Mario Kart World Review: Kart Blanche

Driftin’ Daisies

I spent weeks debating whether or not I’d bother reviewing Mario Kart World. I consider myself a Mario Kart fan but not particularly an enthusiast. I’m especially not someone who memorizes all the tracks and kart configurations. Shockingly, I play Mario Kart to have fun and to be entertained, never taking it too seriously if I get shot out of first place at the very last second. Maybe it’s because I’ve lost my soul and become numb to it all after spending hundreds of hours with the franchise over the past 30-plus years, but Mario Kart has become that game where I can laugh things off instead of shaking my controller in rage.

To this day, I still consider the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) my most influential console. While I owned various consoles before it, including the Coleco and original NES, it was the SNES generation—and Super Mario Kart in particular—that made me fall in love with gaming. I still remember looking forward to the weekends, racing with friends and trying to pop each other’s balloons in Battle Mode. There was just something special about a kart racing game featuring a cast of Mario characters, and clearly that still resonates to this day. After all, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold over 68 million units worldwide as of March 31, 2025. The latest entry in the series taps into that same nostalgic magic, reminding me why I became a gamer in the first place.

Red Shell Redemption

I always thought it would be difficult for Nintendo to follow up on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s success, especially with all its DLCs and additional tracks. Mario Kart World is the first truly new entry in the series in over a decade and brings with it numerous features, including two new gameplay modes: an open-world Free Roam and Knockout Tour. There are also plenty of new characters in the roster, along with new karts, tracks, and hundreds of P-Switch challenges in the open world. Unfortunately, a lot of the conversation surrounding Mario Kart World involves its $79.99 price tag, though it is available at a discount when bundled with the Switch 2 console. The question of whether the game is worth it isn’t an easy one to answer, especially since everyone values $79.99 differently. What you will get, though, is an extremely polished 24-man kart racing experience that pays homage to the entirety of the Mario franchise and more.

I do think Mario Kart World is a great launch title to show off what the Switch 2 is capable of, considering nearly anyone picking up the new console has more than likely played a Mario Kart game in the past. There were moments when nostalgia set in, as I raced around a track that came from another era. Other times of sheer joy came with some of the new tracks, like DK Spaceport, which resembles the original classic Donkey Kong game. Running at a rock solid 60 fps when playing alone docked or handheld, Mario Kart World truly is a visual feast for lifelong Nintendo fans. It’s also accompanied by an amazing soundtrack, featuring tunes from throughout Mario’s history, ranging from Super Mario Bros. 2 to Yoshi’s Island and Donkey Kong Country. Unfortunately, there’s no way to select exactly what track you want to listen to, which can be a real bummer considering there are hundreds of songs in Mario Kart World. Still, considering how impressive and varied the music selection is, this feels more like a minor annoyance than a dealbreaker.

Karts and Recreation

If you’ve played any of the previous Mario Kart entries, Grand Prix, Time Trials, VS Race, and Battle Mode aren’t new to you, and you likely know what to expect. For most players, the new Free Roam mode is the most interesting, considering it’s the first time players have had the ability to just drive around a giant Mario Kart world without having to compete or worry about a Blue Shell. Located throughout the world are hundreds of P-Switch challenges with varying levels of difficulty, and completing them goes towards unlocking over a thousand stickers and a hidden game mode. The mode is a great respite from the chaotic 24-man racing, and there are all sorts of things to discover. See a wandering Yoshi on the road? Wave to it and watch it return the favor with an entertaining jig. You might even run into a chance encounter with a Nabbit, which will kick off a high-speed pursuit that may or may not result in some harm to innocent cows. These whimsical interactions might not impact gameplay much, but they inject life and charm into the open world.

Other distractions in Free Roam include collecting Peach Medallions and interacting with ? Panels for additional sticker unlocks. The biggest frustration with Free Roam, though, is the inability to track your progress, which is absurd when there are hundreds of P-Switches on the map. The game will tell you the total number you’ve completed, but stops short of indicating which ones, making it quite the challenge to find the ones you haven’t done. I know Nintendo often gets a pass when it does strange things like this, but this one seems unforgivable if Free Roam was designed to be a major feature in Mario Kart World. Sure, the game’s title likely came as a play on Super Mario World, but the open-world design isn’t an accident. At the end of the day, though, Free Roam is what you make of it. If you can find it fun enough to just explore the open world with your favorite character and kart, it’ll offer you dozens of hours of entertainment.

