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Game Reviews

This Week’s Tips For The Switch 2’s Mario Kart World And More

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Image: The Pokémon Company, Arrowhead Game Studios, Blizzard, The Pokémon Company, Screenshot: Capcom / Samuel Moreno / Kotaku, Bethesda / Brandon Morgan / Kotaku, Nintendo, Bethesda / Brandon Morgan / Kotaku, Capcom / Samuel Moreno / Kotaku

You know what we all need sometimes? A little advice. How do I plan for a future that’s so uncertain? Will AI take my job? If I go back to school and use AI to cheat, will I graduate and work for an AI boss?

We can’t help you with any of that. But what we can do is provide some tips for Helldivers 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, Oblivion Remastered, and other great games. So, read on for that stuff, and maybe ask ChatGPT about those other things.



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Mario Kart World players have a compelling theory about future DLC
Game Updates

Mario Kart World players have a compelling theory about future DLC

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Mario Kart World boasted many new exciting features when it was released alongside the Switch 2 on June 5, including a massive main roster totaling 50 playable characters. Of these, 24 are main characters and 26 are detailed as NPC racers, with main characters having access to a slew of quirky, cute, and badass outfits, while NPCs do not. However, not all of the main characters have an equal number of outfits available to them, which has caused a stir in the Mario Kart World community.

Two Nintendo mainstays have the lowest number of outfits in the game, with Donkey Kong and Pauline only having one (1) unlockable outfit each. Naturally, this led to the Mario Kart World community wondering why DK wouldn’t get the royal treatment like other main characters, with some players even throwing the Mushroom Kingdom babies under the kart for having more outfits than him.

“Am I wrong, or does Donkey Kong have only 1 costume to Baby Rosalina at least 4?” someone questioned on X.

“DK only has two costumes???????? This shit is unplayable I want my money back,” another person joked.

“I don’t intend to play as Donkey Kong in the new Mario Kart, but it’s kinda weird that they only gave him one unlockable costume,” another post reads. “Other characters like Pauline or Shy Guy only get one or two outfits as well, but they deserve more. I hope there will be free DLC to amend this.”

Some Mario Kart World players have even gone as far as hypothesizing that Donkey Kong and Pauline were given one outfit each because a huge expansion is planned to coincide with Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Bananza in July.

A version of this theory was located on Reddit, where users gathered clues that pointed to an inevitable DLC expansion. The information mentioned Diddy Kong’s absence from the roster (which Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki had previously addressed, stating that he “can’t say anything at this time”), the lack of focus on Donkey Kong’s main franchise games outside of the arcade game including music, and DK only having one outfit. (Other Kongs, like Funky and Dixie, who have appeared in previous Mario Kart games, are also nowhere to be seen in World.)

And while it may be easy to write off the theory as nothing more than fans already begging for more Mario Kart World content, previously leaked Donkey Kong Bananza information could support the existence of DLC.

In April, Nintendo Korea accidentally leaked an image for Donkey Kong Bananza’s box art on its website, showing the new character Odd Rock replaced by a presumably younger Pauline holding on to Kong’s necktie. A visibly younger Pauline is seen wearing a purple bracelet that matches Odd Rock’s material, which could imply that she can either summon the creature or transform into it. Speculation aside, it’s clear that Pauline will be a main character in Bananza in some capacity. We just don’t know how.

Image: Nintendo

And so far, Nintendo hasn’t shared much information on the upcoming DK adventure. The company hasn’t explicitly detailed why Donkey Kong and Pauline have only one outfit in Mario Kart World either. So, maybe fans are on to something and we’ll get Mario Kart World DLC that shows more love to these two Nintendo icons while simultaneously connecting it directly to Bananza.

If you think about it, doesn’t it make sense to have every MKW fan using and showing off DK and Pauline’s numerous new outfits in a raucous 24-player Knockout Tour race online the week Nintendo releases Bananza? I’m no business major, but it sounds like marketing 101 to me! Regardless, only time will tell.

Besides, Nintendo’s already doing something like this. Nintendo often uses Tetris 99’s Maximus Cup events to promote new releases, the most recent of which was an in-game promotional event for the launch of Xenoblades Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. Could Mario Kart World be utilized in a similar way?

Nintendo will release Donkey Kong Bananza on July 17 for the Nintendo Switch 2. Mario Kart World is available now on Switch 2.





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Mario Kart World
Product Reviews

Mario Kart World review: sublime driving, questionable design

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Review information

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: Nintendo Switch 2
Release date: June 5, 2025

Mario Kart World has launched alongside the arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2. And with it, the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe curse has finally been broken. Of course, it’s reasonable to expect Nintendo to have supported its 68 million+ selling Switch game for as long as it did, but the time certainly felt right for something new.

And Mario Kart World absolutely feels new. Not in the literal sense, of course – that’s a given. Rather, it genuinely takes Mario Kart to fresh new heights with utterly stunning visuals and transformative racing techniques that feel so much more tactile than the underwater or anti-gravity gimmicks of the series’ past.

The big draw to Mario Kart World? Well, the clue’s in the name. The game offers a gigantic open world for players to explore in Free Roam mode – either solo or in local or online multiplayer. The game’s circuits are also integrated into this map, as are hundreds of mini-challenges and collectibles.


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World also introduces Knockout Tour, a non-stop endurance race from one end of the map to another, in which the goal is to remain above a constantly dwindling placement threshold to avoid being eliminated. It’s hands down the best mode in the game and really comes to life online, where races are almost impossibly chaotic.

While Mario Kart World does offer the most exceptionally satisfying driving model the series has ever seen, I can’t quite bring myself to say it beats out the excellence of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe just yet. Its main Grand Prix mode actually does the game’s otherwise wonderful circuits a bit of a disservice, and there’s a pile of frustrating design decisions that all add up to muddy the overall experience to a degree.

