ref. Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart (2018)
— things i like
- getting l2 drift boosts
- terrain variance (slopes! banking!)
- red bounce pads
- drift storage
- breaking tracks but not too much
- Doing The Spin
— things i don’t like
- spirals
(they’re fine, but they do get old quickly) - long tracks (especially sprint tracks)
- memoboosts
- bonk
- nobody likes bonk
(also i’m now putting stars next to tracks i’ve won on)
S
Boiling Bedrock (MAP37) ★
i don’t know what it is, but something about this one just really gets my blood pumping. is it the music? the turns that are crafted so you can ride the inside line? the jump that you can do a spin on? the skip?
it’s kinda technical and really good.
Can You Do The Spin? yes!!
1.3 edit: they nerfed the skip…
(i can’t tell if i’m upset or not. like yes it’s removing a feature from a track and the sonic series has always been left-libertarian. but, the skip isn’t that fun to pull off, and the normal route might actually be more fun anyway)
MKSC Sky Garden (MAP48) ★
bouncy bouncy. bouncy and pouncy.
i love the many opportunities to grab l2 drifts. i love being able to drift into springs and build boost in mid-air. i love a sky cloud. i love a music. thanks so much.
KartRev?
worse!! or at least i find the changes to be less fun
Misty Maze (MAP09) ★
this is such a comfy track.
misty maze positive emotional aura.
Volcanic Valley (MAP35) ★
i have a theory that the reason toxic palace is infamous and this one isn’t is because everyone either gave up beforehand, or by the time people make it to this one they know what shit the game can pull.
still, this one is really twisty and good… that opening set of turns after the jump is really tight and really fun to nail down, and leads to the upward spiral perfectly.
Can You Do The Spin? barely
A
Sub-Zero Peak (MAP17) ★
hey! this one has spirals that i actually like!
and ice physics that i actually kinda like too?
and also this is a l2 drift behemoth.
Cloud Cradle Zone K (MAP34) ★
this one is so fast! the sense of speed here is so good!
Can You Do The Spin?
barely!
Is It Practical?
hell no.
Will You Throw Away Online Matches Trying To Do The Spin?
only if i don’t have a chance of winning
Green Hills Zone (MAP01) ★
i feel like opening tracks might say something about the game.
like a lot of mario tracks have an opening track that’s pretty close to an oval circuit, give or take a few turns. even ctr opens with a more-or-less oval circuit, give or take a couple jumps and a pirate ship.
and then you have fuckin green hills zone:
- shortcut hidden by a rock
- jumps on both the shortcut and non-shortcut path that you can do drift storage on
- big shortcut that you need to drift into and boost out of to execute cleanly
- banked turn on the non-shortcut route
- weird boost pad at the end which i think is a “false shortcut”
- toot toot sonic warrior
i genuinely feel like getting the gold on this, for new players, is something of a trial by fire. it feels almost unreasonable, until you watch the replay and figure out the optimal path and notice a few (intentional) execution errors that you can capitalize on. and then you do, and then you win, and then over the months you start noticing more and more ways that you can eke just a little bit more out of this track. you take what you’ve learned from other tracks and apply it to this one, and you take what you’ve learned from this track and carry it with you elsewhere.
eventually you see the 1’26” required for the gold as basically a cakewalk, and it feels good to see it that way.
eventually you get a 1’17” and want to know if you can make it a 1’16”.
i also have a hard time winning this one because the shortcut is too strong and when i’m a few places back i usually end up deciding to yolo it and so far it hasn’t paid off.
KartRev?
worse in a way that only i care about…
this track has so much extraneous detail that is only accessible by either using springs or by getting super unlucky,
and kartrev deathplanes it all out
Eggman’s Nightclub (MAP40) ★
yeah this is just a well-rounded track. good boost pads, good drifts, manageable obstacles. riding a good line through this track just feels good.
also am i the only one who noticed that the track looks like a horse? is there lore for this?
