Handheld Wars Week 31 - Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

I have it on Vita, though I haven't played it that much. Had they just included a good roster of characters it would've made an enormous difference, instead I struggle to pick any character to play as I don't care for any of them, I've mostly played as Amy and Ulala so far, that pretty much says it all right there.
It looks good enough, it's a custom Vita version based on the same source that the 3DS version was developed from, so they have more in common with each other than they do with the stationary console and PC versions.
By Vita standards it offers nothing mind blowing, but at least it gets the job done without any issues, it runs smoothly and has some nice details on the characters and vehicles and some special effects look very nice.
The controls are what they are, typical kart racer fare, and the Vita handles them just fine. I'm not a fan of how kart racers control in general but I've played many that are far worse and the Vita as a controller is capable of modern console controller levels of comfortability and control options, so at least it doesn't make the controls worse.
Audio is good, no complaints.
Content wise it's a mixed bag, with the character roster being nothing short of atrocious, it really ruins the experience for me. Having a lacking roster to play as makes everything else a lot less fun, so while the racetracks are good and there's a lot of extra challenges etc. to partake in, my incentive to do any of it is abysmally low.
If you're lucky and happen to find a character you like there's a lot to enjoy in the game, for fans of these type of kart racing games at least, but with a lineup of characters that Sega has under their belt, with all their excellent games over several decades, it should be considered a crime against humanity not to include a better roster than the one this game got.

The 3DS version then is mostly the same but technically downgraded a generation's worth, as expected, and with the 3DS form factor and button layout factored in it's a lot less comfortable to play, at least for me as I get hand cramps and have a hard time reaching everything while maintaining a good grip, not that I can ever get a good grip on the 3DS anyway, but the button placement makes it even worse, and of course the stereoscopic "3D" depth effect is technically a thing, but it's nothing more than a poorly implemented novelty and this game wasn't made with the effect in mind so you'll most likely get bored with it and turn it off or stop noticing it anyway, like one does with almost all 3DS games.