Namely, Nintendo has fumbled the bag somewhat with its open world here. While the act of simply driving about and unlocking outfits for your favorite characters can be a lot of fun in and of itself, there’s little in the way of actual content here outside of short challenge missions. Even the main form of collectible here – stickers you can place on your kart – falls flat. But more on that in the review proper.

Overall, Mario Kart World has moments where it’s easily the best game in the series. The handling of the karts here is sublime, and learning courses and routes with the new rail grind and wall ride techniques is endlessly fulfilling. There aren’t even any major issues with online play, which, for Nintendo, is an accomplishment. It’s just such a shame that certain design decisions lead to a game that feels lacking in some crucial areas.

There’s a whole world out there, but is it worth seeing?

(Image credit: Nintendo)

The big draw to Mario Kart World is, as mentioned, its Free Roam mode. For the first time ever, Nintendo has created a fully explorable Mushroom Kingdom without any load times. Even pressing the ‘+’ button from the main menu will seamlessly transition you into Free Roam, which is super impressive and is a strong indicator of how much more powerful the Switch 2 is compared to its predecessor.

The only load times you’ll experience in Free Roam come from switching characters or fast traveling to a named location on the map, and even these are extremely brisk. Pair this with impressive draw distance, rock-solid 60fps performance, and simply stunning visual fidelity, and you have a mode that acts as a real showcase of the console’s hardware chops.

It’s a massive open space, dotted with the game’s many circuits and plenty of scenic routes to travel between them. It’s also exceptionally varied, featuring everything from lush forests and arid dunes to a haunted swamp and an industrial space port. There’s a great amount of fun to be had in simply driving around, taking in some breathtaking sights, and vibing to World’s eclectic soundtrack.

That said, Free Roam leaves a lot on the table. Don’t get me wrong, going on a drive with your friends (Free Roam is also playable in multiplayer) is joyous, and I can see it being a wonderful experience for groups of friends and families. But once the novelty wears off, there actually isn’t all that much to do here.

Best bit

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Mario Kart World’s driving is sublime. Drifting feels more fine-tuned than ever, while new techniques like wall riding and rail grinding offer an incredibly high skill ceiling and avenues for creativity during any given moment out on track.

Aside from character costumes, which you can unlock by picking up Dash Food items at various drive-thrus dotted throughout the map, your main collectible in Free Roam is stickers. This irks me on so many levels.

The stickers themselves are inoffensive, and many have very cool and eye-catching designs. It’s their implementation that’ll leave you wanting more. You can choose a single sticker, which will be placed on your kart of choice, and they also act as a miniature icon during online play. However, the stickers simply don’t show up on half the karts in the roster, and on most, they’re far too tiny to be noticeable.

Furthermore, stickers are pretty much the main form of collectible in this game. Completing one of many P-Switch challenges dotted around the Free Roam map? While these are fun little distractions, all you’re getting for your troubles is a sticker. Running over a hidden Question Block panel found tucked away in the map’s circuits? Sticker. Collecting Peach Medallions? For that, you’ll at least get a cool alternate kart livery! Nope, I’m joking, it’s stickers.

As a result, the joy of driving around in Free Roam can quickly diminish if you’re not racing about with friends. It does feel like what we have now, at least, is a foundation on which Nintendo can build upon with more activities and potentially new areas. We’ll have to see how things pan out in the future, but for now, don’t be surprised if Free Roam starts to feel a little vacuous for you over time.

Catch my drift

(Image credit: Nintendo)

So the open world in Mario Kart World leaves a lot to be desired, but I’d be a fool to completely write the game off because of it. What saves World for me, and why I still consider it to be my new favorite game in the series, is that its driving and racing feel so, so good.

Previous Mario Kart games had gimmicks like gliding, underwater, and anti-gravity racing. All of which were cute and fun, but little more than fluff that was broadly used for set-piece purposes. There’s nothing wrong with that at face value, but World’s additions do genuinely feel transformative.

World introduces charge jumping, rail grinding, and wall riding to the karting mix, and all work in tandem with one another to actively raise this game’s skill ceiling compared to previous entries. By themselves, these individual mechanics don’t necessarily make you faster, but when chained together to take advantage of a circuit’s level design and shortcuts, they’ll make you feel like Nintendo injected some of that Neversoft Tony Hawk game goodness into Mario Kart World.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

It helps that Mario Kart World rewards skillful driving a good deal more. Drifting has also been fine-tuned, feeling more precise and satisfying than ever. Drafting a kart in front of you for a quick slipstream boost has also been greatly enhanced, feeling much faster and a more viable tactic for getting ahead.

The whole thing feels very carefully balanced, which is where items come in. The iconic Spiny Shell – which makes a beeline for the player in first and explodes on contact with them – is still devastating, but you maintain some forward momentum after getting hit, making the punishment slightly less severe. Common ‘last to first’ items like the Bullet Bill and Lightning have been considerably nerfed, with their benefits and debuffs having less of an effect on the overall race.

There’s a smattering of new items to help keep things fresh, too. The Coin Shell follows a set path down the track, dropping coins for other players to pick up, thus increasing their top speeds. Kamek can be summoned to transform players into other characters and place random obstacles at the front of the pack. There’s also the Ice Flower, which is a bit of a dud, being practically identical to the Fire Flower in effect.

Then there’s the Feather, which hasn’t been seen in the series (outside of Battle modes) since the SNES original – so long as you’re not counting Mario Kart Tour. The Feather simply makes your kart jump into the air, which seems underwhelming, but write it off at your peril. In truth, the Feather can be extremely useful for accessing loftier parts of a track or initiating a grind or wall ride without needing to take a few seconds to rev up a charge jump. They’re also great for accessing various shortcuts on any given circuit.

