One of my favorite new features in Nintendo’s upcoming Mario Kart World was the rolling start. It really gave the feeling that I was literally rolling up to the race track, ready to rumble when the lights turned green.
In my time with Mario Kart World yesterday, it became quite clear that I’m not sure I could go back to your standard circuit races from the series’ past. During our hands-on with the Nintendo Switch 2, we had the chance to check out the Grand Prix and Knockout Tour modes, and the latter mode is definitely a standout.
Grand Prix felt more like your standard Mario Kart, though much crazier now with the inclusion of 24 total drivers. The characters range from Mario himself to a Cow. Yes, a literal Cow. Nintendo dug deep into its roster, with characters such as Rosalina and Pauline making the cut alongside Toad, Peach, and yes, Cow.
The fact that the cow is just named Cow will never not be funny.
Grand Prix mode itself sees players race between four connected courses as part of the Prix, with each race blending into the next in a wild open world race to the finish line. You race not just on the track, but the spots between each track, which is such an awesome feeling.
Mario Kart World’s familiar controls are there, and picking up the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller and pulling off a drift turn, firing off a shell at an unsuspecting player, or doing a barrel roll off a ramp felt like returning home. The rail grinding and wall riding gave me new avenues to beat my opponents around a course, and it honestly felt incredible to pull of a jump onto a wall, then grind a rail back down the to track, all while firing a red shell to ensure that I would swap places with the person in front of me.
What makes all this super hectic is the fact that there are just more racers on the track. Twenty-four players is just a lot, no matter how you shake it up.
The rolling start to each race makes those opening moments feel a bit like Mad Max. It’s a mass traffic jam of players picking up speed thanks to slip streams, bouncing off each other in a mad dash for placement, and it only gets more hectic once items start getting added into the mix.
It was the most alive Mario Kart has felt for me in literal years.
Knockout Tour is similar in that you’re racing between a circuit of interconnected tracks, karting throughout the world of Mario Kart World. Before the full roster of twenty-four players are assembled, there was a free roam period where we could simply do just that: free roam.
It was here where Mario Kart World really became interesting. Throughout every entry in the series we’re taught to not go off track. Your Kart gets slower, you lose position and more if you do decide to rumble off the course. However, in Free Roam, it’s encouraged.
In my little pod of journalists, the three of us all started in the same general area, but by the time we were able to start up our Knockout Tour run, we were in three very different areas – I ended up near a haunted mansion, reminiscent of Banshee Boardwalk from Mario Kart 64, while the journalists to my left and right were near lava flows and catching some waves near a beach. It showed just how much variety there is to the map, and how taking the road less traveled can put you in some incredible locations to uncover secrets.
Knockout Tour was likely my highlight of the day, though. This race unfolded very similarly – a rolling start that turns into a gaggle of position jockeying, everyone picking up speed from the next with slipstreams. The goal of Knockout Tour is to not be, well, knocked out at each checkpoint.
The tracks and the space between them are the race, and once you hit a checkpoint if you’re not in the proper position in the race, you’re knocked out. I started the race towards the head of the pack, but it quickly felt like a tug of war – an item such as a shell or Bullet Bill would rocket me back a few places, and the tension to make sure I made the cut at each checkpoint had me gripping the Pro Controller tightly with each curve of the road.
I comfortably made the first few cuts, but by the time it came to cut down to the final eight racers, it was a struggle. Bouncing between first and eleventh place felt like a seesaw of racing, and it took all my skill to keep my cart from getting knocked off the track, or to avoid items coming my way thanks to handy indicators on screen when one was behind me.
Yet, when the checkpoint came I was neck and neck with my fellow racers, just on the edge. And it looked like I had secured 8th place when I crossed the line.
I was 9th. Womp womp.
Still, it was a ton of fun, and it might be the mode I spend the most time in when Mario Kart World launches with the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5th. Despite the $79.99 price tag ($89.99 if you want the physical copy), this will be a system seller, and it makes me feel the near decade since Mario Kart 8 graced the Nintendo Switch was well worth the wait. It’s the most exciting, and original, Mario Kart to date, and I cannot wait to play more.
