Poll of the Day > Mario Kart World thoughts

(+) Yeah! (+)

Seems interesting. Sounds like it has an open world map, plus your classic style levels.

Looks cool

I'll probably never play it but I do like the free roam concept. Brings me back to Cars (PS2).

Seems like one of the biggest leaps forward for the franchise, between open world, the idea of racing between next courses, 24 racers at once, and wall-hoping/grinding.

It's kind of gimmicky, but I think I like the idea of racing between courses. Depending on how it's implemented, having that bit of downtime between actual races where the whole group can just kind of wander between courses and dick around in a more free-form environment is a really cool idea. I don't know what's going to be done to prevent people from griefing by refusing to actually go to the next course, but I exclusively play with people I know anyway, and knowing where people live opens up some anti-griefing measures that aren't otherwise available.

I love Mario Kart but fuckin $80 for the digital version??? No thanks brother. Disappointing but until I make some decent money I don't think I'm gonna be playing many new games

Yeah, it's not a great sign that MK and DK have at least $10+ prices higher than the current norm.

The MK bundle is at least only $50 more than the system on its own, but I expect the bundle's going to be hard to find.

All I know is if that game falls flat... oh boy mama mia!

Thinking about it, if you only need one copy of Mario Kart to play with a few friends online and can pass the virtual game card around a family group as desired, that does help to offset the extra cost. It's still worse than buying a single copy at $60 and being able to play with four people locally, but it's a lot better than all four people needing to buy their own $60 copies, so I guess that's a plus.

$80 is still pricey, though. Gotta love global trade being totally upended because reasons.

looks like it has a lot of action

Blue_Thunder posted...

Brings me back to Cars (PS2).

Katchow!
Who's bad? I'm bad!
One for the ladies...

I loved ramming other NPC cars at 120 mph. That game was the goat. Me and my brother lost our shit laughing every time we played that.

adjl posted...

Thinking about it, if you only need one copy of Mario Kart to play with a few friends online and can pass the virtual game card around a family group as desired, that does help to offset the extra cost. It's still worse than buying a single copy at $60 and being able to play with four people locally, but it's a lot better than all four people needing to buy their own $60 copies, so I guess that's a plus.

$80 is still pricey, though. Gotta love global trade being totally upended because reasons.

I gotta look into the digital sharing thing more, but you're saying once you do, the same game can be played at the same time, by different people on different consoles? And there's no limit to how many shares you can do?

And while I agree re: global trade, tbf, there's no reason the *digital* version should cost $20 more than current game costs.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

I gotta look into the digital sharing thing more, but you're saying once you do, the same game can be played at the same time, by different people on different consoles? And there's no limit to how many shares you can do?

They're two separate things:

The Virtual Game Card mechanic, revealed in the Direct last week, allows you to treat digital games as though they were physical game cards. If you pair two Switch systems locally, you can loan a virtual game card from one system to the other (once paired, this can be done online) on a temporary basis, which means the original owner won't have access to it, but the other person will. You can also do this with any people with whom you share a Switch Online family plan, regardless of whether or not you've paired systems locally. Virtual cards can be loaned for up to 14 days, though I'm not sure if that's 14 days per card per person as a total maximum (effectively a 14-day free demo), or just limited to 14 days at a time with indefinite options for renewal.

GameShare, revealed today, is similar to the Download Play option the DS had. If one person has a compatible game, they can share it with up to 3 other Switch or Switch 2 systems locally or online for the purpose of playing multiplayer. They don't actually get a copy to use for themselves, they just get to play the game while the host system is running it. Revisiting the Direct to refresh my memory, they don't actually mention MK9 as a compatible title, so I may have been mistaken to bring it up here, but they seem to be leaning pretty hard into promoting game sharing and MK9 would be an excellent place to start for that, so it wouldn't surprise me if it gets added to the roster (if not at launch, shortly thereafter).

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

And while I agree re: global trade, tbf, there's no reason the *digital* version should cost $20 more than current game costs.

Yeah, unless digital goods start being subject to tariffs as well (which would be a logistical nightmare, but logistical nightmares don't seem to be doing anything to deter this crusade against international trade). Jacking the price up a bit makes sense because I'm sure doing business in general will become more expensive as a result, but 33% more is pretty substantial.

adjl posted...

The Virtual Game Card mechanic, revealed in the Direct last week, allows you to treat digital games as though they were physical game cards. If you pair two Switch systems locally, you can loan a virtual game card from one system to the other (once paired, this can be done online) on a temporary basis, which means the original owner won't have access to it, but the other person will. You can also do this with any people with whom you share a Switch Online family plan, regardless of whether or not you've paired systems locally. Virtual cards can be loaned for up to 14 days, though I'm not sure if that's 14 days per card per person as a total maximum (effectively a 14-day free demo), or just limited to 14 days at a time with indefinite options for renewal.