At the races

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Let’s talk about modes, then. Outside of Free Roam, you’ve got the expected appearance of Grand Prix mode, which comprises eight cups – all featuring four races each. It’s joined by other mainstays, including Time Trial and Battle modes.

Grand Prix is something I have pretty mixed feelings on in Mario Kart World. That’s because the bulk of each event is made up of intermission segments where you race along a portion of the open world map, with your destination being a single lap of the featured circuit.

Needing to drive from one circuit to the next is something Nintendo made a big deal of in World’s marketing. I do like their inclusion, and they lead to some interesting and unique racing. However, they’re far better suited to the excellent Knockout Tour mode, where the whole point is driving a route from A to B across the entire map, OutRun style.

In Grand Prix, while you’ll get to do a three-lap race of the first track on the docket, you actually end up doing very little racing on the tracks themselves. This makes it harder to learn each circuit at first, and also means they don’t live very long in the memory.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

And that’s a huge shame, because again, track design is some of the best the series has ever seen. The winding alleyways and shortcuts of Shy Guy Bazaar. The spectacle of being transported into a movie world in Boo Cinema. And the sheer moment-to-moment set piece that is Bowser’s Castle. They all have the wind taken out of their sails somewhat, as we simply don’t get much racing time on them.

There does exist a workaround here, though. By selecting VS Race from the menu, you can set up custom race rules. By setting the track selection rule to ‘open’, only then can you do a full-length race on each circuit. The absence of a traditional Grand Prix setup, then, is baffling. Especially as those intermission routes really shine in the Knockout Tour mode.

Speaking of Knockout Tour, it’s another highlight in Mario Kart World, and easily the best way to play the game, especially in an online 24-player race. Each of the eight Knockout Tour events smartly blends open roads with segments of circuits, going from ascending steep mountains to weaving through busy traffic in a matter of minutes.

The goal of Knockout Tour is in its name. Each checkpoint will eliminate the racers in the back four places, eventually whittling the grid down to just four for the final stretch. It’s constantly thrilling and rewards skillful driving, clever usage of shortcuts, and an understanding of rail grinds and wall rides for quick bursts of speed.

Needs a few upgrades

(Image credit: Nintendo)

While I have greatly enjoyed my time with Mario Kart World so far – in both solo and multiplayer environments – it still can feel rushed or incomplete in certain areas. I’ve already spoken about my frustrations with the Grand Prix format and lack of meaningful activities in Free Roam, but those, unfortunately, aren’t my only issues.

It’s not the end of the world, but the character selection screen is objectively a total mess. Things aren’t too bad at first, but you’ll soon realize that each unlocked costume acts as its own slot on the roster. There’s no dropdown list here, letting you choose an outfit after selecting a character. It’s all just one large jumble with only rudimentary organization.

This is actually something Nintendo has gone backwards on since its last game in the series. In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, certain characters like Yoshi, Inkling, and Shy Guy let you choose an alternate look or color after picking them. There’s nothing like that in Mario Kart World, so I seriously hope this gets patched in soon.

Furthermore, the unlocking process for some characters is frustratingly random. A handful are tied to beating cups in Grand Prix mode, which is completely fine. The rest, though, are tied to the Kamek item transforming you into a random character, meaning you genuinely might not complete the roster for weeks if not months, based on how much you play.

These gripes aside, I still really do love Mario Kart World. Its driving is sublime, Knockout Tour is a fantastically chaotic new mode, and I’m so serious when I say the game’s massive soundtrack is worth the price of admission alone. Outside of Final Fantasy 14 Online, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a soundtrack this varied and of this quality. It covers everything from jazz and techno to rock and ska, classical, big band, and everything in between. Even after 30 or so hours, I don’t believe I’ve come close to hearing the entire track list. There’s just so much here, especially if you’re nostalgic for the wider Super Mario franchise.

Should I buy Mario Kart World?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Accessibility

While there are no accessibility options in the traditional sense, such as colorblind filters, Mario Kart World does offer some driving options to make things easier in some regards. These include smart steering, which veers you away from track edges, as well as auto-accelerate and auto-item use options.

It’s also quite strange and frustrating that there are no dedicated volume control options – nothing for either music, voices or sound effects. This isn’t uncommon for Nintendo games, but the omission of such audio options continues to be utterly baffling.

How I reviewed Mario Kart World

I played Mario Kart World on Nintendo Switch 2 for around 30 hours for this review. I tested more or less everything the game has to offer, including Grand Prix, Knockout Tour, Free Roam, VS Battles, and online play. During that time, I also unlocked the majority of characters and outfits and completed close to 100 P-Switch challenges in Free Roam.

During my playtime, I primarily used the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller in docked mode on an LG CX OLED TV which allowed me to enjoy Mario Kart World at its native 1440p resolution, transitioning to the Joy-Con 2 during handheld play on the Switch 2’s 1080p vivid LCD display.

First reviewed June 2025



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Mario Kart World | Critical Consensus
Esports

Mario Kart World | Critical Consensus

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As Nintendo’s sole major launch title, Mario Kart World is carrying a lot of weight on its shoulders.

There’s arguably no more proven quantity to do so. Mario Kart 8, across its two iterations on Wii U and Switch, has sold more than 76 million copies.

With more than 11 years having passed since its original release, the longest wait ever for a new Mario Kart game, Nintendo is capitalising on pent-up demand from hardcore players.

But despite its proven success, is a multiplayer-oriented racing game the right launch title when there are no other first-party releases, besides the slight Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour?

Critics generally agree that Mario Kart World ticks this box, with the game currently sitting at an 87 average on Metacritic after the first wave of reviews, which have been drip-fed onto the internet after Nintendo made the decision not to offer media early access to the Switch 2 or its launch line-up.

