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Mario Kart World Review - A Worthy Marquee Launch Game
Game Reviews

Mario Kart World Review – A Worthy Marquee Launch Game

by admin June 9, 2025



Nintendo seemed slow to react to the evergreen status of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a humble Switch port of a Wii U game that surpassed all expectations by becoming the top-selling game on one of its most successful platforms. Mario Kart World, the banner game for the launch of the Switch 2, carries with it the expectation that of course this will be one of the games most associated with the system for its entire lifespan. The challenge was crafting a new game that felt sufficiently suited to carry those expectations. Due to its blend of skillful mechanical tweaks, lovely aesthetics, and a general design philosophy built around delightful surprises, this one will go the distance.

The biggest standout feature of Mario Kart World–the one that its name, identity, and many of its mechanics revolve around–is the world itself. For the first time in the series history the races aren’t built as standalone tracks, but rather as part of a large contiguous map. Iconic locations like Bowser’s Castle or Moo Moo Meadows are physical locations connected to each other through a series of highways and byways. The Grand Prix cups, the ostensible story campaign of a Mario Kart game, are just routes through this world the same way a real street race will block off a specific route.

Within that context, though, the races themselves are more dynamic than ever. Nintendo has started licensing its properties out for theme park attractions since the release of the last Mario Kart, and it’s hard not to notice the roller coaster-like approach to these tracks. Like a well-designed ride, you’re consistently confronted with surprises and obstacles that keep things visually interesting and mechanically exciting. A race along the savannah will feature adorably plump animals like a herd of zebra, while a desert area surprises you with the Easter Island-like Tokotoko enemies from Super Mario Land, and another track may fling you into the air or have you navigate choppy waters. It’s a treat for longtime Nintendo fans, especially, as the wealth of references goes much deeper than it has before.

Mario Kart World mixes new and old MK playable characters

Gallery

That goes doubly for the character selection. After venturing outside of the Mushroom Kingdom with inclusions like Link and Isabella in Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart World sticks strictly inside the confines of Mario–and then expands its scope exponentially. You have series regulars like Mario, Bowser, and Toad alongside such random pulls as Swoop the bat, Para-Biddybud the insect, and the frog-like Coin Coffer. And of course there’s Cow, already a breakout star of the game’s promotion, who seems to tickle players with her very presence.

Then on top of that, the core Mario characters all have a variety of costume changes to unlock. Grab a sacked “Dash Snack” lunch as Toad and he may don a racing helmet modeled after his iconic mushroom head, or presto-chango into a train engineer. Alongside the variety of surprises on the tracks and the massively expanded roster, the impressive volume of costumes is just another way that Mario Kart World aims to constantly surprise you.

The methods of unlocking characters and costumes can be a little patchwork, and Mario Kart World seems intentionally opaque about exactly how it works. You might pick up the same costume several times in a row through Dash Snacks, and then find a new character or costume unlocked when someone uses a Magikoopa item. I’m sure completionists rushing to get a full roster complete with all of the associated costumes may find this frustrating or work to unlock the exact rhyme and reason, but I’m rather enjoying taking the game on its own terms. It’s aimed at long-term play, wishing to dole these out seemingly randomly and slowly, and I’m happy to let it do so. The less-engaging collectibles are stickers, which you receive for completing various in-game challenges. Those serve as the kart customization for Mario Kart World, which is less robust than the mix-and-match kart creation of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, especially since you can only equip one at a time.

An outfit change for Peach in Mario Kart World

I am mildly disappointed that much of the expanded roster doesn’t get its own costume changes. It makes the creature characters feel like they’re B-tier, and actually dissuades me from playing as them when I know there are more costumes to unlock if I pick someone from the core cast. I would love to be racing as Para-Biddybud more, but it just feels like I’m missing out if I do. By that same token, though, this unlock system does encourage me to play as characters I ordinarily wouldn’t. I’ve never been a fan of heavier characters, but I’m actually taking the time to play more as Wario or Bowser because I want to unlock all of their fashionable duds.

All of this is especially appealing because Mario Kart World looks gorgeous and serves as a nice showpiece for the increased power of the Switch 2. Nintendo excels at art direction, to the point that even older games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have a playful animated look that still doesn’t feel dated. But Mario Kart World shows what Nintendo can do with both its knack for visual flair and increased horsepower, and the result is stunning. It’s a living cartoon, complete with lovely little touches like facial expressions that you’ll never even see unless you venture into Photo Mode.

The entire world being connected means that courses bleed into each other, which I find mostly amusing and only occasionally distracting. Sometimes when you’re racing from one track to another in the middle of a Grand Prix, a stage will start with a completely different visual style than it finishes with. It’s a neat way to see the transition, but I do sometimes miss when a course would have its very own visual language and identity that’s distinct from anything else.

Rainbow Road, the ultimate conclusion of the Grand Prix campaign, is the sole example of a standalone course that’s disconnected from the world, and it stands apart from the rest due to it. Mario Kart has offered lots of different Rainbow Roads, but this one may be my new favorite of all time. It’s a sprawling triumph–a visual feast, a playful celebration of the sights and sounds of the game up to that point, and an incredibly diverse and lengthy marathon of a race on its own.

Mario Kart World’s new hammer

Naturally, it wouldn’t be a new Mario Kart without giving you new tools and skills to master. The series has always excelled at having a low skill floor and a high skill ceiling. Anyone can pick up a game of Mario Kart World, but real karting pros can show off like never before. There are new items to master like the Feather and Hammer alongside old favorites. MKW makes a subtle change by automatically dragging certain items like Green Shells behind you, rather than letting you drag them on command, which both gives newer players one less thing to track, and increases the risk of losing an item if you’re targeted by a Blue Shell or Lightning Bolt.

The biggest new skill to master, though, is the Charge Jump. It essentially gives veterans a new tool to use on straightaways, charging up like they would with a power-slide on a turn. The jump is smaller than a ramp or Feather, but big enough to dodge an attack or hop over an obstacle if you time it just right. It also pairs well with the new stunting system, which lets you grind on rails and cruise off walls, which also gives you a speed boost. The off-road aspect also sometimes means you go into the water, where it transitions automatically to an aquatic vehicle and handles with choppy wave mechanics that give me fond memories of Wave Race.

