Mario Kart World review: Knockout Tour is the best thing this series has ever done

How on Earth do you follow a game like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?

The souped-up Nintendo Switch version of the Wii U racer was already the definitive Mario Kart, and that was before the Booster Pass nudged the total number of tracks up to an eye-watering 96.

It remains the Nintendo Switch’s best-selling game by some distance, so it’s little wonder Nintendo decided to kick off the Nintendo Switch 2 with a brand-new Mario Kart experience. But while Mario Kart World is an absolute blast, it doesn’t quite manage to knock Mario Kart 8 Deluxe from the top of the podium.

That’s not to say Mario Kart World isn’t a joy, mind you. Nintendo’s latest kart racer is a candy coated dream of a game, packed with fun new features, standout modes, and some of the best tracks I’ve ever seen in a Mario Kart game. It’s just held back ever so slightly by some odd design decisions.

Nintendo

Let’s start with the game’s biggest issue, which also happens to be the big new idea for this particular iteration: the open world. Of all the series I expected to get a Breath Of The Wild-style makeover, I can honestly say I didn’t have Mario Kart on the list.

There’s no getting around it: Mario Kart World’s open world is… really kind of dull. Maybe it’s my fault for expecting a Forza-style playground filled with things to do. The reality is there are a number of challenges scattered around the world, some coins to collect, and a few fun secrets. That’s pretty much it.

Challenges typically involve you driving along a set route and making it through a series of timed gates to reach a goal, which is fun enough for a racing game. But when Mario Kart DS proved there’s room for things like boss battles nearly 20 years ago, it’s a shame not to see World use a little bit more imagination.

Frustratingly, there’s also very little incentive to do these challenges. One would imagine challenges could have been a fun way to unlock new characters and karts, or even get extra coins, which are used to unlock vehicles. As it stands, completing these tasks nets you stickers. Tiny little stickers, of which you can put one on your kart at any time. I know simply playing the challenges should be incentive enough, but come on.

At its best, Mario Kart World’s open-world is a fairly chill way to just switch off your brain and zoom around a colourful world while listening to an excellent soundtrack filled with remixed versions of classic Mario pieces. I expect I’d have been more forgiving of it if it was more of a bonus feature, and not heavily trailed as this game’s Big Thing. This is especially baffling when Mario Kart World includes Knockout Tour, the best new mode this series has ever seen.

If you’re anything like me, after a few games of Knockout Tour you’ll probably be wondering why Nintendo didn’t name its ninth Mario Kart after its standout new elimination mode. It’s that good.

Knockout Tour is essentially a 24-player battle royale race across six different areas of the map, and it’s here that the game makes the best argument for its open world.

There are a number of set routes to race across in Knockout Tour, each taking you through markedly different locations. One rally has you start in the desert, before racing through Mario Circuit, cutting through some farmland, then ending up in a vast forest. Another starts off in Bowser’s castle and ends up on a beach. The variety is astounding, and the seamlessness with which the races rage through the open world is quite something.

These rallies are one long, continuous race in which players are knocked out if they don’t make it through the checkpoint gates before their rivals. It is glorious chaos, aiming to stay in the top 20, or 16, or nine. The last dash to the final checkpoint, if you made it that far, is a gleefully frantic mess of shells, bananas, and desperate hail-marys to take first. Playing it online is like racing through a warzone, and I can’t get enough.

Knockout Tour is genuinely nearly impossible to put down, and perhaps my only complaint here is that there really should be an option to create your own rallies. There are dozens of interconnected routes on the game’s map, and only six rallies. I suspect Nintendo will either give us the option to build our own in a future update, or release their own. Either way, I need more Knockout Tour ASAP. I hunger for it.

Nintendo

On top of Knockout Tour we have returning modes. Time Trial and Battle Mode are much the same as they ever were, and the Grand Prix really lets some of the new tracks shine in a slightly overhauled approach that’s sure to rankle purists.

Typically a Mario Kart Grand Prix would have players do three laps around four unique tracks. Mario Kart World changes it up by having certain laps give us the chance to race through the open world between tracks.

For instance, the Mushroom Cup has us do three laps around a desert-based Mario Circuit, while the first two laps of the next track - Crown City - involves driving through the desert and across the highway before a final lap in the titular metropolis.

I can see why some people would take against it, but I personally kind of love it. There’s something much more dynamic about these long stretches where every lap is completely different, rather than the traditional three goes around the same old bit of track. This approach also lends itself to some stunning surprises that hit as hard as they do because we’re not repeating ourselves.

Standout tracks include a haunted cinema that involves a stretch where you fly into the screen and race through a sepia-tinted world along a reel of film, and a spaceport based on the original Donkey Kong, which sees you dodging robot monkeys throwing giant barrels as you speed to the finish line. There’s also a Rainbow Road that’s so good, saying anything else about it would be considered a spoiler.

Mario Kart World might not be quite as easy to recommend as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe yet, but it’s still an absolutely fantastic kart racer that’s just as chaotic, imaginative, and vibrant as its predecessors. Knockout Tour alone has ensured I’ll be playing for a long-old time yet, even if it does have me swearing like a sailor who just stubbed his toe. Savour the rage of second place, it’s how you know you’re alive.

Pros: Knockout Tour is an absolute blast, some excellent new tracks, a great soundtrack, plenty to do

Cons: Open world is really very dull

For fans of: Mario Kart, Sonic Racing, Crash Team Racing

8/10: Excellent

Mario Kart World is available now for Nintendo Switch 2. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.