Switch 2 preview: 6 wild things that happened in my time with Mario Kart World

• Mario Kart World is one of the launch titles for Switch 2.
• I got to try it out at a Nintendo event.
• But what memorable things happened in the demo?

Mario Kart is a game that I have been playing in one form or another for decades. From getting Double Dash at Christmas and playing it on loop with my brother, to nightly races on 8 Deluxe with my housemates in the pandemic.

So to say my expectations for Mario Kart World are high would be an understatement. My skills in the game have significantly declined since my peak in the DS days, but it will always hold a special place in my heart.

I was invited to a hand-on preview for the Switch 2 and some of the games at the ExCel London last week and got to play two Mario Kart World demos. Here’s what I thought:

You can drive on water now

While waiting for a knockout race to begin, I began exploring the world in free roam mode and found myself off-road - very off-road. I wasn’t sure what would happen but I ended up going out to see and my kart suddenly transformed into a boat and let me ride the waves.

It reminded me of Wave Race from back in the GameCube days. Although Mario Kart World is far more forgiving than that game was.

I transformed into a hovercraft

During my adventures at sea, I spotted a boat with what looked suspiciously like a ramp on the back. I was expecting to be fired off into the distance or to get some kind of boost, what I didn’t expect was that suddenly I was driving the huge hovercraft.

Noodling around on the waves, I remained in control of the craft until I crashed into a yacht and found myself ejected violently back onto the waves.

A giant sandworm almost devoured my kart

One of the Grand Prix events I tried out took me deep into the desert and things got very Dune-like quickly. A giant sandworm - with a much more Nintendo-friendly design - suddenly got all up in my business and narrowly missed ruining my race.

I accidentally destroyed someone’s apartment

Mario Kart World includes some light destruction in its courses and I wasn’t expecting that at all. It started with knocking down a lamppost and seeing it crash to the floor.

But things got ratcheted up a notch when the course took us flying through an apartment and I ended up smashing it up. I hope Mario Kart has really good insurance.

Later during my free roam time, I even destroyed someone’s campfire by accident and felt extremely guilty!

You can grind up the back of a dinosaur

Like all children, I had a dinosaur phase growing up. So when I came across a big giant one lumbering around in front of me, I had to drive up to it and see what would happen.

I didn’t expect to be able to grind up the back of the dinosaur and fly off into the air. It was one of a dozen moments that just made me chuckle with joy.

I got to be a Cow

One of the best new characters we had the chance to try out in the Mario Kart World demos was the cow. I had to estimate that during my knockout race, a good half to two-thirds of the players picked the cow - so I think this is going to be a mega-popular one, at least at first.

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