Cool little mario kart clone. Has a nice retro vibe that works together well with the visuals, sfx, and music. Cinematic intro is really nice also. I like the strategy element of collecting gems to permanently boost your speed, but it's also kind of unfair because if you start towards the back you're guaranteed to lose since the first couple of rounds the bots will collect all the gems before you can reach them. Would be nice to have some kind of balancing elements like maybe gems are better if you're farther behind or something.
Nice devlog btw, very informative and interesting!