Mario Kart World is the Glimmering Hope in an Otherwise Dire Console Launch
- Alex Orona
- Jun 16
- 4 min read
It’s hard to look at the Switch 2’s launch line up as anything but sparse. With a smattering of game ports and one new game in Mario Kart World, its slim pickings for what was ultimately a very successful console launch. Despite all of this, Mario Kart World stands as the beacon of hope that the Switch 2 can bring similar levels of joy as its predecessor.
Mario Kart 8 originally released for the Wii U back in 2014 but has seen new life being ported and expanded on the Switch. It’s been a powerhouse staple of most households for ten years now, but can anything steal the limelight away from such a dominant family party game? The answer is a resounding yes! Mario Kart World is a worthy successor, but stumbles in a few key areas. Still, let’s dig into what makes this new entry into the Mario Kart series so great.
Mario Kart World is, at its core, the same great Mario Kart we all know and love. Classic kart racing action, now with 24 racers per race (up from 12 in Mario Kart 8.). In the main Grand Prix mode, you race in 4 separate races per cup, with 8 cups available. That's a pretty straight forward concept, except that the races are actually STRAIGHT FORWARD. Most tracks aren’t circular tracks, but straight lines in an interconnected world, hence the title. So the four races in a cup are part of a larger world map which does come into play later, but the idea is that laps on a track don’t often lead to repeated environments. This is both good and bad because if you wanted to master a specific lap or part of the track, you would have to start the race over entirely, but it leads to a lot more track variety and unique experiences throughout a single race.
There is still a lot of track variety, as well as activity in the tracks. Things like hidden helicopters and UFO’s make for interesting set dressing, and there are a lot of new ways to interact with the tracks themselves. New abilities like grinding rails and wall riding provide new boosts to already elaborate courses, and the increase to racer numbers ramps up the race chaos. The skill ceiling is really high, (Cue tons of Mario Kart World trick videos on TikTok) We still are privy to the usual Mario Kart shenanigans of Blue Shells, or constant Lightning but that’s par for the course, so to speak.
There’s still so much variety, including unlocks. As far as unlocks, you can unlock different karts and character skins. The issue here is that:
1. You cannot customize your karts so stats are on the type of kart, not even the characters anymore so it’s very dumbed down, and
2. Instead of having a character and selecting their costume, each costume is considered a playable character and thus makes for a relatively big and cumbersome character roster to click through. Obviously these aren’t major issues, just notable for some of the ways that Mario Kart World stumbles in a few key moments.
One of the biggest new additions to Mario Kart World is the new “open world” mode. Here you can explore all the stuff surrounding the tracks you’ve been racing, digging into each nook and cranny for more. Sadly, there really isn’t much to the exploration. There are of course occasional mystery box challenges or blue coin challenges, but they roughly equate to nothing but sticker cosmetics for your karts, and these challenges are hardly tracked, with minimal indication on whether you’ve gotten any challenges in that vicinity.
When jumping into the open world and exploring, I would find the challenges, but knowing I would never be able to come back and know if I completed a track by looking at the massive map, meant the completionist instincts in me never kicked in. Why would I do any bonus challenges if it was impossible to know if I finished them all? I’m sure this would be a more fun experience if you had your friends with you, but this really only works well via online, and not split screen, which is its own annoyance.
Overall I’m more confused as to the purpose of the open world except for kids. Putting them in the open world and telling them “go nuts” seems to be the move here and one I will employ as soon as my daughter is old enough to get into this. Otherwise, the open world is absolutely superfluous.
There’s also a new knockout round mode that acts as a sort of battle royale of sorts, where after each race you continue racing to the next track and the lowest positions are continuously dropped until you only have a few left in the final race. It’s an intense endurance test of sorts that’s tons of fun with friends but can be arduous online solo.
Still, if you are looking for something different that puts your skills to the test, this may be the mode for you. I really enjoyed the variation of modes, but also only really wanted this in short bursts as opposed to the classic grand prix.
Outside of the gripes, Mario Kart World is a stark reminder as to why we fell in love with the series in the first place. These games are like pizza, so even when they are bad, they're generally pretty good and this is a really good one of 'those.'
Am I going to 100% the open world? No. But I will play this with my kid or anytime a friend’s in town and wants to play a game together.
It's a perfect easy to pick up party game. Especially for those who aren’t necessarily gaming inclined, the handicap options that were perfected in Mario Kart 8 make their returns here so it’s perfect for all walks of life. It’s not the best in the series, but Mario Kart as a whole is always a fantastic time and Mario Kart World proves no different. A welcome opening salvo for the launch of the Switch 2. Just like in the Switch era, this will be installed on my console for the entirety of its lifespan.
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