CK Chao Circuit 1 (MAP42) ★
a really comfy track~
also i have to say that i love optimizing the water path so you can make the skip without bouncing off the top of the water. i think that makes that one for me.
MKSC Rainbow Road (MAP50) ★
like mksc sky garden but with even more bouncy. maybe too much bouncy actually…
update: there is an absurd shortcut in this one that involves repeatedly bouncing off the side to build up a l3 boost. i think my opinion remains neutral since, even though this is hella fun to execute, at this point we’ve begun to approach “breaking the stage over your knee” territory.
update 2: the time trial route for this track skips like half of it and feels like injecting speed directly into your forebrain. i love it, but even i know that this is a bit too much.
Grand Metropolis (MAP10) ★
ok i definitely slept on this one i think. there’s a good sense of speed going through the corners that, aside from a couple hiccups (the bizarre terrain changes through the corners after the spiral, that weirdly long stretch before the ascent to the banked 180°), makes it thrilling to session.
gathering an l3 drift off the series of red boosts and zipping off the top of the post is silly but so satisfying, although it turns out that you can only do it as a high-speed character.
also that banked 180º turn is very scary.
Can You Do The Spin?
i really don’t know!
i did it once, but it turned out pretty poorly. and then i kept trying to do it, but since you can only do it off the red boost pads, you end up careening off the side
KartRev?
better! in retrospect, the item distribution in vanilla is real fuckin weird.
CK Chao Circuit 2 (MAP43) ★
oh hey, a long track where the back half is just as interesting as the front half!
Crimson Core (MAP60) ★
good turns, good boosts
quite easy to frontrun, since there really isn’t any convenient place for someone behind to overtake, which also means it’s quite frustrating to be stuck in second behind a competent player.
Can You Do The Spin?
yes!
Hill Top (MAP08) ★
like sure the music is almost as annoying as the sonic 2 zone, but i think i’m starting to get it. at least on hard speed.
it’s simple but it’s easy to go really fast and you can take a drift off a couple drops for good measure
Egg Zeppelin (MAP06) ★
even though it’s kinda simple, for some reason this one gets my blood pumping.
and i can’t decide whether i love the intentional bonk or not.
maybe my favorite part was when i spent some time figuring out how to brakedrift that turn so i can come out of it cleanly, only to realize that you can come out of it even faster by performing an optimized bonk.
also love the elephant.
wish i could jump on top of you buddy <3
Barren Badlands (MAP28) ★
kinda technical, kinda cute, eh stock music.
that absurdly long drift off the ending boosts that you can grab l3 on is tech.
Virtual Highway (MAP39) ★
i think i want to like this track, but after maybe the drop to hairpin it starts to get weird. edit: that’s where it gets fun!
but also i think i can call this one of my favorite upward spirals, since you can nab l3 if you start your drift from the boost pad
Can You Do The Spin?
nope.
Desert Palace (MAP26) ★
i think this is probably the best of the 5 lap microtracks here.
shoutout to the bridge that collapses if someone presses the troll button
Sunbeam Paradise (MAP11) ★
it has a comforting atmosphere but not much else (though it has some boost pads to memorize the locations of)
edit: no this one’s flow is rly good and i think helps make it the best of the beachside tracks in this game.
KartRev?
highlights the boost pads, which i think makes it better
B
Petroleum Refinery (MAP25) ★
Can You Do The Spin?
yes!! and it gives you just the right amount of hangtime for it, and you can drift out of it and look really cool
KartRev?
better!! i’m glad it fixed the weird death zone, and the boosts if you hit the wall on the first jump are appreciated. i think those are worth losing the obtuse shortcut for.
Silvercloud Island (MAP23) ★
or, the one that makes me want to charge a drift over the massive drop even though i’m pretty sure that it is counterproductive.
Honeybee Industry Zone (MAP59) ★
newgrounds-ass happy hardcore and the world’s most ridiculous drift storage setup. what more could you want?
apparently there’s a massive skip in this one (that got patched out?), and also a less massive skip too.
the less massive skip is pretty fun though
Northern District (MAP03) ★
nothing gets my blood pumping quite like 90-degree angles
but also a 90-degree turn is just a level 2 drift you haven’t met yet.
also the offroad shortcut is silly and kinda hard to do cleanly.
