DzNutsKong
Kinda Nuts
So.
Mario Kart World seems to be Nintendo's big launch title. Understandable. It's always been their biggest console seller and I don't see that changing any time soon. They showed it as their first Switch 2 game, showed it first in this Direct despite technically not needing to, and will be giving it its own Direct in two weeks despite us getting a lot of info on it today. And by a lot of info, I really do mean A LOT of info. They kind of went over a lot of it rapid-fire and didn't even discuss some parts of it but discussion is what forums are for, right?
First off, different vehicle alterations depending on terrain - a jetski for water, a snowmobile for, well, snow, and an airplane for the air. I have to imagine none of these mean that much from a gameplay standpoint. The airplane transformation seems to work like gliders from previous games and at worst I'd bet the other two only really alter your traction or something. For example snow has historically given you less traction while drifting. Not much to say about these but I mean I guess it's cool from an aesthetic standpoint. When the producers come on later, we hear about weather conditions and time of day "changing the atmosphere," which I imagine being similar in that rain or snow might change your traction but not much else outside of visuals.
Not long after this, we see Mario doing a trick off of the ground and onto a rail, which starts a drift. I have to imagine this works pretty similar to just drifting normally with whatever buff or debuff there is to driving in the air as opposed to on the ground (it's slower to be in the air in older games) and with it maybe being impossible to trap these spots with Bananas and such. Since you're driving up on top of a wall you might be able to avoid Shells here too. Could lead to some interesting little dynamics on some tracks if you have to take outside lines to get onto these and evade Red Shells assuming those can't target you on there. Maybe they can though, and in that case all this would mean is you get to take the tightest line possible without having to work for it. Lame.
You can similarly see Mario bounce up a wall like this a few times in the trailer which seems like another fun thing you could optimize for the sake of avoiding air time as much as possible. I imagine there would be anti-gravity here of all places if it were meant for this game but it seems to be gone since the wheels do not transform. Other than that the mechanics mostly seem the same as what we've come to expect from previous Mario Kart games. Very much a shame. Maybe snaking is good like how they patched it back into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, accidentally or otherwise, but we'll see. Maybe there's something else we're missing here too.
A few items are shown next. The Mega Mushroom is back but they don't seem to show it doing too much different than previous games. It did seem to immediately collect the coins of one of the people its user squished so maybe that's a plus. I know some people didn't like it because it felt like a weaker star and I don't entirely blame them for that even if I think giving weaker versions of last place items is fine. I'm really hoping they don't do the Mario Kart Tour version of this where getting hit once removes it because that just kinda turns it into another protection item along the lines of a Banana or Green Shell. My wish for this item was always for items you throw while having it to be enlarged too but I doubt they do that.
We see a Hammer item after this from a Hammer Bro where he throws two volleys of three hammers before the scene switches. If you watch the trailer closely you can see the hammers lock onto different targets despite the Hammer Bro not really turning all too much? These fly at an arc similar to the main series games so there's some chance this is a completely unblockable projectile with some kind of homing and also some kind of spammability.
This...sounds awful to deal with on paper, I'm gonna be honest. The Fire Flower was already one of my least favorite items to play against in any Mario Kart game because if you're behind someone who has one you usually just have to accept that you're both losing any protection items you have and also taking damage anyways so making what might just be a better version of it sounds ridiculous. I'm hopeful there's some kind of counterplay on the receiving end of this, like maybe it locks onto you and gives you a second to turn out of the way or something? I dunno man.
Then we see a Coin Block item. Toadette hits a Coin Block repeatedly which seems to give herself a few coins. At the same time, it drops two coins back behind the user for every coin they get. I hope that if anything this is the replacement for the Coin item. Best case scenario it can also work as a protection item and potentially give its user a coin while breaking if a shell smacks into it or something, that'd be really sick. This game has an increased cap for how many coins you can get so something like this is welcome, especially with the chaos that there's gonna be with 24 player.
We can briefly see both a Golden Mushroom and a Bullet Bill trailing different peoples' karts similar to how you would with a Green Shell or something in previous games. This is probably for the sake of making it easier to tell who has what item but does leave the funny possibility of someone stealing someone else's Bullet Bill since if I recall correctly you can do this with Stars and Mushrooms from the Crazy 8.
We can later see an Ice Flower and some kind of Magic Ball item in a spinning item wheel later on. I pray that the Ice Flower is not a buffed Fire Flower for similar reasons as the Hammer item. The coolest implementation would be like a small amount of Green Shell shots where instead of hurting you, it locks your turning for a moment. Would give you a bit of inherent counterplay to it even if you don't have an item which Nintendo rarely does with their items. Maybe you could create big patches of ice on the ground that do similar? I have to imagine it effects your vehicle in a different way compared to other items.