Whether Mario Kart World lives up to Nintendo’s marketing, which focused on its vast world and talked up the potential of its Free Roam mode during the Switch 2’s Direct reveal, is another question.

“The first brand-new Mario Kart in over a decade is a breath of fresh air, but oddly enough, the biggest reasons it works so well aren’t actually its shiny new features,” says IGN’s Logan Plant in an 8/10 review. “When I’m racing through one of World’s excellent traditional courses, dodging shells while trying to hang onto the lead, it feels like a worthy successor to the immaculate Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

“Driving with 24 players on those wide routes from one course to another, it doesn’t feel so much like a race as a chaotic road trip. ”

Keza MacDonald, The Guardian

“But when I’m somewhat mindlessly roaming around its pleasant but fairly one-note map or puttering down the lengthy straightaways that often separate its Grand Prix tracks, World doesn’t make a convincing case that going open-world was the boost Mario Kart needed.”

Reviewers draw attention to the evergreen quality of Mario Kart as a series, which was exemplified by the continuous strong sales of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe across the Switch’s lifespan. Generally it’s agreed that this new entry has the stuff to stay in rotation for the entire generation.

Image credit: Nintendo

“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,” says GameSpot’s Steve Watts in a 9/10 review.

“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.”

Despite being highly accessible to different audiences, Mario Kart World retains a skill ceiling that gives it potentially limitless longevity, especially if you’re playing it with other people.

“God only knows how many hours I have spent racing Mario and his pals around their cartoon wonderland circuits since 1992,” says The Guardian’s Keza MacDonald in her five-star review. “This series has accompanied me through my entire life, the reliable mainstay that everyone wants to play with me, no matter how familiar they are with video games in general.”

The basics of the series remain the same with this game: item pick-ups, a colourful roster of Nintendo characters, and power sliding are all part of the mix, but there are notable additions to the movement set, like rail grinding and how jumping works. Mario Kart World also doubles the number of competitors in each race from 12 to 24, with an accompanying widening in track size.

“World takes big swings to reinvent the established Mario Kart formula, including doubling the amount of simultaneous racers from 12 to a chaotic 24 and expanding the trick system with flashy stuff like wall riding and rail grinding,” says Plant.

“I legitimately think it might take months for people to squeeze the full potential out of these new techniques, and it could be a bigger game changer for high-rank online matches than anyone realises yet.”

“The larger roster and wider courses mean that I have a whole new slate of tracks to explore, some familiar, some very new,” says Nintendo Life’s Alana Hagues in her 9/10 review.

“The big addition here is the increase to 24 racers, which ups the stakes tenfold. I was worried about how big and empty the roads might feel, but the larger number of competitors completely justifies it when I’m being juggled between a Bob-omb, a bus, and a Coin Shell in quick succession while coins and items are being scattered about everywhere. Races can be utter chaos in the best possible way, particularly online.”

MacDonald also points out that races have a chaotic energy to them as a result of the number of vehicles on the track.

“Don’t go into Mario Kart World’s Free Roam mode expecting something like Forza Horizon, or really any modern open-world game”

Tom Orry, Eurogamer

“Driving with 24 players on those wide routes from one course to another, it doesn’t feel so much like a race as a chaotic road trip. This is very much the vibe in Knockout Tour, a Fortnite-style elimination race where you can go from first place to 14th in two seconds and trailing players are thrown out of the race every few minutes.”

Knockout Tour – where players are gradually eliminated in a long race spanning the open world map – is a hit with reviewers, and considered a successful addition to the Mario Kart formula.

PCMag’s Jordan Minor compares the mode to The Cannonball Run in that outlet’s 4.5/5 review. “In this mode, you race across the map, like a point-to-point cross-country rally race, with the bottom players being eliminated at various checkpoints until only the winner remains. It’s addictive and exhilarating, similar to a gripping battle royale match. The checkpoints provide a satisfying series of small triumphs, making being in the middle of the pack meaningful, even if you don’t win.”

Plant concurs that Knockout Tour is a highlight of the package. “The results are thrilling, and Knockout Tour feels like the main piece of evidence to justify the case for the open-world format, as it just wouldn’t have the same level of intensity on a standard Mario Kart track. It’s a thrill to drive through a variety of locations, from arid deserts to snowy switchbacks, as you desperately try to survive the current lap.”

“One place the magic never wears off, however, is in Knockout Tour,” Hagues writes. “While ‘World’ is in the game title, Knockout Tour is the knock-out feature of Mario Kart World. It’s a seamless race from one edge of the map to another, and this is where those more linear course designs actually work.”

IGN’s review points out that there’s a luck-based element to the mode, due to its reliance on players getting items that make a dramatic difference to their prospects. Keeping that in mind, however, will ensure players have a good time.

Image credit: Nintendo

“Sometimes Knockout Tour feels more like a game of chance and timing than one of skill, but it’s still a great time if you go in with that expectation, and it can be fun to strategise around the right time to make your move.”

All of Mario Kart World’s tracks exist within the game’s one gigantic map, which players can explore in the separate Free Roam mode. In otherwise very positive reviews, this is where the game draws the most criticism.

“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,” writes Watts, who calls the activities in the open world “nice little diversions” while pointing out the rewards for completing them are “ultimately feel pretty insubstantial.”

IGN’s Plant says that “there’s a disappointing lack of surprise that permeates the entirety of Free Roam”.

“Don’t go into Mario Kart World’s Free Roam mode expecting something like Forza Horizon, or really any modern open-world game,” says Eurogamer’s Tom Orry in a 4/5 review.

“You have a map that shows the different areas and how many P-Switch missions you’ve completed, the number of Peach Coins collected, and the total number of Question Mark Panels you’ve found, the latter being sorted by track if you delve in slightly further. That’s it.”

Still, not everyone agrees that playing Mario Kart World as an open world experience shows the game at its weakest. “Until now, no follow-ups have fully recaptured Burnout’s magic,” Minor writes.

