13 things I didn't know about Mario Kart World until now

One thing are the impressions controller in hand and another, the facts for lifelong Mario Kart fans. Back in the day I published my first feelings about Mario Kart World as soon as I played it at the Paris Premiere and now, after our respective visits to Nintendo's offices in Frankfurt and Madrid, Jonas has published his final impressions with MKW and I've dedicated myself to capture 15 minutes of exclusive gameplay, 60 screenshots... and the notes you're reading right now.

Because I had been there before, I've noticed a priori smaller details, some curiosities, some crucial explanations, all facts I didn't know until now, or didn't fully master or understand. I hope you find them revealing and fascinating, that they are full of fanservice and that they are ultimately as fun as they are informative. Here we go!

1. Understanding the difference between circuit and section

Until you play it on your own, you won't fully understand it. That's what happened to me until the final preview. I'm not talking about how many tracks Mario Kart World has (that's already been derived from other sources), but what the exact difference is between a track itself and the connecting stages between them, as well as the overall structure of the game in Grand Prix mode.

I'm going to try to explain it to you in a very simple way. First, forget about your traditional four-circuit Cups. Here, the most repeated structure during my four-race GP games is as follows, so pay attention:

1. Race 1: Traditional circuit of 3 or more laps.


2. Race 2: Two travel stretches, one lap of the destination circuit.


3. Race 3: Two travel stretches, one lap of the destination circuit.


4. Race 4: Two travel stretches, one lap of the destination circuit.

As you read it: most of the time, unless it is the first circuit of the Cup in question (and sometimes not even that), you will only race one complete lap of the circuit itself. And even if you raise your eyebrow, this has two magnificent advantages. Firstly, the feeling of travelling between interconnected zones is total. Secondly, what we call the sections or stages are fantastically designed, and while they are laid out in the open world, they have a racing quality that feels like fully designed closed circuits.

Now, if you consider that a closed circuit links to several nearby circuits with back and forth connecting sections, you'll have to go back and do the math on how many circuits there are in total in Mario Kart World, because there are a lot more than the 32 that some published...

To help you understand with practical examples. During our games, we saw the following:

• Mushroom Cup is circuit (3 laps), two travel legs and a lap in Crown City, two travel legs and a lap in Whistlestop Summit, two travel legs and a lap in DK Spaceport, (further divided into six checkpoints).


• The Shell Cup is Koopa Beach (5 laps), two trip legs and a lap in Faraway Oasis, three trip legs and a lap in Crown City, two trip legs and a lap in Peach Stadium.


• The Banana Cup is Peach Beach (3 checkpoints, not laps), two legs and one lap in Salty Salty Speedway, three legs and one lap in Dino Dino Jungle, two trip legs and one lap in Great ? Block Ruins

Do you see the differences in bold? It's easier to understand by looking at the map: apart from the first track, it's usually a long road that connects to a track at the end, and the game zooms in as soon as you get to the track itself. Check out our gameplay to see it.

2. The charged jump has three charges, just like the drift

At first it seemed that the third charge of the drifting ability didn't work, and then I realised that the smart steering wheel assist is on by default. Once deactivated, I was able to start doing the minidash (blue), superminidash (red) and finally ultraminidash (rainbow) while holding the drift in tight corners.

Well, the same applies to the charged jump. This new technique, which is performed in the same way but in a straight line, and which is used to jump over fences, cars or opponents, as well as producing its own dash, also has the same three levels and colours as drifting.

3. The shells sound retro

The sound of Mario Kart World feels, if anything, like a bigger evolution than the graphics. I'm looking forward to enjoying it in 5.1 PCM Linear surround, but for now I'll take the fantastic quality of the jazz fusion soundtrack and sound effects that make its old predecessor pale in comparison.

Explosions, crashes, banana peels... it all sounded wonderful in the preview hours, but I'll stick with the sound of the impacting shells, which bring back the retro sound of the first Super Mario Bros. You're already uttering it with your mouth, aren't you? "Totí".

