The best videogame systems featured “multigames”. Super Mario Bros. & Duck Hunt. Wii Sports. The Sega Smash Pack. And now Mario Kart World launches the Nintendo Switch 2 as three different games.
First, we must acknowledge the big bullet (Bill) point for Mario Kart World: Free Roam Mode. You can “free roam” around tracks! It is truly a Mario Kart World! The promise that was made with Royal Raceway back in the N64 days is now realized, and you can see “the background” of any track and actually explore there. Look at this gigantic land where you can sightsee and perform location-based tricks and maybe find a way to get on top of one of Toad’s many illegitimate businesses!
And I couldn’t care less. I am 30 or 40 years old, and I do not need this. I 100% acknowledge that this would be my favorite feature of all time if I was 12. But now? There are 10,000 games out there with explorable worlds, and most of those have the decency to include the ability to get out of your car. I do not think Mario Kart World’s world is bad! I am happy it is there. But much like how in Super Mario Maker I preferred playing everyone else’s levels over Mario Making, I’ll just content myself with racing around the tracks, thank you.
And speaking of being happy, Knock-Out mode is the best thing to happen to this franchise. If Knock-Out Mode, the variation on Mario Kart’s traditional Grand Prix where you are basically racing one continuous track that is five-six times the length of your usual course, is a side effect of Mario Kart World’s free roam forcing these areas to be stitched together, then Free Roam Mode is an unintended, unmitigated success. Knock-Out Mode has revealed a hidden truth about every previous Mario Kart title: taking a single second out of racing to see a results screen is time that could be spent racing. It’s Mario Kart survival mode, but with the added bonus of literally never stopping until you hit the finish line (unless you fail to qualify for the next race, loser). And, yes, I could not be happier than when zooming along with Daisy demolishing the competition across five tracks in a row. I will wear that crown forever, Charging Chuck!
So here is where Game #2 comes into play. No, I am not going to distinguish between Grand Prix Mode and Knock-Out Mode. They are both, at their core, “Mario Kart”. You race, you powerslide, you grab a few items, and you hope to finish in first. Whether it is one giant track or four individual ones, that is Mario Kart in a green shell. And the reason I can say such a thing is that I have apparently been playing Mario Kart games for over thirty years. I jumped on Super Mario Kart from the first moment it was available (thanks, Nintendo Power propaganda!), and have played every version (minus that cell phone edition) ever since. As a result, I am also willing to admit that Mario Kart: Double Dash was my go-to party game for years, so if can attribute my Mario Kart skills to one particular game, it is definitely Double Dash. So, shucks, if I want to trim down my expertise years back to the Double Dash release, that’s only 22 years of Mario Karting. If a baby was born the exact moment I first got blue sparks on the Gamecube, that “kid” is now old enough to drink. I have done my time in the Mario Kart mines.
Thus, I feel bad for my computer opponents. I have earned the golden car in Double Dash. I have completed all the challenges in Mario Kart DS. I played Mario Kart 8 on two different systems, and steered Roy Koopa to victory across all of them. So you want me to complete these 50 CC tracks? Or even 150 CC? Buddy, I may have never seen these courses before in my life (except Toad’s Factory. I am moderately certain I have slid on that exact conveyer belt 70,000,000,000 times), but I can still race circles around the competition. This is basically an iseki situation, and I got hit by a truck and transported into a world where I know everything there is to know about using super horns. In fact, that lack of significantly new items in Mario Kart World makes this even more pronounced, as I know exactly how to utilize three red shells to decimate my opponents. Not that I would ever be far enough behind to receive red shells, of course. Oh no, I am stuck with bananas and coins for the rest of forever, because I will be first forever. This is how Mario Kart works for me now. It is as if I am playing a game with kindergarteners, and that game is alligator wrestling. I can tear a croc apart with my hands. The children… well… We were thinking about getting a new Little Timmy anyway. But the point is that I am a winner, and nothing can stop me. I have decades of experience, Dolphin That is Somehow Racing a Car, there was no way you could ever come close to passing me. Sit your water mammal ass down with your silver trophy.