Lap of Luxury

I found Knockout Tour to be the standout gameplay mode in Mario Kart World, taking full advantage of the interconnected, open-world setup. Each Knockout Tour begins with 24 racers and is basically an elimination mode where players must place within a certain position after each track, with the lowest-ranked racers eliminated. There’s no break in between the six tracks, with the field eventually narrowing down to a final four. In total, there are eight different Knockout Tours in Mario Kart World, with 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc options for each one. The mode feels more strategic than Grand Prix since the goal is to avoid elimination each track rather than trying to get first place. Sometimes, the better strategy is to be patient until the very end and be very selective about when to use your items.

With Knockout Tour, though, sandbagging is a perfectly viable strategy, especially since being in the back of the pack all but guarantees better items. Mario Kart veterans know this has always been the case, and as a result, there’s more of a risk-reward mechanic. For other players, Knockout Tour may feel more about luck than skill, but that argument could be made for the Mario Kart series as a whole. There’s significantly more madness at the start of these races with 24 racers on the course, but as the pack shrinks, fewer shells are tossed around. Knockout Tour is the most fun I’ve had with Mario Kart World so far when I’m looking for something competitive, and I’m excited to see how it evolves over time. It’ll be interesting to find out whether Nintendo decides to expand this mode in future updates or DLCs, as it clearly has strong potential.

Circuit Breakers

With Grand Prix mode, it’s worth mentioning that while it retains the classic format of multiple tracks, there are some noticeable changes. For starters, only the first of the four races consists of three repeated laps. Players then embark on highway stages that take them to the final track, where they’ll run one complete lap of the course. The second, third, and fourth races break up each of the singular courses into multiple laps, but they don’t repeat like the first track. While the variety is nice, some of these highway sequences can feel a bit boring with their long straight stretches and wide lanes.

What keeps all of this interesting, though, is the continuous search for shortcuts by rail grinding or wall riding. Considering this review is coming over a month after the game’s release, you’ve likely seen some of the crazy videos of players online finding the most absurd shortcuts through the courses. The Free Roam mode offers players the opportunity to find these routes while honing their rail grinding and wall riding skills, which means there will eventually be a noticeable gap in player skill. Don’t be too surprised when you witness some insane maneuvers online as players get better at uncovering all the cleverly designed sequences on some of these tracks. Ultimately, the pursuit of shortcuts adds depth and replayability, transforming seemingly straightforward tracks into complex playgrounds for skilled racers.

Toadally Awesome

At launch, Mario Kart World includes 50 playable characters, including the overly popular Cow, 103 unlockable outfits, 40 karts and vehicles, and 1,056 stickers. Unlocking all the karts and vehicles happens naturally as you play, with a new one granted every 100 coins collected. I imagine hunting down all the stickers is a monumental task, especially since there’s no easy way to track which P-Switches you’ve successfully done. There’s a little bit of everything here, especially for when you want to take a break from the competitive racing.

I always believed Mario Kart was at its best when it strives to entertain rather than be a competitive kart racer. While Knockout Tour is clearly designed as a competitive game mode, it does so while still maintaining the fun you’d expect from Mario Kart. I don’t think I have a good answer for those who want to know whether Mario Kart World is worth its $79.99 price tag. While its price point might spark debates, the volume of content and careful attention to detail make a strong case for its value. For me, it’s been all the little and unexpected things: Toad waving back when you wave to it, Yoshis cheering as you drive by Yoshi’s Diner, and chasing down Nabbit while avoiding cows in the open world. I may be decades older than I was when I first played Super Mario Kart, but Mario Kart World has made me feel like a kid again.

Mario Kart World has an official release date of June 5, 2025, for Switch 2. This review is based on a purchased retail copy of the game on Switch 2. While FullCleared does have affiliate partnerships, they do not influence our editorial content. We may, however, earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.

Mario Kart World Review Gallery (possible spoilers!)

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