The Fire Flower, Boomerang Flower, and Boo are all back. I don't like any of these items but we're stuck with them now. Yippee... At the very least we do see the Super Horn at some point later in the trailer which is cool.
After this we see a giant trailer truck that you can drive your kart into and make something happen?? It starts driving for a bit and is able to damage opponents that come into contact with it so maybe it's like a Bullet Bill or Mega Mushroom in function but it doesn't seem to work like an item. What determines if you can enter it? Surely it can't be anyone because that would leave the gates open to give first place a huge advantage. No clue with this one.
Mario eats a burger that gives him a Wonder Seed lookin effect before changing his costume. Is this something you get naturally while driving or do you have to go out of your way to get it? Because if it's the latter then they probably give you some kind of boost but the trailer doesn't have anything to go off of. King Boo has a costume so I have to imagine they have these for a bunch of characters, if not all of them.
We do see that item sets work similarly to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in that most sets of items will mostly have single item boxes, but there will be one or a few double item boxes in at least some sets. This is a bit concerning. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is kind of notorious as a game where it's super common strategy to sit and do nothing so you can get the lower spots' more powerful items and win off of that. Nintendo tried to fix this by weakening the items you get if you try to get too many from one set, but this did not fix the problem. They're going to need to be very cautious about how they handle this. Easiest way is to simply weaken the items and if anything the Bullet Bill from a previous shot might look a little slower but I genuinely can't tell.
The whole "drive anywhere" aspect seems like a fun little novelty with friends. Maybe they'll show us some incentive to going out and doing stuff but I imagine it's mostly for the sake of goofing off, which is fine. If nothing else the worldbuilding part of this should be cool at least. They also confirm Knockout Tours where the lowest-placing racers from each race get eliminated which is another very similar thing to a Mario Kart Wii mod that exists. I don't much to say about these. They're probably pretty fun from a spectator's standpoint and not too different to play than the regular game outside of the obvious.
We get a few tracks confirmed from here -
Six laps? There were four tracks in the Grand Prixs, you needed to reach 8th to not be eliminated, and this looked like the end of the course where you needed to get 8th to not be eliminated. Maybe you can customize the amount of racers eliminated depending on how many races are in like a VS Mode GP but they show these exact numbers multiple times in a row. I figured it would be something along the lines of 24 for race 1, cut down to 16 for race 2 (we see a gate with 16 on it as well), then 8 for race 3, then like a final showdown with the last two or four for race 4 or something.
And lastly...the most absurd part of this trailer. This game's roster. Is insane. Everything I've seen here today is like, sure, COOL, but aside from 24 player this roster is genuinely the best part of this game to me so far. Unless you count the graphics I guess lmao
I can share screenshots for any of these if needed, but the list of new characters to a non-tour, non-arcade Mario Kart includes but is absolutely not limited to -Nabbit, Hammer Bro, Goomba, Monty Mole, Chargin' Chuck, Pianta, Cataquack, Stingby, Sidestepper, Biddybud, Peepa, Swoop, Snowman, Dolphin, Fish Bones, Penguin, and perhaps most shocking and obvious to everyone, Moo Moo. (EDIT: check the bottom of this post for an updated version. also i forgot to mention but alt character colors like mk8d are confirmed through yoshi) What. Is. This. Roster. That's 17 new characters at the absolute minimum and ignores the "weirder" picks that have already been confirmed like Pauline and the babies. And my god, it goes without saying but these are some weird choices in the best way. People are really going to be able to pick characters that feel so much more personal to them than previous rosters could allow. I'd bet if you're not a Mario superfan you'd have to look up one or those two since all you'd remember them by is "that one enemy that appeared in Mario 3D World" or the like!
This game's roster is going to be straight-up ridiculous. Frankly it already is. Over 40 characters minimum and there's still room for them to add stuff. We have not seen the Koopalings, Dry Bones, Petey Piranha, Kamek, any crossover characters like Link or Villager from last game, and so on. This isn't to say that any or all of them will be added but they and plenty more are now on the table. Literally all this roster needs is Funky Kong and it's an immediate 10/10 for me no questions asked.
The most exciting part is that many of those characters I mentioned could be easy points of interest for the Direct that's coming in literally two weeks. A lot of them are very popular so it'd only make sense. I was very curious how big the roster would be for a 24 player Mario Kart and this absolutely delivered, I can't praise it enough.
In conclusion, I'm buying this on launch. In my eyes 500 bucks is worth it for both the game and the console.
EDIT: Okay I missed some characters.
