Platform: Nintendo Switch 2
The Nintendo Switch 2 is off to a roaring start with this keystone launch title, evolving the fan-favourite Mario Kart formula for a new era. Expect all the chaotic racing the series has spent decades perfecting, along with some smart new driving tricks for more skilled players to master, a host of new power-up items, and the biggest roster of drivers ever seen.
The big hook is the "world" of the title though, with this latest lap adopting an ambitious open-world approach, essentially allowing Mario Kart to offer its own cartoony take on Forza Horizon. While that brings changes to many of the core multiplayer races themselves, it also makes for a vast island peppered with glorious stuff to do between races.
This is best explored in the new Free Roam mode. It's an absolute joy, allowing you to zoom anywhere in the world, switching between unlocked characters at will, and just seeing what's out there. There are "? Panels" to drive over for a reward (often hidden literally off the beaten path and requiring your keenest trick-driving skills to reach, such as the new ability to drive on walls or grind along rails), or P Blocks, which activate impromptu challenge races. Those are just the parts you see upfront – you might also be racing around and suddenly find yourself having to chase down an enemy and land a hit with a green shell, or have to do a hit-and-run on item thief Nabbit. Other times, you might realise you can drive right into bigger vehicles like convoys or boats and take them for a spin, just because.
Whatever you're doing, the game is constantly rewarding you too, with new vehicles for every 100 coins you collect, and stickers for customising those vehicles for each little milestone reached – total distance driven, how many tricks you've pulled off, and more. It makes for a Mario Kart that's meatier than ever for solo players.
It's still in multiplayer that the game best comes alive though, and now supporting up to 24 players makes it more frantic than ever. It's a blast in the returning Grand Prix mode, where you'll aim for a podium finish in eight cups of four races each, but really comes to the fore in the new Knockout Mode. Here, the bottom four drivers are eliminated after each race in a series of six, eventually leaving only the top four to battle it out for the crown. It's genuinely thrilling to nip into the survival bracket at the last moment, and equally heartbreaking to not make the cut by fractions of a second.
You may not think Mario Kart's animated aesthetic would be the best example of the Switch 2's new 4K capabilities [...] but it's a great showcase for the new hardware's increased power compared to its predecessor.
Being open world does change how many of these races operate, though. Rather than multiple loops around familiar fixed circuits, you'll often be tearing down trails between set race locations, then doing a single lap once you've reached a particular track. That changes tactics somewhat – shortcuts and alternate routes are often blink-and-miss, not passed again next time around, and long-haul races make memorising exactly when to drift or brake more of a gamble. It's an experiment that could have backfired for the series, but it pays off more often than not, and really sells the scale of the world.
And what a world! You may not think Mario Kart's animated aesthetic would be the best example of the Switch 2's new 4K capabilities (when docked to a TV) compared to something more photo-realistic, but it's a great showcase for the new hardware's increased power compared to its predecessor. Draw distance is incredible, with landmarks visible far into the horizon, and almost nothing is out of bounds. There's some brilliant verticality too, such as in the "Great ? Block Ruins" track that floats high in the sky – find the right spot to rocket off there in Free Roam, and you can glide as far as the eye can see.
For all it gets right, there are a few oddities and quibbles in Mario Kart World, though. Character select is a mess, with alternate costumes for racers (unlocked by grabbing a new Dash Food item from drive-thrus or food carts) eating up multiple slots, rather than being a cosmetic chosen after picking your character, and it's far from intuitive how to race online with friends – you need to hop through a menu and create a specific room, rather than just being able to invite people to your session. Given how much Nintendo is leaning into social play with the Switch 2's new GameChat features, this feels like a missed opportunity. There's also no sign, yet, of the blazingly fast 200cc mode introduced in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. However, given the longevity that game enjoyed, hopefully these are all issues that can be updated in Mario Kart World in the months and years to come.
Otherwise, this is an absolute joy. An ambitious kart racer packed with new ideas, that's more satisfying for single players while bringing fresh material to the multiplayer experience, this is the perfect launch game for the Switch 2.