And crucially, Nintendo has taken this new suite of mechanics and level of polish and applied it to a blend of modes and methods of play that offer more ways to kart than in the series’ long history. You can still take on Grand Prix, VS, and time trials like always, and the newly revised Battle Mode no longer feels like an afterthought. The arenas for Battle are familiar locales from the map like always, but roped off as closed loops to force confrontations. It’s a much more aggressive style of play, and little stunts like a quick-180 reward high-level play.

Then there’s the highlight of the new additions–Knockout Tour. The presence of a single contiguous world means that you can draw long routes throughout it, serving as the basis of Knockout Tour. The new mode takes full advantage of the larger 24-player count by slowly winnowing down the players across each checkpoint, which creates some naturally tense moments as you continuously fight to qualify for the next round. It feels like the ideal middle-ground for a session–not so insubstantial as a quick VS race, but not the time commitment of a Grand Prix.

Mario Kart World’s Cow

Knockout Tour is an especially great showcase for the increased player count in online multiplayer. While I found the 24-player aspect a bit insubstantial in single-player–the last dozen or so racers trailed far enough behind that they didn’t really matter–playing with a full horde of players online is a totally different experience. It makes the classic kart racer into a raucously chaotic party game. Even with track sizes and item distribution seemingly tuned to fit the greater player count, against other humans you’re bound to bump shoulders with them often, and that seems by design.

The increased player count for online does mean you can sit waiting for a full match for quite a while. It’s nice that the game lets you free roam while you wait for the matchmaking to complete, but the wait times have been inconsistent. Sometimes it’s snappy and quick; other times I’m roaming for several minutes waiting for a full lobby. So far it seems as if searching for a regular race takes significantly longer than a Knockout Tour, but your mileage may vary. It is nice, though, that once matched with other players for a race you remain grouped with them voting for the next race, rather than needing to search all over again.

Speaking of free roaming, you can do it at any time through the main menu, not just as a lobby waiting room. Nintendo seems to have envisioned this mostly as a way to meet up with friends and cruise around, but the open-world aspect feels sparse. There are things to do exclusive to the free roaming mode, like driving into an 18-wheeler and taking over it for a short time. There are also P-Switch challenges that give you a quick task to complete, like reaching a high vantage point or avoiding falling boulders to reach a goal line. These are nice little diversions, but the prizes for completing them–even more stickers–ultimately feel pretty insubstantial.

Nearly nothing else does, though. Mario Kart World is a massive, sprawling sequel that playfully expands and iterates on the qualities that made Mario Kart 8 Deluxe such an enduring success. It’s an incredibly fun and rewarding kart racing experience that’s easy to understand, with enough mechanical nuance to reward veteran kart racers, all presented beautifully as a Switch 2 showpiece. It will be shocking if this game doesn’t enjoy the same long-term success of its predecessor, because it’s among the best in the series and a worthy marquee title for the launch of a new Nintendo console.



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June 9, 2025 0 comments
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Mario Kart World - Nintendo brilliantly evolves a nigh-on perfect racer
Game Updates

Mario Kart World – Nintendo brilliantly evolves a nigh-on perfect racer

by admin June 8, 2025



After months of anticipation, we finally have Switch 2 in hand and with it, its keystone launch title. Mario Kart World is an integral part of the Switch 2 rollout as the system’s biggest day one experience. There’s little doubt it will shift tens of millions of units, but questions remain about the game’s graphical fidelity, and the merits of its mechanical overhaul from prior Mario Karts. So, is Mario Kart World a worthy open-world racer? And does it pack great graphics to mirror its revved-up reinvention?


Last month, Nintendo revealed that Mario Kart World began life as a Switch 1 title, a game built for the much more constrained Tegra X1-based hybrid. That provoked some interest online: if the core of Mario Kart World could work on the original Switch, why is it only on Switch 2? I think the final game provides some clear answers. Mario Kart World’s fidelity and scope would be tough to match on Nintendo’s last-gen juggernaut. Mario Kart 8 provides us with some useful context. This smaller, more track-oriented title shipped on Wii U in 2014, and Switch 1 in 2017 in visually upgraded form. Perhaps it doesn’t reflect the peak of what the OG Switch might have been capable of, as we never got a proper Switch exclusive Mario Kart entry but it does showcase the previous high water mark for the series’ visuals and remains one of the best-looking racing games on Switch.


The most obvious upgrade comes down to scope. Mario Kart World features a vast, interconnected world linked with kilometres upon kilometres of track. You can see structures spanning the entire horizon when you cruise through the game world – something that Mario Kart 8 never had to contend with. A sense of distance is preserved through the use of volumetric fog, along with strong bloom to emphasize the dazzling exposure of the sun set against terrain.

For an even more granular look at Mario Kart World, including appropriate track comparisons with prior series entries, do check out Oliver Mackenzie’s lovingly put together video.Watch on YouTube


The game uses a discrete level of detail (LOD) system, but detail level transitions are fairly unobtrusive and kept to a minimum for the most part. Pop-in for elements like grass and cars is not terribly obvious and it’s made more subtle with a GPU-sparing dithered fade. Plus, everything is built to a reasonable level of detail and artistic quality – even in segments you don’t reach in the game’s races. Sometimes you can make out a bit of conspicuous texture tiling, but it’s not common. Mario Kart World portrays a stable, consistent looking open world better than any original Switch game that I can think of. I think this is the key reason Mario Kart World isn’t a Switch 1 game – the compromises would be very large relative to what we’re seeing here. Plus, the racer count in this new game gets doubled from 12 players to 24 players, increasing the visual mayhem.


However, there are also some key visual quality advances that Mario Kart World makes relative to its last-gen predecessor. The biggest shift lies in lighting. Baked lighting returns in Mario Kart World, with the game relying heavily on lightmaps. The pre-calculated direct lighting mirrors Mario Kart 8, with only limited use of real-time shadows for player vehicles and certain bits of trackside detail. However, the indirect diffuse lighting is of a higher quality, with clear bounced light contribution, producing an effective sense of global illumination. Throughout the gameworld, you can notice subtle illumination on shadowed surfaces hit by reflected sun rays. Some of these effects were captured in Mario Kart 8, but the lighting was rather low-resolution and not as pleasing.


Mario Kart World also features a time of day system, which would usually mesh somewhat inelegantly with that baked lighting – but Nintendo has an interesting solution. The game simply swaps between four predefined times of day, which also changes the precalculated lighting. The position of the sun and moon are also fixed, except at dawn and dusk – and even when the sun is just coming up over the horizon, Mario Kart World’s real-time shadows remain permanently fixed at a kind of mid-afternoon angle. I don’t think this is a major issue, but it can look a little awkward – mostly when the sun is clearly set against the horizon and the light angle discontinuity is obvious. That said, as a tradeoff, Mario Kart World has excellent lighting quality for a racing game. You can also expect to see real-time weather changes, which look convincing enough.


