I played 6 hours of Mario Kart World – you need to know these things before it drops

Independent

2 days ago

We're just hours away from the official launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, and with it, the console's biggest launch title, Mario Kart World. Expectations are sky-high for the latest entry in the 33-year-old racing series, which carries the weight of a new console's fortunes on its shoulders.
Even before I tried the game, there were a few big innovations on the table. Players can now roam anywhere in a wide-open world, with grand prix tournaments charting long routes that race in and between each of the main tracks. The maximum number of racers is also doubled to a chaotic 24 karts, and a new Battle Royale style knockout mode sees players competing to stay in the race, with slower racers knocked out each lap.
Mario Kart World also gets a facelift, shedding some of the grit (at least, what passes for grit in Mario Kart) of the previous game. Instead, there's a bouncier and more cartoony look. Nintendo might not have given Mario Kart World a generational graphics upgrade, but the developer's recent success with a big-budget Mario movie has rubbed off. The newest entry in the series feels more characterful, more animated and frankly, more fun.
I've spent hours playing Mario Kart World ahead of its 5 June release date, many of them wasted wandering around the game's open world, but plenty of them exploring everything new and weird about Nintendo's beloved racer. Here, in no particular order, are 19 things I learned about Mario Kart World.
1. The lightning item can make it rain
Mario Kart World has dynamic weather effects, so it can start raining or snowing mid-race. However, this isn't just an animation. This not only changes the appearance of tracks, but slick conditions also affect kart handling.
Weather patterns in Mario Kart World are fairly stable – I found it only changed a handful of times in about four hours of racing – but there is at least one way to manually encourage the weather to change. Using the lightning item, which wipes out and shrinks every other player, will sometimes trigger a rainstorm, too.
2. You can trick off dynamic waves
The raw processing power of the Switch 2 can now create dynamic, splashy, three-dimensional waves during water sections. The wake from other racers isn't big enough to do anything interesting with, but a big enough explosion – a blue shell going off, for example – will create a shockwave across the water's surface that racers can trick off to gain a small speed boost.
3. You can jump on command now
Jumping is one of Mario Kart World 's biggest innovations. You can use a jump to gain extra height off ramps for more time in the air for tricks, launch yourself onto the track walls to drive along them, or reach otherwise inaccessible grind rails.
The jump button is the same as the drift button and works in almost the same way. Hold down the drift button, and after a few seconds, you'll charge up a jump.
But Mario Kart veterans might find this frustrating at first. Steer left or right at any point while charging, and you'll start drifting instead, losing your jump. If you've played as much Mario Kart as I have, every last neuron of your muscle memory will be screaming at you. Charging takes a while, too, so you have to plan jumps some distance ahead of any walls you want to drive on. Speaking of which:
4. You can drive on the walls
Mario Kart 8 went hard on the anti-gravity theme, with physics-defying, twisting, turning courses. Mario Kart World is more grounded, but you can still launch yourself onto any suitably flat track walls and race along them.
Pulling this off is more challenging than it sounds, as you need to prime your jumps a few seconds in advance; fluffing the timing means colliding face-first with a wall instead of riding along it like Jet Set Radio. The outer walls of corners are rarely the shortest route around the track, but they'll often lead you to otherwise inaccessible grind rails, items and shortcuts.
5. The feather is back
First seen in the original Super Mario Kart, the feather item vanished from the series for 25 years before making a shock reappearance in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 's battle mode. Now the feather makes a full and triumphant return in Mario Kart World, allowing racers to perform a jump instantly.
Used in previous games for catapulting yourself over track obstacles and skipping bits of the course, the feather in Mario Kart World can be used to initiate wallriding without having to charge up a jump. You'll also be able to use it to access hard-to-reach Peach coins in free roam mode.
6. Four-player split-screen runs at 30fps
We were holding out hope that the Switch 2 might be able to handle four-way Mario Kart World with no noticeable drop in visual quality, but play with three friends on the same TV and the frame rate drops to 30 frames per second. That feels choppy compared to the silky smooth frame rate of single player mode at first, but your eyes will adjust to the difference before you've finished your first race.
As an aside, if you don't think you can spot the difference between games running at 30, 60 and 120 frames per second, the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour has a special minigame where you can test yourself. And yes, it's about as riveting as a Specsavers appointment.
7. You hang out in the open world between races
This is especially useful during 24-player Knockout Tours, where an early knockout means a lot of waiting around for the race to finish. You can spectate as usual, but the open world is free to explore, acting like one giant multiplayer lobby where you can kill time with friends between races and vote on what to play next.
8. You can rewind time
But only for yourself – other racers will keep going. Mess up a tricky jump or miss a shortcut, and, rather than wait for Lakitu to pick you up and place you back on the track, you can simply press the minus button, rewind time, and try again.
However, this is a potentially controversial feature. It's not clear if you can rewind yourself into second place just before a blue shell arrives, for example – the ability to manipulate time at least gives novice players a chance to perfect their technique.
9. Free roam mode has stuff to do