“Forza Horizon is too boring, sedate, and realistic. Lego 2K Drive doesn’t fully deliver on the promise of its Lego landscape. Does anyone even remember The Crew? But Mario Kart World, with its Nintendo levels of AAA polish on the company’s most powerful platform yet, is the wild and whimsical open-world racing game I’ve dreamed of.”

“If you need a pick-me-up, this game is sure to bring a smile, and it feels like a perfect start to Switch 2’s life.”

Alana Hagues, Nintendo Life

MacDonald points out that Free Roam is best seen as a social experience first and foremost. “This world isn’t as populous or as beautiful as something like Forza Horizon’s, but it’s still a trip to explore it with friends and find scenic little spots to gather together. The visual language is that of a group holiday: Polaroid snaps, stickers from local shops, regional foods.”

Amid that huge increase in scope for a Mario Kart game, performance on the Switch 2 is seen as a huge plus by reviewers, suggesting Nintendo has made the most out of the visual upgrades afforded by the vastly improved hardware.

“The draw distance and lighting, in particular, are a huge step up, and I love flying around the courses and seeing a different track that’s three or four roads away from a huge distance,” says Hagues.

“It also runs like a dream docked and handheld at 60fps – as it should on a new console, with only a little pop in here and there as I progressed through courses. Split-screen with two players is also seamless, but when you add a third or fourth, that frame rate drops to 30. I’m not surprised at the latter, and (again, as you’d expect) I didn’t see any hitches with that drop in frame rate, either.”

“It helps that, thanks to the added power of Nintendo Switch 2, Mario Kart World is a visual feast,” Minor writes. “Running at up to 1440p/60fps, fast races and scenic vistas look stunning in motion.”

Reviewers agree that it’s got the potential stickiness of its predecessor, making it a worthy launch game for the Switch 2.

“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,” Watts concludes.

“If you need a pick-me-up, this game is sure to bring a smile, and it feels like a perfect start to Switch 2’s life,” Hagues says.

There’s a significant enough change in formula from its predecessor to set it apart, according to reviewers.

“The Switch 2 itself does feel like a swish upgrade rather than an all-new console,” MacDonald says. “So it’s a relief that its headline game shows that Nintendo still has a talent for reinvention.”



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The Switch 2 Games To Play When You’re Done With Mario Kart World
Game Updates

The Switch 2 Games To Play When You’re Done With Mario Kart World

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With the Switch 2 comes the GameCube library for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers, and though the launch lineup is small, it packs a punch. There’s The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, and Soulcalibur II. Though Wind Waker isn’t the massively improved HD remaster version that launched back on Wii U, playing through this island adventure on a handheld console is still a treat. F-Zero GX remains a GameCube hit, and maybe if enough people check it out, Nintendo will finally make a brand new F-Zero (one can hope). And finally, there’s Soulcalibur II. As someone who adored the PlayStation 2 version, it was fun jumping into the GameCube version, and this will likely be the first GameCube game on Switch 2 I will roll credits on. Playing as Link, this version’s guest fighter, is awesome. Back on PS2, I only got Tekken’s Heihachi Mishima (cool, but he ain’t no Link).  – Wesley LeBlanc



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Mario Kart World review - entertaining, snackable, fun
Game Reviews

Mario Kart World review – entertaining, snackable, fun

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Mario Kart World offers neat twists on the classic Mario Kart formula, but its open-world ambitions are somewhat let down by some classic Nintendo quirkiness.

I find the idea of a new Mario Kart being the showpiece of a new console launch rather odd, if I’m being honest. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the series and have pumped thousands of hours into it over the decades (apart from Double Dash – spit.emoji), but I’ve always seen Mario Kart as the game you have to play with friends or to time trial if you’re at a loose end. It’s a game everyone can enjoy and hop into, which is why it’s a juggernaut, but for me it’s not the game to launch a console with unless it’s paired with something meatier. On Switch 2 Mario Kart World has to be the snack and the main meal.

Mario Kart World review

  • Developer: Nintendo
  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Platform: Switch 2
  • Availability: Released 5th June on Switch 2

When you load up Mario Kart World you’d be forgiven for thinking that very little has changed since Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. A set of familiar options sit in front of you – dig deeper and more will be revealed, but there’s no obvious sign of this open world we’ve seen in trailers and been pointed to by the game’s title. There are in fact various ways to get into the open to explore the Free Roam world on offer, including pressing the + (plus) button when on the main menu, but it’s not shouted about like I expected it to be – which is odd given how it really ties all of Mario Kart World together.

Before discussing my rather discombobulated feelings on the Free Roam mode, let’s first look at the more classic Mario Kart content in World – albeit now presented in a very different way. For eons (or about 33 years if you want to be less dramatic) Mario Kart has offered a Grand Prix mode. This, the core offering in most of the series’ entries, presented a quartet of tracks that you competed on against COM players (bots in modern language), with the player with the most points (earned through placement in each race) taking home the trophy and winning that cup. Simple. Mario Kart World does this… but also it doesn’t.

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In Mario Kart World, Grand Prix could just have easily been labeled Road Trip. Each cup is split into four ‘tracks’, but the key difference here is how one track leads into another. The first track plays out as you might expect, starting in the grid and then racing around a set number of laps. But then the ‘world’ of Mario Kart World kicks in. Race two begins at the physical end of race one, and part of this race is the journey to the second track along the roads in the game’s open world. It’s fair to say that there’s been a mixed reaction to this in the Mario Kart community, but I am a big fan. You end up at the actual second track, which you whiz around, before then moving on to the third track in exactly the same fashion.

