Mario Kart World

It's actually been eleven years since a Mario Kart game was last released for a Nintendo console. Given that Mario Kart 8 is one of the world's best-selling games and also Nintendo's second best-selling game (only Wii Sports is ahead, which as you know was included with every Wii console) as well as by far the best party racer ever, it is of course no exaggeration to say that nothing has been hotter for the Switch 2 release than Mario Kart World.

In fact, Mario Kart 8 is so insanely good that I've often wondered how it could even be topped. Sometimes Nintendo has tried short-lived gimmicks like when they went for two drivers per kart in Double Dash or that plastic steering wheel you'd put your Wii mote on in Mario Kart Wii, and I feared they'd try something like that again to create the feeling of freshness.

Fortunately, Nintendo has said in interviews that they think the 8th was some kind of final destination for classic Mario Kart, and so they are now delivering something completely new. So it's not a gimmick, but a fundamental change in the form of an open world. I know that open worlds are something that has been heavily overused over the years, and there's hardly a concept where developers haven't thought that everything would be better if you could go wherever you wanted. So... Nintendo has made the same mistake.

That's why I played it with delight the other week at Nintendo Germany, which calmed me down considerably. And now I've been playing like a maniac in the comfort of my own home and I have good news. Because yes, Nintendo has created what is likely to be a new timeless thunderbolt. They've combined the best of Mario Kart with the best of modern gaming trends like the Forza Horizon 5 worlds and battle royale, added their own customary quirks, and spiced it up with more Nintendo love than I could ever ask for. To that, they've then improved or eliminated the very few flaws that were in Mario Kart 8 anyway.

The big news, as you know, is that Mario Kart World has an open world, and that everything is therefore connected.
What you see on the horizon is what you can go to. Nintendo nicely reminds you of this on the game's start screen, where a lone rider comes rolling. With a simple button press, you take a seat behind the wheel yourself and can start rolling around the world.

But... I'll save that bit for later in the review. Grabbing Nintendo's new Pro Controller makes me think that they almost designed it to be optimal for Mario Kart World. Because even though you can chill around in the wonderfully colourful world, it's the classic options that are the big draw, at least for me. This means that you'll find various single-player and multiplayer modes, most of which are things we're already familiar with. From playing single tracks to Time Trial and of course cups.

The latter, as before, consists of a total of four races, but that's where the similarities basically end. Depending on which cup I choose, I start in one place and by the end of the race I'm in another, a clear concept that renews the classic system in a way that feels logical and thus avoids the feeling of changing for the sake of changing. But that doesn't mean it's all about getting from place A to B. There are lots of locations on the map, often based on things we've seen before in the series. You can then do three laps in these before it's time to move on, and you can also split it up so that you do a lap on one track before moving on in the middle of the race. There is really nothing negative to say about this, on the contrary, it guarantees the greatest possible variety with both curvy courses and the longest straights in the series so far. In addition, the environment can be changed several times during a single race. Brilliant!

When choosing drivers (for me it's usually Luigi and Waluigi), I note that we no longer have to choose either wheels or hang gliders. It's not something I'm sad about to be honest, it just took a lot of unnecessary time when people would promptly go through all the wheels every time and still pick the best looking one. The vehicles of course have unique features and your character also changes things up and overall this feels like the right way to go. For those who still want to customise things, there's an awful lot of stickers to unlock to personalise your kart, and the characters also have several very detailed costumes to choose from - with a special mention for Waluigi's Wampire costume (which I firmly believe Nintendo should make a whole game out of).

I started my World career with 100 cubic metres at the classic Mushroom Cup, where the racing starts at the Mario Bros Circuit, to be rounded off via Crown City and Whistlestop Summit in DK Spaceport. Watching 24 drivers cross the finish line in a kind of mascot cavalcade of famous and much lesser-known creatures from the Mushroom Kingdom is surprisingly impressive. When the green light comes on, I leave and it's clear that the superstars still work the same way they always have.

The biggest gameplay difference this time is that the jumps are back. These were present in the very first Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo, but disappeared along the way. Here, however, they have a slightly different function and are used, among other things, to allow you to ride on walls. To do this successfully, however, you'll need to charge up your jump, and this means that you'll have to change your playstyle quite a bit if you want to become a top driver. Trying to skid to the max on every corner is no longer automatically the best thing to do, and can lead to you missing out on important shortcuts and the like - and there's a lot of that, so learning to master the jumps is undoubtedly important.

Other things I quickly note are details such as that you no longer need to hold down a button to place, for example, a green shell as protection behind you, but it is something that is done automatically when you pick up the object. So you only need to press the button when it's time to shoot, which is a nice and really user-friendly feature I appreciate. Other little things are that you now more clearly see how much boost you have left on gold mushrooms and the like, which makes them easier to time and use. I would also say that the computer opponents seem to be a little easier this time, and although I should obviously win 100 cc, it was still by a crushing margin that I won the first time I played, without knowing any shortcuts or new game mechanics.

The Mushroom Cup is rounded off with an absolutely phenomenal uphill run at DK Spaceport, whose design is reminiscent of the construction site in the original 1981 Donkey Kong, where a giant robot monkey stands and throws down barrels towards the riders in an absolutely delightful sequence. From here I played on and chose the watery reinterpretation of Wario's Galleon and Moo Moo Meadows, both of which have been thoroughly revamped. The water racing feels distinctly different and naturally offers a different feel to the solid ground underneath the wheels, and I almost think I can feel slight influences from the Wave Race games, which of course is all positive.

