Thoughts on the Nintendo Switch 2 and Mario Kart World

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and does not reflect the viewpoints of Nintendo.

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Like a lot of other players, I was unable to preorder the Nintendo Switch 2, but I was still able to get one on launch day. In fact, I couldn’t sleep the night before because I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to grab mine, but luckily, the Target had some leftovers after the midnight launch. It was the Mario Kart World bundle that sold out quickly, and I prefer to get most of my games physically. Given that I live in a city of roughly 100,000 people, my chances of getting the console were higher compared to other major cities.

Given the price of both the console and the game itself at $450 and $80, I don’t think they are necessary. The console and technology are said to be more advanced and in line with what the PS4 had. We also can’t rule out the worldwide tariffs for parts which would have driven the price up drastically. In fact, many of the console’s parts were reportedly manufactured in Vietnam with the exception of the AC adaptor which was made in China. If I get to manufacture anything physical, expect my parts to be manufactured in Japan, Korea, or Vietnam. It is common for companies to outsource production of physical goods as well as animation to companies in Eastern and Southeastern Asia where labor is cheaper.

A lot of people think the Welcome Tour should be a pack-in game rather than a separate $10 title. I don’t plan to use Game Chat, but the backwards compatibility does have its upsides and downsides. If a new console is backwards compatible with a previous console, similar to how the Game Boy Advance can play all Game Boy and Game Boy Color Games and the Nintendo Wii playing GameCube games, expect the graphics to be upscaled in some degree. One good thing I do have to say is Pokémon Scarlet and Violet finally had its performance issues fixed on the Nintendo Switch 2, and it runs amazingly. If you want to play it, the Switch 2 is your best recommendation.

Because of these high prices, I will very likely be selective over the games I want to get for it, and one of which is Pokémon Legends: Z-A. I know it’s releasing on the original Switch, but I will get the Nintendo Switch 2 version so I don’t have to put up with the framerate issues the original version of Scarlet and Violet had, but that’s no guarantee.

The real game I was looking forward to with the launch of the console was Mario Kart World. It is drastically different from previous installments. In fact, I did not know it was planned for the original Nintendo Switch, but went straight to the Switch 2 after the conception of the Booster Course Pass from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. One thing is to explore the courses freely when you’re not playing the other modes. Ever since the release of Grand Theft Auto III nearly a quarter of a century prior, games have started to take on a sandbox approach to game design where you can explore an open world and interact with all sorts of things.

As with every other Mario Kart game, you can breeze through the whole thing in just two hours, regardless of whatever difficulty you play. A mainline Mario game will take you around 10-20 hours, and a Mario RPG adventure will take more than that. The first race of a Grand Prix uses the classic Mario Kart format, while the rest of the campaign uses the same “section” format introduced in Mario Kart 7. There aren’t many characters to unlock; you can just play all the cups on whatever difficulty and that’s it. Oh, and not to mention the Kamek transformations. That’s the other way to unlock the rest of the cast. Races have now definitely felt like a real grand prix by doubling the racer count from 12 to 24. This was to prevent races from getting too boring once everyone had spread out. One good thing I do have to say is items are now automatically placed behind you so you don’t have to keep having the L button held down.

Speaking of the hardware, I heard the Joy-Con 2 mouse feature has divided people, and based on my experience, it is way different than using a traditional computer mouse. It is narrower and does make playing Minecraft a bit of a challenge. In fact, my next game, if it gets a Nintendo Switch 2 port, will have mouse compatibility.