There’s no doubt that the tracks are more visually appealing and sculpted than the roads that are dotted about the map, but that’s not to say that there isn’t an awful lot of fun to be had in these connecting moments. In fact, jump into an online race and you’ll see almost immediately that there’s quite the skill gap forming already – not only with knowing the best paths to take, but also how to drive them. Mario Kart has always felt quite superficially simple, but real ones who have been around this block before know there’s a whole other world (this time quite literally) waiting to be explored that’ll enable you to do things you wouldn’t have thought possible.

The courses on offer are a mixed bag, the best are great. It’s also worth noting that the soundtrack to this game is incredible. | Image credit: Eurogamer

Part of this is down to the fact that Mario Kart World tells you very little. Yes, there’s a menu option for help, which details the mechanics of pretty much everything, but who is going to spend time looking through that? If you aren’t someone who reads instructions, you’ll just figure things out as you go, including the rail grinding, wall riding, and numerous new power-ups. Time really is key, here. Take the feather, an item in Mario Kart World that boosts you up to perform an extra high jump that hasn’t appeared outside of Battle Mode since the SNES game. I had initially thought this to be a rather pointless item, but I’ve learned how it can help me reach different parts of tracks that can’t be reached by performing a standard jump and it’s gotten me out of some hairy moments as obstacles suddenly blocked my path.

Time will determine the true standout stars of Mario Kart World’s track offerings, but I already have a handful of favourites that I’m still learning the ins and outs of. Dino Dino Jungle is excellent, Airship Fortress never disappoints, and Great ? Block Ruins offers some top opportunities to show off your drifting. I won’t spoil Rainbow Road, but it’s a delight, and something fans will adore – the only gripe, really, is how in the Grand Prix mode you spend very little time on these courses. Gliding makes a return from previous Mario Karts (although your kart springs actual wings this time), and water is raced over rather than under, like in Mario Kart 7 and 8, thanks to a jet ski transformation, which is a bit of a surprise the first time you drive into a body of water. As ever with Mario Kart (and with many Nintendo games in general) there’s more here than there initially seems.

This is most true in the Free Roam mode. With the whole of the game’s map to explore, this is akin to being blindfolded and then taken to a remote location and dumped out the side of the black van (but in a cute way, probably by people that offered chilled beverages and wore crevats). Don’t go into Mario Kart World’s Free Roam mode expecting something like Forza Horizon, or really any modern open-world game. You have a map that shows the different areas and how many P-Switch missions you’ve completed, the number of Peach Coins collected, and the total number of Question Mark Panels you’ve found, the latter being sorted by track if you delve in slightly further. That’s it. Bluntly, it’s not tracking these things in a way I find helpful.

I’d have loved the Free Mode mode to have a touch more direction to it. | Image credit: Eurogamer

Some of this will come down to how you play Free Roam. I’ve messed about with my son, playing wirelessly on two different consoles, and the rather lackadaisical nature of the world here works well. We zoom about, discover things to collect or missions to tackle, and then move on. Great, idyllic even, but this isn’t how I prefer to play when on my own. I want more defined stats and found/completed P-Switches marked on the map. To go one step further, the best open-world racing games integrate everything into the world, be it races, missions, challenges, or collectibles. In Mario Kart World you don’t get this unified bustling world to tackle as you wish, with the racing/events being set in the world but not feeling like part of it – they’re off in other menus. For me it’s snackable content rather than something I’d lose myself in.

There’s more, though. Knockout Tour, an elimination-style race event that sees you compete continually along a set of roads and courses in the open world, is a real highlight of Mario Kart World, although be prepared for some infuriating COM behaviour as you attempt to complete every Rally on the hardest difficulties. Still, at 100 cc or less against the bots or ideally against real people online, this mode is a blast. There’s a real thrill in the regular cuts to the amount of competitors taking part, those crossing checkpoints in a position below the displayed number being discarded as others continue on. This mode also sells the world aspect brilliantly, with each rally stretching across large portions of the map.

Mario Kart World offers plenty of spectacle on Switch 2. | Image credit: Eurogamer

Those of you with rage issues might want to think carefully before going on a Knockout Tour, though, as it manages to pack in the series’ now infamous moments of shenanigans to a degree I’ve never experienced before. In Mario Kart you’re never ‘safe’ and cruising to a victory, as at any moment, you could be shelled or attacked in another way, crushing your dreams of victory. Knockout Tour, with its stress-inducing eliminations, puts you through multiple moments like this in every rally, but the elation felt when winning is worth the misery of a last-second triple-shell onslaught that somehow sends you from five seconds to victory to eighth place. Key to this, really, is that for every moment of near combustion someone else is having the time of their lives. Mario Kart World, as ever, gives as much as it takes.

Mario Kart World accessibility options

Smart Steering, Auto-accelerate, Auto-use item, Tilt controls, Vertical/Horizonal camera inversion.

Other, multiplayer-centric, modes include takes on the classic Balloon Battle (eliminate other competitors by popping their balloons) and Coin Runners (collect as many coins as you can), but I expect my long-term future in Mario Kart World (aside from noodling in Free Roam) is Time Trial. This is where I’ve always gravitated to, starting way back on Mario Kart 64 when I used to send in my best times to the magazines of the era. Now we have online ghosts to compete against, so it’s easier to learn the best techniques, but the level of dedication required to post great times is still the same. If you think you are good at Mario Kart World, it only takes a quick perusal of Time Trial to become rather humbled.

I’ve picked up Mario Kart World at every possible moment since the Switch 2 released. It’s a gloriously fun multiplayer romp of a game that is an essential purchase for late into the night, ‘how did it get to 2am?’ hilarity, but the nature of it being the main launch title still bothers me. Free Roam had the potential (and probably still does, depending on how Nintendo chooses to update the game) to consume me, but some rather typical Nintendo quirks mean it’s at its best when you’re dipping your toes in rather than going for a full-on dive.

