I think a lot of gamers don’t realize that the best-selling game on the Nintendo Switch wasn’t a Legend of Zelda title, nor was it Super Mario Odyssey or any of the other fantastic games on the platform—it was Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. I wasn’t shocked at all to see it chosen as the launch game for the new Nintendo Switch 2. It’s hard NOT TO buy the latest Mario Kart entry anyway, so when I picked up my Nintendo Switch 2 from Best Buy, I made sure to get it bundled with Mario Kart World.

This is, without a doubt, the best-looking Mario Kart to date. That said, the jump from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to Mario Kart World isn’t huge. It’s more like the shift between Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart Wii—undeniably prettier and more technologically advanced, but not necessarily jaw-dropping.

Probably the most impressive thing about it is the sheer number of racers. Almost every Mario character and enemy you can think of is playable. I ended up maining the Blue Penguin from Mario 64, which was a fun surprise.

The first thing I noticed while playing is how long the tracks are. Many of them feel like Nintendo’s version of Le Mans, with multiple tracks pieced together to form one extended super race.

On the flip side, though, this design sometimes makes the tracks feel less memorable, as some sections are just empty space. My favorite track so far is one inspired by the original Donkey Kong arcade game, but even it doesn’t quite hit the heights of some classic courses from previous entries.

The game also features an optional free-roam mode where you can explore a massive landscape and complete small missions. Honestly, it’s not all that exciting. I only played it to unlock all the characters and costumes, which took me about an hour or two. It was a bold idea from Nintendo, but I feel like their efforts would’ve been better spent elsewhere.

One feature I did love is online co-op. I don’t recall if previous games had this, but as a parent now, I really appreciate being able to play online alongside my son or stepdaughter. Even though my three-year-old son Alexander might be the worst Mario Kart player in the world (LOL), it’s still a blast playing together.

I quickly realized, though, that 24-player races—while sounding amazing on paper—are absolute chaos in practice. With so many players using powerful items, if you get caught in the middle of the pack, it’s madness. You can go from first place to dead last in seconds. The knockout mode, which eliminates players during phases of the course, helps a little, but Nintendo really should include options for smaller races with 4, 8, or 16 players. Constantly finishing in last  place or near it… isn’t exactly fun.

That said, I wouldn’t call Mario Kart World a bad game—it’s actually good—but it might be the weakest entry in the series. Nintendo clearly aimed to go bigger but sacrificed most of the quality that makes Mario Kart special. Unless they take a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate-style approach with major downloadable updates, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s online stays healthy.