We Tried Mario Kart World in 2026: Here’s Our Review

Mario Kart World’s unique gameplay, tracks and characters have both long-time fans and first-time players divided. Want to know whether it’s worth buying? Our review will cover game modes, tracks, racers and karts to give you everything you need to know before you buy. 

Honest Pros and Cons: The Game at a Glance

Before we get into the nitty-gritty details, we should cover the pros and cons of Mario Kart World. While we thought the gameplay was a breath of fresh air, we weren’t huge fans of some new mechanics. Also, although we had fun, it was difficult to justify the $80 price tag.

Here are some things we liked — and some we didn’t: 

Pros	Cons
The interconnected tracks span creative and exciting locations.	At $80, the high price of Mario Kart World is difficult to justify.
Free Roam is a unique way to explore the world and complete missions.	The open world can feel empty without friends to race with.
The racing mechanics are fun once you get used to them.	The lack of classic three-lap tracks is noticeable — and not in a good way.
There are tons of fun new characters to play and unlock.	Mario Kart World is only available on the Switch 2, so you may have to buy a new system.

Our Take on the Game Modes and Courses 

There are a lot of features that are unique to this entry into the Mario Kart series, so we’ll cover the fundamentals of the game’s modes, courses and mechanics before getting into our review: 

Game Modes

There are four modes. In the Grand Prix, you race against CPUs or other players in different Cups. There are eight Cups, each with four courses. Pro tip — you can only unlock the Special Cup by completing the first seven. You earn points depending on where you finish. 

You race across the world map — across Crown City, the DK Spaceport, Peach Stadium, Dino Dino Jungle, Peach Beach, Boo Cinema, Toad’s Factory, Rainbow Road, and more — to reach the next course. Depending on how you race, you can unlock stickers and karts.

I spent a lot of time playing the Grand Prix. The paths between courses were part of the race, too, which made for some high-octane sequences. Knockout Tour was even more fast-paced because I faced the threat of elimination. 

Very few of my friends own a Switch 2, so I didn’t spend much time on Time Trials, Balloon Battle, Coin Runners or VS Race. My favorite was VS Race because I could set custom rules — like which items are allowed and whether we would use a three-lap ruleset. 

Courses and World

I reserved Free Roam for its own section because I have a lot to say about it. For the first time ever in a Mario Kart game, courses are interconnected, leading from one to the next. In Free Roam, you can follow the roads or go where your heart takes you. 

Honestly, I loved being able to go wherever I wanted without Lakitu telling me I was going the wrong way. There were hundreds of missions to complete, both on and off-road. It helped me familiarize myself with the tracks, karts and new mechanics outside of races. 

After a while, though, Free Roam began to feel dull. I still have so much left to explore, but the world feels too empty without friends. You can only explore the world in single-player mode or online with friends — I found out the hard way that there’s no split-screen mode unless you have two Nintendo Switch 2 systems in the same room. 

Toys and Techniques 

Mario Kart World lets you wall ride, glide, rail grind and charge jump. It took me a while to learn to hop over hazards and latch onto walls. There were more than a few races where I collided with oncoming traffic or drove headlight-first into a wall. 

There are a few new items, too. The Coin Shell leaves a trail of coins for you and your opponents. Whoever gets to them first gets a slight speed boost. Kamek’s magic was the most fun. The Koopa wizard spawns in to temporarily transform all racers into strange creatures. 

The game doesn’t explain what the gold, glowing bags are, so I will. Dash Food takes up an item slot. When you use it, you get a speed boost. Sometimes, it unlocks unique outfits, like Pro Racer Peach or Sightseeing Peach. Can you tell which character is my favorite?

With up to 24 players sharing a track — the most ever in a Mario Kart title — classic techniques like drifting and drafting are more important than ever. To reach the third acceleration tier, you need to deselect auto-accelerate in the settings, which is enabled by default. 

How We Feel About the Characters and Karts 

There’s not much to say about the characters and karts, since everyone has their favorites. Still, no Mario Kart World review is complete without covering the two most essential elements of the game: 

Character Selection

This Mario Kart game has a vast selection of playable characters. In addition to classics like Yoshi, Mario, Luigi, Toad, Bowser and Peach, you can play as NPCs and fun side characters. There are 18 unlockable characters, including Goomba, Fish Bone, Cow, Nabbit and Piranha Plant — the most of any game in the series. 

The baby versions of your favorites are back, including Baby Mario, Peach, Luigi, Rosalina and Daisy. You can unlock Bowser Jr. by completing one of the Grand Prix Cups — we won’t spoil which one. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find almost all the characters have at least one outfit variation. There are over 100 in total, most of which I haven’t seen yet. I had better luck finding Dash Food in Free Roam than during the Grand Prix. 