(the zip zoom alternate shortcut is pretty fun though)
Can You Do The Spin?
nope. you can do kind of a stylish 270º into the right turn but it’s hard to execute consistently unless you’re playing a speed character on hard.
although it is stylish…
Vanilla Hotel (MAP31) ★
kinda comfy, has good tech (the sneaky drift off the red bumper being my favorite)
Paradise Hill (MAP16)
long, but it has some nice opportunities for tech in there.
(although everything after the water is kinda unmemorable…)
Aurora Atoll (MAP27) ★
what sunbeam paradise was supposed to be
although, now that i know about that skip – and about how it’s allegedly “illegal,” i feel vaguely irritated by it.
(it can be done with just a drift-boost even with low-speed characters! and it leads perfectly into the outside racing line that’s just after the pier!)
KartRev?
fixes the illegal skip, which is one way to solve the problem i guess.
Kodachrome Void (MAP36)
it’s a meme, but it has great music, and some pretty interesting tech to boot
and sure it’s a bit clunky but void
Lake Margorite (MAP56) ★
maybe this can be the “kinda eh tracks with great music” section
Sapphire Coast (MAP18) ★
see above?
the chicanes after the spiral feel a bit weird.
apparently there’s a way to get the shortcut without shoes, but i really can’t figure out how.
Blue Mountain (AKA Runback Mountain) (MAP24) ★
ok it took a music change, but i think i’ve started to appreciate this one now.
is jamming on the brakes during drifts so there’s less recoil when the boost kicks in tech?
Can You Do The Spin?
easily!
(though i find it less fun if it’s a gimme)
Sand Valley (MAP19) ★
not a fan of the music selection, and the big jump is maybe a bit too big, but the brave jump and the s along the end is nice.
Can You Do The Spin?
easily!
Dark Race (MAP02) ★
the chao race music annoys me too much to put it higher.
the only fun part is maybe setting up to ride the early boost pads
Can You Do The Spin?
nope…
KartRev?
removes fun boosts, maybe worse
edit: after changing the music, i’ve come to appreciate the boost line through and after the drop.
Sonic Speedway (MAP07) ★
you can go fast and it makes it easy to go fast.
i think, in a way, this means it ends up capturing sonic’s personality pretty well
but also it doesn’t feel that fast…
Midnight Channel (MAP30) ★
everything in the back half is kinda boring, but…
Can You Do The Spin?
in three different places!!
Daytona Speedway (MAP05) ★
as much as i love the daytona usa soundtrack, there’s a certain breakability in this track that i don’t know how to process.
like, you can get some pretty big skips out of the boosts, although they’re also hard to use.
also the l3 boost spiral is less fun than you’d expect.
you can’t even evade an spb by taking two l2s on it. you have to take l1s.
Toxic Palace (MAP32) ★
hot take the time trial for this one isn’t that bad. velocit0ni’s run is just clean, and getting a clean run through this stage is a challenge in itself.
(although admittedly i had to look up where the best place to use the speed shoes is…)
(so yeah maybe this one does suck. if it’s not the hardest, it’s likely tied with volcanic valley)
but dear lord the cycles in this track
Megablock Castle (MAP20) ★
it just feels like things happening in order
maybe like paradise hill in that way
but the presence of a top route is neat
Can You Do The Spin?
no… not even with the boost shortcut!
edit: the top route is significantly slower than the bottom, which is surprising considering it’s harder to get onto and stay on…
Diamond Square (MAP12) ★
kinda awkward, but also kinda neat
the invulnerability path is one of those that’s so hard to get into that when i finally get the chance to use it i won’t remember how it goes.
KartRev?
is probably better here too, though outright removing the invuln path seems like it fixes a problem without providing another solution.
