Let me get straight to it, this game is fantastic. It’s a love letter to fans of the series and makes meaningful changes to the formula that result in a fresh experience that everyone can enjoy. Why is it so good? I’m glad you asked.

There is so much character in this game. From the roster, to the animations, everything is so full of life. Characters each have a unique dance on the select screen and selection animation that highlights who they are. I mean, Dry Bones literally falls to pieces. It’s perfect. Their emoting doesn’t stop there as each one has different poses they’ll strike when you perform tricks and when they hit others with items. Seeing these characters with refreshed designs and real emotions is a huge deal as they’ve never been this expressive. Nintendo also decided to allow us to play as random Mario enemies. We can be a Coin Coffer, Crab and of course Cow. It’s almost an “Everyone is here!” moment if not for the absence of the Koopalings and other Kongs. The characters that are here have multiple various costumes that add to their new representation meaningfully. Daisy has a desert-inspired outfit since she’s the princess of a desert kingdom; DK and Boswer both have their Skylanders outfits; Yoshi has an outfit that references Boshi and many more. Some characters only have a couple costumes, but others have multiple. In addition to this, the “enemy” characters don’t have any costumes at all. Koopa and Shy Guy have a couple of outfits, but Dolphin, Cow, Sidestepper and the others don’t have any. I can tell they put a lot of work into the costumes themselves, and maybe they didn’t want to just throw a hat on a Cheep Cheep, but it feels lame. Even if it was an additional color with a hat, I think it would’ve gone a long way to helping make the weird characters feel more welcome. An orange Pianta in a dress with a sun hat is a missed opportunity.

The character is further exemplified in its course design. They wanted the game to feel like a road trip and, for better or worse, they nailed it. A grand prix sees you racing through four courses across the world until the winner is decided. The format differs some from previous entries as driving from one track to the next is part of the race. Instead of doing multiple laps on the same course, you’ll only drive one or two laps at the next course upon arrival. It makes the courses themselves have less impact as you don’t spend much time on them. This issue really makes itself known when playing in the vs race mode online. Each round sees the lobby voting on a course, like previous installments, the catch being that they have to be adjacent to the one you just raced on. This really hinders replayability. To their credit, there is a random option that picks from all courses, not just nearby ones, and when you race on one that’s disconnected, you get to experience three or more laps on it. It’s a bold choice, but I wish there was an option to just do the normal courses. It feels less curated in this way, however, the vibe is still immaculate.

The real star is knockout. This mode eliminates players in a point to point relay that spans multiple courses. It’s similar to a grand prix, except that you have to be in a certain place or you’ll be eliminated. As this cross country race progresses, it becomes evident that this is what the game was made for. Twenty-four racers frantically trying to make it through each checkpoint without being eliminated is insanely intense. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had in a game in recent memory. As of this review, I’ve only won twice and other times have been pulse-pounding close calls. If the “drive to next course” aspect was relegated to just this mode and not also the grand prix, I’d appreciate it more. This is definitely the best way to play the game, but there are other options too.

Battle mode makes its return, and without much change. The areas you battle on are snippets of the open world and aren’t anything special. I only played a couple rounds as they are way less exciting than actual races. Coin battle is an abysmal experience; it just goes on for too long without much happening. Balloon battle could be interesting, but fails to make any impression since it has nothing new.

Free roam is a whole other beast. This game is called Mario Kart World after all. The world design is genuinely fantastic. Every area feels unique, even though many share a theme since they’re in the same region. There’s also collectibles hidden throughout the world. From peach medallions, to question mark panels and P switch challenges, there’s always something to do. This is a great addition that helps during the downtime of searching for matches online or when you need a break from the craziness that are the races. I wouldn’t say there’s much substance to it, but the novelty does carry its own weight. Instead of loading up a track multiple times to practice it or look for shortcuts, you can just drive through it at your leisure and collect trinkets as well. It’s a nice addition that only adds to the road trip picture that the developers wanted to paint.

The mechanics of racing have changed a bit as well. First of all, there’s grinding and wall-riding which are accessible by using the new charge-jump technique. If you hold the drift button in a neutral position, you can charge a jump that you can use to get on railing, walls or over obstacles and even items. It’s a versatile move that takes some practice to get used to, but adds a whole other layer to racing. Also, there are a few new items. Food (fitting into the road trip theme) gives you a small speed boost, like a mushroom, but it also changes your character’s costume (if they have any). This is the only way you can unlock them and it doesn’t make much sense, but it’s cool. The mega mushroom and feather return without much of a difference. The new items include the ice flower (same as the fire flower), hammer, question mark block, gold shell, and Kamek orb. The hammer throws multiple into the road and any driver that is hit or runs into them spins out. The question mark block and gold shell spew coins everywhere ( the gold shell does hit people), while the Kamek orb turns everyone in front of the user into a random character. Kamek also spawns a bunch of enemies on the course, making a frantic race even more insane. The items themselves are in a strange spot overall though. In the many hours I’ve spent with the game, I’ve seen blooper ink probably twice. Meanwhile everyone and their mother got gold mushrooms. It seems strange, but there is one major change that some may not notice immediately. Items scale. If you get a bullet bill in eighth place, it won’t take you nearly as far as if you got one in twenty-fourth. It allows all racers to get a more diverse assortment of items regardless of their placement. Getting hit also doesn’t completely stop your character. You’ll bounce forward a bit and keep some acceleration, so you still don’t want to get hit, however, it’s not as impactful. This is probably because the number of racers has been doubled, so items that completely stop the flow would result in people getting “Mario karted” more than ever before. That still happens sometimes, though it’s not as common.

I can’t close this out without mentioning the music. There are a lot of original tracks here and they are all heat. In addition to those, there are many remixes of Mario songs from across the series and they all fit seamlessly with the arrangement they came up with for this game. The song that plays on Rainbow Road when you unlock the Special cup makes me teary-eyed. I really didn’t know how much of the Mario OST I knew until this game. Every song is vaguely familiar. The same can be said for the tracks. Some are reimaginings of older ones and their new versions are phenomenal. I just wish I got to spend more than a lap on most of them.

Mario Kart World takes the Mario Kart formula and innovates on it in subtle ways that make the experience one of a kind. The character that’s stuffed into the world is full to bursting and I can only imagine what they might do next with it. Though the open world isn’t too innovative, it’s a nice addition that adds to the design that they were going for. This game is a crazy road trip across the vast world of the Mushroom Kingdom and I’m glad to be along for the ride. This game is well worth your time and money and I’d recommend it to everyone as it’s the best game in the series to date.