A copy of the game and a Switch 2 was provided for review by Nintendo.



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Mario Kart World Review - Roam If You Want To
Game Reviews

Mario Kart World Review – Roam If You Want To

by admin


For some family and friend groups, Mario Kart is an institution – a foundational memory of competition, silliness, and fun that has endured for decades of new tracks, racers, and games. That reputation for entertainment is at no risk of being lost by the arrival of Mario Kart World, which offers tons of thrilling and bonkers courses, an intense awareness of adrenaline-fueled speed, and the best feeling controls to date. It’s also true that this new Mario Kart stumbles in some important ways as it tries to expand its scope, especially with a lackluster freeroam experience. Even with some missed opportunities to excel, the charm and vibrancy of the franchise holds up and ensures the Switch 2 launch includes an approachable and exciting racer that everyone can enjoy together.

Whether dashing through the Grand Prix or new endurance-style Knockout Tours, trying to win the day in a massive 24-player online scrum, or shouting at your family in a four-player local race down Rainbow Road, the driving of Mario Kart has never felt better. Physics are more nuanced and precise, including a much-improved approach to gliding and flight. Techniques like rocket start and drift are now even more core competencies than before, and new tricks like charge jump or rewind give you increased utility to navigate a course. Riding rails, charting shortcuts, and smart item usage (including fun additions like the hammer toss) are essential to have any chance in the cutthroat online races, but also in the elevated challenge of single-player races, which feel much more difficult now on higher CC settings. 

Beyond the great driving feel, it’s the various courses that steal the show. Each location offers surprises, from sudden rocketing ascents to crashing down into a wave-wracked sea. The tracks exist as hotspots in a larger open world, so players are rewarded with greatly increased variety not only by racing the tracks, but the designated paths between the many linked destinations. The colorful characters and endless obstacles give you a real sense of touring across a Mario-themed landscape where all these unusual characters and monsters somehow coexist. 

Graphics, audio, and production values are all also exceptionally high. The characters exhibit charming facial expressions, even if the cartoony vibe on some characters feels almost overexaggerated, and the game world is detailed and vast. A high frame rate and gorgeously detailed environments combine to lend a surprisingly intense perception of speed. Music in Mario Kart games has sometimes veered into annoyance, especially on those sped-up final laps, but I found the varied tunes of this installment to be toe-tapping and highly listenable. 

 

Mario Kart World’s biggest innovation is, unfortunately, also its biggest letdown. The free roam option lets you dash about the open world, find some scattered one-off missions, and seek out hidden items. I quite like the interconnection between tracks and the intimation of a bigger game world, but the actual implementation of this open space is lacking. The large areas don’t feel curated to be a compelling open world. Too few activities pop up to justify the wandering. The map is only accessible from the frontend, so it’s easy to lose a sense of place. And rewards are profoundly lackluster and uninteresting, usually amounting to yet another sticker for the side of your kart. It’s all quite underwhelming, especially when stacked against numerous other open-world racers in the market that include more robust discovery and varied gameplay. 

The other alternative to racing is also substandard. The “Battle” modes, Balloon Battle and Coin Runners, feel limited in depth and too clumsy to be enjoyable. After some hours trying to find the fun, I was happy to return to the race lines. 

It’s those races that have always been the source of the real fun, and that remains the case here. I found far more joy playing solo than I have in prior Mario Kart installments, as the increased arsenal of tricks and compelling course designs demanded more focused attention. And multiplayer remains a chaotic and nail-biting good time. In all cases, you must accustom yourself to the wild and sometimes random swings between leading the pack in 1st place, and a sudden single blue shell that completely craters your win – it’s the nature of this particular beast, and that randomness might frustrate some players. Embrace that unruly element of luck, and Mario Kart World produces a lot of laughs and memorable moments. 

While Mario Kart World doesn’t earn high marks across the board, it has it where it counts. As a launch title for Nintendo’s new system, this is a friendly and approachable release that will delight all members of the family, while also offering a high skill and knowledge ceiling for dedicated players who want to dig deep. And it’s just as maddening and hilarious as ever to hit your buddy with a shell and watch him spin out. At the end of the day, isn’t that the point?



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Mario Kart World Fans Unlock All Vehicles W/ Fast Coin Farming
Game Reviews

Mario Kart World Fans Unlock All Vehicles W/ Fast Coin Farming

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Mario Kart World is full of cool stunts and lots of things to unlock, like new characters, costumes, and vehicles. The last of those requires accumulating a certain number of coins during your time with the Switch 2 exclusive, and while you could do that the normal way by just playing tons of races, you can also use the latest entry’s open world to farm coins faster or even while being completely AFK.

Three Things We Learned From The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Demo

Players have been swapping methods for how to most efficiently grind through all of Mario Kart World’s unlocks, because although the joy of any new Mario Kart is taking your time and enjoying the slow process of discovery, unlocking stuff fast is also cool. Every 100 coins you collect in races in the game adds a new vehicle to your garage, and with 4,000 coins total you can unlock them all.

That might take an average player about 200 races to complete. Exploit Mario Kart World’s new free roam mode, however, and you can do it much faster. The first trick—recently shared by FannaWuck on the game’s subreddit—revolves around locating a question block car near the Mario Bros. Circuit area. It continuously throws out coins, and you can hoover them up by driving along behind. It’s neat, but might feel a bit laborious.

The other trick is much simpler and doesn’t require you to actually do anything. As pointed out by user EntireCombination773, just drive over to Toad’s Factor and find the conveyor belt that drops coins. Position yourself in front of it, go AFK, and watch your in-game gold reserves slowly pile up. To get 4,000 coins this way would take about four hours. Set it and forget it over night and you’ll instantly unlock access to every vehicle in the game, including the final one: Bowser Bruiser, a weighty buggy with a high top speed.

