Whew. Where to start with this one? This is ostensibly a review of the only proper Switch 2 launch game, and long anticipated entry in the best-selling “Mario Kart” series. I’d love to just be rhapsodic about it, but, instead, I wanted to briefly go over what I think the best games are, ranked in order, to contextualize what I think of this game. I’m a lifelong fan, a fanatic if you will, so I have some hot takes to extol.

For the record, I am not counting the mobile-only “Tour” or the arcade game “GP DX” here — those are entirely different things in my eyes. Mainline releases only, baby.

The “These Don’t Hold Up” Tier

9. “Super Mario Kart” – SNES (1992)

8. “Mario Kart: Super Circuit” – GBA (2001)

7. “Mario Kart 64” – N64 (1996)

Some games play just as beautifully today as they did on release. And then there are the first three “Mario Kart” games, with slippery slidey controls, no drifting, wack bogus items (upside down question mark block, anyone?), and limited replayability unless you’re at a slumber party.

The “Now We’re Getting Somewhere” Tier

6. “Mario Kart Wii” – Wii (2008)

5. “Mario Kart 7” – 3DS (2011)

4. “Mario Kart World” – Switch 2 (2025)

Okay so this is where I land with this game. It’s good, but it’s a disappointment coming off of by far the best game in the series. It’s a let down of a launch game too, because I think it’s just an okay game with some gorgeous graphics, incredible music, and a lot of polish.

Unfortunately, it’s littered with questionable design decisions, overly-familiar animations, and the biggest sin of all: implying a “Forza Horizon” experience while not even delivering on the promise of a “Burnout Paradise.”

Sure, the basic gameplay here is unchanged from “8 Deluxe” (if it isn’t broke…) and you could just play this as more of that game and be perfectly fine. The biggest new swing here results in a strikeout, however, and that’s what bothers me the most. Bigger is not always better — especially when you designed the entire game to be about being bigger, and not particularly better at all!

The entire conceit of this new game is a big interconnected world (hence the title) that links all of the tracks together with big highways and filler stuff in between. Most of it is a waste, to me, and it waters down the normal track design because now the devs have to always consider 24 racers competing at once. Even in Grand Prix mode, there’s just big wide straightaways that go on for a while, and that’s pretty boring.

Everything blends together because you’re now going from track to track, and sometimes you get there and only do a single lap. Even aesthetically, it’s too similar, and the highlights of the new tracks and returning remakes (DK Spaceport, Boo Cinema, the return of Toad’s Factory) barely get time to shine.

Compared to the twists and turns of Neo Bowser City or Twisted Mansion (from the last two games), it’s no contest as to which is the better philosophy on courses. I would much rather learn the curves and shortcuts of the previous games instead of relying on the heavy emphasis of item RNG required now because the lanes are so wide.

“Mario Kart World” also relies on fewer tracks overall and more characters, which is a weird quantity flip. Just have both, maybe? Could Nintendo not just limit the number of racers in modes that aren’t Knockout Tour? I understand the grinding on rails and wall riding is the new addition to the core racing, and that’s a paradise for hardcore nerds and sweaty online tryhards. More power to you if that’s what you’re into, but I don’t feel compelled to do that in any mode besides online.

Plus, a lot of the shortcuts seem overly reliant on the feather and mushroom items in particular this time. Maybe this is just me being bad at the new mechanics, but the game never tells you that you can just hold down the drift button and do a bigger jump this time.

In fact, a ton of things go unexplained in this game. It’s the “Dark Souls” of kart racing titles for children. Where is the free roam mode? Hidden in the main menu with a tiny button! What do you get for doing the P-Switch challenges or collecting Peach medallions? Fuck you, that’s what! How can I keep track of those things, or put markers on the map? You can’t!

So much is just poorly thought out — not to mention that it’s 2025, and the settings for this game are paltry. Can’t change the controls, audio mix, or accessibility settings. Just backwards in so many places.

No online lobby for tracks without the interconnecting highways, tedious/unexplained ways to unlock characters and costumes, pointless stickers for completing nothing tasks, an open world with bad busy work, no 200cc, and no car customization.

The soundtrack is delightful; the new remixes and returning songs are a blessing. You can’t change what you listen to, but hey this is going to be the best selling game on the console, and at $80 a pop that’s too much money to pass up for making a better game with no competition in the marketplace (sorry Sonic).

The rubber banding is at an all-time low, I don’t like the changes to Vs. mode, the character selection screen considers Farmer Luigi and Luigi to be completely separate characters and they can’t figure out a drop down menu? “Smash Ultimate” let you combine Echo Fighters to clean up the sheer number of options, so why can’t we get that here?

At least shells and bananas automatically follow you without holding down the button.

It blows me away that this is the best they could come up with in the 11 years since “Mario Kart 8” originally came out. Nothing here is better than that game except for the expected upgrades to graphical fidelity. How are you, Nintendo, going to let the Wii U “Mario Kart” remain the GOAT?

It’s infuriating that this series hasn’t really evolved in years, and the one big attempt to do so falls flat on its face. It’s somehow less replayable than the previous game, and there’s no cool trial modes like on the DS and 3DS releases. No unique parts for karts like in “8,” and nothing as innovative as what “Double Dash” brought to the table with tag-team racing.

“World” isn’t so much “Mario Kart 8.5” as it is “Mario Kart 7.5.” It’s not underwhelming — it’s just whelming. Not a great start to a new console if you ask me.

The “Cream of the Crop” Tier

3. “Mario Kart: Double Dash” – GC (2003)

2. “Mario Kart DS” – DS (2005)

1. “Mario Kart 8” and “8 Deluxe” – Wii U/ Switch (2014/2017)

These games are the best, and I don’t want anyone comparing “World” to “8 Deluxe” because it’s night and day what those two games offer. One has a futuristic zero gravity core, 100 tracks and DLC character cameos, and the other has a playable cow for 80 fucking dollars. Case closed.

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“Mario Kart World” is available now on Switch 2.

Image credit: “Mario Kart World,” Nintendo