Kart Selection

Each vehicle has speed, acceleration, weight and handling stats. These determine its top speed, how quickly it can reach its top speed, how it handles collisions with other racers and how easy it is to take hard turns. There are plenty of starting vehicles. As you race, you’ll collect coins and unlock even more karts. 

The retro Plushbuggy pairs well with Peach. When I played Daisy or Rosalina — I’m partial to the princesses — I either used the Cute Scoot scooter or the Junkyard Hog ATV. I’m good enough at drifting that I didn’t need to worry too much about stats. That said, I mainly only race against CPUs, not other players. 

Our Character Tier List From S-Tier to F-Tier

All the characters have stats based on their weight class. The lightest have the fastest acceleration and easiest handling, but the weakest top speed. In contrast, the heavier characters have higher top speeds, but worse handling and slower starts. Middleweights are well-rounded, if you’ll excuse the pun.

We recommend avoiding heavy characters like Bowser, Donkey Kong and Wario if you’re new to Mario Kart games. Although they have the highest top speeds, their wider turning radius makes drifting mistakes far more punishing. Featherweight characters like Baby Peach, Para-Biddybud, Swoop and Baby Daisy can also be challenging because they have low top speeds and are easy to push around. 

In matches with CPUs, raw speed is essential. However, in online matches, you need to be more strategic. Deliberately staying in a low position allows you to gather more powerful items, enabling you to rush first during the last lap. 

In addition to stats, we also considered racer popularity, unlock difficulty and general vibes to build our Mario Kart World character tier list. Don’t avoid characters if you see fan favorites or your must-have main on a lower tier — use the one you like racing with.

S-Tier	Yoshi, Toad, Toadette, Nabbit, Cheep Cheep and Cow
A-Tier	Mario, Luigi, Peach, Rosalina and Goomba
B-Tier	Bowser, Daisy, Waluigi, Birdo, Pauline, Monty Mole, Swoop, Snowman, Penguin and Para-Biddybud
C-Tier	Donkey Kong, Bowser Jr., Wario, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, Baby Rosalina, Peepa and Dolphin
D-Tier	Koopa Troopa, Shy Guy, Dry Bones, Piranha Plant, Sidestepper, Pokey, Fish Bone, Stingby, Coin Coffer and Chargin’ Chuck
F-Tier	King Boo, Spike, Wiggler, Hammer Bro, Cataquack, Pianta, Rocky Wrench and Conkdor

Considering the Cost of Nintendo Switch Online

If you want to play anything but Knockout Tour, Grand Prix, VS Race, Balloon Battle or Coin Runners with real people, you’ll need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Not to date myself, but I remember a time when I didn’t have to pay to play online with friends. 

I ended up getting the subscription because it’s relatively affordable. However, I imagine Nintendo will raise prices in the coming years. When that time comes, I’ll have to reconsider whether the price is worth it. 

You also have to consider the price of a Switch 2, as Mario Kart World is only available on this system. It’s a big purchase, especially if you already have an original Switch or a Switch Lite that works just fine. If you want to access any of the most interesting new features your system offers, you’ll need to pay extra for the wheel accessory and the camera. 

Our Mario Kart World Review’s Final Verdict

Ultimately, I was a little underwhelmed by Mario Kart World’s Free Roam. Being able to move from one region to the next is interesting, but exploration didn’t feel as fulfilling as I thought it would. I’m used to playing with friends on classic courses, so that may be why. 

To accommodate the high player count, the roads are often huge. I liked having a lot of room to experiment with items or face off with my opponents. However, I found green shells and bananas weren’t really a risk anymore — especially since there are few laps. 

Also, I was a little frustrated by the lack of three-lap tracks. I won’t deny going from leaping across floating platforms to skimming across the water was fun. However, I didn’t get the chance to try out shortcuts I passed or lap the person in last place. However, I still thoroughly enjoyed my time in the world. The mechanics and maps have a ton of replayability. 

If you’re a huge fan of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — which sold nearly 80 million copies — it might take time to get used to Mario Kart World. My advice is to ignore the critics. While it may take time to get used to the new play style, this is a fun game for people who enjoy Mario Kart. 

Where You Can Buy Mario Kart World Today

Mario Kart World costs $80 at full price, which is a lot. Unfortunately, entries in the Mario Kart series don’t go on sale often. I was lucky enough to be gifted my system and Mario Kart World, so I didn’t have to pay nearly $550 for the experience. Luckily, there are ways to save. 

If you don’t already have a Switch 2, I recommend getting the Mario Kart World bundle to save about $50. I wouldn’t bother buying from the Nintendo Store since you’ll pay the full $80 for a digital download. If you already have a Switch 2, getting a physical copy will let you share the game with friends. 

Buy on Amazon

If you don’t have friends IRL, you can get Nintendo Switch Online to play with real people. As of 2026, it costs about $4 monthly. You’ll pay the equivalent of $1.67 per month if you pay for 12 months upfront.