Mario Kart Worldhas arrived in a big way on the Nintendo Switch 2. The first majorMario Kartgame in over 11 years,Mario Kart Worldalso became the first title in the franchise to serve as a launch title for a new Nintendo platform. Even with concerns about its high price point, this game has proven to be a major system seller in the early going of the latest Nintendo system’s launch.
While its post-launch period has seen its share of ups and downs, Nintendo has just releasedthe 1.2.0 update toMario Kart World. This update introduces several significant improvements and addresses some features that previously received considerable fan backlash. Even so, the update missed the chance to improve on one noteworthy criticism regardingMario Kart World’s progression.
Mario Kart World’s New Update Could Go Even Further
Mario Kart World 1.2.0 Addresses Major Fan Complaints
Mario Kart World’s 1.2.0 updateintroduces some necessary changes that address significant pre-existing concerns surrounding the game. Among the most notable additions, Nintendo has added a “No COM” option to single-player VS. Races, allowing players to learn the ins and outs of every course on their own. Another VS. Race option allows players to only use Mushroom items in races, which could be a boon for the competitive community and speedrunners across the board.
Notably,Mario Kart World’s 1.2.0 patch addresses some major complaintsthat have popped up among players recently. For starters, Nintendo has nerfed the Boomerang Flower item’s homing abilities, a huge blessing for players who found the item to be far too overpowered. Nintendo has also addressed a notable controversy surrounding the game by making traditional three-lap races appear more frequently, walking back a much-maligned change that previously prioritized Intermission courses.
Mario Kart World’s Next Update Should Consider Fixing The Kamek Item
While these changes absolutely make Mario Kart World better, one thing that update 1.2.0 did not fix is the frequency of the Kamek item.InMario Kart World, the Kamek item transforms racersinto multiples of other characters for a short period. This is one of the primary means of earning new playable characters, as certain enemy characters can only be unlocked with the use of the Kamek item.
The randomness of the Kamek item makes it so thatMario Kart Worldcharacterstake a very long time to unlock, compounded by the fact that certain characters can only be unlocked on specific stages. This means that players will have to race on different courses multiple times in the hopes that the item pops up and turns them into the character they need to unlock. Furthermore, even if a racer picks up the Kamek item on a certain stage, there’s no guarantee it will transform them into the character they hope to unlock, lengthening the amount of time it would take to complete the game.
While these changes absolutely make Mario Kart World better, the 1.2.0 update did not fix the Kamek item.
Mario Kart World Is Begging For Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Item Toggle
Not helping matters is the fact thatMario Kart Worlddoes not include theItem Toggle feature that was added toMario Kart 8 Deluxe. Where that game allowed players to use whatever item setups they wanted, new players are tethered to the game’s decisions, meaning there is no way to circumvent the long unlocking process. Having some version of the Item Toggle would go a long way toward making character unlocks easier.
Mario Kart World’s new update helps relieve some of the fears caused by the previous controversial patches, but there’s definitely still room for improvement in future updates. As the game continues to grow (and hopefully receives DLC in the future), Nintendo will be looking at all angles to makeMario Kart Worldthe best game it can possibly be. Changing the frequency of the Kamek item would go a long way to mitigating the intense grind to unlock new playable characters.
