When the Nintendo Wii launched here in the UK in late 2006, pre-orders sold out well in advance. I was on a waiting list that was months long, and it wasn’t until almost half a year later that I managed to finally get my hands on a console. In 2017, though I wasn’t on a waiting list and didn’t buy a Switch right away, I was well aware that there were waiting lists and some folks found it difficult to get their hands on a console on launch day. That’s to say nothing of the problems Sony and Microsoft had when the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles launched a few years ago. Those machines were out of stock everywhere for basically an entire year – at least here in the UK.
Nintendo emailed me shortly after the Switch 2 was announced; a marketing circular hyping up the new console and inviting pre-orders. I didn’t actually meet Nintendo’s stringent pre-order requirements, having cancelled my Switch Online membership for lack of use a while ago! But Nintendo has been pushing hard for pre-orders, and there was even a minor controversy a few weeks ago when it seemed that Game, the UK’s only remaining chain of video game shops, had messed up some folks’ pre-orders. The Switch 2 was all set to be the hottest piece of tech of 2025 and looked like it’d be hard to find!
Which makes it feel profoundly odd that today, on launch day, consoles are available everywhere I look.
The Nintendo Switch 2 hasn’t sold out… at least here in the UK at time of writing.
I don’t think it’s necessarily a damning indictment of the Switch 2 that it hasn’t sold out. In fact, if you remember my criticisms of Microsoft and Sony back in 2020, you’ll know that I argued then that companies needed to do more to ensure they had enough stock to go around before launch. Playing into the hands of touts and scalpers was really poor from both Xbox and PlayStation, and on the one hand I’m glad that Nintendo seems to have been better-prepared.
But on the other… I can’t shake a funny feeling. Nintendo has never been well-prepared for… well, anything. Go back twenty years and you’ll find jokes and memes doing the rounds about Nintendo machines and games being unavailable or out of stock, and I think I’m right in saying that even the beleaguered Wii U had stock issues when it was released back in 2012. So… has Nintendo finally got it right? Did the company, for what could be the first time ever, manage to gauge public interest perfectly, and successfully manufacture and ship enough units all across the world?
The Wii was out of stock everywhere for months after its launch.
Or could there be another explanation?
Is the Switch 2 still in stock today because… well, there just isn’t as much interest in the console as Nintendo had hoped? Even if you’re the hardest of hard-core Nintendo fanatics, you can’t deny that the Switch 2’s marketing campaign has been dominated by the high price of games, as well as the increased price of the system itself. I warned that pitching the Switch 2 at a comparable price to Xbox and PlayStation consoles would invite potentially unfavourable comparisons, and for gamers interested in a handheld, there are cheaper and more versatile handheld PCs on the market.
Then there’s the launch lineup. As I said last time, the only game I’d really call a “system seller” or “killer app” is Mario Kart World – the game which has attracted a ton of criticism for its price tag. Donkey Kong Bananza isn’t a launch title, and as a game in a second-tier franchise I doubt it would be a huge mover of Switch 2s on its own anyway. What other games are there at launch that are going to attract players? Enhanced ports of a handful of Switch 1 titles and underwhelming versions of games that look and run better on other consoles? I don’t mean to be unkind, but I doubt many folks are buying a £400 console to play Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess or the paid-for demo Welcome Tour.
Nintendo is clearly banking on Mario Kart World to shift a lot of consoles.
Maybe this is a weird quirk of the UK market, and perhaps gamers in the United States, Europe, and Japan are going to be waiting a while to get a chance to play on Nintendo’s latest machine. But I’m not so sure, and I’ll be very curious to see the Switch 2 sales figures – if Nintendo announces them – sometime in the autumn when the company talks about the current financial quarter.
There are issues in the UK with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, inflation, and a government that seems hell-bent on punishing the poorest and least-well off in society. So that could absolutely be a contributing factor to why people aren’t confident in investing in a brand-new, relatively expensive, luxury item like a games console. But if that were true, I’d have expected to see sales of Xbox, PlayStation, PC, smartphones, and other gadgets in decline – which is something that hasn’t happened.
Another UK retailer (Game) has Switch 2 consoles in stock.
