Headlining the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch title lineup, Mario Kart World delivers the latest iteration of the kart racing experience, adding new features and twists to keep things fresh. It has a lot to live up to, given that Mario Kart 8 is the highest-selling racing title of all time. Will this one be a star too?
All-In-One Racing
Mario Kart World features a Grand Prix where you race through eight cups, each with four tracks. This includes all 30 tracks, with 2 of them having additional variants (Crown City and Peach Stadium), totaling 32.
Characteristic of Mario Kart, playing these includes plenty of chaotic moments with sudden takeovers, frustration as you get hit by someone’s item at the last minute, and sometimes even moments of elation where you pull off tricky maneuvers like avoiding a blue shell whether through planning, luck, or sheer skill. Mario Kart races are always full of excitement with constantly shifting places, and the Switch 2 release is no different.
Want to up the stakes even more? Mario Kart World adds Knockout Tour which has you journey through four tracks knitted together for a seamless race. At five checkpoints, you can get knocked out of the race if you’re below a certain position, which keeps getting higher and higher. With the pressure to make sure you can never go below a certain position without risking losing, and one small mistake or piece of bad luck having knock-on effects for the entire race, it adds a lot of tension.
Knockout Tour is perhaps the best addition to this iteration of Mario Kart in my opinion. While it’s more or less the same as regular races aside from a few changes to the mechanics, that push to always stay in the game feels completely different from playing the Grand Prix or single races.
Free Roam
Perhaps even more notable is the new Free Roam feature. This lets you drive around the world.
There’s a lot of fun to be found here, but it’s perhaps not the most obvious. It doesn’t even feature prominently on the menu, so some casual players may not even realize it exists.
The world feels a little empty at times, which isn’t helped by the map not being particularly useful. But if you persist, you’ll find quite a lot to do here.
P-Switches can be found which trigger very short missions. You’ll be asked to do things like collecting a bunch of blue coins in a set area within a time limit or reach a goal within a certain time. Some of these are simple, while others require some pretty advanced skills that had me checking the manual to learn. I had a lot of fun repeatedly trying to beat some of these and it helped me pick up some of the new techniques to use in races too.
Peach Medallions and ? Panels are collectibles found in the world. Sometimes they’re just in out-of-the-way places, while at other times it’s almost like a puzzle on how to get them. I’ve had to drive far off and find points to glide to reach high places, wait for a truck with a ramp to come around, or figure out paths using tricks or items to get some of them. The new rewind feature works well for this, allowing you to essentially rewind the path you took for another attempt.
These are all quite a lot of fun. The only real problem is how difficult it can be to find them or even track the ones that have already been found.
You can also find little challenges like enemies suddenly appearing who drop items you can shoot them with, cars that drop coins, or large vehicles that you can briefly take control of including trucks and helicopters. There are even pipes which can transport you to find. While it could do with more direction, I have been enjoying casually driving around in Free Roam.
Controlling Karts
It is, of course, worth mentioning that the core driving experience is excellent. Controls are tight and driving is simple enough for anyone to jump into quickly, while having enough advanced techniques to have more practiced players feel like their skill pays off. Yet the balance of items distributed based on your position and the nature of the game make it feel like it could still be anyone’s win if players are at least somewhat close in skill.
Some tracks are more difficult than others, but even the infamous Rainbow Road feels fairly accessible as long as you master drifting around corners. And some tracks have plenty of shortcuts to master or gimmicks like rails you can use tricks to get onto or ways that you can wallride to save a second or two. There’s a good amount to learn to get the best times, even as open as it remains to beginners.
The Online experience is great too. I imagine it helps to have such a wide player base along with the nature of the game, but I’ve found the skill-matching puts me in races where everyone is more or less equal, leading to some very tight races. And even when playing with people from the other side of the world, I’ve not noticed any issues like lag causing my position to rubberband.
Many Marios
Unlocks are one thing that does feel a little unusual in Mario Kart World. Completing all of the Grand Prix unlocks one character for each, but the rest are unlocked via the luck of whether another player uses an item on you, and then whether you are transformed into a new character. On a positive side, it does mean you’ll be getting new characters for quite a while throughout your time playing. This may cause a little frustration if you really want to play as a specific character unlocked this way, but I’ve liked being surprised by suddenly turning into another character I didn’t know was in the game.
Costumes are more straightforward. You get these by using certain food items when the character used has a costume related to them. They’re all over the place in free roam, so I soon found myself with quite a few. Distribution is a little uneven however, with some characters having far more unlockable outfits than others.
Karts unlock by collecting coins. The only little issue with this is they feel like they unlock really quickly. Every other race I was getting one and I once jumped out of free roam to have unlocked five for that one session. To a point, this makes sense as each kart has its own stats so you get your options quickly, but it feels a little unrewarding for it to be so easy.
Most other rewards are just stickers, including for some difficult challenges, so it would’ve been nice if there was more to look forward to for completing them.
Sights and Sounds of the Mushroom Kingdom
Mario Kart World is bright and colorful, with a consistent art direction that helps to tie everything together. More than that, the little details just help it shine. Like how every character has their own dance with Pauline’s particularly fitting her character, or how Wiggler turns red when getting hit. Performance is no issue either, both in handheld and docked mode. It all runs perfectly smoothly. As a bonus, there’s a photo mode too.
The music is always a joy to listen to as well, whether relaxing by driving around in free roam, fighting for points in battle mode, or going head-to-head in a race. You’ll find plenty of mixes of recognizable Nintendo tunes here.
Verdict
Putting a new spin on a long legacy, Mario Kart World provides incredibly fun core gameplay, both offline and online. Knockout Tour is an amazing addition and Free Roam is certainly a great addition, even if some improvements could be made.
If you want a chaotic kart racer that anyone can play, you won’t go wrong with Mario Kart World.
MARIO KART WORLD IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
If you haven’t read our review of the Nintendo Switch 2 console itself, you might want to check out here. If you’re looking for more adventures with Mario and Luigi that you can play on your Switch 2, check out our review of Mario & Luigi: Brothership.
Many thanks go to Nintendo for a Switch 2 review copy for Mario Kart World.
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
