As a huge Mario Kart fan, seeing Mario Kart World pop up during the Switch 2 Direct was a moment of pure, unadulterated joy for me. Let's be real, the Direct itself? Not my favorite. But seeing my beloved kart racer get a new installment? That's an easy purchase, even with that absolutely wild $80 price tag slapped on it. đïžđ° However, as the initial hype settled, something about the reveal just didn't sit right with me. That feeling has since grown, and honestly, it's squashed a lot of my excitement. The culprit? The game's central, headline-grabbing gimmick: the open world.
Don't get me wrong, MK World looks stunning. The roster is impressive, the tracks (both new and familiar) are gorgeously detailed, and everything just shines in that trailer. But for someone who has sunk over 500 hours into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the open-world concept feels... off. I've grown so accustomed to what this series is at its core. I'm all for innovation, but this direction? It just doesn't feel like the right move for Mario Kart.
Let's talk about perfection for a second.
My 500+ hours in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe aren't an accident. It's easily the best game in the series' history, a title it held long before that incredible, game-changing Booster Course Pass DLC dropped. It achieves something magical:
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Perfect Balance: It marries its central anti-gravity gimmick with impeccably designed courses that never get old.
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Incredible Roster & Customization: An extensive cast of racers, further expanded by DLC, combined with deep kart customization that actually affects how you play.
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Refined Formula: It took the series' foundations, innovated upon them, and arguably perfected the racing formula.
Nintendo themselves seem to agree it's the pinnacle. It's a compelling experience that's still going strong eight years later on Switch (and even longer if you count the Wii U version). The longevity comes from its honed mechanics and sheer wealth of content. So, the big question was: how do you top arguably the best-selling and most beloved Switch game of all time?
Nintendo's answer? Slap an open world on it.
Look, I get the logic. Fans speculated about it. Other major Nintendo franchises like Zelda and Pokémon have successfully gone open-world. But here's the crucial difference: Zelda and Pokémon are built on adventure and discovery. Mario Kart is built on linear, competitive progression.
The joy of Mario Kart is in that forward momentum. You clear cups in order, you tackle higher CC classes, you slowly climb the ranks against friends or ruthless AI. It all coalesces in Grand Prix modeâa tight, focused series of races with just enough breather in between to regroup. An open world is fundamentally at odds with this. It elongates the time between races, which:
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Dilutes the sense of linear progression.
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Kills the competitive pacing and tension.
Sure, the classic race mode is still there (I assume). But by dedicating resources to building this open worldâa space whose purpose, beyond housing coins and collectibles, Nintendo hasn't fully explainedâthey've inevitably taken away from what could have been a more content-rich traditional Mario Kart experience.
What I wish they'd done instead?
Nintendo should have aimed for the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate treatment. The Booster Course Pass for MK8 Deluxe felt like a step in that direction, doubling the track count. A new, ultimate entry could have been a massive celebration:
| Feature | Potential in "Mario Kart Ultimate" |
|---|---|
| Visuals | Full Switch 2 graphical overhaul. |
| Roster | Characters from across ALL Nintendo franchises (Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Kirby) + third-party guests. |
| Tracks | 96 tracks from MK8D + dozens of new ones, including worlds from other Nintendo games. |
| Mechanics | Refine and integrate new ideas like the rail grinding we see in MK World. |
| Justification | THIS would have justified an $80 price tag for meâa definitive, content-packed masterpiece. |
Imagine racing through a Xenoblade-themed track or having Kirby as a racer! With over 100 tracks, a massive roster, and polished mechanics, it could have been the perfect, definitive kart racer. Instead, we're getting an experiment that, for me, feels like it's going against the very tenets that made the series great.
Here's the twist, though.
After the Direct, I was legitimately frustrated. But upon reflection, I realized my anger was partly about my own perspective. This open-world gimmick? It would have been perfect over a decade ago.
I can easily imagine my younger self and my siblings exploring every corner of this huge world, roleplaying, uncovering secretsâdoing exactly what we did in games like Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. That sense of childlike wonder and unstructured play is magical. But as an adult who doesn't see his siblings often and doesn't have kids, driving around this world alone (or even with adult friends) just feels... aimless and a bit silly to me. The magic isn't there.
And realizing that made me appreciate MK World for what it is. The small improvements look great. For kids, parents playing with their children, or friend groups who love to roleplay together, this could be an absolute blast. It's a different kind of funâone tailored for them.
So, while I'll probably still buy it (I'm weak for Mario Kart đ ), my personal dream of a content-rich, ultimate competitive racer remains just thatâa dream. I'm glad the open world exists for those who will love it. But after 500 hours in a near-perfect formula, it just feels unnecessary for my kind of play. Maybe I'm just an old-school racer at heart, forever chasing that perfect Grand Prix high. đ