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However, the new game does rely extensively on real-time lighting for its reflections. If you look closely at the way the reflections behave – in particular the kind of inaccuracies in perspective – it looks like the game makes heavy use of real-time cubemaps. These are applied to certain glossy surfaces, including the game’s water. These are usually decent-looking when they are applied to a surface underneath the player, especially with rough waves, but their low resolution sticks out sometimes and they only update every few frames, so they can lag a touch when the player is moving. Other vehicles aren’t captured in the cubemaps, as you might expect, though screen-space occlusion issues at least aren’t a concern. Additionally, the water surface itself is broken up by waves, reacts to bomb-ombs and foams up in stormy weather. It’s a very convincing depiction of water overall, and really makes you pine for a modern day Wave Race.


Mario Kart 8 had a more transparent water surface, without much of a fresnel effect or detailed reflections. There was a compelling gameplay reason for those rendering choices, given its underwater racing sections, but I do feel like Mario Kart World looks superior here and has a much more lively water depiction.


The quality of the materials in Mario Kart World is generally on a different level as well. This comes down to a few factors: texture resolution is typically higher and techniques like normal mapping are more liberally used. Surfaces appear to have a fine-grained specular response, especially on smooth metals and woods with blurred specular highlights on rougher surfaces. And areas like the Rainbow Road use more complex shaders, giving them a more eye-catching appearance. Overall, the game seems to have adopted a physically-based rendering approach, improving the fidelity of materials relative to the more primitive Mario Kart 8.

Mario Kart World uses pre-calculated lighting, but the effect is improved significantly over Mario Kart 8, with an effective representation of light bounce. | Image credit: Digital Foundry


The actual geometric density of the models is a bit conservative at times, though there are still obvious improvements relative to Mario Kart 8. There’s less stinginess when it comes to representing curved surfaces and characters in the stands are also full 3D now, unlike in Mario Kart 8 which used a mix of 3D and 2D bystanders. Interestingly though, these NPCs always face the camera, which we can more clearly observe in Mario Kart World’s photo mode. Plus, the playable characters and karts pack plenty of polygonal detail.


The last note I wanted to touch on here comes down to the style of the game. Nintendo casts the difference between Mario Karts 8 and World as a distinction between “sleek” and “playful” styles, and I think that’s reflected in the final product. There are the obvious UI distinctions, as World evolves MK8’s tech-centric, Windows Aero-like stylings into something more organic and alive.


You see the most obvious differences in the racers themselves: karts bounce, squash and stretch as they make turns, jump, and grind rails. In general, the vehicles appear less precisely controlled and more like they are about to lose traction and spin out of control. There’s an exaggerated sense of weight transfer relative to Mario Kart 8 as a result, which looked a lot stiffer. The karts also exhibit a rounded-off, bubbly look, with few straight lines. This styling fits well with the rest of the game, with its looser handling, broader scope, and greater focus on naturalistic environments, just as Mario Kart 8’s more technical leanings suited its anti-gravity focus and track-oriented gameplay. I don’t think one is necessarily better than the other, though World’s approach is more visually exciting.

Mario Kart 8 used a mixture of 3D characters and 2D sprites for the surrounding crowds. They’re all full 3D in Mario Kart World and, curiously, always face the player camera – even in photo mode. | Image credit: Digital Foundry


Also expect to see a much more interactive world relative to Mario Kart 8, as most elements of trackside detail have a convincing physics response to player collision, and grass gives way under the tread of the kart tires. The world feels tactile and natural, without obvious gamey inconsistencies.


Moving on to performance and image quality, the breakdown is fairly simple: you get 1080p in portable play and 1440p in docked play, with no signs of dynamic resolution scaling in my testing in either mode. TV image quality is generally fine enough in my experience, holding up well on a 4K television set from a typical viewing distance. Docked mode also gets a touch of post-process image treatment to adjust the 1440p resolution. I think we’re primarily looking at a light post anti-aliasing here. The handheld mode definitely fares better though, despite its lower pixel count. There’s no anti-aliasing of any kind here, so the 1080p pixel count maps perfectly onto the Switch 2 display. The panel itself isn’t perfect here, with middling contrast, mediocre brightness, and a tendency to blur and smear detail, but that’s not an issue with World itself.


Mario Kart 8, in contrast, packed a 1080p/720p split in docked and portable play respectively, so each mode had much fewer pixels than World. It’s not a revelatory improvement to image quality – but Mario Kart World does look a lot cleaner, if still imperfect. Comparing the docked and portable modes, they tend to look very similar. Distant LODs are a little less detailed in portable play and cubemap resolution is decreased, but they otherwise seem to more or less match.

Nintendo itself defines MK8’s style as “sleek”, with MKW being “playful”. Characters look similar though, the obvious exceptions being the more movie-like Peach and Donkey Kong. | Image credit: Digital Foundry


Performance is faultless as far as I can tell in my experience playing the game, reaching a locked 60fps in the content I tested. The only real exception comes down to photo mode, which hits a 30fps target instead. Portable mode is similar, but getting an immediate visual read on the game’s update isn’t really possible given its VRR display technology. I counted frame-by-frame using 180fps camera capture and got a 60fps reading though, so I expect it generally runs at 60fps just like its docked counterpart.


I didn’t have the chance to test the game in split-screen, but I tested World’s GameChat functionality with players from the Digital Foundry Supporter Program, and there weren’t any performance concerns. The update rate of the actual GameChat feed is choppy at approximately eight to 10 FPS, but the rendering of the actual 3D content is unaffected. Nintendo has flagged GameChat performance concerns in their documentation, but at least in this case it doesn’t seem like there is any issue. Mario Kart World doesn’t look amazing scaled down to a small window, but it otherwise works well.


The game does support HDR as well, with good results in TV mode. On the handheld screen, it doesn’t really do much, as the Switch 2 LCD doesn’t have the high brightness and fine-grained control needed for a good HDR picture. The display technically supports HDR, but it’s not a true HDR experience in my view. We’ll be discussing this in our full Switch 2 console review – HDR is a real letdown on the handheld screen.

