The fact that I’ve already spent over 35 hours with Mario Kart World since its launch less than a week ago is a testament to just how good it is—and I’m still eager for more. As the first completely new Mario Kart entry in over ten years, it brings a refreshing twist to the series. Ironically, though, its greatest strengths aren’t its flashy new features. When I’m racing through one of the World’s tight, well-designed tracks—dodging shells and fighting for first—it feels like a natural and worthy successor to the near-perfect Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
But when I’m aimlessly cruising around its cheerful yet shallow open-world map, or dragging through the long straightaways that separate Grand Prix courses, it’s hard to see the open-world approach as the innovation Mario Kart truly needed. Fortunately, World succeeds where it matters most. It builds on the rock-solid foundation that has defined the series for decades: impeccable polish, a brilliant soundtrack, tight yet accessible controls, and the kind of magic that turns local multiplayer into an instant party.
Visually and mechanically, Mario Kart World shines. As the flagship launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2 (sorry, Welcome Tour), it had a lot to prove—and it delivers. It runs smoothly at a flawless 60fps in single-player, both docked and handheld, and the interconnected world loads seamlessly. While the visuals don’t break new ground, the exaggerated art style looks fantastic on both a 4K screen and the new Switch 2’s 1080p display. The improved hardware helps showcase charming details—like the impressively reactive water that splashes during Blue Shell explosions—that make you dream of a new Wave Race game.
The racing experience at 150cc is superb. Although drifting feels looser than in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I quickly adapted and came to enjoy the new handling. I also didn’t miss the old kart customization system—World offers a wide array of vehicles, from bikes and trikes to sleds, all of which look great and save time compared to tweaking every part. After over a decade with the same mechanics, the adjustment period is expected, but World already feels like a kart racer I’ll happily master throughout this console generation. It’s full of delightful touches: karts wobble slightly when you nudge the stick, rain starts to fall when a lightning bolt strikes, and every character has charming animations when pulling off mid-air tricks.
That unmistakable Nintendo charm is everywhere, but the true highlight of Mario Kart World’s atmosphere is its phenomenal soundtrack. With over 200 new tracks, the music pays homage to Mario Kart’s history and broader Nintendo legacy. From callbacks to Donkey Kong Country and Yoshi’s Island to reimagined themes from earlier Mario Kart entries, it’s a dream soundtrack for longtime fans. Even if Nintendo doesn’t release a new Super Mario platformer to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original Super Mario Bros., this score feels like a heartfelt tribute to the legacy of Mario and friends—and a gift to fans who’ve grown up alongside them.
The amazing soundtrack is the ambiance of the World that stands out the most.
Additionally, this is where Nintendo makes the first of many odd choices. While driving in Free Roam or during the highway portions of a race, different tracks from the soundtrack play, but there is no opportunity to listen to your favorite songs. At launch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe also lacked the feature, but later incorporated a music player so you could enjoy the game’s large band soundtrack. It’s puzzling that World doesn’t offer this option at launch, since Super Smash Bros. has always allowed you to choose which songs play on each level, and even Super Mario Odyssey finally allowed you to do so.
Nintendo refers to its music selections as a “Jukebox” in World, but in reality, it functions more like a single-station radio: if you like a song, you have to hope the DJ will play it again. Naturally, Nintendo might include this capability in a future update or release the soundtrack on its official music app. Alternatively, you could simply visit YouTube to hear an upload of it (Quiet! No one knows!), but it’s a massive waste of time not to allow us to choose our music for the car trip from the beginning.
A Whole New World
Mario Kart World takes some bold swings at reinventing the franchise formula—most notably by doubling the racer count from 12 to a chaotic 24, and expanding the trick system with flashy mechanics like wall-riding, rail-grinding, and charge-jumping. But the most significant change is its massive open world, which houses 29 of its 30 racing circuits (and yes, we’ll get to that lone exception later). These courses are linked by a network of roads ranging from rugged dirt trails to bustling highways full of traffic. Nearly every mode in the World uses these in-between stretches to varying degrees of success.
The Grand Prix format has been radically altered to fit this open-world structure, and I’m not entirely sold on the result. Instead of running through four tracks with three laps each as in past games, you now begin with a traditional race, but for every subsequent event, you must drive across two laps’ worth of highways to reach the next course, where you’ll complete just one lap. This is where one of the World’s biggest problems shows up: highway travel, while initially novel, quickly becomes repetitive. These sections simply aren’t as engaging or memorable as the dedicated courses, and they take up a lot of time, especially if you’re aiming for three-star completions across all eight cups.
To be fair, the highways aren’t outright bad—some can even be quite fun—but they tend to be broad and straight, leading to long stretches of low-intensity driving. With 24 racers jostling for position, there’s no shortage of chaos—more shells, bananas, and random hazards than ever—but these moments often feel more about surviving the mayhem than mastering racing lines or perfecting cornering. That chaotic energy can be a blast in multiplayer, especially with friends, but in single-player, it doesn’t offer the same replay incentive that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe did. There, I chased perfection out of pure enjoyment—here, I sometimes just want to get the highway section over with.
