It has been 33 years of Mario Kart, and while there have been more characters than the initial eight added, there has never been a real overhaul of how the games work. That is, until now. Who knows if it’s the power of the Nintendo Switch 2 bringing Nintendo much closer to on par with the current generation of consoles, or just finally deciding something needed to change from the original formula. Simply put, this is the first real overhaul since Double Dash trialled duos. Now, before you get it in your mind, I’m not going to start complaining about the price, but I will touch on whether I believe this to be a good enough game, and enough improvement to the point I would happily pay the full price of the game.

I found the Cow in the wild!

After two full console lifecycles and 11 years, we are finally moving on from Mario Kart 8 and there is a lot to be excited about as we enter the World. A whole new way to experience the Mushroom Kingdom with free roaming, an entirely new way to play the game with Knockout Tour, and of course, cows everywhere. Not to mention the original Switch had a lot of online issues that, personally, I couldn’t wait to see if they were any better as Nintendo joins the new generation.

The best place to start is with what we all know, Mario Kart World is an arcade racing game, so let’s jump into the Grand Prix and Knockout Tour. Grand Prix works close to what everyone is used to, its 4 courses and placement grants points towards final standings. The end goal is to be first, simply put. The main difference this time around is the fact that in some cases part of the race is actually traveling from one track to the next. It’s a concept that was played around with in Mario Kart Tour, the mobile game, and when some of those maps were ported into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Instead of every race being run the same laps over and over, the “laps” are now segments of a race instead.

Holding on for dear life.

This same idea progresses into the new Knockout Tour. Knockout Tour works similar to Eliminator in Split/Second (if anyone else remembers that game), where the goal is to be above a certain placement by the end of each segment of a race, with the final goal to obviously be first. Being top 4 at the very least means that you at least get to race the whole course! Knockout Tour uses different courses than the Grand Prix, although travelling across the world means you will pass through some of the other races on your way to the finish line.

Bored with race after race? Why not check out the free roam. Being able to see how different sections of races, knockout tours, and everything else are fitting into the world is pretty neat. Even better though is the fact they’ve filled the world with additional things to do and find like ? squares on the ground that unlock stickers or P Switches that unlock challenges to complete to get.. Stickers. Stickers are just cosmetics that go on your kart or bike, because one big change with this game is that karts and bikes don’t have different stats based on which one you pick or anything else, it’s all fair game to just pick what you like!

That’s one happy Snowman!

Alongside everything else, one of the best parts of the game is the fact a lot of your favourite characters have variants based on food you find around the world. My favourite at the moment being Pirate King Boo, which you get for eating a Shish Kebab while playing as King Boo either in a race, or just traversing the world. So not only does Mario Kart World already have the most characters to play as, but a ton of versions of most characters!

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Mario Kart World is by far the best looking Mario Kart game to come out. This game’s version of Rainbow Road is absolutely gorgeous, and the most interesting to race through. There’s not a lot of “wasted” space in the world, making it fun to drive around. To possibly everyone’s surprise on the other side, this might be better than any other Mario soundtrack that Nintendo has released. If nothing else, you’ll want to play different tracks just to enjoy the background music!

And roll on the credits!

Mario Kart World may have been slightly controversial based on its price, but realistically based on my time played already vs my time playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, it seems somewhat justifiable. The Switch 2 has a significantly better online experience, meaning less connection issues during races. Having essentially double the amount of races with Grand Prix and Knockout Tours, plus having the free roam all means there’s a ton more to do just playing the game alone. So yes, for all the people that want to complain, the price is more than worth it and doesn’t take away from the fact this is as of right now, the definitive Mario Kart experience.

Mario Kart World is available now on Nintendo Switch 2.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2.