, so you should expect high quality. The end result is exactly a hybrid of that: a high quality cheap cash in. Rare took on the job to secure extra funding for future games (something that was the cause of Rare looking at a potential buyer), and while you can tell that they were keeping costs low, the Rare brilliance still shines through to make a decent kart racer. The biggest issue with Mickey’s Speedway USA is that there isn’t much to it. While Rare developed the brilliant Diddy Kong Racing, this is very clearly based on Mario Kart 64. There’s a hop and powerslide (with the slight difference that, instead of a boost, long powerslides make you spin out), the weapons are near-identical copies and come in very similar item boxes, and it has the same battle mode. The biggest difference are the Mickey rings you collect on the course – the first 10 will increase your speed, just like Super Mario Kart. The courses are loosely based on various locations in the USA, and are rather bland and unmemorable, as well as being very wide and open. The graphics look nice, even if the levels are sparse, with a nice mix of 2D and 3D making for detailed karts. There’s also a decent amount of voice lines, with Mickey and co. apologising to each other and acting shocked when an ineffective weapon makes contact. The core driving is well done, and the game is well made, it just seems that not many ideas went into it. Fun Remake or remaster? It would be good on a Mickey collection. It’s currently the only N64 game from Rare that has not been re-released in any way. Official Ways to get the game There is no official way to play Mickey’s Speedway USA.

I had a dream last night that Kojima was working on a Switch 2 exclusive for Nintendo so don't be surprised if that shows up in the April direct.

Geez, the whole console release is even more bizarre then I initially thought. I wonder what the hell happened there? I know Switch has become the console of choice for indie games because they tend to do best there, so it'd be understandable if they only released there, but it released on the other platforms in some way. And like I mentioned in said Christmas thread, even on Switch eShop, the damn thing never goes on sale, despite it getting sales on Steam regularly. Which makes me wonder. The console ports were handled by a group called MP2, I wonder if something weird happened with the developers and that porting team to make the console release collapse? Absolute radio silence on that, mind. It sucks, because this is a very good game. In hindsight, I should've made that a bit more clear, but well, here's my opportunity. While I do recommend it to fans of RPG's, I can't stress enough that unlike Balatro, Omori's PEGI 18 rating is completely warranted. It gets downright unpleasant at times. If depictions of depression or suicide are things you feel you should avoid, don't play this game.

Great write-up @Glen-i  I was so excited for Omori and had been waiting for it to be ported to consoles for a while (this was back before I got my Steam Deck), but the whole weirdness with its release and the complete lack of communication about its ports has seriously rubbed me the wrong way.  Because, just to point out... ...it isn't actually available outside of the US on PS4 (it can't even be found on the EU PS Store, period), and as you well know - because I saw your Christmas post  - physical copies of the game are NA-only, too...yet, to make things even more frustrating, it is still possible to pre-order physical European copies of Omori on Switch and PS4 at a whole bunch of retailers.  On top of that, though, and like you briefly touch on, I know just enough about the game that certain types of people might be better off steering clear, and perhaps for now that includes myself, so this might be one of those games I only get to appreciate from afar. Still, the art style is gorgeous, and I can really appreciate what I imagine they were aiming to accomplish with the game based on the few bits and pieces I know about it. 

I feel like even @Jonnas would be proud of this maneuver. And with how limited the items were, this was inevitable. Also, I nominate myself for coolest loss.