Whether played docked or in handheld mode, Mario Kart locks to 60fps. The only exception is the 30fps photo mode. Docked mode runs at a native 1440p with post-process anti-aliasing, while handheld is a native 1080p with no AA at all. | Image credit: Digital Foundry


In summary though, Mario Kart World sports some large visual updates relative to its immediate predecessor, and I do think it represents something that couldn’t run in a satisfactory form on the original Switch unit. We didn’t really see anything like this on Switch 1 at 60fps, which is the standard for a modern Mario Kart title. Nintendo is putting the additional margin of GPU power on Switch 2 to good use by piling on open-world rendering challenges while continuing to evolve the series’ lighting, models, animation, and image quality. Any version of this game that would ship on Switch 1 would bear steep compromises that could make Mario Kart 8 a more visually pleasing game in comparison, which I suspect would prove very unappealing to prospective players.


To close out the meat of this technical review, I want to take a quick look at track design and how it’s changed for Mario Kart World. For all its open-world flourishes, Mario Kart World is still a game built around distinctive tracks. Each circuit is based on a key area or theme, in classic Mario Kart fashion. Much of the Mario roster is represented here, with Peach, Wario, Mario, Luigi, Toad, Bowser, and Donkey Kong all earning their own raceways, plus tracks themed after Boos, Dry Bones, and Cheep Cheeps. Unlike Mario Kart 8, no other Nintendo properties appear here, so there’s no Zelda, Animal Crossing, or Splatoon crossovers. Track design sensibilities have changed significantly for Mario Kart World, however, with a mix of changes to accommodate the game’s new gameplay features and revised mechanics. We’ve done a massive breakdown on returning tracks in the video, so do check that out.


From my perspective, Mario Kart 8 was a perfected Mario Kart game. If you chart the evolution of Mario Kart – from Super Mario Kart, through to Mario Kart 7, each game built upon key elements of its predecessor. The initial Mode 7-based graphics evolved towards 3D polygonal visuals, the drift-based gameplay was refined, retro courses were refurbished, online play was integrated, player counts were increased, tricking was added, the third person camera was perfected, and tracks were split into ground, aerial, and aquatic sections.

According to developer documentation, GameChat requires a chunk of system resources. We tested it in full four-player mode and in-game performance is unaffected. Individual streams seem to run between eight to 10fps. | Image credit: Digital Foundry


Then Mario Kart 8 came along. Perhaps its biggest shift was the move towards HD graphics, which elevated the series’ visual presentation to new heights. MK7’s mechanics were supercharged with anti-gravity sections, tighter vehicle handling, and the re-introduction of bikes. It was still firmly track-based, but offered much more content than prior entries, with a whopping 96 total tracks after the game’s first DLC round and the Booster Course Pass. It was a summation of the series up until that point, the pinnacle of arcade racing action over 50-second laps. I think that’s reflected in the game’s monumental success as the best-selling racing game of all time.


Unfortunately, that makes it a very hard game to top with a new series entry. Within the typical Mario Kart confines – short concept-oriented tracks with modest player counts – there’s little room to evolve the kart racer. A prospective sequel would need to break the mould to prove new and exciting to racing gamers. Mario Kart World does just that, by introducing a properly contiguous open world for the first time in series history. Each cup features an unbroken chain of track in the open world, with discrete courses connected by interlinking sections of road and trail. This has upsides as well as downsides: each cup feels like an adventure, and there’s far more unique track here than in prior Mario Kart titles. The discrete courses still feel a bit more lively than the straightened interlinking sections, though.


The new Knockout Tour mode exploits this structure to create truly unbroken, single-lap race events without pauses between sections. It has a pulse-pounding elimination-style format that drives up the pressure as you proceed but the racing layout is again, perhaps a little less mechanically interesting as a result. Mario Kart World balances out those changes by doubling the player count, while altering collisions and item hits to be less punishing. Races feel appropriately frenetic as a result, with pretty wild scenes during online play in particular. It will take a while to figure out exactly how pleasing this balance is long-term, but so far I’ve found it really exciting.

Water rendering is much improved over Mario Kart 8 and looks fantastic in the new game – bring back Wave Race! | Image credit: Digital Foundry


The new game also packs a free roam mode, which allows you to explore the open world at your leisure. The content here is a little sparse at the moment, primarily consisting of short P-switch missions that last about 20 seconds or so. Reportedly, there are hundreds of these missions scattered throughout the open world.

I’m not sure how much enduring appeal they’ll have though, in part because the in-game map doesn’t indicate where you’ve found P-switches, or where future ones might reside, making it hard to progress efficiently. The map lacks detail in general, as it doesn’t depict the game’s road systems at all – only its natural features and course locations. Free roam gameplay is a nice change of pace from racing action, but don’t expect a Forza Horizon-like list of activities here. That said, the open world is a joy to ride around in, even if there’s not a huge amount to do right now.


The driving mechanics have changed considerably from Mario Kart 8 as well, with less responsive turning and looser drifts. If you’re looking for something more like the older game, pick a lighter character, as the weight classes have more strongly attenuated handling differences in Mario Kart World – and be sure to turn off automatic steering, which is enabled by default in the game’s settings. Rail grinding and wallriding are also part of the experience, which can set up some cool manoeuvres.

Mario Kart World mines series history for a range of well known circuits – but their representation in the new game can be strikingly different.

After a couple of days, I feel like I am basically getting the hang of things, though getting properly positioned and primed for these actions requires some a bit of forethought. I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve played of Mario Kart World so far, and if my MK8 playtime is anything to go by(195 hours “or more” according to Switch’s metrics), I’ll probably be racing in it for dozens if not hundreds of hours to come. It also feels like an amazing platform for new features and content expansions, which are undoubtedly en route if Mario Kart 8 is any indication.


Personally, I’d love to see Nintendo add a 200cc speed class, a more detailed map, and more P-switch missions and other open world content. A course expansion or landmass addition seems likely at some point, though there’s plenty of racing track in the game for the time being. Mario Kart World is a tremendous accomplishment more than anything else. I’m seriously impressed by the scope of what Nintendo has achieved, delivering massive open-world scale with very few compromises, and revitalizing an aging series in the process. The moment-to-moment gameplay feels fantastic, its concept is innovative, and it glimmers with Nintendo polish.