Three types of stuff, to be precise. Mario Kart World 's free roam mode sets you loose in the open world with no objective or destination, but there are collectibles and optional missions dotted all over the place.
Primarily, you'll be able to find blue P-Switch blocks, which set you short, timed challenges to complete. These are mostly to do with driving through a series of tricky checkpoints or collecting coins before a timer runs out. Each challenge has an instructional title. 'Take to the skies above Peach's castle', for example, launches you into a PilotWings -style aerial gate challenge high above her house.
There are also Peach coins, which hang out in hard-to-reach areas and usually require some trickery to get to, and hidden question mark panels – the classic item pick-up method from the original Super Mario Kart.
10. There's a photo mode
You can take photos of yourself and your buddies in free roam. A dedicated photo mode lets you choose poses and expressions for your character, while full control over the camera means you can freely adjust things like focal distance, tilt and field of view to get the perfect shot.
It's worth noting that the game doesn't freeze when taking a photo, meaning a mischievous player can spoil a group photo by chucking a few shells around. Everyone on their best behaviour, please.
11. You're always amassing stickers
Mario Kart World tracks a huge number of stats across everything you do in the game, from coins collected to distance driven and miles drifted. Your reward for hitting milestones is stickers, which show up next to your player icon above your kart in races, as well as printed on the side of the kart itself.
Purely cosmetic, stickers exist to show off your accomplishments to other players. They include sponsors from fictional businesses and brands around the game world, like Mario Motors and Koopa Construction.
12. Battle mode is back
Specifically, Balloon Battle and Coin Runners. Balloon Battle, in which you have to pop five of your opponent's balloons while protecting your own, gets its own set of dedicated combat arenas.
Like the rest of the tracks in the game, they exist in the open world alongside everything else. Some are destruction derby-style, bowl-shaped arenas, while others, like one set inside a Moo Moo Meadows farm, offer barns and tractors to take cover behind.
13. There's a day-night cycle (sort of)
As you race, the time of the day will progress between a few different phases, so you'll see tracks during the morning, afternoon, evening and night. Time doesn't seem to constantly progress in Mario Kart World; instead, you'll occasionally be treated to a gradual transition from, say, sunset to night time in the middle of a race.
14. Gliders are out, wings are in
More of an aesthetic change than anything, karts no longer pop out a hang-glider on long jumps. Instead, a pair of wings will spring from your character's kart to help them go the distance. Don't ask me why, but this is better. Like in previous games, karts will also transform into seaworthy vessels during water-based sections of the track, with different designs depending on the kart you choose.
15. You can see inside buildings in Crown City
I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but when driving around Crown City, you can look through some windows. The interiors aren't terribly detailed – they're supposed to be raced past at high speed, after all – but if you're feeling nosy in free roam mode and want to marvel at the rendering power of the Switch 2 by peering into someone's front room, you can.
On top of that, there's environmental traffic. There's plenty in Crown City, as you'd expect, but some routes between tracks also have vehicles to avoid. Car windscreens are also transparent now, revealing the Toad, Yoshi and Shy Guy drivers behind the wheel.
16. You can hijack special vehicles
In certain parts of the world, you'll spot special supersized vehicles driving around with big and inviting open doors – drive inside and you'll take control of them for a short while.
In my playthrough, I found two: a huge, double-trailer lorry that can be used to ram through traffic; and a zippy speedboat that looks like it could belong in F-Zero. These special vehicles show up in races as well as during free roam mode, and Nintendo suggested that there are more to discover.
17. You can put your face in the game
You can use the Nintendo Camera to have your face appear above your kart during multiplayer races. This even works in a four-player split-screen, where a single camera can capture all four faces at the same time, making it easier to spot (or maliciously target) your friends during hectic 24-player races.
Face tracking – where the camera will automatically adjust to keep you in frame – only works when there's one person playing. With more players, you'll see a preview of what the camera sees before each race, giving you a chance to find and manually circle your face on screen. You'll each have to sit still to stay in shot throughout the race, which is bad news for anyone who gets a bit animated towards the finish line.
Whenever you thwack another player with an item, their angry face will spin around helplessly above their kart, which is good fun.
18. Cow doesn't get any outfits
Hovering, glowing takeaway bags called Dash Food can be found around tracks and in the open world, usually at diner-themed pit stops, but sometimes lined up across the track so that every player gets one.
These are location-appropriate and include local delicacies like burgers, curries, ice creams and kebabs. Eat one, and your character gets a cosmetic costume change for the rest of the race, and that costume is then unlocked in the character select screen. An ice cream will give Mario a pair of shades and a snazzy little Hawaiian shirt, for example, but sadly, only the main characters get outfits. If you've always dreamed of putting the cow from Moo Moo Meadows in a sombrero, you're out of luck.
19. But Waluigi gets a Mariachi costume
In a possible nod to the fan-made N64 game Waluigi's Taco Stand, Nintendo has added Mariachi Waluigi as a playable character – presumably unlocked when he grabs something delicious on a Mexican-themed track.
There's also a costume for King Boo that puts him in a Downton Abbey -esque monocle, moustache and top hat. Nintendo misses a trick by not calling him Boo-ritish, but apart from that, the game is a huge upgrade to Mario Kart 8.