Mario Kart is one of those titles that is so famous because you can have unlimited fun with it. It’s the game that keeps on going. Well the new one for the Nintendo Switch was certainly getting a lot of hype. Nintendo was so confident in it that they basically were not coming out with any other titles for the Switch 2. It was this or nothing. Well, after playing the game I can say that it’s pretty good. I’m not going to call it amazing or anything like that but I do think they put in a solid amount of effort here. I can definitely see people playing this one for a very long time yet.

The game doesn’t have a story mode so you’ll probably jump right into the races. You can do the classic cups, knockout races, or jump straight online. I went for the cups first of course and they were definitely fun. The kind of races that you never forget because of the hype graphics and everything. At this point some of the items have been nerfed to the point where they are no longer a huge threat (Blue shell) but it’s still nostalgic to see them. Mario Kart is one of those games that is really easy to pick up and play even if it is hard to master.

A new mechanic in this game is the ability to grind off rails and different objects to get aerial boosts. I’ve seen people do some really crazy stunts with these jumps so it’s safe to say that this may have actually raised the bar for overall technical ability. I’m certainly a rookie when it comes to that so I will need to do a whole lot more training. Still, the online races are so chaotic that you can absolutely win or lose even without knowing the mechanic. With how many racers there are at once, you can even say that it is near pure RNG for the first lap or so.

As with most Mario Kart games, you probably want to stick to 2nd place for most of the race online so you dodge the worst of the items and then rocket your way to 1st at the end. Of course it is much harder to pull off that strategy than it sounds. Misplay your timing and you are basically asking to be crushed. All it takes is one wrong hit and you will fall to 8th or even lower. That is what you really need to watch out for.

As expected the graphics are really quite impressive here. The game looks like a Switch 2 title without a doubt. I enjoy the really big character roster here even if most of the characters are basically palette swaps. Yeah it can be a bit on the lazy side, but as long as it inflates the count then I’m good. We have over 140 characters in the game which is crazy and a lot of people think we will eventually have over 200 with DLC. Now that would really be a sight to see. I’ve unlocked most of them, I’ll definitely go back to get even more once they start releasing new characters. It’s definitely the benefit of being a pick up and play title.

The soundtrack is also pretty good, in fact I would say it’s a bit better than I expected it would be. One of the tracks even sounds like something out of a Sonic game which is real impressive. So Nintendo definitely showed up for this one and I would expect no less considering that this was their big flagship game. There is infinite replay value with the whole online play and everything. You never have to stop racing. I also appreciate that they keep track of some details like your race score online.

The stickers are around here as collectibles but I didn’t think they were all that good. My main problem with the implementation is that you don’t know how many are left before picking them up and additionally you can’t really show them off. We still need something more like a formal leaderboard some day to really get things rolling. The new Free Roam map is fun but definitely missing some key essentials like a map that lets you keep track of everything. The basic map we have now doesn’t do a whole lot of good.

All in all, there’s nothing to really dislike about the game. So you may wonder why it’s not a bit higher? Well, as fun as the game is, it just doesn’t feel like it’s a must play. It doesn’t quite have the style and flash that Sonic Crossworlds represents or the really cool story mode of F Zero. So this one has to rely purely on the racing gameplay which is fun, but inherently not quite as impressive. I would still play this for hours and hours if I didn’t have other games to play but otherwise it definitely tends to hit the shelf a bit quicker. It really needed a good story mode or some kind of feature that would blow you away.

Overall, Mario Kart World is definitely a really fun game. Nintendo did good here as expected. Now technically speaking it’s probably not something you need to buy a whole console for, but considering that you save $30 by getting the bundle, it’s certainly worth it if you ever plan to buy the game eventually. I’ll find myself returning to that game from time to time an right now is probably when the community will be at its best. There’s no rush since people will still be playing the game in droves for years to come but if you enjoy the racing then you should jump in. Allow yourself to be sucked into the hype and enjoy this 2025 Mario experience. It’s certainly taking Nintendo a long while to give us the next big 3D platformer after all. I suppose DK might end up being the next big Switch 2 title in the meantime.

Overall 7/10