Now, some players are like, why the hell would anyone do this. Just race normally and you’ll eventually unlock everything anyway. That way they’re like little rewards sprinkled throughout each grand prix and knockout tour. But others prefer to have every racing option available as soon as possible. Plus, if you’re collecting the game’s stickers, you need way more coins. Players are still unlocking new sticker collectables even after 10,000 coins.

The free roam mode is generous in other ways as well, between its P-Switch challenges and the coin piles simply lying around. But the above methods are two of the most efficient right now for fans who don’t mind letting their optimization-pilled brains ruin even a wholesome family game like Mario Kart World.

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I don't know how good Mario Kart World's Free Roam actually is, but it's perfect for me
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I don’t know how good Mario Kart World’s Free Roam actually is, but it’s perfect for me

by admin


A caveat here first, explaining why my thoughts on this are probably irrelevant, and then some thoughts on this. Caveat: I don’t think I’ve ever truly loved Mario Kart since one magical evening at university in which a bunch of us played Mario Kart 64, then newly released, on split-screen all night long and into the morning. I loved that game so much – each moment was such a hectic joy. And it used me up a bit. I haven’t really been able to engage with the series with quite the same thrill since.

I appreciate that makes me a terrible person, and an idiot, since I gather Mario Kart 8 is a game for the ages. (The last Mario Kart I properly got to know, incidentally, was the GBA version, so again, please feel free to write off everything I’m about to say.) Anyway, I fired up World and played a few races, and they were pretty and imaginative and gently non-thrilling to me, and I thought again: what’s wrong with me, idiot? Everybody loves this. Why don’t you?

Then I dropped into Free Roam and suddenly? Well, suddenly I was genuinely in love.

Here’s a look at Mario Kart World.Watch on YouTube

Here’s the thing: I don’t know how good Free Roam genuinely is, but I do know it’s absolutely perfect for me and all my personal weirdnesses. Free Roam positions every Mario Kart track on a kind of open world, with lots of gaps and spaces between them so you can just take off and do whatever you like. You ride around, brush up against tracks, lose your way, skate down the back of a dinosaur, rush through a few temples and generally zone out.

Does it feel like Mario Kart? Kind of. But what it really feels like is that special moment I love in an open world game when the campaign is done, and the map is pretty much cleared out of big ticket things to do. But you don’t want to stop playing, so you just groove around, a podcast on, and take pleasure in movement, the surroundings, and any final stuff you’re mopping up. Free Roam in Mario Kart gives you P buttons to track down, for example, each of which fires up a tiny micro-mission. All great. But also great if you don’t find them. It’s fun just to be here, moving and having very little going on in your brain. A landscape of movement, not monument, to quote the great Reyner Banham.

Mario Kart World. | Image credit: Nintendo

There’s more, though. Photo mode is absolutely fabulous. You can pause the action, bring up camera options, move in on a frozen image, tilt the camera, change the player’s expression and do all sorts of weird jazz like that. I have already spent at least two hours just doing this – finding a Banzai Bill, say, and trying to get the most terrifying and dynamic picture of it, blasting past a billboard and trying to make it all look a bit like Jet Set Radio. I enter a new area and a buffalo hops past or birds scatter and I try to catch it all. You could play this Mario Kart exactly as if you’re a wildlife photographer and it would still be great. In fact, I think I probably will.

And here’s the other thing. Mario Kart World is made for Nintendo’s GameChat, in which a prod of the C button – a free service until 31st March 2026, after which it will require that you have an online sub even if you only play F2P multiplayer games – drops you into video chat with your pals, allowing you to play together, drop in and out of games and stick together and generally hang together. It’s wonderfully agnostic about activities, and after setting it up – a welcome bit of security, given the nature of the thing – I was soon chatting to my friend Stu while we played Mario Kart World, together, not together etc.

Mario Kart World. | Image credit: Nintendo

Here is the glory of GameChat, a thing which I thought initially I would not like at all. Stu is an old friend of mine and when it comes to Nintendo games we go way, way back. But he’s moved away, we’ve both had children, we both have jobs (sort of, in my case) and life, as Becky Hill says, has been lifing.

But for an hour this morning we noodled through Mario Kart together and I heard about his new passion for making pizzas, his new pizza oven, his new stamp for making his own pizza boxes, the way he makes his dough. We talked about everything in exactly the way we struggle to do on a phonecall, because we’re both tail-end of Gen X and hate the phone almost as much as Millennials do. If I get to meet up with Stu every few weeks as we play Mario Kart or whatever? I will be very happy.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more we did talk about Mario Kart, too. Because Mario Kart World tells you almost nothing before you start. When I first launched it and saw there was pretty much no tutorial I thought: well, it’s Mario Kart innit? Immediacy is key. But then I started to play Free Roam, and I started to talk to Stu and compare notes, and I feel like Nintendo has applied a bit of Dark Souls thinking to Mario Kart.

Mario Kart World. | Image credit: Nintendo

Just a little. Amongst the many things Stu taught me was that turbo hop you can do by holding down a button and waiting for the sparks and I could have found out about that in the manual. Fine. But then he also talked about how he had been unlocking things, and told me a dazzlingly complex story about travelling between in-game food trucks scattered about various areas.

Then, spoiler, he told me about a UFO on the map, and I told him about a time I got stuck in a boat for a bit and genuinely didn’t have a clue what was going on. GameChat allows you to explore the kinds of secret-filled games that you really need a lunch break to talk about in the real world. It reminded me of coffee with Simon Parkin when he talked about the first Demon’s Souls, or, going back even further, it reminded me of discussing strategies for Impossible Mission on the C64 in my primary school playground before the bell rang.

All that, and it’s so lovely to hear that Stu is really into making pizzas now.

A copy of Mario Kart World was provided by Nintendo.



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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



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

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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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