When driving through the open world, I really can’t describe just how great the remixes of old Mario tunes sound. They are pulling from so many parts of Mario history in this soundtrack. They’re reimagined in ways that would bring a smile to any jazz fan.
Here’s a cool one of SMW’s map screen:
Here’s another from Yoshi’s Island:
My personal favorite is what they did with SM64’s file select song:
Driving around looking at the starry night skies in this game and listening to that last track while trying some p-switches is the most chill experience. A really nice pallet cleanser after the madness of 24 player racing. And it’s such a treat if you have been following the Mario series since the 80s to suddenly encounter a track you know remixed into a completely different genre (or sub genre) of music
You’ve hit the nail on the head there, these arrangements really work best when you’re chilling in the lobbies between online races, or just driving alone at night in free roam, or watching the title screen after finishing for the day.
There’s some deep cuts, too - was shocked to hear arrangements of songs from WarioWare Inc (Drifting Away)!
With so many arrangements used in so many different contexts, there are a few duds though. Dire Dire Docks loses its meaning and emotion when remixed into yet another saxaphone act, and I have to admit that even I’m tiring of having another decade of Mario Kart go through the big band machine. And in the actual racing it feels wrong to me to be racing to songs like “Jump Up, Superstar” which have zero connection to the route you’re driving on.
Mario Kart World is definitely a case of “lots to like, but also lots to dislike” to me, yet that makes it a fascinating game.
You noted something there that caught me off guard too and that’s how sometimes music not themed to an area seems out of place. It’s only really happened once or twice where I noticed it, but it is a bit jarring when it happens.
That said, I agree wholeheartedly with @Peltz that it’s one banger of a remix after another. Absolutely having a blast with the game attempting to get 150cc Cup wins and I especially love the solo Rally.
Online matches when you are midpack are absolute madness tho and I can only take so much of that. It reminds me of how moving to 64 players in Battlefield for 2042 didn’t go as planned. 24 Karts is probably about 8 too many.
Agreed. I think MK8D was the right balance of skill vs luck for online. A perfectly tuned experience. The most skilled player would win about 50% of the time in a crowded race.
MKW feels more like pure chaos. Still fun and exciting, but far harder to separate from the pack even with skill. All of the straight lines of track vs MK8D’s mostly curved tracks also flattens out some of the skill advantage and emphasis on drifting that was in MK8D.
MKW is very much more dependent on the items you get. I think the advanced trick moveset is cool but I’m not seeing that many practical places in races where it makes a difference other than in time trials.
A 200cc mode would be a welcomed change in my opinion.
So learning more about this and it turns out that the game has over 200 songs and about 8 hours of music or so.
So I definitely stand by my original assertion. This is worth it for the music alone. I think this is the high water mark of music in the Mario series, far surpassing even Galaxy 1 and 2.
I only wish they give us a jukebox option to let us play whatever tracks we want. It’s essentially a phenomenally produced jazz fusion album of Mario covers that comes with a free game lol.
The game is open world in addition to having Grand Prix and Battle mode. It also has a new Rally mode where you race point to point across the new open world.
There’s ample time for lots of musical entertainment!
The open world aspect of the game is sort of a “vibes” experience. It’s not really about unlocking everything or rewarding deep exploration. It’s more the type of thing you put on and drive around, trick off some objects Tony Hawk style, and enjoy the scenery. The music tracks aren’t exactly randomly selected, but they very loosely depend on where you are and the time of day.
With that said, there are some stickers to unlock, challenges to do, etc. But they are more things you find rather than specifically seek out. It’s more of a practice mode to find all the hidden paths of each track and the connecting parts between the tracks.
It’s very charming and super relaxing. There are a lot of references to the Mario series all throughout the game’s world to find too.