There’s a new Mario Kart game on the way—something we haven’t been able to say for the longest time. We’ve all lived with Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for a massive chunk of our lives; for some, it might be the only Mario Kart they’ve ever known. So where does Mario Kart go after Deluxe and all the DLC that came with it? What can you do with it now?
Well, you could go full Smash Bros. and open the roster up to anyone and everyone—no, they didn’t do that. You could have real-world tracks with locations from around the globe—and that was called World Tour, hand on how is this different?. No, with Mario Kart World, they’ve done to Mario Kart what Breath of the Wild did to Zelda all those years ago. We’ve had the Mario Kart formula for so long that trying something this radical might seem scary—but we think it’s going to rock our world. (I’m so sorry.)
Our demo for Mario Kart World consisted of three parts: a typical race—well, as typical as a race in Mario Kart World can be—an exploration of the Free Roam area, which the game’s tracks are built from, and the new Knockout Tour, which brings OutRun-style elimination to the game.
First up, the typical Grand Prix tracks aren’t just a single circuit that you race around three times. Don’t get us wrong—you can’t just sprawl all over the world wherever you want, but even with a “lap” counter, laps are pretty much gone. Instead, races are broken into sections. Item boxes are still there, but there’s a new addition: what appears to be a takeaway bag.
We probably should have asked for the official name, but upon collecting one, you get a meal that is used instantly, a new costume for your character, and a quick burst of speed. You’ll need it too, as there are now 24 players on the racecourse at any one time, quickly turning things into an F-Zero X Death Race, with people banging and clattering around the now bigger and wider track.
Handling felt different, too. The usual drifting we’ve come to love just felt slower. We’re not sure if having the driver aids on affected it, but we weren’t able to zip and pop around corners as quickly. Unfortunately, all the demos had the aids enabled.
We got to experience Free Roam while waiting for a Knockout Tour match to assemble—getting 24 players together took a little while. There’s a lot out there in the open world, and some of the new items, like a special Peach coin, didn’t seem to do anything upon collecting. In fact, coins seem to play a much bigger role in this game, but we’re not sure how yet, as you can now collect more than 10 per race.
Knockout Tour, though, was the highlight for me. Mario Kart is chaotic at the best of times, but with 24 players and a constantly shifting cutoff for elimination, the yo-yo effect of rising to the front with better items, only to be shot down and fall into danger, makes strategy even more crucial. We got to see at least three new power-ups, including the Hammer Bros. Hammers, which are thrown ahead of you; a Golden Shell that drops a trail of coins on the racing line; and finally, the return of the Mega Mushroom from Mario Kart Wii.
Mario Kart World simply looks fantastic, and while we didn’t think we needed it, it’s a refreshing shake-up of the tried-and-true formula we’ve had for nearly two decades. We can’t wait to explore the World and see what else is hiding out there.
Oh, before I go—yes, there’s a bloody cow from Moo Moo Meadows as a racer. Amazing.
Vooks travelled to New York as a guest of Nintendo Australia.
Preorder date for the GameCube controller too.
Metroid, Donkey Kong, mouse controls, C-Buttons? We played it.