Visually speaking, Mario Kart World offers some beautiful sights with key rendering advances over prior Mario Kart games, though a lot of rendering power has gone into making the open world work. It’s really the incredible quality of Nintendo’s artistry that stands out most here, with the game’s collection of new and revised courses proving a strong highlight. Plus, it packs strong resolution and frame-rate metrics in portable and docked play, without the low internal resolutions that typify a lot of early Switch 2 software.


I’m certain that Mario Kart World is going to move a lot of Switch 2 systems over the coming years, as it’s up there with some of Nintendo’s best. If you have the opportunity, I would strongly recommend giving it a shot.



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June 8, 2025 0 comments
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Mario Kart World: Every Power-Up, Explained
Game Updates

Mario Kart World: Every Power-Up, Explained

by admin June 8, 2025



Image: Nintendo

Part of what makes a Mario Kart game so special is its vast collection of power-ups that you earn throughout the track. Mario Kart World is overflowing with them. Using these items can turn the tide of a race in mere moments, giving you exactly what you need to take the lead. Of course, other users can also use them, meaning you’ll need to balance offensive and defensive items to take and keep first place for yourself.

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Read More: Mario Kart World: Four Essential Tips To Improve Your Racing Skills

There are quite a few power-ups to use in Mario Kart World. Here’s each one with a brief explanation of what they do:

  • Banana Peels: As one of the franchise’s original power-ups, you can always count on Banana Peels showing up. You can place these on the ground, and any players who touch them will wipe out.
  • Blooper: You need to see the track to race on it, right? Well, use a Blooper to squirt ink on your opponents’ screen to briefly block their sight.
  • Blue Shell: No item is more dreaded than the Blue Shell. This shell will track down and hit the leading racer, potentially causing chaos to additional racers along its path.
  • Bob-Omb: You can really frustrate other players with a Bob-Omb. Use this power-up to set the little fella on the track so that it blows up when someone drives nearby.
  • Boo: The Boo power-up makes you a tricky little devil. Using this item will steal another player’s item and turn you invisible briefly.
  • Boomerang Flower: If you’re a good shot, then the Boomerang Flower can be an excellent item to have. It grants you multiple boomerang throws that can hit your opponents during the throw and on the item’s way back to you.
  • Bullet Bill: If you need a good recovery item, Bullet Bill’s got you covered. Using this power-up transforms you into a Bullet Bill so you can dash forward while hitting any opponents in your way.
  • Coin: The more coins you hold (up to 20), the higher your max speed becomes. As such, you’ll want to use these when you get them to, you know, get more vroom vroom.
  • Coin Box: I think we all know what Coin Boxes do in a Mario game. Use this item to let you jump and hit the box for coins.
  • Coin Shell: If you want to go faster, you need coins, and that’s where the Coin Shell comes in handy. This shell fires ahead while dropping coins for you to pick up.
  • Feather: The Feather is a must-have for defensive play. If you learn how to master the timing on this power-up, you’ll be able to jump in the air and avoid items sent at you from other racers.
  • Fire Flower: As one of the original power-ups from Mario canon, we all know what a Fire Flower can do. Use this item to fire off balls of fire at your foes and wipe ‘em out.
  • Golden Mushroom: Speed is the name of the game, and Golden Mushrooms are all about it. A Golden Mushroom gives you unlimited turbo boosts for a brief period after use.
  • Green Shell: If you’ve got a good aim, then a Green Shell can be your friend because this item will fire off ahead or behind you to hit an opponent. And if it misses, it’ll bounce off walls to create a hazard for additional drivers.
  • Hammer: If you want to be a disruptive pest, then Hammers are for you. This power-up lets you throw hammers at your opponents with the added benefit of sticking in the track briefly as an obstacle.
  • Ice Flower: Using the Ice Flower is cold as, uh, ice. Be a pain in the ass by freezing other racers to make them slide around the track with poor control.
  • Kamek: Everyone loves the wizard Kamek and his magical spells, right? Well, you’ll like him better when you’re not on the receiving end of this power-up, which summons the blue-robbed foe to turn your opponents into random enemies.
  • Lightning: Similar to the Blue Shell, the Lightning power-up is historically one of the franchise’s scariest items, letting you shrink other racers. Its duration has been nerfed a bit in this game, but it still slows folks down enough for you to make a little bit of a push ahead.
  • Mega Mushroom: Do you like to get big and crush your foes? The Mega Mushroom lets you do just that by making your character massive so you can streamroll over anyone in your path.
  • Mushroom: If you need a quick boost of speed, you’ll want a Mushroom. This item grants you a quick burst of speed.
  • Red Shell: If you’ve ever played a Mario Kartgame, you already know Red Shells are one of the best overall items. This homing shell will track down the closest foe ahead of you and wipe ‘em out.
  • Super Horn: The Super Horn is a useful offensive and defensive tool. It sends a shockwave out that can wipe out enemies or destroy incoming projectiles.
  • Super Star: Any Mario fan knows what a Super Star can do. Use this item to become invincible for a brief period while also granting you the ability to hit your foes with your kart to wipe them out.

That’s a lot of power-ups! You can start using them by picking up a copy of Mario Kart World, which is available now exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2.

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June 8, 2025 0 comments
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Mario Kart World Players Are Pulling Off Some Incredible Stunts
Game Reviews

Mario Kart World Players Are Pulling Off Some Incredible Stunts

by admin June 8, 2025



Image: Nintendo

I’m still waiting to get my Switch 2 because my system is getting shipped to my home in New York City while I’m in Los Angeles. The only way in which I can experience the whimsical antics of Mario Kart World is through clips of the lucky bastards who have their systems already. I don’t usually think of Nintendo’s kart racer franchise as a game with a ton of impressive tricks. I should know better, though. I’ve seen people pull off racing feats I never could have pulled off as a kid when I was last really into the franchise. Each time Nintendo adds new dimensions to its tracks, Mario Kart fans find ways to do some of the sickest shit you’ve ever seen people do on four wheels. Mario Kart World is no different, and seeing some of the stuff people are pulling off has me champing at the bit to get behind the wheel.

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Mario Kart World is a game primed for happy accidents. Shells are flying through the air, we’re grinding on rails, and it feels like every time you bump cars with an opponent, you’re setting off a chain reaction. All that chaos lends itself to some pretty incredible highlights. I can’t scroll through any of my social media feeds without seeing World players pulling off the most harebrained, improvised physical comedy, and somehow ending up near the front of the race by the time it’s over. New additions like the rewind mechanic and wall-riding have given players the tools to pull off some incredible tricks. Here are a few examples that have had me popping off and laughing my ass off.

