Open-world Mario Kart? I'm stoked! The new movement options look nuts too. Mario Kart 8 is one of my favorite, most-played games ever, and it's great to see its sequel taking some big new steps.

I haven't been a Mario Kart fanatic in a long while. I never played MK8, only rented 7 for a brief playthrough, and didn't play MK Wii all that much.

But, assuming I can pick up a Switch 2 day one, I'll be getting MK World day one with it. Going open world is easily the biggest shakeup the series has ever seen, and it's the premiere launch title, so why not? Looks like a lot of fun.

@nate38
Ooooh, you missed out! MK8 is fantastic. But this looks very promising too, in a different way.

For a split second, watching this trailer, I forgot about already having seen some footage, and it was as if teenage me got to see a big, sprawling Mario Kart racing adventure for the first time, and it was an amazing feeling. I feel like I'm getting caught up in the modern day obsessions over what games are and should be, and in my own boring grownup life, that I forget how magical it could be to just be a friggin' cow riding around a virtual Mario environment with my friends, throwing shells at Daisy and Bowser.

I wonder how they'll handle DLC expansions, if this is supposed to be a big open world with racetracks incorporated into it. New islands?

Rewatching the trailer, somehow I missed this part where you can drive into a semi and take control of it?!

Awesome!

@Zero
Being the Stunt Race FX fan I am, that part stood out to me a bit. But this does seem a fair bit cooler than those old bonus games.

So, how long has Mario had the mumps?


His cheeks weren't that puffy in Wonder or Odyssey, right? Is it a movie design thing? Has his anti-vax stances finally come back to bite him in the ass? This is not exactly a big issue, or as big of a redesign as DK, but the man looks like a dog trying hide something that he's not allowed to bring in the house.

@r_hjort Lol, I'd agree they're maybe TOO much but I feel like it doesn't look as egregious when he's in the kart.

I think this game looks absolutely incredible. I do think that the only way I'd pick it up is part of the bundle, because I just don't know if I could justify $80 for ANY game, at least off the bat. If it's $80 and you get guaranteed DLC and it's as huge as the last game, or more, then I'd understand that.

My biggest fear right now is in regards to the standard Grand Prix. I think the intermission routes are REALLY cool but...they're pretty straight and empty? I like courses like ExciteBike, but is this going to become stale after a while? Mario Kart is often about mastering the courses themselves with all their twists and turns, but if you're only going to be going through with 2 laps? I'm hoping that ONE of their online playlists has a traditional GP mode, just to have some variety. I know they confirmed they'll have a traditional GP mode, but I didn't know if this carried over to online play.

We also haven't heard anything about battle mode, and I mean...there's definitely going to be battle modes for an $80 game, right? Or retro tracks? Will they be designed into the world? So many questions. And where's Diddy Kong? Will he see a similar redesign to DK?

@PogueSquadron
If I want to pick up a physical copy - and I do - I'll have to shell out 90 for the damn game. It's insane. If games had been priced the same way as the previous gen, I might have picked up a handful of them. Mario Kart, Civ, FAST, Street Fighter. Two Point Museum, if that hits close to launch. Kunitsu-Gami! Now, all of those would be a lot more than 90 euro, but I would feel more comfortable spending all that money on that many games.

I agree about standard Grand Prix. The intermission stuff is an awesome idea, and from what we saw during the Treehouse Live segments I think they seem fairly interesting as well. There was a segment with tons of traffic, and one with optional but risky shortcuts straight across a more serpentine shaped path. At least I think that was an intermission track? I'm not so worried about the layouts, but I really do hope we get the old school GP stuff as well.

There really should be a battle mode in here. They could even do a battle royale type thing if they wanted. Not necessarily full-blown Fortnite, but you know, at least split parts of the world into battle maps with appropriate size and have them shrink over time.

I have faith in Nintendo here, 'cause everything we've seen (apart from the price tag) so far seems very well thought out and ambitious, but there sure are a lot of question marks.

