13 things I didn’t know about Mario Kart World until now

One is the impressions of the controller in hand and the other is the facts for lifelong Mario Kart fans. I used to publish my first feelings about Mario Kart World as soon as I played it at its premiere in Paris and now, after our respective visits to Nintendo’s Frankfurt and Madrid offices, Jonas has published his latest impressions with MKW and I have dedicated myself to capturing 15 minutes of exclusive gameplay, 60 screenshots… And the notes you’re reading now.

Because I had been there before, I noticed a priori smaller details, some curiosities, some crucial statements, all facts that until now I did not know, or did not fully master or understand. I hope you find them revealing and fascinating, full of fanservice, and ultimately as much fun as informative. Here we go!

1. Understanding the difference between track and section

Until you play it on your own, you won’t fully understand it. That’s what happened to me until the last preview. I’m not talking about how many tracks Mario Kart World has (that’s already been derived from other sources), but what the exact difference is between a track itself and the connecting stages between them, as well as the overall structure of the game in Grand Prix mode.

I’m going to try to explain it to you in a very simple way. First, forget about your traditional cups with four circuits. Here is the most repeated structure during my four-race GP races as follows, so pay attention:

1. Race 1: Traditional circuit of 3 or more laps.
2. Race 2: Two travel laps, one lap of the destination circuit.
3. Race 3: Two travel legs, one lap of the destination circuit.
4. Race 4: Two travel legs, one lap of the destination circuit.

As you read it: usually, unless it is the first circuit of the Cup in question (and sometimes not even that), you race only one full lap of the circuit itself. And even if you raise an eyebrow, this has two wonderful advantages. First, the feeling of traveling between interconnected zones is total. Second, what we call the sections or stages are fantastically designed, and although they are laid out in the open world, they have a racing quality that feels like fully designed closed circuits.

Now when you consider that a closed circuit is connected to several nearby circuits with back and forth connecting sections, you have to go back and calculate how many circuits there are in total in Mario Kart World, because there are many more than the 32 some have published…

To help you understand with practical examples. During our games, we saw the following:

• Mushroom Cup is circuit (3 rounds), two travel stages and one round in Crown City, two travel stages and one round in Whistlestop Summit, two travel stages and one round in DK Spaceport, (further divided into six checkpoints).
• The Shell Cup is Koopa Beach ( 5 rounds ), two tripette stages and one round in Faraway Oasis, three triplegs and a round in Crown City, two triplegs and a round in Peach Stadium.
• The Banana Cup is Peach Beach (3 checkpoints, not laps ), two legs and a lap at Salty Salty Speedway, three legs and one round in Dino Dino Jungle, two travel stages and one round in Great ? Block Ruins

See the differences in bold? It’s easier to understand by looking at the map: apart from the first number, it’s mostly a long road that connects to a track at the end, and the game zooms in once you get to the track itself. Check out our gameplay to see.

2. The loaded jump has three charges, as does the drift

At first it seemed that the third charge of the drift did not work, and then I realized that the smart steering wheel assist is enabled by default. Once deactivated, I could start doing the minidash (blue), superminidash (red) and finally ultraminidash (rainbow) while holding the drift in tight turns.

Well, the same goes for the loaded jump. This new technique, performed the same way but in a straight line, and used to jump over fences, cars or opponents, as well as to produce its own sprint, also has the same three levels and colors as drifts.

3. The shells sound retro

At least the sound of Mario Kart World feels like a bigger evolution than the graphics. I look forward to enjoying it in 5.1 PCM Linear surround, but for now I’ll take the fantastic quality of the jazz fusion soundtrack and sound effects that make its old predecessor pale in comparison.

Explosions, crashes, banana peels…. it all sounded great in the preview hours, but I stick to the sound of the smashing shells, which is the retro sound of the first Super Mario Bros. You already pronounce it with your mouth, right? “Totí”.

