Given concerns with what Nintendo would do as a follow-up to the tremendous success of Mario Kart 8, which was perpetually at the top of the Switch sales charts despite being a conversion of a Wii-U title, Mario Kart World is a surprisingly bold statement. Not merely content to continue to slowly drip some new courses, racers, and small tweaks to the formula that has been working well, they’ve instead opted to overhaul the series with a handful of big moves that have radically changed the trajectory of the series. Looking and feeling like a ground-up effort, it’s chock full of fun new features, modes, fan service, and pure adrenaline insanity that you’ll continue to discover for quite some time. 

Starting with the most exciting changes to the series, there’s first the move from a field of 12 racers to a staggering 24. There’s no question that this has had the most far-reaching effect on the game, requiring that classic tracks included be remixed to make room for more insanity, moving the degree of unpredictability in every race to an even higher level, and making the experience of being stuck in the pack absolute mayhem. Throw in quite a few new power-ups that range from contextually useful to extremely disruptive, and the ability to quickly move from last to first and then quickly back again is more common than ever. The fact that most tracks are also then full of shortcuts, technique-based sections, and unpredictable environmental distractions ranging from traffic to full-on stampedes, and there’ll likely continue to be things that people will continue to discover for a few weeks, if not months, as they explore each track. Throw in the brand new Mario Kart take on the Battle Royale in the form of Knockout mode, and series fans have plenty to be excited about!

Moving on to the more controversial aspects of the game, Free Roam mode would probably wind up on the top of most lists as either the game’s best or worst feature, depending on the player. In principle, it’s a great idea and in many ways it’s also well-implemented. Having the opportunity to step away from the races, and to explore the truly massive world all of these tracks have been built into, is both novel and fun. Certainly the ability to discover new outfits for many of the series classic characters is also a fun twist, and the many missions peppered all around the world can often be helpful in forcing you to wrap your arms around many of the game’s new techniques like rail and wall riding. The pity is that the very open-ended nature of this exploration feels like it’s missing out on some of its potential. Some sort of story mode, or simply something that would provide a little more structure for people wanting to be put through the paces, without needing to hunt them down in every nook and cranny of the world map, could have taken things to another level. There’s plenty here to like, but it does feel like an area where the game missed out on some of its own potential.

Pulling it all together, there’s no question that this was a big swing effort on Nintendo’s part that absolutely justifies it being the crown jewel in the launch strategy for their new system. While they could have likely gotten away with merely making half of the changes they did to the series, and still found great success, they instead stuck their necks out and gave us something more. Granted, there are some things like the fact that the larger tracks can really feel empty if you’re not in the pack, but most of the criticisms that can be raised with the game are conditional and of only marginal significance. If Nintendo will continue to throw periodic updates into the mix, helping to further justify the admittedly high asking price, this could easily remain a system seller and top choice for games that qualify as being among the best on the console.