It’s no secret that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was a massive seller on the original Switch, but Mario Kart World could be on a whole other level.
To get the numbers out of the way, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch has sold 68.2 million units, which is more than double what Zelda: Breath of the Wild managed, and we all know how that game helped launch the first Switch.
So, on paper at least, Mario Kart World seems like a corporate no-brainer: make the game massive and open-world, and wait for the tidal wave of endless sales.
Thankfully, Mario Kart World isn’t as brain-dead and overly corporate as the above sounds. A lot of very careful and creative work has gone into this enormous game, and it certainly does show.
If you’re coming off the back of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and need your regular Mario Kart fix, Mario Kart World has got you covered. The standard Grand Prix mode is present and correct.
You have four tracks per cup with varying speed difficulties. Some of the tracks are more point-to-point affairs, as they are using parts of the open world, but it’s all clearly messaged, and you can plough through the various cups just fine.
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One point to mention here is the final Rainbow Road circuit. While most of Mario Kart World looks nice enough, the new Rainbow Road is genuinely astonishing to behold (shown below).
The core gameplay has also been reworked and has had its functionality expanded. The number of new “tricks” you can do along with the traditional boost slide is quite numerous. It almost feels like a skateboarding game at times, as you chain tricks together to get multiple boosts.
The other follow-up from the open world is that, in addition to the Grand Prix mode, you also have a new Knockout Tour mode. This is more akin to a marathon, with multiple tracks and areas stitched together over a really long Outrun-esque race (albeit minus the branching).
This new Knockout Mode really helps you to grasp the size of this game, and that brings me to Free Roam.
Free Roam is the big new thing for Mario Kart World. You can explore an enormous continent, finding secrets and missions all over the place. It does feel a bit odd initially, as Mario Kart has prided itself on really well-honed and focused track design, but this new open world setup does work.
However, I really feel that the open world aspect of Mario Kart World is enhanced by playing with friends. Nintendo has combined the party game element of other games they make with an exploratory driving experience, and it’s really quite unlike anything else.
This brings me to the credits and the game’s increased price tag.
Having played Mario Kart World a fair bit and watched the nearly endless credits, it’s obvious that this is a massive game, both in terms of content and the backend development that made it possible. With all that in mind, I feel the price tag is justified in this instance, as this will be a console-defining game for years to come for the Switch 2.
I’ve also covered in previous articles that this price increase in games is actually coming from publishers trying to make their money back after all the major AAA games they released tanked, which is also the cause of all the layoffs.
That aside, the other online modes are great and, at least from my playthroughs, very stable. Admittedly, I am in Japan, and the internet connection speeds here are extremely high, so obviously bear that in mind.
Overall, Mario Kart World is a huge undertaking, but it still offers the classic Mario Kart progression we’ve all grown up with. Whether this will sell as much as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remains to be seen, but from the off, Mario Kart World definitely has an enormous amount of content to wrap your head around, and the multiplayer will likely keep it an evergreen release for years to come, much like the other games in the series have been.
Mario Kart World
Platform: Nintendo Switch 2
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 5th June 2025
Price: $79.99
Score: 9/10
Disclosure: Nintendo sent me a copy of this game for the purposes of this review.
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