I have played a lot—believe me when I say an ungodly amount—of Mario Kart in my life. I’m certain it would tally up to thousands of hours in total, spanning every version of the kart racer since the original Super Mario Kart released on SNES up to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch. Despite having so much digital karting experience, I hardly consider myself an elite player who takes home first place every time, and yet I keep returning to get red-shelled over and over again for a simple reason: Mario Kart is pure, unpredictable fun. The new Mario Kart World for Switch 2 is no different.
Nintendo invited Gizmodo to play with the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World for nearly eight hours last week. Though it was an all-day affair, we only scratched the surface of what Mario Kart World offers. The launch game is familiar enough that anybody can dive right in and start lobbing items at opponents, but still packed with enough new stuff like a free roam mode that lets you explore a world map, 24-player races (up from 12), GameChat mode with support for video and voice chat using a Nintendo Switch 2 camera (or third-party webcam), and more.
To be clear: this is not a review of Mario Kart World. We’ll have one when we’ve spent enough time playing the game and its many different modes and GameChat functionality. This is more of an extended first impressions.
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© Raymond Wong / GizmodoWhen you’ve played every single Mario Kart game like I have, you might be thinking again? Surely, Nintendo has run out of ideas for the series, right? Not at all. Mario Kart World really highlights what the kart racer is about and how it has endured the test of time without getting stale. At its core, the gameplay hasn’t changed—you select a Nintendo character, pick a kart or bike, and race against opponents in modes such as Grand Prix, versus, or battle mode.
The joy of Mario Kart is in how unpredictable and chaotic it gets. A single item like a blue shell that rips through the course to stun the person in first place or the Super Star that lets you become temporarily invincible to knock out opponents can take you from last to top three even when it feels like you’re gonna lose. It’s this mix of skill (driving, drifting, and now rail grinding) and strategic use of items that makes the series so accessible. Like previous entries, playing Mario Kart World brings you highs and lows and every emotion in between.
In Mario Kart World, Nintendo has dialed everything to eleven. Doubling the number of racers from 12 to 24 adds a new frenetic madness to the races. I love the redesigned Nintendo characters and their many outfits and vehicles to unlock. In particular, I have a soft spot for some of the ’80s-inspired apparel and vehicles—there’s one bike that looks like an old Sony boombox. And, of course, I just love that Nintendo added Cow (from the Moo Moo Meadows track) as a playable character. I have no doubt it’s going to become an internet meme sensation.
© Raymond Wong / GizmodoIn free roam mode, the world map feels alive thanks to ample amounts of NPC racers, and items and food (for redeeming new outfits) you can collect. While the Grand Prix brings all-new cups consisting of four races, and Battle Mode (Balloon Battle and Coin Runners), VS Races, and Time Trials all make a return, the new Knockout Tour mode is by far my favorite. As its name suggests, the mode is an elimination-style race with 24 racers, where the slowest racers are booted throughout various checkpoints—it’s so intense and will have you shouting profanities at your TV even if you’re mild-mannered. Also new is the ability to rail grind on various obstacles. It’s not quite as easy to pull off—not at all like grinding in a Tony Hawk Pro Skater game—but timed right, it could help you edge out an opponent or dodge an incoming item.
We got to try several of the GameChat modes, including using the Nintendo Switch 2 Camera to show our faces during a four-player local co-op race. As my colleague Kyle Bar noted in his hands-on, the camera’s image quality, despite being 1080p resolution, leaves a lot to be desired. In this co-op play of Mario Kart World, I was hoping the camera would be able to keep track of our faces the entire race, but it sometimes struggled to keep them in frame. It’s nice to be able to gloat and flash a smug smile after winning a race or taking someone out with a carefully timed item without having to look over at them mid-game, but I’d hardly call it game-changing. Similarly, I’m not certain how well voice chat works. When placed in the dock, GameChat uses the microphones inside of the Switch 2, which does apply some noise reduction on background noises in your room to amplify your voice. But even in Nintendo’s controlled demo, I found it slightly difficult to hear players “on the other side” clearly. Maybe this feature works better at home or with a pair of connected headphones, though.
There isn’t much to complain about Mario Kart World—it’s the perfect launch game for the Switch 2. The price of the game has been sparking controversy—it’s $80 for the digital version, $90 for a physical game card, and $50 if you’re lucky enough to snag it in the Mario Kart World Switch 2 bundle for $500—but there’s so much content that I think the price is justified. I already know I’ll be putting hundreds of hours into Mario Kart World, and Nintendo hasn’t even announced any DLC for it. If there’s one game that’s a must-pickup for the Switch 2, it’s definitely Mario Kart World—it’s everything that makes a Nintendo game a Nintendo game.
English (US) ·