4. Waluigi Vampire deserves a crossover game with Luigi’s Mansion

I laughed my ass off at some of the characters and outfits. I was instantly won over by Crab (as you can see in my gameplay), melted by Yoshi Aristocrat’s monocle and others trolled the rest with Dolphin, but if there was unanimity, it was with the irresistible charm of none other than…. Waluigi Vampire! Waaaah!

With his style, his poses and now his Bram Stoker-like attire, we may already see a collaboration, cameo or star appearance in an upcoming Luigi’s Mansion.

5. Mario Kart World will not run in native 4K

It seems Digital Foundry put the magnifying glass on the first footage months ago to do some eyeball math and conclude that it renders in 2K (1440p). Nintendo could not or would not officially confirm Mario Kart World’s native resolution for now during the preview, but while we wish it had taken full advantage of Nintendo Switch 2 at 60 fps, we have to say that it looks fantastic and detailed despite the scaling, as you can see in my 4K gameplay:

6. You can set your VS races as tracks with or without stretching

Remember what I told you in point 1? Well, in VS races, whether it’s multiplayer or solo, you can set the options to display sections or not, in case you’re looking for a more traditional Mario Kart experience where there are only a few laps of a closed circuit, or where the sections only show up on longer tracks divided into sections, and not as travel routes.

7. Piranha Plant strikes fear into the hearts of experienced rivals

A funny and amusing thing: because the Piranha Plant was an item in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Floro Piranha was the character, it happened during our tests that every time I approached a Piranha Plant, or when someone approached me while I was driving it, we instinctively tried to move away, remembering the hundreds of bites we took in MK8.

8. P-Switch missions are at an all-time high

During my hours of gameplay, I spent a lot of time in Free Roam mode and was able to try out a handful of P-Switch missions. There were blue coins to collect, hoops to jump through…. Mostly offroad and, in many cases, through the air. As you read it: a large number, perhaps a majority in the final game, of the missions, suggest you take to the air, either with a vine, a booster, a pipe…. And from above, to glide with precision to overcome the challenge.

You don’t succeed? Well, it’s not like in some of the Forza Horizon missions, where you have to go back to the starting spot, but you can try again once you fail.

9. You can teleport to other characters on the map

During that exploration of the open world in Free Roam mode to get all the P Switch missions or to get all the Finding? Panels in the far corners, you have other transportation or quick travel facilities that I didn’t know about. Namely:

• You can open the map and teleport to where another character, human or CPU, is immediately, and switch to them in the latter.
• You can select a number on the map and travel to it quickly.
• You can also change your current character and vehicle at the current point, perhaps to take on a challenge in a different way.

10. Transvestism is an option

Transforming or changing your outfit when attempting the Dash Food is only an option for human characters, but only that, an option. While fiddling with the driving aids in the controller settings, we discovered that “Dash Food: Transform ” is enabled by default, but if you are bothered by changing your character and want to keep your chosen style, you can disable it.

11. After the lightning comes the storm

A fantastic detail that you may have noticed in the previous videos. When a racer throws the Lightning item, a storm almost always breaks out and it starts raining, with all the consequences these weather conditions have to make driving difficult. I say almost always because a few times it didn’t happen. On one I was inside and thought it was because of that, but on the other it was outdoors, so I imagine it has a bit of a random factor.

12. Stickers decorate your kart

In one of the breaks, Nintendo explained how stickers work. Apart from unlocking characters and vehicles, this third collectible obviously serves to decorate your kart before racing. We will tell you in detail how to get all the stickers after launch, but guess there are a lot of them….

13. 150 CC seems slower

We have not yet been able to confirm if there will be a 200cc class (Mirror Mode seems to be a given), but I have been playing all my games at 150cc. The CPU opponents are pretty tough, as you can see in some of my gameplay clips, but the most curious thing is that the game seems slower for this class.

They may have adjusted the speed a bit, but I think it’s more of a judgment given the extra width of the tracks and especially in the open world. Indeed, when the screen is full of people pushing and shoving each other and using objects, in the traditional Mario Kart-characteristic delightful chaos, I tell you, the 150cc didn’t feel slow at all….