Mario Kart World, the console’s very first game, was released to critical acclaim, but derived little love from fans. Even today, while it certainly has its admirers, many regard it as not just a weak entry in the franchise, but a poor choice of launch title for the burgeoning Switch 2. However, I think it is perhaps time we reevaluate our stance on Mario Kart World, now that it has been removed from the general disappointment surrounding the somewhat lacking Switch 2 launch line-up. After all, while it certainly has its flaws, Mario Kart World’s many strengths prove we’ve been very wrong about it this entire time.
Mario Kart World Is Much Better Than We Give It Credit For
Image Courtesy of Nintendo
Now, of course, it goes without saying that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If you truly dislike Mario Kart World, then that is more than acceptable. I’m not here trying to tell those who legitimately believe World to be a bad game to change their minds, as much as I do personally enjoy the game. Rather, I think now that we’ve distanced ourselves from the initial shock that the Switch 2 looks and feels the same as its predecessor, as well as from the feelings of disappointment we all felt when we learned that the console wouldn’t be getting a Breath of the Wild-sized game at launch, we are capable of viewing Mario Kart World in a more unbiased light.
When Mario Kart World first came out, I was extremely critical of it. I found its innovations to be too iterative, its open-world too barren, its visuals too similar to its predecessor, and its roster lacking the crossovers that made Mario Kart 8 Deluxe so unique. While I didn’t loathe playing it, I resented it for unjust reasons. I wanted a more substantial game to convince me that my $450 purchase was worthwhile, to illustrate just how impressive this new era of Nintendo would be. Mario Kart World, at launch, did both of those things, but I just couldn’t see the many ways it achieved them through my clouded judgment.
Sure, Mario Kart World could do with a little more content, at least in terms of maps, but it’s nevertheless a feature-rich experience with a plethora of modes that the series has long needed. The open world section elevates the core experience, both by transforming the Grand Prix mode into something with tangible progression and by offering a fun space in which to drive, perform tricks, and generally mess around with friends. Indeed, the co-operative component of the open world is an exceptional addition that I know for a fact my siblings and I would have loved when we were kids.
The aforementioned fundamental alterations to Mario Kart World’s Grand Prix mode may have put some players off, but it has always felt like the most stagnant aspect of the game. While the addition of new maps always helps refresh the experience, connecting each track in such a unique way and having you transition from one to another seamlessly is immensely satisfying, even if it comes at the cost of doing three laps of the same track. It also adds ostensibly three more tracks to each Grand Prix, and while they’re largely linear, it nevertheless helps sell the bigger world and plethora of variety.
Mario Kart World Feels Like A Natural Evolution For The Franchise
Image courtesy of Nintendo
Another aspect I barely hear anyone praise is Mario Kart World’s far more free-form approach to track design. The introduction of tricks allows for a much greater degree of control over how you approach each race and raises the skill ceiling significantly. You can skip huge swathes of each track by mastering jumps, flips, and timing, allowing you to get ahead of the competition by a high margin or recover if you’ve begun lagging behind. Mario Kart World is still an arcade-style racer at its heart and perfect for casual players, but the addition of tricks, in combination with the vastly improved track design and increased levels of verticality, rewards players for persevering and actually improving their skills.
In many ways, then, Mario Kart World feels like a natural evolution of a series that didn’t really have many directions to go in. As much as we laud previous entries, they’re all more or less the same, aside from a handful of new gimmicks. World, for the first time since perhaps Double Dash, has felt like it’s actually aiming for new heights, rather than resting on the laurels of its predecessor and namesake. It vastly improves track design, introduces a seamless open-world that connects every course, drastically alters the way the Grand Prix mode works, introduces new challenges to complete, and revamps movement to make it more of a skill-based experience for those looking for an extra layer of difficulty.
Yet, despite all of that, it is hard to deny that Mario Kart World was fighting an uphill battle when attempting to prove it’s a generational leap and worth the rather ridiculous $80 price tag. This is a staple in the Nintendo line-up, not an exceptional, once-in-a-generation release like Breath of the Wild. There’s little to get excited about here, even if its innovations are exciting. Mario Kart World also has problems, many of which Nintendo has yet to address. It is no wonder that we were all a little blindsided into believing that it simply wasn’t worth the ticket price, nor buying an entire console for.
It Is Okay To Enjoy Mario Kart World
Image Courtesy of Nintendo
I say all of this not with the intention of trying to dissuade those of you who truly dislike Mario Kart World or simply don’t jive with its alterations to the core formula. Rather, I say this as a reassurance to myself, more than anything, that it is okay to enjoy Mario Kart World. I got so wrapped up in disliking it simply because I felt some sense of entitlement to yet another once-in-a-lifetime launch line-up that Nintendo would simply never be able to pull off again, and out of sheer desperation to feel justified in having bought a Switch 2 far too early.
Is Mario Kart World perfect? No. Is it good? Yes, absolutely, and that’s all it needs to be. This is Mario Kart, after all, a game designed to be fun and little more. It isn’t aiming to join the ranks of the greatest games of all time, but rather offer those who own a Switch 2 an enjoyable way to spend time with friends and family. The $80 price tag certainly hurts, and it doesn’t really help to sell Mario Kart World as a family-friendly experience. It’s too expensive for what it is aiming to achieve, even if its feature-rich gameplay is arguably worthwhile.
I think this is likely the biggest reason why so many of us turned on Mario Kart World so quickly. It tarnished the potentially great legacy it could have had, and the lack of support Mario Kart World received from Nintendo since launch has done little to rectify that. What World needs, more than anything, is additional, potentially even free DLC, to endear those who bought into the negativity toward it. It needs its most lacklustre features fixed, and it needs to be balanced out by a sea of similarly worthwhile titles that help to bury it a little. Perhaps then, people will begin to see Mario Kart World not for the circumstances of its release, but for its incredible gameplay, stunning visuals, and surprising new additions.
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