I want it. I would like to be playing Mario Kart World right now, please. Let me dress Bowser up in his leather daddy outfit and do cool tricks on a motorcycle. Soon, I will see you all on the race track.

 



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Sega Throws Shade At Mario Kart During Sonic SGF Presentation
Game Reviews

Sega Throws Shade At Mario Kart During Sonic SGF Presentation

by admin June 7, 2025



Image: Sega

At today’s Summer Game Fest showcase, Sega showed off Sonic Racing: Crossworlds. The kart racer is a big ol’ crossover event between the blue blur and other Sega characters. After previous leaks claimed Minecraft and Spongebob characters would join the racer’s roster, Sega revealed that several of its own heroes are joining. Joker from Persona 5, Hatsune Miku, and Ichiban Kasuga from Yakuza will all be off to the races, as well as Steve from Minecraft, who was hinted at in the leaks. That’s all well and good, but one of the funnier moments of the showcase was Sonic producer Takashi Iizuka taking the stage right after and throwing some light shade at Nintendo and Mario Kart World.

Iizuka made what was seemingly a dig at Mario Kart World during his presentation. He never says the game by name, but says that, “unlike another kart racing game,” Crossworlds has cross-platform multiplayer across PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

The Best Reveals From The Game Awards 2023

It’s a bold jab to make at the Switch 2 kart racer while everyone is hootin’ and hollerin’ about it just after the system’s launch this week. But it also feels like a fun wink and nod toward the companies’ old rivalry. Back when Sega was making its own consoles and competing directly with Nintendo, the company wasn’t afraid to throw a punch in its marketing. The Sega Genesis tagline “Sega does what Nintendon’t” is still iconic, though it didn’t really pan out for Sega in the long run, given the company is no longer in the console-making business.

Either way, Sonic Racing: Crossworlds does have that cross-platform flex over Mario Kart, which is a Switch 2 exclusive. Sonic and friends are racing on just about every platform, so it will be more widely accessible. That being said, Mario Kart World is probably going to have an unheard of attach rate, given it’s the system seller for the Switch 2 right now. Sega probably knows that and is just having some light fun.

Sonic Racing: Crossworlds launches on September 25.

 



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June 7, 2025 0 comments
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Mario Kart World: Four Tips For Beginners
Game Updates

Mario Kart World: Four Tips For Beginners

by admin June 6, 2025


Mario Kart World is Nintendo’s most recent entry in the long-running racing franchise, and this one sports tons of characters, power-ups, and tracks, as well as an open world to explore. There’s so much packed into the experience that it should keep fans busy for years to come. But if you’re about to play the game, or are simply curious about what to know before you do, here are a few basic tips for getting started in Mario Kart World.

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Practice makes perfect

Mario Kart games have a way of being easy to pick up but extremely difficult to master. There are a lot of little tricks and mechanics high-end players use to maximize their speed and efficiency in races, after all. But look, even if you’re just playing Mario Kart World casually, you should at least practice drifting reliably to help you round corners and curves without slowing down.

Screenshot: Nintendo

And there’s so much more new stuff now, too, including riding on rails and walls. Mastering these additional movement features and knowing when to use them can help you shave off a lot of time during a race, often by granting you access to shortcuts or letting you bypass parts of a track altogether. In some cases, riding a wall may even save you from falling off a track and losing your place!

No one says you have to take competitive racing in Mario Kart World seriously, of course. But learning how to make the most of its various mechanics will certainly help you place higher in races and navigate the game’s open world better. So, practice up!

Be a coin fiend

Every coin you pick up in Mario Kart World will increase your max speed. You can hold up to 20 coins, which is a step up from the usual 10 in previous games, but you’ll also lose three every time you get hit by a projectile. With this in mind, actively seek them out during the entire race in an effort to stay as close to the coin cap as possible.

Screenshot: Nintendo

To help with this, there’s always a chance that you’ll snag a power-up like the Coin Box or Coin Shell to give you a solid influx of coins, so make sure you use those when they come up. Just keep in mind that other racers can grab the additional coins dropped by these power-ups as well, so using them can feel like a double-edged sword at times. But yeah, still do it. Go fast. Vroom.

Don’t shy away from accessibility options

When selecting your racer, you can press the X button to get a look at a few accessibility options. These can be extremely helpful for those with disabilities, as well as new players looking to ease into the racing experience with reduced punishment for mistakes.

Screenshot: Nintendo

Smart Steering will stop your character from ever driving off the side of a track, while Auto-Accelerate will take care of keeping you moving so that you can focus all of your attention on steering. You can even turn on Auto-Use Item to make your character use items for you, though this takes away your ability to use power-ups strategically for any given situation.

Mess with these settings and toggle them on/off any time you want to customize your racing experience. The goal here is to have as much fun as possible, after all.

Get those double-item boxes

Image: Nintendo

This one is simple: More items equal a higher chance for survival. Because of this, it’s usually a good idea to aim for double item boxes on a course so that you can snag two items at once, giving you two chances at disrupting other players or providing yourself with additional protection from incoming projectiles.

Of course, if you see someone else aiming for the double item box ahead of you, it may sometimes be better to snag a nearby normal item box instead so that you don’t risk a chance of getting nothing at all. I don’t want to think you’d get sniped in the butt by a red shell just because your greed left you without protection.

Mario Kart World is available now exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2.



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June 6, 2025 0 comments
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After working its magic on Zelda and Splatoon, it turns out Monolith Soft also aided development of Mario Kart World
Game Reviews

After working its magic on Zelda and Splatoon, it turns out Monolith Soft also aided development of Mario Kart World

by admin June 5, 2025


Monolith Soft has officially announced the company helped with the development of Mario Kart World.

The developer, which previously assisted with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Splatoon 2 has stated on social media it developed the “fields and character designs” for the Nintendo Switch 2 racing game.

The studio has a history of open world video game development, becoming something of an expert in that particular area given the time spent on recent Zelda titles as well as its own Xenoblade releases. As such it makes sense why Nintendo would bring Monolith Soft over for Mario Kart World given the games’ shift to a non-linear format.

Check out our video preview for Mario Kart World here!Watch on YouTube

In 2024, Nintendo became the sole owner of Monolith Soft after years of holding roughly 80 percent of the company since 2007. In 2011, Nintendo would increase its stake to 97 percent of the company, after which those working there contributed to popular Nintendo series like Animal Crossing, Splatoon, and Zelda.