GameShare, revealed today, is similar to the Download Play option the DS had. If one person has a compatible game, they can share it with up to 3 other Switch or Switch 2 systems locally or online for the purpose of playing multiplayer. They don't actually get a copy to use for themselves, they just get to play the game while the host system is running it. Revisiting the Direct to refresh my memory, they don't actually mention MK9 as a compatible title, so I may have been mistaken to bring it up here, but they seem to be leaning pretty hard into promoting game sharing and MK9 would be an excellent place to start for that, so it wouldn't surprise me if it gets added to the roster (if not at launch, shortly thereafter).

Gotcha, thanks! I missed the Direct due to driving for work, and trying to read re-caps while at work, but some news sites are bad at explaining this. Glad they are bringing GameShare back.

Don't like paying $80-$90 for a video game? Blame the tariffs.

adjl posted...

Thinking about it, if you only need one copy of Mario Kart to play with a few friends online and can pass the virtual game card around a family group as desired, that does help to offset the extra cost. It's still worse than buying a single copy at $60 and being able to play with four people locally, but it's a lot better than all four people needing to buy their own $60 copies, so I guess that's a plus.

$80 is still pricey, though. Gotta love global trade being totally upended because reasons.

I'm not an international trade expert but a quick google says "reasons" does not apply to "digital goods", only "tangible goods".

Looks like the Forza Horizon model.

There are 51 confirmed playable characters in the trailer :0

Honestly the price tag turned me off. I can get Helldivers 2 twice for this price.

The price tag sucks. 75 is high but I don't play Mario Kart anyway unless I'm on babysitting duties.

ForteEXE3850 posted...

I'm not an international trade expert but a quick google says "reasons" does not apply to "digital goods", only "tangible goods".

Not directly, but producing digital goods still relies on a lot of different tangible goods. Computer hardware, maintenance materials for office spaces, transportation and food costs for employees, everything affected by currency exchange rates... Not to mention the fact that the global trade situation is subject to change overnight because of how capricious and arbitrary the whole thing is. There's a very real chance that we might wake up some morning in the next few months and find that digital goods are also facing tariffs, just because everyone's favourite leader realizes the US buys more digital goods than it sells and can't handle the idea of somebody else having a bigger number than him (though off-hand, I don't know how the balance works out there).

It's very, very difficult for businesses that are at all involved with international trade to make long-term decisions now, and that is unfortunately exactly the position Nintendo has found themselves in with the timing of the Switch 2's launch. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this price point has been chosen specifically so they have room to slash the base price in the event that they need to start paying tariffs, allowing them to keep the metaphorical shelf price close to the same and therefore not lose sales over such tariffs. The flip side, of course, is losing sales based on the price right out of the gate, but with a recession looming I can see that gambling on consistency might work out better in the long run than jacking up prices later if needed (that is, if people start spending less disposable income, they're more likely to cut out things whose price has recently increased than things that have remained constant).

Pleasantly surprised. I was expecting just another mario kart game (and I've grown kinda tired of the franchise). Felt like a much needed breath of fresh air

The whole rail grinding and wall jumping thing in particular is really piquing my interest. MK Wii's trick system was a really solid addition to the series because it provides a tangible reward for finding opportunities to jump, and this looks like it'll be a significant evolution on that concept that will do a lot to make races feel more dynamic. 8's antigrav gimmick was cool for enabling course geometry that would otherwise have been impossible, but the actual impact on the minute-to-minute racing experience was fairly limited.

VioletZer0 posted...

Honestly the price tag turned me off. I can get Helldivers 2 twice for this price.

I mean, you can get most games at a cheaper rate after they have been out over a year, especially on Steam. So this isn't saying much.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

I mean, you can get most games at a cheaper rate after they have been out over a year, especially on Steam. So this isn't saying much.

Nintendo though....

You pay an extra $10 for a physical copy that basically allows you to DL the game. You cannot play the game from the physical cartridge without the internet lol

Wait its not online only is it?

It looks great, but $80 is obscene.

I better grab the bundle... that way I save $30, at least...

Having the world separated into "biomes" is sort of neat, as is having a race mode that spans several of them.

meundies posted...

You pay an extra $10 for a physical copy

Apparently that's not actually true. The physical version is the same $80 price as the digital version.

wwinterj25 posted...

Nintendo though....

Even with Nintendo, you can usually find a 20-30% off sale within a year or so. You have to pay closer attention than with others, and you usually don't see the base price reductions or deeper discounts you'll often get elsewhere, but it's there if you're willing to wait and keep your eyes open.

I just hope that the tracks are fun in the knockout mode. There seems to be a lot of really wide and long straight sections on the tracks. Wasn't a fan of that in most of the MK8 DLC, like seriously, go compare all of the Wii U tracks to the new Switch tracks, there's zero challenge in most of the new tracks with how wide the roads are. You need narrow sections frequently to force players to get up in each other's lines.

Am I asking too much of Mario Kart? Maybe. But making empty 6 lane highways part of your courses is really crappy design IMO.

Most of the MK8 Deluxe DLC was adapted from MK Tour, so I expect that factored into courses being a little simplistic for people using an actual controller.

adjl posted...

Most of the MK8 Deluxe DLC was adapted from MK Tour, so I expect that factored into courses being a little simplistic for people using an actual controller.

That makes sense. Unfortunately, it seems some of that design philosophy has carried over.