So what’s going on? Maybe I’ll check back in a couple of days’ time and find that Switch 2 consoles are out of stock. Or maybe Nintendo finally got one right and managed to produce enough consoles to meet launch demand. There’s a first time for everything, after all. But I can’t shake the feeling at this very early stage that something isn’t quite going to plan, and that the Switch 2 might not be reaching the sales targets Nintendo and their corporate investors had in mind. But I’m not going to write the console’s obituary just yet! There’s still plenty of time for things to change; it’s literally the machine’s first day on sale. However, the simple fact that consoles haven’t already sold out has definitely caught me off guard.
If you put a gun to my head and told me to predict, right now, how well the Switch 2 would perform across its lifespan… I’d say that I still expect it to do well with Nintendo’s core fanbase, but that it might struggle to reach the same number of units sold as the original Switch. The price tag is a big part of that… but so is the console’s uninspired design. For decades, Nintendo consoles were new, innovative, and fresh. Sometimes that worked, and sometimes it didn’t work quite so well, but what you could never say about Nintendo was that they were stagnant. The company built a reputation around innovative, fun, family-friendly games. The Switch 2 is the company’s first console to feel repetitive and samey… and maybe, just maybe, that could be another contributing factor.
Or I could be totally wrong and by Saturday, it’ll be a six-month wait to get a Switch 2! Still… strange times.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is available to purchase now. The Switch, Switch 2, Super Mario, and other properties discussed above are the copyright of Nintendo. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
I’ve been looking forward to the game I’d been tentatively calling “Mario Kart 9” for years. Seriously, check out the dedicated Mario Kart page here on the website; five years ago, I was already putting together fantasy retro cups and talking about which characters could be included. I first played Super Mario Kart when I had a Super Nintendo in the early ’90s, and one of my favourite memories from my time spent working in the games industry is getting to play Mario Kart 8 in 2013 – a full year before it launched – at an official Nintendo press event. I’ve played every mainline game in the series on their original consoles (and maybe on a cheeky emulator, too) and I’ve had so much fun playing by myself and with friends. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is my most-played Switch game by quite a long way, and I still go back to it to play my favourite tracks every now and then.
So let’s re-emphasise that for the record: I am a Mario Kart fan!
Why do I feel the need to start this piece with such a big disclaimer? Well, having sat down to watch the Mario Kart World Nintendo Direct broadcast with pretty high expectations… I’m left feeling a little disappointed. Usually I don’t like to criticise a game before it’s even been released, but the way Nintendo is pitching Mario Kart World – and particularly how the corporation is pricing the game – hasn’t left a good first impression.
How do you feel about Mario Kart World?
I knew and understood that Mario Kart World would have fewer racetracks than Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has. That seemed blindingly obvious to me years ago, even before the Booster Course Pass doubled the number of tracks, so I don’t necessarily think it’s a problem or a bad thing that the new game will launch with what looks to be 32 race courses instead of 96. But… there’s no getting away from the fact that with fewer tracks comes less replayability and less diversity of environments. I can fire up Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and play a racetrack I haven’t seen in months; Mario Kart World’s roster – at one-third the size – will wear out its welcome relatively quickly in comparison.
And that comparison matters because, according to Nintendo, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (and presumably the Booster Course Pass, too) will be playable on the Switch 2. Not only that, but it’ll be slightly less expensive for way more racetracks: copies of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe retail for less than £40 here in the UK, with the Booster Course Pass as a downloadable add-on for an additional £22.50. The price of Mario Kart World is going to be £67 digitally or £75 for a physical copy.
Mario Kart World’s official Nintendo Store listing.
Some of the new and re-imagined racetracks look good, don’t get me wrong. Boo Cinema looks especially creative, DK Spaceport looks new and retro at the same time, and I really liked the new look at Wario Stadium from the N64 – which, in its original form, was one of my least-favourite tracks from that game.
There are a couple of oddities, however, among the roster of tracks. Firstly, even if you put a gun to my head I wouldn’t have included Sky High Sundae; that bland track is one of the worst from the Booster Course Pass and when there were so many better options, I don’t know why a boring food-themed oval would be included here! DS Desert Hills was also fairly uninspired in its original form, though at least there’s a bit more room for improvement there, perhaps. I’m also a little concerned about the Crown City racetrack being part of two different cups; not sure what’s going on there or how those tracks will be different, but I guess we’ll find out.
Boo Cinema looks like a very creative racetrack.
