It is crazy to think that it has taken more than three decades to finally get a Mario Kart game the day of the release.
On paper, it is the perfect type of game to have the first day: an established IP, one of the best -selling series in the history of video games, one that can be played by all levels of skill, and one that will surely provide longevity during those months traditionally calm after launch.
And yet, after the debut in SNES of the game, Mario Kart has been released on all Nintendo Home and Handheld consoles from (sorry, Virtual Boy, except you), but never day and date with a system (although 8 Deluxe approached, a month after Switch launch). With Mario Kart World, it is finally happening, and it probably could not have arrived at a better moment in the timeline of the series.
While it may not be evident immediately given its two completely different genres, Mario Kart World will do it for Switch 2 what Zelda’s legend: Breath of the Wild did for the original console. Both games take a respected and very dear series and, instead of giving the players a visually improved version of the formula they expect, instead, return to things with innovation in the open world.
My time with Mario Kart World consisted of two separate sessions, with two different types of race. The first of these sessions made me play a Grand Prix race, which naturally felt more like the traditional Mario Kart we got used to. Given a wide range of characters to choose from, there was only one that could have opted for: cow.
Mario Kart World seems to have adopted a “Everybody’s Here” Smash Bros style for his list this time, although strictly limited to the Super Mario series this time for now, because it seems that no character is out of doubt when it comes to a possible inclusion in the game.
Just as it felt as if Mario Kart 8 Deluxe had covered all the viable characters that could have appeared in the series, the doors of the mushroom kingdom have been kicked tall, and now any creature that has been in a Mario game apparently has a good photo of entering there. We have already seen people like a Goomba, a Piranha, Pokey, Fish Bone, Cheep Cheeps, Coin Coin plant and more there as playable characters, and that is just scratching the surface.
What about Rocky Wrench, the little mole that first appeared in Super Mario Bros 3, leaving a caterpillar at the aircraft levels and threw the keys? Yes, he is there. How are Sidesteppers, the crabs that appeared in the original Mario Bros Arcade? They are there too. The people of Pianta del Sol? The Super Mario 64 penguin? Both are also there. Even a Moo Moo Meadows cow is playable, so, naturally, that is what I chose.
What is not yet clear is how these characters are unlocked in the game. Although Mario Kart 8 Deluxe hit you with a list of 40 immediately, it is because it was a special editing relaunch, as with most previous games of the series, the original version of Wii U of Mario Kart 8 started with 16 characters and made you unlock more while you played.
It seems inevitable that only a fraction of the world list is available at the beginning, with some of the most niche and less known faces that are unlocked later. Who knows, hopefully, it can be where the side of the open world of things comes into play, with some characters that potentially hide in unexplored areas.
“Is the people of Pianta del Senshine? Super Mario 64’s penguin? Both are there too. Even a Moo Moo Meadows cow is playable, so, naturally, that’s what I chose.”
Another change in the list, but not a completely new one, is something that seems to have been borrowed from the mobile game Mario Kart Tour. The characters can now use a lot of different outfits: on the selected screen of characters, I saw Mario in his standard monkey, in a rally suit and in a cowboy outfit, and the game trailer showed more than that. While there is an ignition that allows you to change your outfit in the middle of the race, it seems that you can also choose a specific outfit on the selected screen of characters.
This throws a problem, which will surely have to be solved for the main game: the selected characters is currently a random disaster of characters and outfits. Nintendo has wisely decided to spread the characters in numerous ‘pages’ (similar to the applications on the start screen of a mobile phone) instead of trying to click all its icons on a single screen, but the demonstration already had eight pages with 60 characters and attire there, from a dressed toadet as an ice cream seller to Pleach with a yukata (summer kimono).
Since at least 50 characters have already been seen, so FA, and since it is estimated that Mario could only have up to 10 costumes, that list will expand far beyond 60 spaces, so luckily Nintendo will do the intelligent and will only have a single slot for each character, which then expands to a selected outfit once they are chosen. Demonstrations sometimes have makeshift menus, so I am not yet greatly concerned about that.
Another interesting thing to keep in mind is that, although the selection of characters seems to have cultivated arms and legs, the selection of vehicles seems to have reduced some of them. At least in the demonstration, players could choose a kart or bike as usual, but there were no options for the wheel or the type of candle. While this reduction in customization options will mean less scope for cosmetic changes, at least it eliminates part of the granular statistics that bother me personally. If this really means that the end of having to choose between sponge, wood and thin tires, then I will not miss it.
