Aside from the wall-running, it's pretty much exactly the same as the wii game.
I don't reallly agree, a lot of the items are different, and the anti-grav adds a lot (it totally changes the racing strategy because of how carts interact when they collide). There are several other additions such as more weight classes, and cart customization. Also, the use of coins in normal races to increase top speed and give small boosts changes game-play a lot. The graphics are also better. While on the surface, they are similar, there have been a lot of significant changes.
The 50cc courses are more of a chore to play through than an actual race
Then skip them, anything you earn in 100cc or even 150cc will carry down to the lower levels (including star rankings). The only down side to this is that it makes the characters a little harder to unlock (as you then can't use the 50cc cups to unlock characters).
Why can't we use two screens when there are two players? Why is that 'highlight reel' the default option over 'next race'? Why can't I change controls?
These are valid points. The default highlight reel thing is really irritating. You can change controls, but you have to back out all the way to the title screen (which is super unintuitive).
Why are certain important-to-know things like drifting not explained during loading a race?
Has this ever been the case? I feel like most mechanics in Mario Kart I have discovered by trial and error.
All in all, I kind of feared that the Zelda WW would be the thing making it worth wile.
That was the greatest deal ever. All of those games a fairly good, and Zelda and Pikmin are AMAZING.
But the more I play it, the more I come to love it.
Woops, should have finished reading your post before I stated creating a response, but all the points are still valid, and it is already written, so I'll post it anyway