And then there is Game #3: Online Mode.
Fun fact about having played Mario Kart for decades? I am not alone. The original Super Mario Kart was the 4th-best selling SNES game of all time, and sold nearly 9,000,000 copies. Now, many people that were ten when Mario Kart first dropped likely stopped playing videogames in the meanwhile, so I am probably not up against literally millions of people at my same skill level. But… Oh. Apparently if you look at Mario Kart as a franchise, it has sold nearly 190,000,000 different copies over the years. So, yeah, I might be battling a scant few nine million people that have played years and years of Mario Kart. And at the moment that this article is being written, the Nintendo Switch 2, the only place you can play Mario Kart World, has only been available for approximately two months. What does that have to do with anything? Well, the Nintendo Switch 2 is still in short supply, and we have not had a holiday season yet, so it is reasonable to assume anyone with a Nintendo Switch 2 and Mario Kart World is a dedicated Nintendo fan. They watched the Nintendo Directs. They preordered the videogame system the midnight it was available. 
They yelled at their mom for leaving their brand-new system out in the rain when she knew she was supposed to be watching for the UPS truck. If you are online and competing in Mario Kart World right now, there are extremely good odds you are a Mario Kart veteran in one way or another. Maybe you didn’t run the franchise until you could unlock R.O.B., but you have more than a few miles with Mario under your belt.
And holy crap is everyone online right now at roughly the same skill level.
There are outliers. There are people that are flipping over every flat surface, and boosting into a position that could only be described as “Super First Place Forever”. There are also people that patently do not know what they are doing, and have likely spent half the week figuring out how to avoid getting hit with your own boomerang. But once you pass those exceptions? Well, if you ever wondered what Mario Kart would look like if one green shell could knock you from first place to eighth, here you go. Mario Kart 8 had a maximum of twelve racers for any given competition. Mario Kart World doubles that to 24. And when 22 of those players are all at roughly the same skill level, a single Mega Mushroom is the difference between happily soaring over the finish line, or being roadkill on the Salty Salty Speedway. You must fight to win, because a fight is the only way you will survive.
And this fierce competition does not only encourage a player to “git gud”, but also inspires brand new Mario Kart techniques and strategies. Mario Kart has always distributed different random items depending on your place in the race, and being in first outranked the possibility of scoring a Lightning. Leads are more important than interesting items, right? No more! Now that a significant lead is practically impossible, gaming the RNG has become a game unto itself. Nab those trios of projectiles for the perfect moment to shatter shells against your opponents. Starman up right when you are in the thick of the competition. And, miraculously, the Golden Mushroom has become the most powerful item in the game. Knowing exactly when you can boost over some rough terrain and go from tenth place to first is arguably the most important moment in any Knock-Out battle. But be careful! Not all tracks have off-roading (or their version of “off-roading” means “fall off a cliff”), so it is not ever an instant win button. Oh, and don’t forget to nab a humble banana peel or green shell as you come into any final straightaway. You don’t want to get knocked out because two red shells dropped you out of the heat at the last second!
And it is a completely different game from any Mario Kart I have played before.
So congratulations to Mario Kart World for providing a multigame right at the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch. Sure, you’ll be playing a lot of Super Mario Bros, but it is nice to know Duck Hunt is there for a quick change of pace.
SBC #43 Wario & Mario Kart World
Wario in Super Smash Bros Ultimate
- They any Good? Like Rosalina, Wario really needs items to shine. He’s such a hungry dude! He is not as heavy as some of the heavies, but his boundless hunger means he can recover health by eating and/or biting. How did that wind up happening? All the big eaters in this cast (Kirby, Dedede, Ridley), and Wario is the one that gets health benefits from nibbling.
- That final smash work? I still miss transformation hijinks, but the ol’ dash ‘n cinema gets the job done. And there are farts! Wario is good at farts, so Wario Man is amazing at farts.
- The background work? The WarioWare stage blesses my random heart with the kind of switching between areas and tasks that I love. I acknowledge that the changing shape of “the floor” is a drawback, but I can also hide under an umbrella where I don’t have to think of such issues.