I am wading wildly from my great Race Prix, but it is probably because it is the aspect of the demonstration that I found more familiar. This is partly due to the fact that I played two separate races, one in a switch 2 connected to a television, and another on a switch 2 in the portable mode, which means that I could not see the new most interesting function of Grand Prix. Although the first race in Grand Prix is its standard three laps circuit, the second race begins from the same circuit and makes you drive there first, in a point -to -point race similar to Maka Wuhu or Mount Wario of previous games, before completing a return when you get there.
However, for me, simply doing the first race twice in a row, he felt a standard career of Mario Kart Grand Prix, but that is certainly not bad. Of course, there have been some changes to refresh things a bit: grinding and wall jump appeared on the trailer, but now you can also hold the jump button to load a small leap of impulse. When I say little, I say it seriously: it is not clear how useful it will be in races, but I would not worry that it is the new snake yet. You can also perform numerous acrobatics in the air now, similar to the Sonic & Sega All-Stars games, with more acrobatics that get a better impulse when you land.
There is also more focus on coins this time. Because the series games do not say it much explicitly, some players can ignore that in most Mario Kart’s titles, the more collecting coins, the faster your maximum speed will be, up to a lid of 10 currencies. This has now increased to 20 currencies, and there are new potentiators, such as a block of questions that appears above its head and can be repeatedly beaten, or a gold shell that leaves a trace of coins behind, designed to hit that faster lid.
In general, however, Nintendo has wisely opted not to change too much in terms of central mechanics, which means that although there are many new ideas here, anyone who has played his fair part of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will feel comfortable playing Mario Kart World.
And then there is the knockout tour. The idea of elimination races is nothing new in racing games: in fact, I personally don’t like them because they almost always last too much. Mario Kart World, however, has done the remarkable when providing a elimination style race that I not only enjoyed, but I loved it.
The rules are simple enough. Initially, players are taken to an open -free world section while waiting for others to join. Once the complete set of 24 players is available, they all vote in one of the eight demonstrations, with a randomly chosen. The 24 players participate in Rally’s long race, which is divided into six sections, each with a control point. To reach each section, you must pass the control point in the 20 or better, then 16, then 12, then 8, then 4, then, in the final section, there are only four remaining runners fighting for the first place.
There are numerous reasons why Mario Kart’s version about the Battle Royale format works very well. To begin with, the fact that the game has increased the number of runners to 24 means that what was already a fairly heavy series based on articles has become a total butcher shop. Skilled corridors will still come to the head of the herd more frequently than less experienced players, but by doubling the number of potentiators that fly, the random nature of the races has increased, and it is a joy.
The other main element that makes Mario Kart World differ from so many other racing games with elimination modes is that, although most of the other examples imply applying a set of rules based on the elimination to the same courses as usual, which means that it is only completing multiple laps until you are the only one that is left to the left, instead it has eight separate ways, each of which consists of six. different points.
“The fact that the game has increased the number of corridors to 24 means that what was already a fairly heavy series based on articles has become a total butcher shop.”
In a rally, for example, you can start at Desert Hills and travel through the new Mario Bros circuit, Choco Mountain, Moo Moo Meadows and Mario Circuit before finishing in Acorn Heights. The fact that the course continues to change the more what it obtains makes it infinitely more convincing than the games with an elimination mode based on the lap, on the other hand, for me it had a more career sensation, with that unbridled joy that comes when reaching a control point just in time (or in this case, just below the limit of the position) and seeing the change of landscape as its reward to survive until the next stage.
There is a lot about Mario Kart World that still has to be discovered. My total time dedicated to playing in the open world section amounted to about 45 seconds, since I arrived like almost everyone else were ready to compete (although it was still enough time for a member of Nintendo staff to tell me how to do the new Hop Boost, which I quickly did on a wall while I was filmed, my own moment of coupade).
Undoubtedly, the next Nintendo Direct, which focuses completely on Mario Kart World, will reveal even more characteristics, modes and small extras, which makes it even clearer than this, the first edition in Mario Kart’s main house in eleven years, it has been worth it. All I know is that, and I’m sorry, Zelda fans, this is the most excited thing I have been to have in my hands a release game from Super Mario 64.
