Why I HATE Mario Kart World on Switch 2

Hello, welcome back to a new video.

So recently I've been playing the brand

new Mario Kart World on the Switch 2, and

as an avid fan of Mario Kart games and

racing games in general, I knew I just had

to play this game.

Unfortunately, so far it's been a bit

bland, boring, and lacking in a certain

kind of luster.

So we've got some new modes in this game

which are different to the Mario Kart 8

modes.

We've got the open world free roaming mode

and also the survival mode, which is

probably one of my favorite new modes at

the moment.

I find the open world to be a bit bland

bland and dull and a bit lifeless, and I

don't really want to spend time roaming

around an open world when there's nothing

really in it.

I mean, it's not exactly Cyberpunk or GTA.

There's no missions or quests that are

very interesting in the open world.

Nothing really happens in the open world.

It's not really dynamic or anything.

You can't run people over, and all you do

is drive around collecting little

ding-dongs here and there and trying to

find little secrets and exploration.

Not really what I'm looking for in a Mario

Kart game.

What I am looking for is competitive

online racing, and this game does deliver

that in spades.

So number one, my main problem with the

game is it seems to take forever to

actually find an online match.

I remember in Mario Kart 8 it was almost

instant you'd be put into a match, but as

you can see, I'm just driving around this

open world segment because I'm trying to

find a match and it says you will join the

next available race.

I think I waited about 8 to 10 minutes

before it actually put me into a race,

which is kind of surprising considering

the fact that the Switch 2 has just come

out and Thousands of people must have

bought the Switch with Mario Kart World,

and there must be at least, I don't know,

a couple thousand people playing this game

online.

I don't understand why it's taking such a

damn long time to put me into a match.

So I had to wait for ages until I actually

got put into a match.

And as you can see, this is the open world

bit that's kind of like a lobby where you

get to drive around in whilst you wait.

Now it's kind of nice.

I think this is an improvement over the

other lobby in Mario Kart 8 where you just

had a bunch of avatars standing around

waving at each other.

I think this is a more interesting lobby

Although I think it would have been better

if you could have seen the other players

who are also waiting for a match to begin.

If you could like race around with them or

stand around with them and do stuff with

them, would make it feel a bit less lonely

maybe.

So I've sped up the video so you can see

exactly how long it took until it actually

put me into a match.

And yeah, this is a little bit

disappointing if you wanted to get into a

match quickly without wasting time.

So I don't know why it took so long, but

yeah, you can see here it took pretty

long.

So anyway, it finally put me into a game

and I had my first race and I thought,

yeah, the visuals are pretty nice.

They definitely are quite an improvement

over Mario Kart 8, although you don't

really notice it that much to be honest

because you're not really staring at the

quality of the textures that much.

You're more focused on the distance and

trying to win the race, not really pixel

peeping.

So yeah, you do get used to the improved

graphics pretty quickly and then you don't

really notice them anymore.

They don't really blow you away.

I guess if it is nice but not really that

interesting.

The main difference I noticed coming from

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is that when you

drift, the drifting doesn't feel as good

as it does in Mario Kart 8.

In Mario Kart 8, drifting felt really nice

because as soon as you press the drifting

button, it would drift.

You would go right into the drift, there

was no delay, and it would feel really

satisfying, and you would feel completely

in control of the drift.

Now with Mario Kart World, I don't know

what they've done, but they've added like

a little animation or delay from when you

press the drift button until you actually

start drifting.

Maybe it's hard to notice.

You can see it here.

So when you start drifting, he does like a

little jump and then it goes into the

drift.

And I don't like the way this feels.

It feels slow.

It feels delayed.

The drifting— this feels delayed to a

point where I don't really want to drift

now.

And I actually found myself drifting less

in this game See, look there, you see the

2 wheels go up on the side?

This didn't used to happen in Mario Kart

8, and when it does this animation, it

makes it feel like the drifting is

unresponsive, and I feel like I'm not

really fully in control of the drifting

like I did in Mario Kart 8, and I find

myself just not drifting as much as I can

or avoiding drifting if I can.

So if there's like a big wide corner, I

might just drive around it instead of

drifting around it because the drifting

doesn't feel as good as it used to feel.

I don't know why they've done this.

And then there's a new mode.

