After weeks (or let’s be honest, months) of frenzied speculation, the Switch 2 is finally here. The console launched amid reports of record pre-orders and people queueing outside shops at midnight to get their hands on it: retailer Curry’s reported sales of 30,000 units so far.
Review: I wasn't expecting to be so impressed by the Switch 2 – but I am
And not just the Switch 2. Today is also the launch date for the first ever Switch 2 title, Mario Kart World. A continuation of the bestselling Mario Kart franchise, the game promises to reinvent the way we race – not least thanks to a new open world feature.
Here’s what to know.
The way you race is different
Banish all memories of completing identical racetracks on endless loops. This time around, all the tracks are interconnected, and races will often take you across a selection of them. No loops anymore: often, they’re A to B races that cut across sections of the world map. Some old favourite tracks (Moo Moo Meadows, Koopa Troopa Beach, for instance) return, but it’s far more fun to delve into the new ones. Among the best? Boo Cinema, where you can actually go through the screen and into the film during the course of the race.
There are new features
Some of the things we all know and love about Mario Kart have stayed the same. That includes many of the upgrade boosts you can pick up during the races: coins, lightning bolts and green shells, for instance.
That said, there are some welcome new innovations. One of the best is that you can finally jump – something that Mario Kart fans have been practically begging for years. This operates on the same button as drift, has to be charged in advance, and lets you grind on rails or leap into the air for tricks. It does take a bit of getting used to, especially for seasoned gamers – but man is it fun.
There’s also a new Knockout round, which does what it says on the tin: during the Grand Prix races, with this mode activated, you have to finish at a certain position during each race or face being knocked out of the competition entirely. That means, by the end, you’re only racing against a select few of your best fellow racers – which is an excellent, if tense, way to spice up the action.
One last thing – this game also grants you the ability to rewind time. Yep, you read that right – pressing the minus button means you can rewind your own race a couple of seconds to make that jump or perfect that corner. It’s not really clear how far this stretches right now, but this ability does feel pretty broken, and it remains to be seen if Nintendo tweaks it going forward
The feather is back
Anybody else remember the feather? No? It’s not a surprise – this item first cropped up in the first Super Mario Kart game, and then vanished. 25 years later, it’s back, and lets racers do an instant jump – which means you can leap up into the air on command, or even onto walls, for a bit of gravity-defying driving.
There’s dynamic weather
One of the most exciting new additions to the game is dynamic weather – which will in return affect the way the karts handle on the tracks. That involves rain and snow, which will make driving harder. And while those weather changes don’t happen too much, there is also the lightning item, which, when used, can sometimes spark a rainstorm as well as shrinking all of your opponents.
There’s an open-world mode
Considering how much was made of the open-world mode before the game’s launch, this doesn’t actually feature all that heavily. Instead, activating ‘Free Roam’ via the + button will simply let you bounce around all of Mario Kart World’s interconnecting tracks at will, including a tonne of secret pathways.
Though this is fun, there isn’t much to do here. There’s stuff that you can look for – like medallions and ? boxes – but those are purely for vehicle customisation. The P-switches, meanwhile, activate mini-missions, which unlock new races or challenge you to collect a certain amount of blue coins. Still, seeing the sheer variety of what MKW has on offer is fun – even if you can’t interact with any of the other AI racers you sometimes pass along the way
It’s not cheap
But we already knew that, didn’t we? The game currently retails for £74.99, which is in line with most other AAA title releases. As for whether it’s worth it: the game certainly offers an exciting new take on the Mario Kart franchise, and the addition of things like the Knockout Tour and shiny new graphics make it a great introduction to the new Switch.
