Mario Kart World is an odd one as despite being a life-long fan of the series since the first SNES version (as evidenced by having reviewed every version on this very blog!) a lot of the hype surrounding this release didn’t appeal to me, and sure enough when I got my Switch 2 with this included I played Hades II and even Soul Calibur II via the NSO GameCube app more than this. It’s not bad, the open world map is very cleverly designed and the graphics and soundtrack are top notch, it’s just… not very Mario Kart-y. Does that make it bad though?
Background:
The classic Mushroom item on a Bowser’s Castle stage with a … Pit Crew Shyguy? Classic?
Mario Kart World was released alongside the Switch 2 on June 5th 2025 worldwide. It was a pack-in game via a bundle with a download code or sold separately physically or digitally at the still-eye-watering sum of £80.
In past Mario Kart reviews I’ve ran down the new and returning drivers but they went a little nuts with World as there is a grand total of 50 characters, with many having multiple costumes to boot, so I’ll have to retire that running thing. Same with the courses, but not because there is an extortionate amount of them but because they’re weirdly shaped into the world and so some courses, especially the newer ones, end up blending together and don’t have a track-based set up or anything which make them feel odd. You do still have your standard tracks, your deserty levels, foresty levels, snowy levels, a spooky Boo level (at a cinema which is definitely the highlight of the new tracks in my opinion) and lava-filled Bowser’s castle and Rainbow Road, it’s just a lot of them aren’t all that memorable because they’re just part of a world. I’ll get to that later…
Gameplay:
A flying Hammer Bro? Scary. A flying Hammer Bro with a boomerang? … Confusing.
Gameplay at its core is the same: race to come first after multiple laps where you can use weapons to hinder your opponent, from the homing Red Shell and the “takes out first place but you only ever receive it when you can’t benefit from taking out first place” Blue Shell, to lightning that shrinks everyone, the returning Feather to jump over attacks and skip parts of the track, and many, many more. New items this time round are the Coin Shell, which rockets forward in a straight line and leaves a trail of coins, Freeze Flower to freeze opponents, Hammers that you can toss in the classic Hammer Bro arc, and “Kamek’s Magic” which transforms your racer into a map enemy/NPC (and is also how to unlock the enemy/NPC as a playable character!) You can also get a fast food bag that when consumed with a regular character unlocked an alternate costume for them, otherwise it gives you a boost of speed like the Mushroom item. A big change is there are now double the amount of racers on the tracks with 24 at once, which makes for a more chaotic race, especially if you’re in the middle of the pack! Along with flying and underwater parts of levels there are now “grind rails” where you can get some extra speed by… well, grinding on them I guess. The anti-gravity gimmick from 8 has been dropped, apparently due to it being hard to fit into the open world aspect they went with…
The main Grand Prix mode is back but sadly it doesn’t play like the classic Grand Prix mode. Instead of racing on three laps (for the most part) of four tracks the four maps on each cup are linked via the large open world, meaning tracks two to four are almost always racing in very similar environments with no lap repeats as you drive between established or new tracks. It makes a lot of the cups rather boring, visually, and some of the returning retro tracks disappointing as you only do a single lap on them before the race is over. As per usual though you have 50cc, 100cc, 150cc and an unlockable Mirror Mode as difficulty / track options, and you unlock characters each time you complete a cup for the first time. Versus and Time Trials are back and do allow you to race the courses with a traditional three lap set up, though again some of them are very similar to each other due to being set in the same place on the world map so some new courses aren’t all that interesting, and Battle Mode is also back with only the options of Balloon Battle (classic “each hit destroys one balloon and each racer has three balloons” set up) and Coin Runners (person who collects the most coins wins, hitting your opponents knocks coins out of them).
Tried to grab a screenshot of the Blue Shell just about to hit me, but I missed by a second it seems…
The big new single player mode is “Knockout Tour” and that’s at least a fun spin on things using the new open world as you race across the whole map and every checkpoint the person is last place is knocked out until one remains. I do enjoy it (despite forgetting to take a screenshot of it…) probably because it’s not reminding me of what the game isn’t and instead just makes it feel like a new interesting thing. The other well-advertised mode is “Free Roam”, where you’ll be surprised to find out is where you freely roam across the open world, collecting things and doing mini-challenges spread out across the map. It can be quite relaxing, especially given the great “radio” of remixed Mario songs playing, but it didn’t keep my interest for long.
That’s it, well apart from doing Grand Prix and Knockout Tour online, but as you may know reading this blog that’s not really my thing (thankfully offline multiplayer is still an option, a rarity these days!) So plenty to do, especially the free roam, but it just never clicked with me. I know Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is compatible with Switch 2 so if I want a traditional Mario Kart experience I have more than enough cups and tracks to get on with by popping that in instead, so I get trying something new with World but for me it didn’t really work…
Graphics and Sound:
Look at that grass and the draw-distance! The castle and floating islands way off in the distance are part of the map that you can go to and everything. The game is a nice showcase of the Switch 2, if nothing else.
Graphics are great, frankly. Colourful, detailed, new cartoony and very active and animated models for all the characters, a day and night cycle that has top class lighting… can’t complain at all there.
Sound? Oh man, obviously the sound effects and voice work is great, but the soundtrack! Over 200 brand new orchestral arrangements of Mario songs and tunes from across countless mainline and spin-off titles, some perfectly blending into the tracks you’re racing on and others just playing on the “radio” while you’re free roaming… it’s an amazing achievement, I’d honestly buy the soundtrack isolated because not being able to pick a track to listen to is rather annoying when I know some great remixes I’ve never heard are waiting for me to find, if only I could be arsed to Free Roam more…
Thoughts Now:
Ending with a look at Rainbow Road, as is tradition!
Mario Kart World is a great new type of Mario Kart game with a cleverly designed open world and fun new Knockout Tour mode, plus some relaxing free roaming with an amazing soundtrack on the “radio”, but for me it kind of rang hollow as it just wasn’t the Mario Kart experience I’m used to and for that reason I bounced off it quite quickly. I may return to it one day I’m sure, do a bit of free roaming to chill out or some such, but I doubt I’ll be playing it solidly again. Definitely a 4 rather than a 3 though, it’s a quality product… is it an £80 product? … Very few games I’ve ever played would be worth that, so I’ll have to say no.
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