Darkvile Garden (MAP04) ★
l2 boost tutorial garden
Coastal Temple (MAP57) ★
nice wide corners
crash bandicoot ass music
i can’t win this one
CK Regal Raceway (MAP45)
i actually wanted to put this pretty high but the back half is kiinda bland and also that one jank linedef bug isn’t hard to trigger.
it has a neat atmosphere though.
Egg Quarters (MAP38) ★
wait… did they seriously put in a wall during multiplayer matches to keep you from taking the skip at the start of the track?
is this the only time they actually nerfed a track like that?
is that cheesy? is that bad?
Red Barrage (MAP29)
i get what they were going for, and parts of this are neat, but parts of this are clunky!
Can You Do The Spin?
kinda sorta, but it never feels great in any of the places you can attempt it
Kart Airlines (MAP58) ★
as far as segmented tracks go, at least this one is nice enough to be well-telegraphed throughout, and give players a lot of breathing room.
i feel like this might be important, as a track design concern.
like, if the tracks are small, then you can get away with them also being tighter more, because people have more ability to remember what’s going on and refine their lines.
SMK Mario Circuit 2 (MAP52)
there’s some neat tech here, but the thing is that it feels like it’s all tech.
i don’t feel like i’m playing a track so much as i’m manipulating a hollow shell of a track.
which is hot, don’t get me wrong, but it can only be hot for so long.
C
Casino Resort (MAP22)
ansi standard track design
feels like it should be three laps, but i know that three laps would somehow be too much
Twinkle Cart (MAP14) ★
admittedly the mechanics here (like the zippers) feel kinda awkward and almost intentionally memo.
Can You Do The Spin?
nope, not even at the end :(
CK Cloud Tops 2 (MAP44)
the tech to carry l2 boost over the jump is nice, i guess
SM Special Stage 3 (MAP47) ★
i dunno i guess this one just doesn’t grab me.
Pleasure Castle (MAP15) ★
bonk, bonk, boring back half
the shortcuts are kinda neat in theory though
SMK Ghost Valley 2 (MAP53)
i think of the smk tracks, this one feels the least vindictive and the most properly-scaled.
but it also doesn’t have much to it.
Midnight Meadow (MAP13) ★
apple bonk.
Canyon Rush (MAP21) ★
it’s long and boring and i never bothered learning the last segment.
Can You Do The Spin?
oh damn you can though…
congratulations.
you saved yourself from d-tier
edit: like ok after however many dozen of plays i’m finally starting to remember how the last segment goes, but dear lord does this track do its best to throw you off any flow you get going. the fact that every bump has a slight chance of sending you in the air means that at least one will launch you before the race ends, and that never feels good.
Ancient Tomb (MAP33) ★?
aka the track that i completely forgot about until six months after i started this note.
like canyon rush, i also have a hard time remembering everything after uhhh you enter the water.
D
SD2 Balloon Panic (MAP46) ★
kinda boring, but with a gimmick!
if the balloons were randomized then i could see this being more interesting, but also that sort of “interesting” wouldn’t necessarily be a good one so hm
there’s also an invisible wall if you try to use the balloons to jump over the hill!
MKDS Peach Gardens (MAP49) ★
dear lord maybe i’m just used to the wii remake but this feels like 80% the size of what it should be. and it’s not like the ds version was this small either!
but like seriously. with some rescaling this would be great.
and it is a well-designed track, so i can appreciate and understand why it was cribbed.
SMK Donut Plains 1 (MAP51)
it’s almost an oval
KKR Ganbare Dochu 2 (MAP41) ★
it is an oval!
A MAP HELL THAT YOU CAN VOTE FOR
SMK Vanilla Lake 2 (MAP55) ★
ideologically speaking, i have an issue with tracks where it seems impossible to make an spb run on them. edit: it took a couple hours, but i did manage to get an spb attack run on this one. i cannot tell if this refutes or confirms my point though.
also i guess, when i made autumn play this, they brought up how one of the appeals of this track is that everyone is all in this together. everybody gets to flail around like they’ve never played this game before together! and there’s something beautiful in that.
