Mario Kart 8 Deluxe presented Nintendo with a unique problem. The Nintendo Switch game has been a sales juggernaut, and it had become the definitive Mario Kart experience. Following up that game with another traditional Mario Kart would have felt like a letdown, which is why it’s a very good thing that Nintendo Switch 2 is launching alongside Mario Kart World. ComicBook had a chance to go hands-on with the game, and found that it maintains all of the elements that fans have come to expect from the series; if you’ve ever played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, you’ll immediately find yourself familiar with how the game controls. However, there’s also a lot new to the game, including a much greater amount of freedom than anyone might have expected.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The hook for Mario Kart World is simple: for the first time in a Mario Kart game, players can roam around an interconnected world composed of various tracks. The result feels a little like Microsoft’s Forza Horizon series, as players can drive around and take in the sights. See Peach’s Castle in the distance? You can now drive there, or check out a cow-covered ranch instead. In our time with the game, the free roam seemed to offer a lot of opportunity for exploration. There were various points my Kart would go over a steep area, and I expected a Lakitu to lift me to safety. Instead, I just landed in a different area of the map, and kept going.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to see just how interconnected the game’s world is. As such, it’s hard to tell if the game truly is open-world, or if these are big areas that are separate from one another, like in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Most free roam exploration took place while waiting for sessions in Mario Kart World‘s new Knockout Tour. Once Nintendo representatives had wrangled up the 24 necessary players, we’d jump into the races. The concept of Knockout Tour is simple: the number of players shrinks during a Rally as players fail to reach each goal. At first, the requirement is that players have to be in the Top 20, but that number shrinks until eventually it’s just the Top 4 players competing against one another.
Generally speaking, Mario Kart can often get pretty intense, but Knockout Tour takes things to a different level. With 24 people competing against one another, the slightest mistake can quickly send you back in the standings. Power-ups are still there to lend a hand, and it seems like the best ones are still reserved for racers in the back of the pack. The difference this time is that there’s less time to recover, since you don’t have multiple laps to claw your way back to victory. Overall, it feels bigger, more frantic, and more challenging than anything the series has had to offer thus far. The game does still offer a more traditional Mario Kart mode as well, featuring the same 3-lap structure.
New really was the theme of the Mario Kart World hands-on, and that even extended to the playable characters. Familiar faces like Mario and Donkey Kong are there of course, but the game has added some unique new ones. The most notable addition is “Cow” which seems to be based on the cows that appeared in Mario Kart 64‘s Moo Moo Farm course. The game is also taking a page from the mobile game Mario Kart Tour, giving players the chance to select racers with alternate costumes, such as Toad wearing a burger hat, and a Koopa Troopa wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses. Interestingly enough, one of the new power-ups seems to swap out these costumes, giving players alternate outfits, or removing them completely.
The demo sessions offered a lot of returning racers from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but there were also several missing, including guest characters like Link, Isabelle, and the Inklings. At this time, it’s unclear if these characters will be back, or if Nintendo is treating Mario Kart World as an opportunity to focus solely on the Mario family again. It would make sense for Nintendo to move away from those characters, as tracks based on franchises like F-Zero or Animal Crossing wouldn’t quite fit with the courses in Mario Kart World. It’s possible that’s the reason behind the omissions, but it doesn’t explain why the Koopalings seem to be gone, as well. Hopefully we’ll get a little more clarity about any missing racers (or any potential unlockable characters) over the coming weeks.
For a game that was first released in 2014 on Wii U, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remains an impressive game from a graphic standpoint. For this reason, Mario Kart World doesn’t feel like a huge improvement in that regard, but it does seem to be taking advantage of the increased abilities of Nintendo Switch 2. For one thing, the courses look a lot sharper (especially when compared to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe‘s DLC). The game also seemed to run really smoothly during multiple hands-on sessions, not only during the races, but also while exploring the game in free roam mode. Everything feels seamless, and it seemed like there was a lot more action on-screen than in previous games. It might not be the biggest showpiece for the new hardware, but it’s hard to imagine Nintendo pulling this off on the current Switch.
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So far, Mario Kart World feels both familiar yet radically different. As a series, Mario Kart has evolved quite a bit since the Super Nintendo era, but the Nintendo Switch 2 game feels like the biggest leap the series has ever had. Nintendo has found a way to make Mario Kart feel bigger, faster, and more impressive than ever, which is an impressive feat following Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It’s been a very long time between new entries in the Mario Kart series, but it seems like the wait will prove worth it. We’ll know for sure when Mario Kart World launches alongside Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5th.
Are you planning to check out Mario Kart World this June? What did you think of the game’s first trailer? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky atย @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram atย @Dachampgaming!