4. Waluigi Vampire deserves a crossover game with Luigi's Mansion

I laughed my ass off at some of the characters and outfits. I was immediately won over by Crab (as you can see in my gameplay), melted by Yoshi Aristocrat's monocle and others trolled the rest with Dolphin, but if there was unanimity it was with the irresistible charm of none other than.... Waluigi Vampire! Waaaah!

With his style, his poses, and now his Bram Stoker-esque attire, we can already see a collaboration, cameo or star appearance in an upcoming Luigi's Mansion.

5. Mario Kart World doesn't run in native 4K

It seems that Digital Foundry already put the magnifying glass on the first footage months ago to calculate by eye and conclude that it renders in 2K (1440p). Nintendo couldn't or wouldn't officially confirm Mario Kart World's native resolution during the preview for now, but while we would have loved to see it take full advantage of Nintendo Switch 2 at 60fps, we have to say it looks fantastic and detailed despite the scaling, as you can see in my 4K gameplay:

6. You can set up your VS races as circuits with or without stretches

Remember what I was telling you in point 1? Well, in VS races, whether multiplayer or solo, you can set the options to show sections or not, in case you're looking for a more traditional Mario Kart experience where there are only several laps of a closed circuit, or where the sections are only seen on longer tracks divided into sections, and not as travel routes.

7. Piranha Plant strikes fear into the hearts of veteran rivals

A funny and amusing thing: because the Piranha Plant was an item in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Floro Piranha was the character, it happened during our testing that every time I approached a Piranha Plant, or when someone approached me while I was driving it, we instinctively tried to move away, remembering the hundreds of bites we took in MK8.

8. P-Switch missions are high altitude

During my hours of gameplay, I spent a lot of time in Free Roam Mode and got to try out a handful of P-Switch missions. There were blue coins to collect, hoops to jump through... mostly offroad and, in many cases, through the air. As you read it: a large number, perhaps a majority in the final game, of the missions, propose you to get into the air, either with a vine, a booster, a pipe... and from above, to glide with precision to overcome the challenge.

You don't succeed? Well, it's not like in some of the Forza Horizon missions, where you have to go back to the starting spot, but you can try again as soon as you fail.

9. You can teleport to other characters on the map

During that exploration of the open world in Free Roam Mode to get all the P Switch missions or to find all the ? Panels in the far corners, you have other transport or fast travel facilities that I didn't know about. Namely:

• You can open the map and teleport to where another character, human or CPU, is immediately, switching to them in the latter.


• You can select a track on the map and fast travel to it.


• Alternatively, you can change your current character and vehicle at the current point, perhaps to attempt a challenge in another way.

10. Cross-dressing is an option

Transforming or changing your outfit when you try the Dash Food is an option for human characters only, but just that, an option. While messing around with the driving aids in the Controller Settings we found that "Dash Food: Transform" is enabled by default, but if you're bothered by your character changing clothes and want to keep your chosen style, you can disable it.

11. After the Lightning Comes the Storm

A fantastic detail that you might have noticed in the previous videos. When a racer throws the Lightning item, a storm almost always breaks out and it starts raining, with all the implications that these weather conditions have for making driving difficult. I say almost always because on a couple of occasions it didn't happen. On one I was indoors and thought it was because of that, but on another it was in the open air, so I imagine it has a bit of a random factor.

12. Stickers decorate your kart

In one of the breaks, Nintendo explained how Stickers work. Aside from unlocking characters and vehicles, this third collectible naturally serves to decorate your kart before racing. We'll tell you in depth how to get all the Stickers after the launch, but think there's a lot of them...

13. 150 CC seems slower

We haven't been able to confirm if there will be a 200cc class yet (Mirror Mode seems to be a given), but I did play all my games on 150cc. The CPU opponents are quite tricky, as you can see in some of my gameplay clips, but the most curious thing is that the game seems slower for this class.

They may have adjusted the speed a bit, but I think it's more of a judgement call given the extra width of the tracks and especially in the open world. In fact, when the screen is full of people pushing and shoving each other and using items, in the traditional Mario Kart trademark delicious chaos, I'm telling you, the 150cc didn't feel slow at all...