Last week Nintendo showcased Mario Kart World in detail giving information on various modes, features, characters, courses, items, and more. That said, coming from playing the hell out World's predecessor, Mario Kart Tour, I have a mix of thoughts on what's being presented.

I should start by saying that Mario Kart World looks beautiful. The game seems smooth and I prefer the fun look it's going for over Mario Kart 8's semi-realistic style used in most of the original tracks. Solidifying the visuals to a more Mario aesthetic is a great choice for the series.

The open world elements, with objects and objectives hidden throughout, is a much appreciated aspect that this series has needed for decades. Diddy Kong Racing pioneered this space in the Kart Racing genre in the '90s and I'm excited to see what Mario Kart can do with it 30 years later. I have high hopes.

Some of the new abilities also seem like they can add a lot to the racing. Charge Jumps, Rail Grinding, and actual meaningful Wall Riding are all game changers when it comes to racing and I can't wait to see how they all play out in courses, especially when played at high skill levels.

While this all sounds great I do have several disappointing feelings mostly stemming from things that felt like new standards that appeared in Mario Kart Tour. For instance, Mario Kart Tour featured special items for each character. These special items would differ if a character had an alternate costume making it a strategic choice based on the mode of play. Different special items could succeed in different modes. Additionally, these special items added to the personality of the character. In Mario Kart World these costumes appear to be entirely cosmetic and meaningless otherwise.

On the topic of costumes I should also mention that in Tour every character/costume variety, as well as Kart parts, had specific tracks they were best at in Tour's scoring mode. This, along with Tours level up progression system, assured there was a variety of Character/Kart combinations in use. As Mario Kart World doesn't seem to offer any of this I'm a bit concerned we will see everyone soon racing with a limited number of Character/Kart combos which will remind people of the numerous Waluigi + Wiggler Bikes that plagued the Mario Kart 8 meta. Tour gave players reasons to mix things up.

Specific items have also been reverted to their Mario Kart 8 versions instead of how they evolved in Tour. Fire/Ice Balls in Tour would be a group of three or five launched all at once, side by side, either forward or backwards. In World they are back to just being a controlled barrage. The Boomerang changes in Tour were great. You'd throw the Boomerang and it would quickly circle your Kart a few times, moving outward, hitting anyone and bringing in the coins that were nearby. In World it's back to just being thrown forward or backward a few times. Much less utility.

I'm also let down by the lack of Scoring Mode in World which was an amazing addition to Mario Kart Tour. Scoring was based on your leveled up character stats, as well as great driving, holding combos, and lots of luck. Scoring was an entirely new way to enjoy Mario Kart and it had me hooked. It was a very arcade and addictive experience that just worked well with a Kart style racer. I'm sad to see it gone, possibly forever.

While Mario Kart World promises to have day and night versions of courses, and various weather conditions, it still remains to be seen how different this will actually make the tracks. Mario Kart Tour featured Normal, Reverse, Trick, and Reverse Trick versions of nearly every track in the game that could drastically change and intensify course layout. Hopefully World delivers some great changes to tracks with its new system, but it's something I do worry about at this point.

I'm also worried about a few other seemingly minor but important aspects from Tour that seem to be absent from World. First is the ability in Tour to hold a Power Slide while doing a trick off a ramp. This really allowed for more control while racing and was a ton of fun. Going back to not being able to do this when I played the 8 Deluxe DLC felt archaic.

The second minor aspect from Tour that appears to be removed in World is a UI feature that would tell the player who hit them with an item, and who they hit. This was great for knowing who I hit with that random Banana, Blue Shell, and more from a distance and for knowing who I should curse for ruining my first place finish at the last second. Removing this feature just means who hit who will remain an eternal mystery for seemingly no reason.

Finally, we currently have no idea what the future holds for Mario Kart World. While I'm almost certain World will get updates and probably DLC in the future it's a bit confounding that Nintendo didn't officially mention if the game would have ongoing developer support. By contrast, Mario Kart Tour had bi-weekly updates, introducing new courses, characters, and karts, for four years.

It may seem like I'm negative on Mario Kart World but I need to make it clear I'm not. I'm still excited to play the game and learn what makes it tick. I'm just a bit let down that some of the great innovations that came before it are seemingly being ignored or forgotten as the Switch 2 version of Mario Kart seems to be taking a different approach for better or for worse. Only time will tell if World can dethrone Tour as my favorite Mario Kart game, but at this early stage I have some doubts even if World may succeed in some ways Tour couldn't.