On the character roster, my main of Dry Bones is included, which was important for me personally! And obviously the cute cow is going to be a fan favourite, as will new additions like the Hammer Bro and Monty Mole. But again… Mario Kart 8 Deluxe still comes out on top here, and there are going to be some pretty disappointed players whose favourite drivers aren’t coming back this time. The likes of Isabelle and the Villager from the Animal Crossing series, Link from Zelda, Diddy and Funky Kong, and most of the Koopalings from the Super Mario series don’t seem to be included. There are also noteworthy omissions from Mario Kart Tour – the phone game that has proven to be quite popular. King Bob-Omb, Donkey Kong Jr., and Peachette are all missing. And where oh where is Pink Gold Peach?!
There also appear to be no Mii characters or other user-created characters. Again, this could be a bit of a blow to players who liked to put themselves into the Mario Kart experience.
I can’t be the only one who thought this character would have a different name, right?
I’m not especially disappointed that underwater driving seems to have been removed. In most cases in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8, underwater sections felt pretty samey, especially in tracks that weren’t really designed with that in mind. Amsterdam Drift is a case in point; its bland concrete channels filled with crystal-clear water felt nothing like the city they were supposed to represent. Having said that, removing a feature is something rare for the Mario Kart series… and Mario Kart World seems to have sacrificed several popular features and ways of racing.
In addition to underwater racing, we’re losing the glider and anti-gravity, too. This is going to be more of a limitation than you realise, as it’s going to impact which tracks can be brought into the new game in future. Courses like Mario Kart 8′s Mario Circuit, which used anti-gravity in a big way, or Piranha Plant Cove, which was almost entirely underwater, seem to be ruled out as future inclusions due to these changes.
Dry Bones racing on Piranha Plant Cove.
And we’re still just getting started with removed features. Battle Mode seems to have gotten a significant downgrade, not only in terms of there being fewer battle types available, but also with a lack of dedicated battle arenas. The Direct didn’t focus on Battle Mode for long, as it’s seemingly an afterthought in Mario Kart World, but from what we did see, all of the battle mode footage seems to be taking place on regular racetracks. Some of the tracks may have areas cordoned off to turn them into makeshift arenas, but that’s hardly the same thing has creating dedicated, hand-crafted ones. Fans of Battle Mode (a category into which I do not fall) may not be thrilled with these changes.
Then we come to the vehicles themselves. Kart customisation has been entirely removed. Instead of choosing wheels, bodies, and gliders separately – as we did in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8 – karts now come as complete units. There are different models to choose from, sure, but again the lack of customisation means there’s less choice than in previous titles. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe had literally hundreds of possible combinations, but Mario Kart World is narrowing this down with pre-made karts and bikes.
There are no customisation options for vehicles this time.
200cc mode has been present in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Tour, but again it was noticeably absent from the Nintendo Direct. Is it possible that this mode is locked by default and needs to be unlocked through gameplay? Sure… but then why hasn’t Nintendo said so? Is it possible that this mode is locked and needs to be paid for to unlock it? That was the case in Tour, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the reason for Nintendo’s radio silence. I’m gonna level with you – I’m a 150cc racer! 200cc has always been a bit too fast for my taste, but again it’s not just about what I want or what I’d miss. The fact that this mode – which is popular with some of Mario Kart’s biggest fans – is missing is significant.
So let’s recap. There are fewer battle modes with seemingly no dedicated battle areas. One-third as many racetracks as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Missing drivers, including some fan-favourites from the most recent game in the series. No vehicle customisation. No underwater or anti-gravity racing. And possibly no 200cc mode. If that’s the sum total of what’s been removed, it begs the question… what’s going to take the place of all of these missing features?
Battle Mode appears to have received a downgrade.
Mario Kart World’s marketing thus far has really hyped up its open world. That’s the main new feature; an inclusion so big it’s literally in the game’s title.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: an open world is not the right choice for a lot of games. Too many franchises and series that try to emulate this popular style not only don’t do a good job, but they lose what made their earlier iterations so successful and/or unique in the process. There are plenty of examples of bland open worlds that are just too empty and too devoid of meaningful gameplay to be fun… and parts of the Mario Kart World Direct and marketing material are making me feel nervous in that respect.
Mario Kart World’s map.
If the free roam mode were an entirely optional thing, I guess I’d say it wasn’t a huge deal. It would still be frustrating in some ways that Nintendo chose to add this open world area at the expense of some of the features, characters, and gameplay components we talked about above, but if it’s an optional thing that I can turn off and not engage with… that’s tolerable, right? But Mario Kart World is being built from the ground up around this open world mechanic… and I’m concerned that it’s going to have a negative impact on the main thing I want out of a Mario Kart game: fun, arcadey racing.
