At a certain point, it seemed like we would never get another Mario Kart game. After the incredible success of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and its massive Booster Course DLC, the question of what a new Mario Kart would even look like swirled around. Mario Kart World, the launch title for the forthcoming Nintendo Switch 2, flies in the face of these questions with a simple answer: freedom.
Racing around circuit tracks is a series staple, but Mario Kart World looks to take these seemingly unconnected stretches of pavement and turn them into a cohesive world. The new Knockout Tour mode takes what you’ve come to know about Mario Kart and flips it on its head.
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Instead of separate levels bookended by loading screens, Knockout Tour makes physically driving to each track part of the race. This embodies the ethos of a connected world that this iteration of Mario Kart seeks out. Learning to take the backroads and find new shortcuts is now part of the racing strategy.
The new Knockout Tour’s win condition ups the urgency. It’s not always about getting first place; staying out of the bottom four of each leg of the race will keep you safe for a while. After each track, the bottom four players will be eliminated and not allowed to continue on the journey.
Mario Kart World is all about controlled chaos.
Each leg culminates in a desperate tossing of items and racers scrambling to cross the finish line in one last-ditch effort for survival. With 24 players on the track, things never feel overly chaotic, and each track feels crafted perfectly so that even towards the back of the pack, you still feel right in the action.
This is also helped by the larger roster of characters Mario Kart World offers. I played primarily as a Wiggler riding a cute little scooter, but getting a Blue Shell tossed at me from a cute cow or a Toad with a burger head kept me laughing the entire time.
The ability to grind on rails seamlessly by driving over them or using the jump button to flip into a wall ride gives Mario Kart World a new level of vertical emphasis. Not every track boasts these new mechanics, but enough have spots to flex on your opponents if you know where to look. Taking the large steel wires of a bridge to go over your opponents on the road feels fantastic if you can keep the momentum going.
In between rounds of Knockout Tour, I was able to check out the new Free Roam, which allows players to–you guessed it– freely roam around the expansive world map. I picked a direction and floored it. My Wiggler, on a scooter, trying its best, found a coastline, where it instantly transformed into an aquatic vessel capable of driving along the water.
Fun sandbox moments like you never imagined in Mario Kart World.
As I drove along this body of water, I slipped by ships filled with Koopas and Shy Guys, a pack of dolphins cresting over the surface, and a giant blue speedboat. I approached the speedboat from behind, racing toward it to hopefully get some extra speed from what looked like a boost pad. Instead, I entered the speedboat and took control of it.
I was shocked, and I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. I was now driving a very large blue speedboat across the ocean. It didn’t seem to change any gameplay elements drastically, but it felt like a fun sandbox moment I never imagined having in a Mario Kart game.
That’s not even the strangest moment I experienced in my time with Free Roam. Later in the same session, I was driving along a countryside hill, minding my own business, when I was abducted by a UFO. I crossed over its strange beam of light, and suddenly, I was flying the UFO across the world. Mario Kart World seems full of these moments—weird oddities that fill the world to make it feel exciting.
I’m hoping this mode leans toward the wackier side, giving players a reason to come back for more. A more detailed Nintendo Direct is on the way on April 17, and I’m hoping we see even more bizarre moments.
Mario Kart World lays the runway for something truly exciting—a new take on the Mario Kart formula we’ve grown to love over the years. New modes, characters, tracks, and costumes provide a solid foundation to build upon, and we can’t wait to see more of it.
Mario Kart World releases with the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 June 5th.