In recent years, Monolith Soft has largely been known for its ongoing Xenoblade series. In 2022 Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was released to high critical praise, and would continue this trend in 2025 with Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition.

The original version of Xenoblade Chronicles X was something of a technical marvel in the Wii U, and its Switch version brought that same quality packaged with various visual updates, dynamic resolution scaling, and greater environment detail among other tweaks and improvements.



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Mario Kart World launching today alongside Nintendo Switch 2
Esports

Mario Kart World launching today alongside Nintendo Switch 2

by admin June 5, 2025


Where’s the GT crew? Standing in line to pick up a Nintendo Switch 2! We’re as excited as you, and there’s plenty of reasons why, not the least of which being the newest installment in Nintendo’s raucous roller, Mario Kart World. New game consoles are always an absolute blast, so let’s join the celebration and discover what’s under the hood and a bit behind the wheel on Mario Kart World.

The Joy-Con 2 controllers are snapped in place, the bigger, bolder screen is lit up, and Mario and friends are revving their rides for the biggest Mario Kart yet. It’s official: the Nintendo Switch 2 system, the Mario Kart World game and over 20 titles are now available to power up your play.In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser sells the very first Nintendo Switch 2 system to an eager fan following the midnight system launch at Nintendo NEW YORK in Rockefeller Plaza. Nintendo Switch 2, the seamlessly social, all-in-one Nintendo platform, is available now.

It’s crazy to think that it’s been EIGHT YEARS since the launch of the wildly-successful Nintendo Switch, but the wait is finally over. While we did trek out to the Nintendo Store in NYC for a hands-on event (thanks to Jackson Lustberg for his hands-on coverage, which you can read right here: https://gamingtrend.com/previews/nintendo-switch-2-games-preview-roundup/), we’ve had to wait to finally get our hands on it once again. With a wealth of new features, it’s worth diving under the hood to hear all about them:

Nintendo Switch 2 builds on the foundations of the Nintendo Switch system, and delivers a multitude of new features and enhancements, including:

  • New social capabilities with the built-in mic and the new online feature GameChat, where up to 12 friends and family can play games and talk like they’re all in the same room, even when they’re miles apart. You can also video chat with up to four people if you connect a compatible USB-C camera, such as the Nintendo Switch 2 camera (sold separately).
  • Powerful CPU and GPU capable of enhanced visuals and performance.
  • A large 7.9-inch built-in LCD screen that displays in full HD at 1080p.
  • Joy-Con 2 controllers that magnetically attach to the system. New mouse controls are also possible by sliding them across surfaces, such as a tabletop or even your lap in compatible games.
  • 256 GB storage capacity – 8 times that of Nintendo Switch (a portion of which is reserved for use by the system).
  • USB-C ports on the top and bottom of the system, and a freely adjustable stand for playing and charging in tabletop mode.
  • Crisp audio quality and spatial 3D sound in handheld and tabletop modes.
  • A new dock that enables the Nintendo Switch 2 to output video at up to 4K resolution or play games at up to 120 fps in supported games on compatible displays or TVs.
  • Variable refresh rate (VRR) technology, available in handheld mode, helps games move seamlessly by preventing frame skips and flickering.
  • Accessibility features to support a wide range of gameplay styles.

Free updates to enhance the gameplay experience on the Nintendo Switch 2 system will also be available for select Nintendo Switch games2. By connecting your Nintendo Switch 2 to the internet and performing a system update, you can download free updates for selected games that may improve graphics or add support for various features. These features include GameShare3, where, with a Nintendo Switch 2 system, you can share supported games with friends and family — even if they don’t have the game, and everyone can play together. The contents of these free updates will differ depending on the game. For more information on the free Nintendo Switch 2 updates for select Nintendo Switch titles, please visit the Nintendo website.

In addition to GameChat and existing online features with a Nintendo Switch Online membership, today Nintendo Switch 2 owners with a paid Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership gain access to upgrade packs4 for both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom games. These upgrade packs allow players to enjoy the enhanced Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of both titles at no additional cost if they have the Nintendo Switch version of the games.

Additionally, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members who have a Nintendo Switch 2 system can access the new Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics library, featuring F-Zero GX, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and SOULCALIBUR II at launch today, with clearer image quality and higher resolution than the original releases. Plus, a dedicated wireless controller designed after the original Nintendo GameCube controller will be available for purchase by paid Nintendo Switch Online members5.

Nintendo Switch 2 is now available at a suggested retail price of $449.99 in the United States. Also available today is the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle6 at a suggested retail price of $499.99 in the U.S., which includes a system and a digital version of the Mario Kart World game. For more information about Nintendo Switch 2 and accessories, visit Nintendo.com.

Today, Nintendo launched its first brand-new gaming platform in eight years with Nintendo Switch 2, and the latest Mario Kart game for consoles in over a decade with Mario Kart World. Nintendo Switch 2 brings to life new ways to connect and play with friends and family with new features and reimagined online capabilities such as GameChat1. Mario Kart World allows players to hit the road in a vast interconnected playground where the world is their racetrack. Further, the Nintendo Switch 2 launch lineup features acclaimed titles from Nintendo’s global publishing and development partners, such as Split Fiction, Street Fighter 6, Sid Meier’s Civilization® VII – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition and more. Together, these new experiences mark a leap forward in Nintendo’s mission to deliver smiles to people the world over – All Together, Anytime, Anywhere.

The great news is that we have these games and several more already being reviewed by the team. Whether it’s as brand new adventure or an improvement to an existing title, we’ll have all you need to know soon enough – stay tuned. Let’s kick off that list with a brand new launch trailer from Nintendo themselves that showcases a few of these titles.

If you’re curious as to whether this newest installment of Mario Kart World is for you, we’ll we’ve got that info as well. There are two versions of the launch console box – one with just the console, and the other with Mario Kart World as a pack-in, so it’s worth taking a moment to see what’s going on with this racer.