This roster is probably not even final because no Miis, although this plus the Miis and maybe some crossovers honestly might just be all we end up with. Would still be content with this being where it ends because man what an insane roster
Mario Kart World seems to be Nintendo's big launch title. Understandable. It's always been their biggest console seller and I don't see that changing any time soon. They showed it as their first Switch 2 game, showed it first in this Direct despite technically not needing to, and will be giving it its own Direct in two weeks despite us getting a lot of info on it today. And by a lot of info, I really do mean A LOT of info. They kind of went over a lot of it rapid-fire and didn't even discuss some parts of it but discussion is what forums are for, right?
First off, different vehicle alterations depending on terrain - a jetski for water, a snowmobile for, well, snow, and an airplane for the air. I have to imagine none of these mean that much from a gameplay standpoint. The airplane transformation seems to work like gliders from previous games and at worst I'd bet the other two only really alter your traction or something. For example snow has historically given you less traction while drifting. Not much to say about these but I mean I guess it's cool from an aesthetic standpoint. When the producers come on later, we hear about weather conditions and time of day "changing the atmosphere," which I imagine being similar in that rain or snow might change your traction but not much else outside of visuals.
Not long after this, we see Mario doing a trick off of the ground and onto a rail, which starts a drift. I have to imagine this works pretty similar to just drifting normally with whatever buff or debuff there is to driving in the air as opposed to on the ground (it's slower to be in the air in older games) and with it maybe being impossible to trap these spots with Bananas and such. Since you're driving up on top of a wall you might be able to avoid Shells here too. Could lead to some interesting little dynamics on some tracks if you have to take outside lines to get onto these and evade Red Shells assuming those can't target you on there. Maybe they can though, and in that case all this would mean is you get to take the tightest line possible without having to work for it. Lame.
You can similarly see Mario bounce up a wall like this a few times in the trailer which seems like another fun thing you could optimize for the sake of avoiding air time as much as possible. I imagine there would be anti-gravity here of all places if it were meant for this game but it seems to be gone since the wheels do not transform. Other than that the mechanics mostly seem the same as what we've come to expect from previous Mario Kart games. Very much a shame. Maybe snaking is good like how they patched it back into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, accidentally or otherwise, but we'll see. Maybe there's something else we're missing here too.
A few items are shown next. The Mega Mushroom is back but they don't seem to show it doing too much different than previous games. It did seem to immediately collect the coins of one of the people its user squished so maybe that's a plus. I know some people didn't like it because it felt like a weaker star and I don't entirely blame them for that even if I think giving weaker versions of last place items is fine. I'm really hoping they don't do the Mario Kart Tour version of this where getting hit once removes it because that just kinda turns it into another protection item along the lines of a Banana or Green Shell. My wish for this item was always for items you throw while having it to be enlarged too but I doubt they do that.
We see a Hammer item after this from a Hammer Bro where he throws two volleys of three hammers before the scene switches. If you watch the trailer closely you can see the hammers lock onto different targets despite the Hammer Bro not really turning all too much? These fly at an arc similar to the main series games so there's some chance this is a completely unblockable projectile with some kind of homing and also some kind of spammability.
This...sounds awful to deal with on paper, I'm gonna be honest. The Fire Flower was already one of my least favorite items to play against in any Mario Kart game because if you're behind someone who has one you usually just have to accept that you're both losing any protection items you have and also taking damage anyways so making what might just be a better version of it sounds ridiculous. I'm hopeful there's some kind of counterplay on the receiving end of this, like maybe it locks onto you and gives you a second to turn out of the way or something? I dunno man.
Then we see a Coin Block item. Toadette hits a Coin Block repeatedly which seems to give herself a few coins. At the same time, it drops two coins back behind the user for every coin they get. I hope that if anything this is the replacement for the Coin item. Best case scenario it can also work as a protection item and potentially give its user a coin while breaking if a shell smacks into it or something, that'd be really sick. This game has an increased cap for how many coins you can get so something like this is welcome, especially with the chaos that there's gonna be with 24 player.
We can briefly see both a Golden Mushroom and a Bullet Bill trailing different peoples' karts similar to how you would with a Green Shell or something in previous games. This is probably for the sake of making it easier to tell who has what item but does leave the funny possibility of someone stealing someone else's Bullet Bill since if I recall correctly you can do this with Stars and Mushrooms from the Crazy 8.
We can later see an Ice Flower and some kind of Magic Ball item in a spinning item wheel later on. I pray that the Ice Flower is not a buffed Fire Flower for similar reasons as the Hammer item. The coolest implementation would be like a small amount of Green Shell shots where instead of hurting you, it locks your turning for a moment. Would give you a bit of inherent counterplay to it even if you don't have an item which Nintendo rarely does with their items. Maybe you could create big patches of ice on the ground that do similar? I have to imagine it effects your vehicle in a different way compared to other items.