If it's not cost-prohibitive, I'm picking up this game in the bundle at launch. I am one of those people that didn't put much time into Mario Kart 8 (either version) so I'm actually looking forward to sinking my teeth into a brand new entry for the first time since the 3DS game.

The open-world stuff is really interesting to me, and I'm hoping there are going to be a bunch of hidden "things" you can find and collect out there. I'm hoping that it will be similar to the N64's RUSH 2: Extreme Racing USA and San Francisco Rush 2049's 'Free Roam' mode, which put you on the race track, but there was no race. You could just drive around and find hidden areas, shortcuts, stuff like that. And if you got to a place on the map that was especially hidden, you could collect coins, icons (and in RUSH 2 specifically) cans of Mountain Dew. Picking up these items unlocked more stuff in the game, which you could then use in any mode.

I'm not holding my breath, but I'd love for something like that to appear in Mario Kart World. (but maybe not Mountain Dew cans)

@GameDadGrant

I have to imagine there'll be stuff to find out in the world! I even wonder if they'll have missions out there.

For what it's worth, I remember the NOA people talking about more to show off in regards to stuff to do around the world. I bet we'll have a better idea of what to expect when that Direct hits next week.

@GameDadGrant I'm hoping they take advantage of the world and have *some* kind of single player thing going on. I understand that it's Mario Kart, but I feel like they could almost do something like Diddy Kong Racing, where you're unlocking new parts of the world as you go. That could be really awesome if done right.

I still pick up Forza Horizon 5 every now and then just to do random races. It's pretty mindless, but it's really good as a "I want to turn my brain off" kid of game. If MKW can do even a little bit of that, that could be really awesome.

Alright, nerds! Only a couple of days to the Direct! Are we feeling the hype yet?

@r_hjort

I have no games to play. I have played literally every game in existence that I would love. I need this.

@Secret_Tunnel
I have so many games in my backlog that I want to play, but I'm so looking forward to this one that I've convinced myself that I don't want to start up anything new or big.

Looking forward to (hopefully) obsessing over some Mario Kart in ways I haven't since I sat all evening with the local junkies at the train station, playing Mario Kart DS online there because I didn't have wifi at home.

Anyone got any special requests for new characters? They've added the friggin' Moo Moo cow, after all! Personally I think it's about time we saw Tatanga behind the wheel.

I want to see Tri-Clyde and Mouser! How did Cow make it in before them? (No shade on Cow. He's cool.)

Man, Mario Kart World looks freaking awesome. Knockout Mode looks like a blast. And I don't even really understand how it works! (Can the tracks be any order? Are the interstitial sections randomized?)

I hope that they really blow out the features on this game. Draw your own course with the mouse, tons of race and character customization, lots of weird, SF Rush 2049-like collectibles in the open world, maybe even emergent events while you're cruising around... The possibilities are endless. The water stuff looks cool, too. I hope those sections feel like Wave Race.

I also hope that Battle Mode doesn't stink!

Secret_Tunnel said:

@GameDadGrant

I have to imagine there'll be stuff to find out in the world! I even wonder if they'll have missions out there.

Missions!

Right, well, I'm sold! I was already sold, but now I'm sold-er. The more I see of the world and the characters, the more I like the general vibe, and missions and hidden objects in the open world is right up my alley. I hope there's variety to it, and opportunity for expansions.

Missions are nice, and all, but I wanna draw my own course with the mouse! Or at least place numbered gates, a la Home Circuit.

Looks good, though. The charge jump is interesting. And the Kamek item is awesome. Emergence! Crossing my fingers for a solid Balloon Battle. Will the massive amount of players and permadeath lead to camping?

That charge jump looks ridiculously fun. Do you guys think there'll be 200cc in this one? I loved it in 8, but after its introduction I always got the feeling that I didn't know which mode was the "real" Mario Kart. I wonder if 8, with its 96 courses, will retain its own identity as the pinnacle of old Mario Kart, while World pushes the scope along other dimensions.