To counteract this downtime, World introduces new mechanics like rail grinding, wall riding, and charge jumping. I’m still wrapping my head around these additions—not due to review crunch, but because they have depth that’ll take months to fully understand. These parkour-like tools may well define the online competitive scene once players start unlocking their true potential. On the actual tracks, they’re already making a big impact. I’ve seen Time Trial ghosts using rails and walls to uncover wild shortcuts hiding in plain sight, and it’s motivated me to explore the possibilities. That said, these tricks don’t always translate well to the highway segments. Sometimes, staying on the road and holding the gas is still the most efficient choice. You’ll have to learn which tricks give you an edge and which ones will slow you down, track by track.
To its credit, World does try to liven up the intermission stretches with elements like boost pads, item-spitting cars, and projectile-launching enemies. Some moments absolutely land—like dodging a massive dragon swimming through the ocean—but even after dozens of sessions, I often find myself zoning out during these drives. Too many of them still feel like holding A and coasting until you reach the next real race. It starts to feel less like a high-octane karting adventure and more like… well, a commute.
The 30 tunes in World’s lineup continue to excite me.
Thankfully, once you reach your final destination, Mario Kart World almost always rewards you with something special. The more time I spend with its 30-track roster, the more impressed I am. At a minimum, it matches the launch lineup of Mario Kart 8, and in some ways, it even surpasses it. A few early standouts include Great? Block Ruins, where you bounce off clouds and drift through a glowing temple in the sky, is packed with satisfying high-skill shortcuts. Bowser’s Castle is another adrenaline-charged highlight, demanding precise control at high speeds and delivering some of the most thrilling finishes I’ve had so far. And then there’s Peach Stadium, which exudes a festive energy that makes it a perfect opener for friendly races.
There’s plenty of variety across the lineup, with some courses featuring World’s new plane and boat segments—worthy spiritual successors to the gliding and underwater mechanics of Mario Kart 7 and 8. The boat mode, in particular, is a joy to use; pulling off tricks after riding a wave or landing from a splashdown is endlessly satisfying.
Classic courses return with fresh twists, too. Revamped versions of Airship Fortress, Toad’s Factory, Dino Dino Jungle, and Wario Stadium are all superb, with the latter even featuring a massive supercross-style jump that’s pure fun. Sure, there are a few duds (Desert Hills, I’m looking at you), but that’s par for the course in any racing game. Overall, the track design is strong, and I’m thrilled that the quality has remained top-tier even while adapting to the complex, interconnected world layout. Each track connects to the open world via multiple entry points, depending on your approach, which sometimes leads to unique paths into familiar circuits. While I’m still torn on how this affects the pacing between races, there’s no denying the design achievement Nintendo pulled off here—it’s genuinely impressive.
And I can’t talk tracks without praising Rainbow Road. World’s version is not only the best rendition of the franchise’s most iconic course—it’s my new favorite Mario Kart track of all time. It’s a brilliant, emotional, and visually stunning ride from beginning to end. I won’t spoil what happens, but there’s one moment that gives me goosebumps every single time. It’s a finale worthy of Nintendo’s biggest titles, on par with the unforgettable climaxes of Super Mario Odyssey or Tears of the Kingdom.
If you, like me, aren’t entirely sold on the open-world travel between tracks, you’re not out of luck. VS Race mode lets you enjoy traditional three-lap racing across any course, preserving the classic Mario Kart feel. Time Trials also stick to the traditional formula, letting you chase personal bests or take on Staff Ghosts without touching the highways. Unfortunately, you can’t access this three-lap style in a dedicated online lobby, which means online racers will still have to deal with the long intermissions more often than not.
That said, there is one mode where the open world truly shines: Knockout Tour. This new, F-Zero 99-inspired battle royale mode is one of the World’s best additions. It strings together five consecutive highway segments, capped off with a final-lap sprint on a full track. Every few minutes, the bottom four racers are eliminated, adding a tense, edge-of-your-seat energy to the competition. Racing through diverse environments—from desert highways to icy cliffside curves—while fighting for survival makes for an electrifying experience. In this case, the open-world format is essential to what makes it great, and it’s the clearest proof that the World’s biggest gamble can pay off in a big way.
Verdict
The Nintendo Switch 2 is off to a fast and promising start, and Mario Kart World is a strong lead-off title to mark the occasion. As the first all-new Mario Kart in over a decade, it makes bold moves to shake up the formula—but fittingly, its best moments are grounded in what the series has always done best: exhilarating local multiplayer, tightly crafted tracks, and unmatched polish. World’s precise handling, joyful soundtrack, and dazzling presentation support its action beautifully, and I’m excited to see how competitive players harness its new parkour mechanics in the long run.
The ambitious interconnected map that ties its 30 tracks together is an impressive feat of design, though the open-world approach doesn’t always hit the mark. While Knockout Tour proves the format can deliver thrilling, fresh gameplay, other modes suffer from uneven pacing and overly long stretches of less engaging highway travel. Add in some frustrating online limitations and confusing design choices around menus and unlockables, and it feels like World took a blue shell to the bumper just shy of the finish line.
Still, the foundation here is rock solid. With a few smart updates and refinements, Mario Kart World could easily cross the finish as one of the series’ finest entries—and for now, it’s already a joyful, high-speed celebration of what makes Mario Kart so enduring.