The Fire Flower, Boomerang Flower, and Boo are all back. I don't like any of these items but we're stuck with them now. Yippee... At the very least we do see the Super Horn at some point later in the trailer which is cool.
After this we see a giant trailer truck that you can drive your kart into and make something happen?? It starts driving for a bit and is able to damage opponents that come into contact with it so maybe it's like a Bullet Bill or Mega Mushroom in function but it doesn't seem to work like an item. What determines if you can enter it? Surely it can't be anyone because that would leave the gates open to give first place a huge advantage. No clue with this one.
Mario eats a burger that gives him a Wonder Seed lookin effect before changing his costume. Is this something you get naturally while driving or do you have to go out of your way to get it? Because if it's the latter then they probably give you some kind of boost but the trailer doesn't have anything to go off of. King Boo has a costume so I have to imagine they have these for a bunch of characters, if not all of them.
We do see that item sets work similarly to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in that most sets of items will mostly have single item boxes, but there will be one or a few double item boxes in at least some sets. This is a bit concerning. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is kind of notorious as a game where it's super common strategy to sit and do nothing so you can get the lower spots' more powerful items and win off of that. Nintendo tried to fix this by weakening the items you get if you try to get too many from one set, but this did not fix the problem. They're going to need to be very cautious about how they handle this. Easiest way is to simply weaken the items and if anything the Bullet Bill from a previous shot might look a little slower but I genuinely can't tell.
The whole "drive anywhere" aspect seems like a fun little novelty with friends. Maybe they'll show us some incentive to going out and doing stuff but I imagine it's mostly for the sake of goofing off, which is fine. If nothing else the worldbuilding part of this should be cool at least. They also confirm Knockout Tours where the lowest-placing racers from each race get eliminated which is another very similar thing to a Mario Kart Wii mod that exists. I don't much to say about these. They're probably pretty fun from a spectator's standpoint and not too different to play than the regular game outside of the obvious.
We get a few tracks confirmed from here -
- Mushroom Cup - Mario Bros. Circuit, Crown City, Whistletop Summit, DK Spaceport
- Flower Cup - (DS) Desert Hills, (3DS) Shy Guy Bazaar, (GCN) Wario Stadium, (DS) Airship Fortress
- Star Cup - (DS) DK Pass, Starview Peak, (Switch/Tour) Sky-High Sundae, (3DS) Wario Shipyard
- Shell Cup - (N64) Koopa Troopa Beach, Faraway Oasis, Crown City, Peach Stadium
- Banana Cup - ???
- Leaf Cup - ???
- Lightning Cup - ???
- Somewhere Above - (Wii) Moo Moo Meadows, (Wii) Toad's Factory, probably more I missed
Six laps? There were four tracks in the Grand Prixs, you needed to reach 8th to not be eliminated, and this looked like the end of the course where you needed to get 8th to not be eliminated. Maybe you can customize the amount of racers eliminated depending on how many races are in like a VS Mode GP but they show these exact numbers multiple times in a row. I figured it would be something along the lines of 24 for race 1, cut down to 16 for race 2 (we see a gate with 16 on it as well), then 8 for race 3, then like a final showdown with the last two or four for race 4 or something.
And lastly...the most absurd part of this trailer. This game's roster. Is insane. Everything I've seen here today is like, sure, COOL, but aside from 24 player this roster is genuinely the best part of this game to me so far. Unless you count the graphics I guess lmao
I can share screenshots for any of these if needed, but the list of new characters to a non-tour, non-arcade Mario Kart includes but is absolutely not limited to -
This game's roster is going to be straight-up ridiculous. Frankly it already is. Over 40 characters minimum and there's still room for them to add stuff. We have not seen the Koopalings, Dry Bones, Petey Piranha, Kamek, any crossover characters like Link or Villager from last game, and so on. This isn't to say that any or all of them will be added but they and plenty more are now on the table. Literally all this roster needs is Funky Kong and it's an immediate 10/10 for me no questions asked.
The most exciting part is that many of those characters I mentioned could be easy points of interest for the Direct that's coming in literally two weeks. A lot of them are very popular so it'd only make sense. I was very curious how big the roster would be for a 24 player Mario Kart and this absolutely delivered, I can't praise it enough.
In conclusion, I'm buying this on launch. In my eyes 500 bucks is worth it for both the game and the console.
EDIT: Okay I missed some characters.
This roster is probably not even final because no Miis, although this plus the Miis and maybe some crossovers honestly might just be all we end up with. Would still be content with this being where it ends because man what an insane roster
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