How do you beat an experience that feels as complete as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? By doing something completely different, like Mario Kart World. For the first time in the series’ history, Nintendo’s fan-favourite kart racer is going open world, ripping up the franchise’s rule book, opening up its gameplay to a chaotic 24 players per race, and introducing Knockout Tour – a nailbiting new elimination mode.
It’s certainly a gamble. Ask any Mario Kart veteran what their favourite course is, and you’ll likely get a long list (Maple Treeway, DK Mountain and Waluigi Pinball, if you wanted to know). But then ask whether those courses were already among the 96 available in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and you’ll likely hear an answer in the affirmative. So what next? With a roster that comprehensive, simply adding more seems out of the question. Instead, Mario Kart World essentially removes the concept of bespoke tracks altogether.
Of course, areas of the game’s ginormous world have names and themes, though several seem to share biomes. Some even take inspiration from familiar tracks in the past. But all are now part of a cohesive open world, and are driven between in the series’ classic Grand Prix mode, in the new Free Roam offering, and in Knockout Tour.
While Grand Prix introduces the concept, and guides you through a smattering of other small changes (more on those in a moment), it is Knockout Tour which really sells the open world idea. Through six different courses, with a lap of each played, the game’s 24 starting players are whittled down as you quickly move from one area to the next – down to 20 racers, then 16, then 12, eight, and finally to four for the final stretch. It’s a concept that – dare I say it – feels inspired by battle royale ideas, and a fight for survival as numbers dwindle. But whatever its origins, it is absolutely brilliant.
Never before have I felt the need to be so ruthless as when I was approaching a checkpoint, having been hobbled by a lightning bolt and run over by another player with a Mega Mushroom, than when I’m in 14th place and I can see the approaching chequered line requires me to be 12th or below to continue. Rarely have I heard the anguished screams of nearby players as they just miss out on the cut, or celebrate as a split-second slipstream sent them soaring past, and on through.
And if it is battle royale inspired? Well, there’s no hiding in a bush here. The pace is relentless, the need to constantly keep up or recover from whatever Mario Kart – the great leveller of skill through its Blue Shells, Bullet Bills and Lightning Bolts – throws at you. The tension of making it through to the final four is something else. From the moment each race begins – now a rolling start, even from each match’s first course – it is unrelenting, especially so with 24 players all jostling for position, even across Mario Kart World’s wider roads.
Does the game suffer from a lack of course individuality as a result? Yes, a bit – but with only an hour played I still had plenty of the game’s world to explore. (That said, where is Rainbow Road? Surely it won’t have been cut completely?) I pootled around in Free Roam a bit, found some secret coins whose purpose remains a mystery for now, and unlocked some new clothing looks for my characters by finding some golden bag pickups.
Mario Kart World looks set to match its expanded 24-player capacity with an equally enlarged character roster, and some truly leftfield choices. Alongside Mario, Toadette, Birdo and the gang are first timers such as Penguin – finally ready to take revenge – the duck-like Cataquacks from Super Mario Sunshine, and even the Moo Moo cows from Moo Moo Farm? Sure, why not. And many of these have further cosmetic options. Playing as my usual main character, Toad, I unlocked his Captain Toad headgear and then a hat shaped like a burger.
When you’re dealing with a series with gameplay as refined as in Mario Kart 8, there are, thankfully, few major changes to the game’s driving mechanics. Yes, you can grind rails now on occasion, though these only appeared fairly sporadically in the various courses I played. A wider selection of items/weapons are included, including Mario Kart Tour‘s Ice Flower, Super Mario Kart’s Feather, and the Mega Mushroom originally from Mario Kart Wii. Items such as green shells and bananas are now automatically held behind you, meanwhile. Otherwise, the game controls similarly to the Mario Karts you probably spent hundreds of hours playing over the last two console generations – a welcome feeling of familiarity within the wider changes.
Mario Kart World’s reinvention of the series may be a gamble, but it’s absolutely one I think will pay off. With a web of possible routes and hours of time likely to be spent exploring every corner of its highways, deserts and mountains – or racing to stay ahead of the competition in Knockout Tour – it’s just as well the game’s a Switch 2 launch title. I absolutely can’t wait to play more of what is undoubtedly Switch 2’s killer app.
