I beat Nintendo of America at Mario Kart World's new Knockout Tour.

Okay, that's a tiny bit of a humblebrag, but Knockout Tour is the mode that has finally convinced me that the "99" formula is fun. I know, I'm sorry, you were all right.

Next to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Mario Kart World was the game everyone wanted to play. Of course you would — it's flippin' Mario Kart. And with the showcase during yesterday's Nintendo Direct, there was plenty of new stuff to dive into.

Which is good, because otherwise, this is essentially more Mario Kart. And that's not a bad thing at all. A glance at sales numbers is all you need to look at to understand. Why change the formula, the core mechanics, up at all? Who needs anti-gravity, Double-Dash, upside-down space racing when you can race anywhere?

Hands On: Mario Kart World Brings Even More Chaos In Knockout Mode 2
Plus, cows — Image: Nintendo

We didn't quite get to go wherever we wanted in our two separate sessions with Mario Kart World, and instead got to sample one of the classic modes and the aforementioned Knockout Tour. And maybe a little bit of goofing around while we were waiting in the lobby for the unsuspecting losers contestants to join in.

There are lots of little new adjustments that do change things just a teeny bit outside of the new mode. For one, Mario Kart Tour's lap system is here in full swing, and now every single ‘lap’ on every single course (of the ones we tried out) are unique. Whether its added Goombas in shoes, flooded plains, or completely new directions for a section of the course, we were constantly on the lookout for new details and tweaks, and it kept races feeling completely fresh.

Another new tweak that's far more subtle is that items are now automatically dragged behind you. If you play online or competitive Mario Kart at all, you'll know people hold their items behind them to prevent them from being hit up the rear. To do that, you used to have to hold a button down to keep it in place. Now, shells, bananas, and coin boxes are now automatically held there.

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Image: Nintendo

Lots of new items have been added to spice up the drama on the road, too. Kamek can now be summoned and, in our experience, turn a handful of kart racers into pokeys. There's now a Gold Shell alongside the Red and Green Shells which drops coins when it hits another player. The Ice Flower has finally joined its burning cousin, and does exactly what you'd expect it to. You can throw Hammers now. And in terms of a surprise returner, the Mega Mushroom is back, having only appear in a console game in Mario Kart Wii (it's also in Tour).

Bundle all of this into Knockout Tour, and you have the craziest Mario Kart ever in the sense that, well, Mario Kart World is reminding the karting genre just who is king of the world. Slices of Crash Team Racing and Team Sonic Racing are bundled into this massive toybox where the roads are wide and the salt is real, and one item can be the difference between you and defeat.

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Image: Nintendo

Knockout Tour pits 24 racers against each other in an elimination-style race. At the end of every lap, the racers in the four lowest spots are eliminated. There were no fewer than three times where I came close to being knocked out, but I edged into the top 16 or top 8 by the skin of my teeth thanks to a well-timed mushroom or shell. It's nail-biting stuff and a total thrill to experience with others.

Seamlessly transitioning into new tracks in this mode is also incredible, and when you're so locked into a stressful situation, you sometimes don't even notice it. We had to do a double take when we realised we were no longer in Airship Fortress and were instead skidding through the sands of the Desert Hills. Highways help to disguise those transitions really well, and it helps that every single course feels alive and interactive now more than ever, thanks to the traffic... literally everywhere. Why are people just casually driving through a jungle temple? Are all the random toads not worried about literal dinosaurs?

The absurdity of it all is the point, only amplified when you're fighting for your survival in a continental whistle-stop tour through Mario Kart World's chaos. Which is probably why there's a "calm" side to the game too. While we didn't get to explore this properly, we did have a chance to meander around the beautiful water course while waiting in the Knockout Lobby, just without the full features of that open-world promise that was shown off.

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Image: Nintendo

And what a showcase this is. Like Metroid Prime 4's Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, Mario Kart World showcases the very best of the Switch 2's enhanced visuals. The water alone is almost crystalline and while zooming across the waves, not once did we notice any visual issues or performance dips. Every single course we explored was bursting with detail and colour, right down to the blades of grass and flower petals. And even in handheld mode, the game looked utterly gorgeous and was silky smooth.

This open-world zone will likely hold tons of secrets, and just by driving around the waters, we saw a dragoneel, the classic dolphin, and binoculars from Super Mario 3D Land, World, and Odyssey. If anything, this will be a treasure trove of Easter Eggs for superfans, but it's also just a really fun way to wind down after the most chaotic of races. Or before.

So Mario Kart World isn't reinventing the wheel — and that's okay. It doesn't necessarily need to, even with it's extremely hefty price tag. But what it does offer is, a least from what we've seen, an extremely robust selection of tweaks and new modes that build on the foundation and history of not only Mario Kart, but kart racers in general.

And if you're not sold on it already, Mariachi Waluigi might just be the ticket.