SMK Bowser Castle 3 (MAP54)
bonk bonk bonk bonk bonk bonk bonk
every kart track teaches you something and this track teaches you that it’s ok to pick a different character if they’d handle it better
MAP HELL
— actually good ones…
Chemical Facility Zone (MAPH4) ★
ok so this one actually makes me feel bad that it got cut. it definitely has heart.
i’d honestly say that it’s a-tier.
(i legit might actually decide to record attack this one.)
edit: i tried to spb attack this one and i think this one ended up being one of the top 5 hardest to spb run, behind vanilla lake and bowser’s. toxic and volcanic might also be harder but i’m too familiar with those by now.
still love it though.
Black Bliss (MAPHB)
who the hell put nürburgring in a kart racer
who the hell thought making it four laps was a good idea!
(at least the visual aesthetic is really good)
edit: this one honestly isn’t that bad! but it does test a lot of skills that aren’t directly emphasized, like taking neutral turns and positioning your kart while in the air.
yeah i think this started out near the bottom but i kinda really love it
edit 2: ok i actually love it a lot.
SRB2 Frozen Night (MAPHA)
kinda plain, but also kinda comfy. in a way this might be the platonic srb2kart track, except for the fact that a lot of srb2kart tracks are better than this.
Crystal Abyss Zone (MAPH0)
i get the feeling that this was made for map hell, what with this being the first track in the set and all. so even though it’s twisty and confusing, and i hate labyrinth tracks, the style of this is just so geocities and so good that i can’t help but at least admire it.
CK Cloud Tops 1 (MAPH6) ★
ok, so i get why this one was canned.
…
it was the 180º, wasn’t it.
but like here’s the thing about the 180. it’s unintuitive as all hell, but it’s fun, especially if you drift into it, and double-especially if you slam into it with a boost.
but alas, making players (especially online randos) perform a 180 is very unintuitive, so i can understand why this one was scrapped
Arid Sands (MAPH2)
is this one near the top because of the toads that scream when you hit them?
maybe.
but also it’s established that i have a thing for banked turns
3 Color Drive (MAPH5)
i actually really love the design and atmosphere here.
(although the mashup definitely has nightmarescape vibes)
(and i’m glad raex decided to use this as a starting point)
(3 color drive walked so that stardust drive could fucking run)
Diamond Square Classic (MAPH8)
yeah this is fine. a solid first draft of a solid track
— not so good ones…
CK Dungeon Maze (MAPH7)
hey! another ck trak with a 180! except this one’s arguably both works better and works worse
- better: it’s more obvious where to go after the 180. and if you forget to turn around, you can just drive forward and see the path ahead of you
- worse: it has a left turn going into it, and a right turn coming out of it. so if you try to drift into the 180, you’ll probably be inclined to drift left, and then will have to instantly start drifting right once you hit the ground. but also, there is very little lead-in after the left turn to start drifting right beforehand.
my other big gripe is that it feels like the track was designed around the shortcut.
Volcanic Valley Classic (MAPH3) ★
i guess this one isn’t bad so much as just uninteresting, and that combines with the odd feeling of this somehow being the beta version of one of my favorite tracks. but hey, telstar has its joe meek version out there too.
Blue Mountain Classic (MAPHH)
part of me wants to say that this one isn’t that bad either, but it does have some weird choices for terrain location…
PWR Retro Maze (MAPH9)
when i decided to look through my list of maps i made for that game a long time ago, i noticed that i made a pac-man one. i was 14
Peach’s Castle (MAPH1)
i think this might be the most You Tried map in the set
still, the fact that you can apparently make it to the top of the castle (as discovered by autumn) is admirable
— evil.
SMK Rainbow Road (MAPHD)
it’s a solid original track, and even though they’re bound to recreate it a bit smaller, how bad could it be?
but then they added the bumpers.
FZ Silence (MAPHC) ★
*cue lowtax bit about the sonic series being famous for its 90-degree angles*