MARIO KART WORLD

Shifting Gears

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Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) Release Date: 06/05/2025 Played On: Nintendo Switch 2 Reviewed By: Eduard Gafton

Mario Kart World has the unenviable task of being the successor to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: arguably the best game in the series and inarguably Nintendo's best selling game of all time at 68.2 million units sold. Much to its credit, Mario Kart World breaks away from the formula established, which Mario Kart 8 has pretty much perfected, but while with this comes newfound success, also emerging are some growing pains. The result, nevertheless, is a great launch title for the Switch 2 and one that is truly worthy of a podium place when considering all of the entries in the Mario Kart franchise so far.

Many of the 20-odd hours I spent with Mario Kart World, I spent in its front-facing game mode: Grand Prix (GP). For those unaware, GP is a single-player exclusive mode found in every Mario Kart and which involves accumulating as many points as possible, done by placing as high as possible in the standings, throughout four different tracks which together form a cup. Mario Kart World features 7* total cups and three engine speeds to race at: 50cc, 100cc and 150cc.

The engine speeds can be interpreted as the game's difficulty modes (easy, medium, and hard), while accessibility options such as smart steering, auto-accelerate, tilt controls and auto-use items can be used to, more or less, fine-tune the level of challenge. Surprisingly, in continuing the theme of breaking with tradition, Mario Kart World does not have a 200cc mode, although, in an interview with Rolling Stone, producer Kosuke Yabuki didn't completely rule out a future update which would include it.