If you don't want to play Grand Prix, there's also Versus mode which lets you play individual tracks instead. Why not play Mario Circuit and after playing it, start a race against the neighbouring Acorns Heists? You'll also get to experience how the world changes from classic racing environments to lush and beautiful surroundings. Once there, you can then choose another connecting race, like to my favourite Boo Cinema, where the leafy surroundings quickly change to something more autumnal and soon to outright (well, Nintendo standards) horror racing in a haunted cinema with lots of cool effects. You don't have to choose a connecting track to your last race though, you can of course pick any track you want.

Racing this way is really delightful and I'm really encouraged to play it all as along the tracks there is the opportunity to unlock new costumes via food parcels hiding in the periphery. The costumes are really quite different and can, for example, transform the pompous Peach into a farmer, Yoshi into a soft ice cream seller or why not King Boo into an aristocrat? They therefore feel motivated to find, and I note that my friends always spend some time not only picking a character for each race, but also making sure that it will be the coolest. I'm already hooked and know that I won't feel finished until I've found every single costume.

With that said, it's time to return to the Free Roam game mode, the one with the open world, which gives you the opportunity to properly scrutinise the massive racing sandbox - where you can drive just about anywhere. As in Forza Horizon 5, leaving the roads behind for a bit of exploring is a must, as Nintendo has hidden secrets just about everywhere, usually in the form of P Blocks. Running into them gives you a timed challenge of varying difficulty, and completing them then unlocks new content (not least Stickers to pimp your carts). Some of these challenges feel a little puzzle-like in design, others are racing-orientated and still others revolve around flying.

There's a lot more to it, though, like the fact that you can run into a bunch of bikers that you suddenly have to shoot down in a frantic race, and there's plenty of money to unlock items and other secrets. Plus, Mario Kart World has its own Achievements system that encourages you to do it all and then some. As you'd expect, some challenges are fairly easy, while others are downright difficult... and some I've seen and struggled for hours to get to. As I said, there is plenty to do, but I still see Free Roam as a little too sparse. The variety is simply not there. The game world is a little too dead and the challenges not varied enough for me to want to sit with this for any length of time. I assume that new content will be added, but we are not there yet. I'd also like to mention that there is a Photo Mode that I think many will appreciate, with lots of features, and thanks to Free Roam it's easy to get the locations and angles you want the pictures from.

The real Mario Kart World star for me is the new battle royale flavoured Knockout Tour. A game mode for up to 24 people in six races, where it is important not to finish as one of the last four because it means immediate elimination. The last race is therefore only four people left, and the set-up automatically makes it a lot more exciting. In the cups, I get slightly less points if I don't cross the finish line first, but I can still win by doing well in the other races. Here, instead, I go out. Game Over.

Before each race, everyone gets to vote on which course they want to play among three pre-selected options, but you can also go out on the map and pick any course. Since everyone's choice is drawn by lot, it could be your favourite track, even if you were the only one who chose it. The prestige is instantly palpable as 24 players compete in this utterly delightful game mode (where I can't help but mention that I managed to win my first race outright during the test session in Germany, in competition against other European media). Being right on the edge of elimination during the race is a stressor that goes beyond most things and the 'just one more race' feeling is palpable in a loss, while a win instead leaves you feeling absolutely battered with stress. Absolutely phenomenal, and further lifted by fine online code that despite the extreme peak of the opening day had no problems.

Other options are the returning Coin Runners and Balloon Battle. They don't offer any major surprises, but the larger number of players combined with better courses and fun bonus items made both a joy to play. Clearly two game modes that have a future both online and offline.

Incidentally, I think I've noticed that the powerful bonus items are a bit more generous this time around, possibly a result of the fact that there are now 24 players on the track so there are a lot of people getting the chance to fire blue shells. But even stars and Bullet Bills were used a little more frequently than I think I'm used to. There is a setting to adjust the bonus items for those who want to though. Of course there are a couple of new items included, not least the ability to go big, which quickly became a favourite for me. Shooting a kart with a shell is one thing, but running them over so they really see the humiliation is something else. Even the ability to throw hammers, essentially a form of enhanced banana peel, works very well.

I would like to conclude by commenting on graphics and sound. After all, it's a new console Nintendo is delivering here. When I saw the first images of the game, I was not entirely convinced by the graphics and thought it was a bit too reminiscent of its predecessor. But in motion, it's a completely different thing. On the one hand, everything is so much better animated and more vivid, and on the other hand, the huge worlds and the 24 drivers cannot be ignored. Mario Kart World is simply gorgeous, and Nintendo just pours on the love from its long history. If you know your Mushroom Kingdom, you won't be able to keep yourself from wanting to point at the screen and solemnly shout "LOOK, DID YOU SEE THAT?!" when some obscure enemy flickers by on the periphery. Added to this is an absolutely magnificent soundtrack with lots of new songs and even old ones reworked to fit the game.

It is with great pleasure that I dare to say that Nintendo has done it again. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is today a full potter for me, containing two DLC packs from the Wii U version and four DLC packs from Switch. Mario Kart World already matches it content-wise and feels like a perfect platform to build on, and is itself a wonderful racing game for both happy amateurs who just want to go karting with the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom and professionals who like to optimise their tracks and quickly learn to spend as much time driving on walls as on the ground. A better killer app for Switch 2 is simply hard to imagine, and the mere thought that this is a game that will get even better with more content in the future makes it a game not to be missed.