Mario Kart World is, above all, a damn hoot. The headliner for the new Switch 2 is clearly following in the footsteps (or tire tracks) of the Switch's Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which has been remarkably successful despite being a port of a Wii U game first released in 2014. It would have been easy for Nintendo to rest on its laurels and give us another game similar to MK8, but World feels like a real evolution of the franchise. It borrows and expands upon what worked, while rethinking other aspects entirely.
As many noted following the Switch 2 debut trailer, races now support up to 24 racers simultaneously. Such a high player count necessitates a massively expanded roster, but Nintendo zigged on us with tons of new and unexpected inclusions like Nabbit and the extremely entertaining Cow. Yes, it is 100% just the pleasantly plump cow from Moo Moo Meadows, and she is named Cow. I would die for her. We didn't see the full roster during this demo session, but the character-select screen contained tons of variety regardless.
That's partly due to another new wrinkle: character costumes. Each character has a variety of looks they can don, from their classic styles to traditional racing gear to more personalized and inventive ensembles. I raced as Toad wearing a burger hat, a Shy Guy wearing ski gear (complete with a beanie), and Toadette with a makeover that made her little pigtails look like glistening ice cream. Bowser had an old-school biker look. Luigi could dress up like a straw-hat farmer. The list goes on and on, and I felt delighted seeing how the costumes accented the personalities of these lovable cartoon characters that I've gotten to know over the years. The character costumes were displayed as full options in the character-select menu--regular Mario and racing-suit Mario are two separate options, for example--so I assume there will be some way to mark your favorites.
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