Mario Kart World is the Mario Kart game I dreamt of as a kid. My brother and I spent hours leaping off-track with the feather in Super Mario Kart or messing around Peach’s Castle in Mario Kart 64’s Royal Raceway. As its name implies, Mario Kart World offers a freely explorable world filled with interconnected tracks and cups consisting of races on and between said tracks. It doubles the number of racers and adds new mechanics like wall riding, making races feel even more hectic than the series is known for. Instead of simply building on its predecessor’s solid foundation, the game takes inspiration from rally racing to push the series in a new direction.
Where Mario Kart World excels is in its presentation: gorgeous visuals paired with an expansive soundtrack full of wonderful arrangements from across the Mario universe. As much as it is a pleasure to look at and listen to, I didn’t have a great time actually playing it. Even at 150cc, driving feels slow, drifting feels redundant, and races generally feel more luck-based than before. I think the game is great for newcomers, streamers and co-op sessions with friends to double down on the game’s mayhem. For my younger self Mario Kart World would have been a dream come true, but I’d rather revisit the refined formula in Mario Kart 8.