Nintendo want you to play the game the way they designed it. You will grind your way to the real race just like you will grind in zelda tears of the kingdom. You will love the grind.

I don’t think I’ve ever played an intermission track. Unless you mean the time between races where everyone just sits there and hops

I think by "intermission track", they mean the straightaway highway/street kinda tracks

Ohhhhh yeah I understand now. I’ve been on those

Getting tricks off in this game is addicting. Even those that lead nowhere and make you lose spots are fun because of the execution and ingenuity in chaining them one after another. Im enjoying much more vs mode this way, even if im not winning. Simply trying to master the game's mechanics in a competitive scenario is enough motivation to keep playing. Again, ive never felt this way with a Mario kart game. Usually i do all the grand prix cups and then hop online until i get bored of the tracks. But this game's added movement depth and the tons of intermission roads all with their mostly unique gimmick keep me playing nonstop, without mentioning free roam's collectibles which are pretty addicting cant lie.
Im glad im an intrinsically motivated player honestly lol.

Toad factory went from a 10/10 to a 20/10, incredible, phenomenal, generational track

Idk what the f*** they where thinking with the highways

Got the switch 2 yesterday, and played a bunch of this locally, and yeah this might be the most hell Mario kart has ever been, 24 racers is nuts

Honestly people get hung up on this, but when you realize nintendo has given us some of the widest roads to drive on, you become a lot more vigilant. Plus, there are some crazy required shortcuts if you want to win now.

Reminds me of CTR. If you didn't know the shortcuts, you lost.

knockout tour is awesome and 24 players works perfectly.

for non-knockout tour, yea they could use some fine tuning of the race format (i dont think it's awful mind you but it could be better)

Knockout tour is so fun. Forza Horizon had something similar years ago, but to implement this idea to a kart racer is a whole other level

The intermissions dont bother me either, when people talked about them I thought it was gonna be way worse. I do think there should be an option to play without it though

I changed my mind on 24 player vs mode. Getting better at the game and learning track layouts + possible shortcuts makes the final laps much more phrenetic, more than any other previous game in the series, and getting the shortcut right is adrenaline pumping, as long as the final lap isnt some bs like dry dry desert where the track ends 5 seconds after you arrive there.
I was never one to complain about items in Mario kart, always thought they were part of the experience, so i don't get too frustrated when i lose 10 spots at once because of an unfortunate sequence of events.
Getting to see all the intermission tracks as well and their gimmicks is fun, thanks also to the wonderful art direction.
Idk, i think taking this game for what it is and trying to understand the devs choices has me looking on the game more and more positively.
I would make some adjustments still, but its hard to get a series shakeup 100% right the first try, and there's time for updates and the sort

what's the consensus so far?

It’s Mario kart

knockout tour is goat

that’s about it really

The game has the best creativity out of any racing game. Let’s not short change it.

So I’m about 70% “done” with Free Roam mode. Am I only one that doesn’t get the hate this mode has?

I’ve seen how everyone says there’s nothing to do and it’s boring. But I’ve been loving it. I think people expected some 100 hour BOTW / Elden Ring epic… but this is a racing game with an “open world lite” mode. I think it’s pretty damn fun and pretty engaging with all the p switch missions and finding panels and peach medallions

Overall, this game is 100% worthy of a launch title and I’m STILL obsessed with it.

I think we all know World is getting DLC (free or paid? I’m sure it’ll be both) but what we have now, I think is a lot and worth the $80 with the almost 85 hours I’ve put into this game, with barely touching online lol

new patch

General

You can now join friends playing "Knockout Tour" by selecting "Friends" from "Online Play" "1p."
Up to 2 players can now play "Free Roam" while waiting if the game was full when trying to join friends playing "Race," "Knockout Tour" or "Battle" in "Online Play."
The "Free Roam" map now displays the locations of P Switches you've run over and Peach Medallions you've obtained.
    You can now select a P Switch from the map and move to a location near the P Switch.
In "Free Roam", you can now transform into the character pulled into the UFO.
    If "Dash Food" in "Settings/Controller" is set to "Doesn't transform" then you will not transform.
It is now easier to encounter UFOs in "Free Roam."
The conditions for the appearance of some Peach Medallions in "Free Roam" have been adjusted.
When spectating in "Knockout Tour" or "Balloon Battle" in "Online Play" or "Wireless Play", you can now choose who to watch, even if you are holding the Joy-Con 2 or Joy-Con horizontally.
Decreased the time between when an item box is taken by someone and the next time it is revived.
Increased the invincible time after spinning or crashing during a race.
Reduced the force of jumps when landing on a rival from above.
Decreased the amount of time between when you finish and when spectating begins in "Knockout Tour" or "Balloon Battle" in "Online Play" or "Wireless Play."
Decreased the amount of time between passing through the checkpoint and when the ranking is displayed in "Knockout Tour" in "Wireless Play" and "LAN Play."
Further increased the frequency of lap-type courses appearing in the selection when choosing the next course in "VS Race" and wireless races.

Fixed Issues

Fixed an issue in "Online Play" and "Wireless Play" where the ranking would sometimes become incorrect if a player went off course at the same time as reaching the finish line.
Fixed an issue in "Grand Prix", "Knockout Tour", and "VS Race", where the CPU's ranking would sometimes drop after reaching the finish line.
Fixed an issue in "Knockout Tour" in "Online Play" where other players' ratings would sometimes appear as "0" on the results screen.
Fixed an issue where a Spiny Shell would sometimes pass the first place player in "Wireless Play" or "Online Play."
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be sent flying backwards a great distance when hit by a Spiny Shell.
Fixed an issue where the second item in an item slot would sometimes not disappear when hit by Lightning.
Fixed an issue where hitting the base of a pillar in mid-air would sometimes cause a large jump.
Fixed an issue that sometimes caused movement to become unstable when doing a wall ride on water.
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be swept away strongly after landing when doing a mini jump while going up a river.
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes pass through the ground when hit by a car driving on the road.
Fixed an issue in "Free Roam" where players would sometimes be unable to enter pipes correctly after exiting a trailer.
Fixed an issue where the results screen would sometimes become distorted after spectating "Balloon Battle" in "Online Play."
Fixed an issue where the game would sometimes not proceed to the course selection screen after exiting a pipe during "Free Roam" in "Online Play."
Fixed an issue where Bullet Bill would sometimes slip through walls when used in "Sky-High Sundae."
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes get stuck on a wall at the start of the race heading from "Airship Fortress" to "Shy Guy Bazaar."
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes get stuck in walls when using a Bullet Bill in "Bowser's Castle."
Fixed an issue in "Cheep Cheep Falls" where item boxes were sometimes difficult to pick up when Smart Steering was turned on.
Fixed an issue in "Knockout Tour" "Spiny Rally" where sometimes there was an item box buried in the ground.
Several other issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience.

We BACK?!?

I started playing this again recently and actually trying online too. Honestly forgot how fun it straight up is. Feel like it's something I'll actually fire up a good amount of intermittently for like 10 years

What's good tips for getting better playing online? Like any specific videos or anything like that

So they actually updated this s***. Hope the updates keep improving.

When I'm right>>>

Update for Mar10 day?

en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/68580/~/how-to-update-mario-kart-world

New mode.

Also bullet bill buff. You can drive it and have it not follow the course and use it to cut corners