- Classic Mode: I’m-a Gonna Win is the story of Wario fighting all the heavy, strong jerks in the game. And Ike. Ike is only marginally a jerk. The finale is Master/Crazy Hand, but that really should have been Giga Bowser. Master Hand is not known for being heavy!
- First Appearance: Wario has gone through some necessary tweaks and changes over the years (behind the hood, he is practically two different characters between Ultimate and 4), but his general feel and moveset has not changed much since his premiere. I am still a little mad that Brawl gave us WarioWare Wario as the base, and not Dragon-hat adventurer Wario. We already had Mr. Game & Watch for quirky movements!
- Smash Trivia: Wario’s English Classic Mode title is “I’m-a Gonna Win” to evoke all those wonderful feelings of playing Mario Kart 64. However, in Japan, the title translates to “My super strength is number one!”, which is much more appropriate for a tour of the most powerful smashers around.
- Amiibo Corner: Despite the appearance of goggles in WarioWare form, I do prefer the OG Wario outfit. So I’m happy we get both! The Smash Amiibo has a cool denim texture and a pose that is very appropriate to today’s subject, while the Mario Party amiibo is mostly just round. Wario is a big boy! Both models capture Wario’s innate sliminess, so the only improvement I would suggest is blasting these statues in garlic sauce until they are scratch ‘n sniff.
- Does Smash Bros Remember Today’s Game? Wario can use his motorcycle all through Mario Kart World, so this is one of the few games where a Mario character can have the same special moves in Smash or Mario Kart. …. Yes “drive around” is a move!
Wario in Mario Kart World
System: Nintendo Switch 2. Woo! It’s a brand-new system!- Number of players: I have played plenty of single player and 2-player, but I believe 4-player is also available locally. And then we get into that whole “24 player” online thing, and that gets messy.
- Favorite Racer: I have a hard time selecting anyone but Daisy when she is available. However, I do seem to have better luck with the lightest racers, so I switch to Toadette often (Daisy, I swear I am not calling you fat).
- Favorite Track: Boo Cinema has that fun bit where you steer directly into a screen, and that was the most fun I had in Mario Kart World. It is a little weird that you wind up racing over “Scared Peach” as a recurring tile (can’t they cycle out to different characters being afraid? Luigi is generally known for this kind of thing…), but the vibes and music of the area are immaculate.
- The Best Change: Finally, after years of blue shells and lightning just obliterating anyone midflight, there have been tweaks to how the physics of getting hit works, and you don’t just drop like an immobile stone the minute someone gets lucky with a decent item. Thank God.
- So, did you beat it? Mario Kart World is the kind of game where you watch the credits roll within the first half hour, but are still unlocking random outfits for Bowser Jr. weeks later. So, yes, I have trophies across the board, but I don’t think the RNG gods will ever bless me with a playable Fish Bone. What’s important is that Rainbow Road is an amazing track, and I am disappointed it does not play into Knock-Out mode or get an alternate version. Come on, DLC!
- Why did I do that? Yes…
This is possible. - Goggle Bob Fact: Every first place finish I have ever earned has been thanks to my impeccable skills in Mario Kart. Every loss I have ever suffered has been because I got hit with a shell at exactly the wrong time. This is how the world works.
- Did you know? Luigi is capable of feeling shame at a greater intensity than all other racers. When he muscles Baby Daisy off a track, a part of his mind is actively (but metaphorically) crying.
- Would I play again: My first Nintendo Switch 2 game was/is digital for the express purpose of being able to replay this bad boy without fishing a cartridge from the… uh… Whatever we call that piece of furniture where Nintendo Switch 2 games live. The Switch Hutch? No matter! Mario Kart 8 was quietly one of my most played Nintendo Switch games, and now Nintendo Switch 2 has its own Mario Kart right at the starting line. I know it is going to see some play.
What’s next? The Smash Bros Challenge will only be on the last Friday of the month, so we’re back to the FGC next week, and Random ROB has chosen… Super Ninja Boy! Oh boy! That’s super! Please look forward to it!