It's kind of like a survival mode or a

tour mode.

I can't remember what it's actually

called, like a battle royale mode.

So you start off in a track with about 21

other players, and the whole goal is to

get to the finish line without being one

of the last racers.

So it will start off with about 20+

players.

As long as you are faster than the last 2,

then you'll, you'll be able to move on to

the next part of the stage.

So you go through the checkpoint or the

finish line And if you are last, then

you'll get kicked out and you have to

start a new match, or you can spectate.

So it's quite an interesting idea and I

quite like it, but it is very frustrating.

So what happens is if you do survive until

the next checkpoint, it will then get

harder and harder and harder.

So as the race progresses, more and more

racers get eliminated from the race if

they're too slow, and you basically have

to try and stay at the front to not be

eliminated.

Now it is kind of fun and it is quite

hectic and chaotic, which is quite funny,

but it is also kind of annoying because

you can be in the front of the pack, and

then as you're getting to the finish line,

because there's so many players behind you

and they've probably picked up all these

weapons and special attacks, they've

probably started launching the fireballs

and the turtle shells, and they've got all

the boosts and they got all the attacks.

So you end up getting bombarded from

behind with all these projectiles and you

just get wrecked.

When there's like 20 players behind you,

you're gonna get wrecked by all of the

projectiles and you end up just getting

destroyed, and then they all overtake you,

and then you end up being the last one to

cross the finish line, and then you get

eliminated from the entire round.

You gotta exit the match and find a new

one.

It's really frustrating.

Maybe there's a tactic.

Maybe the tactic is not to go to the front

of the pack too soon, like lurk behind and

wait until you get near the finish line,

then blow all your power-ups to try and

stay ahead and not be the last one.

So the trick is you don't really need to

be first, just don't be last.

Don't need to be the fastest, just be

faster than the slowest people, and then

you'll be able to survive until the next

round, until you get to the last round

where you basically got to be number 1 out

of about 5 people, and then it will just

determine who's actually won the race.

So it's quite fun, although it is very

frustrating.

And there's just— you could say there's

too many other players causing too much

havoc, and it doesn't really come down to

your racing skill.

You know, your drifting skill and your

racing skill and your ability to be fast

doesn't matter as much as how many damn

people behind you launching lightning

attacks and turtle shell attacks and

missiles and fireballs.

There's so many, you can't really avoid

all of it unless you're always looking

behind you.

So yeah, I'm not really super sold on it.

Maybe there's too many players in it, or

maybe it'd be cool if new players could

join the race as it's ongoing and then get

eliminated along the way.

So apart from that, it's basically exactly

the same as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

You've got the World open world mode, and

you got the survival mode, which is going

to be the one I'm mainly going to be

playing.

And those are your main modes.

Apart from that, it's pretty much exactly

the same as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

You got same power-ups.

Actually, I haven't seen any new

power-ups.

Maybe I've just not been playing it long

enough, but it's all the same.

You got the golden mushroom, you got the

speed mushrooms, boomerangs, fireballs.

Although they have upgraded the, uh, they

have upgraded the fireball animation, so

the fireballs are now bigger balls instead

of those tiny little balls.

So yeah, I don't really see much

difference in the gameplay.

Slower, more unresponsive drifting.

I don't really like— oh yeah, you can

grind the rails on the side of the track

as well.

Don't really see the point of that because

then you can't really control your

steering.

You're just like grinding along the track,

a bit like a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater kind

of move.

And you can also do more tricks.

So when you launch off a pad, instead of

just doing one trick, you can also do a

backflip.

It depends what— where you push the

thumbstick, do a backflip or front flip.

Or a side spin.

So I don't think you could do that in the

original Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Anyway, I mean, I don't really think it's

worth the money.

$80, quite expensive, but it's the only

game on Switch 2 which is actually a

Switch 2 proper game, not like some rehash

of an old game.

And if you want to actually play a Switch

2 game on your brand new Switch, then this

is probably going to be the game to get.

It feels kind of silly to play old games

when you've got a brand new console

because then you think, well, I could have

just gotten a cheaper secondhand Switch

OLED or Switch original and play the old

games, why do I get the Switch 2?

So if you're gonna get Switch 2, you might

as well get some Switch 2 games.