Kind of a trunked online feature which I'll digest better than if it were a straight kind of online play.

So after actually watching the Direct, I see this is not the straightforward online mode I was craving, but a weird approximation of it. I just don't see the point? Why not just make it like the local co-op experience but online? I still prefer this to not having any online option at all thought. But why can't Nintendo just be normal?

Because being normal is the last thing to ever expect from Nintendo part of their charm though tbh

i suppose... i was kind of, a little bit, correct!

There must be something challenging about it. I mean Sonic Superstars dont have online co-op either and thats on the PS5 and Series X.

There is straight up online play, it's just with friends, no?

No. You can Dark Souls it where friends or people online are ghosted and can have an influence on the game in some way, but there is no straight up online play. Co-op is strictly limited to local. 

There is. Its just not the same as the local co-op. You can play with friends online, but you cant interact with each other like in local play.

Oh right! You can race your friends to see who can finish the level first, right? Better than nothing, but it is curious why traditional online co-op couldn't have been added. It's always a possibility that it could be a post-launch update.

Yes and you can play levels together, but not interact. Its a bit weird. Im not sure how it will work.