Mario Kart World delivers frenzied Mario Kart racing like never before, as well as a series-first: a vast interconnected environment to explore and race across. Players looking to hit the road with Mario and friends can experience:

  • Up to 24 drivers at once – the most in Mario Kart history – race across courses.
  • Reimagined returning modes like Grand Prix competition, where the paths between courses are part of the race, too.
  • Knockout Tour, a new game mode where checkpoints eliminate drivers if they can’t keep up with the pack.
  • Free Roam mode, another new game mode, where players can explore, see the sights and more, solo or with friends online. There are hundreds of single-player missions to complete in Free Roam, too.
  • Plus, look forward to hectic faceoffs in the Battle mode!
  • Multiple ways to play together with friends, locally7 or online8. This includes local split-screen for up to 4 players on the same system, local wireless play, and competing or exploring with people from around the world (or friends) in online play.
  • Using the new GameChat feature on Nintendo Switch 2, players can talk with friends around the world while playing online. Plus, see their live expressions in-game with the new CameraPlay feature by connecting a compatible USB-C camera to the system (sold separately).

Packed with races to win and ways for players to explore at their own pace, Mario Kart World can be enjoyed by both longtime fans and newcomers alike. Mario Kart World is now available in stores, on Nintendo eShop or at Nintendo.com at a suggested retail price of $79.99.

And yes – of course we’ve got a trailer for that as well!

We have a LOT of ground to cover, and with Summer Games Fest kicking off in just a few days, so stay tuned. We’ll have plenty of news, previews, hands-on and reveals to share – we’re just getting started.


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Mario Kart World's Open World Map Sounds Massive
Game Reviews

Mario Kart World’s Open World Map Sounds Massive

by admin June 4, 2025


According to people who have played Mario Kart World, the upcoming Switch 2 launch game from Nintendo, the new open-world kart racer is bigger than you might have expected, especially when compared to other open-world games like Forza Horizon 5.

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Mario Kart World arrives alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5, which is just a few days away. Since it was officially unveiled in April, it’s sounded like a very exciting shake-up of the popular but stale Mario Kart formula. Instead of individual tracks that you race on separately via different events, Mario Kart World features an open map with no loading screens. Each race track in this open-world playground is connected by roads and highways. Events are spread across the open map, which you can explore between races to find collectibles, missions, and more. And the map all of this takes place in sounds large. Very large.

Game File’s Stephen Totilo got his hands on the Switch 2 early via an official press event. (Unlike how some others have snagged Switch 2 consoles ahead of the launch.) He reported that it took 10 minutes and 12 seconds to drive across Mario Kart World’s open world map. Giovanni Colantonio, the senior gaming editor at Digital Trends, reported that it took him about nine minutes or so to cross the map. So, how does that compare to other open-world games?

Is Mario Kart World bigger than Forza Horizon 5?

Well, to drive across the whole map in Forza Horizon 5, it takes around six minutes, according to the wonderful YouTube account and website How Big is the Map? In Grand Theft Auto 5, it takes about eight minutes to quickly drive across the map using roads and highways. Meanwhile, in Ubisoft’s The Crew Motorfest, it takes about 16 minutes, driving as fast as possible, to cross its enormous map.

Now, keep in mind that we are comparing very different video games using vehicles that drive differently in worlds that contain different physics and were built at different scales. So don’t take this as scientific proof that Mario Kart World is in fact bigger than Forza Horizon 5 or GTA 5. 

Instead, to me this just implies that, yes, the open world in Nintendo’s upcoming kart racer is big. It’s not a tiny little open world that you’ll explore in a few minutes, but something that, according to a preview from Polygon, is filled with hundreds of collectibles, missions, and side activities.

Though, according to IGN, the open-world mode in the game doesn’t feel nearly as exciting or content-packed as that of Horizon 5. This is still a Nintendo-developed Mario Kart game and not some highly detailed simulation of a real world filled with multiple progression bars and seasons, like Forza or The Crew. Still, I’m very excited to get lost for hours exploring Mario Kart World when it arrives for Switch 2 on June 5.

.



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June 4, 2025 0 comments
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“Mario Kart World” Devs Broke Their Own Rule on Who Gets to Drive
Product Reviews

“Mario Kart World” Devs Broke Their Own Rule on Who Gets to Drive

by admin June 4, 2025


Conkdor, an ostrich-like enemy that made its debut in Super Mario 3D World, should not be able to drive. First, it is a bird. Second, it has no hands. But in Mario Kart World, Conkdor can race alongside Mario on bikes, cars, and magic carpets, just like everyone else.

This newfound ability of dozens of new characters to compete in the game is a first for the series, and a change that required the developers to rethink how they approached playable characters.

“I have to say that in previous Mario Kart titles, we had to consider whether or not that character would be able to drive,” producer Kosuke Yabuki told WIRED during a translated interview. “My old way of thinking was, well, surely they would need to have hands and feet to be able to drive.”

As a Switch 2 launch title, Mario Kart World heralds the next generation of the series, and it does so with a huge cast of playable racers. At least 50 characters have been confirmed so far, and many variations of those characters exist with costume changes. Yabuki says that when deciding on the game’s cast, the team first had to consider if players would like new characters and, more importantly, if they’d use them. Nintendo wants players to be surprised by who they can play as, but that’s not all: “If you’re playing a match, would it be fun to see that character alongside you,” Yabuki says.

That may explain much of the game’s new cast, which includes several characters lacking feet, hands, or both. Yabuki mentions Goomba, the series’ iconic, grumpy fanged foes, or Pokey, a cacti character made of stacked spikey balls: “OK, sure, they can drive,” Yabuki says.

“I probably wouldn’t be able to even explain how they drive exactly in this setting,” Yabuki adds, “but so long as we’re surprising and delighting people, I think that’s the important part.” The game’s cow character is already a huge hit with players since her reveal. Yabuki expects that other new characters will be popular as well.

“I’m sure that we’ll see a lot of players that are choosing to race as the cow or the penguin,” Yabuki says, “but this is still a Mario Kart game. I hope that everyone remembers to play Peach and Mario as well.”

Mario Kart World’s huge cast is necessary now that its races can accommodate up to 24 players; the most recent Switch version of the game, Mario Kart 8, allowed only 12 players per round. Yabuki says the team decided early on that it would be doubling the number of racers for this game. “We knew that with a vast world that is interconnected and covered in all of these different routes, we needed a large number of simultaneous players to give a populated and fun feeling to that big a space,” he says.

That required some additional balancing. A race with 24 people can quickly go off the rails. “If we didn’t adjust anything else, you’d be receiving too many attacks and it would be too stressful of a gameplay experience,” Yabuki says. The same goes for crashes or spinouts, which have been adjusted so when players lose speed, they’re different depending on the event. “Certainly, we have to think about the chaos element as well,” Yabuki says. “Sometimes, a free for all is a really fun experience too.”



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