Driving from one racetrack to the next, either in Grand Prix mode or in one of the Knockout Rallies, could be a lot of fun, but that’ll depend on how interesting the in-between areas actually are. Some of the free roam highways and roads looked pretty straightforward, with not many twists or turns and no noticeable obstacles aside from a few cars. But what really concerns me the most is that in this mode – which is apparently the default – races are knocked down from the usual three laps to just one.
How interesting will this free roam mode actually be?
To reiterate that: instead of racing three laps of each racetrack, the default option in Mario Kart World will be to race one lap, with these in-between sections taking up the rest of your time. Even if the open world is bigger, more interesting, and laid out better than I’m expecting based on what I’ve seen so far… that can’t be right, can it? The whole point of a Mario Kart game is to race around fun, well-constructed, cleverly-designed racetracks. To cut back on the main aspect of gameplay for this open world aspect just strikes me as being wrong; it’s as if Nintendo’s own developers and producers don’t realise what people want, expect, and enjoy the most in a Mario Kart game.
There have been open world racing games before. Forza Horizon 5 is one – and that’s a game I happen to really enjoy. But games like that are designed in such a way that every road and off-road track can be raced on, and I just don’t get that impression from Nintendo’s marketing material so far. If you’ve played Forza Horizon 5, for example, you’ll know that basically every road in the game is included in at least one race, and there are all kinds of different vehicles, different races to get involved in, and different challenges out in the open world. There’s no distinction between the racetrack and the open world; every road can be driven on in free roam mode and raced on in a variety of different races. That doesn’t appear to be true of Mario Kart World, which seems to have 32 racetracks separated by open world areas.
Four examples of the game’s open world away from the racetrack.
The Nintendo Direct was the best opportunity to sell Mario Kart World and to show off how dense and full of stuff to do its open world is. Based on what was on display, I’m just not feeling very confident in this aspect of the game. And when the open world is so important to Mario Kart World that Nintendo is even willing to cut out laps of the main racetracks in Grand Prix mode, that isn’t great.
As far as I could see, there are four things to do in the open world. Firstly, you can drive from one racetrack to another in either the Rally or GP modes. Secondly, there are switches to hit which allow you to collect blue coins. What these coins do or whether there’s any point to them beyond a collect-a-thon wasn’t clear. Third, there’s a second kind of coin referred to as a “Peach Medallion” to collect. Again, what these do isn’t clear. Finally, there are question-mark panels to hit – but what these do, and what the point of hitting them is, wasn’t explained.
Do these challenges and collect-a-thons serve a greater purpose… or are they just filler?
Mario Kart isn’t a big, deep narrative experience. I don’t care about “spoilers” in a game like this, because there really isn’t anything substantial to spoil. So to me, this feels like a pretty big marketing fail on Nintendo’s part. By not explaining these open-world features in a bit more detail, Nintendo has left me with the impression that the blue coins, medallions, and question-blocks are basically going to be akin to the pigeons in Grand Theft Auto IV insofar as they don’t do anything, add nothing of substance to the game, and just serve to pad things out with unnecessary busywork for players. They could be an attempt to compensate for the lesser number of racetracks while offering a half-hearted justification for the open world format.
I could be wrong about that – and if so, I’ll definitely make a note of that if and when I play the game for myself. But speaking as someone who used to work in video games marketing, the fact that I’m coming out of this presentation with such a poor impression of the game’s biggest new feature and key selling-point? That’s not good, and Nintendo needs to do more in the weeks before Mario Kart World launches to clarify what some of these semi-hidden collectables will actually do, and if there’s going to be more to the open world than has been revealed so far.
Yoshi closes in on a hidden coin.
In theory, an open world Mario Kart game is not a bad idea. But the open world side of the game – if it’s going to be implemented in this way as a core feature around which basically the entire rest of the game is being built – needs to have more to offer than we’ve seen so far. A few random collectables doesn’t, in my view, justify sacrificing a dozen or more dedicated racetracks that could’ve been added to the game, and driving in between races doesn’t seem like it’s gonna feel all that special if all there is to drive on are straight highways or empty off-road fields and patches of dirt. This free roam mode could be a fun idea if it were just a little additional area for players to muck about in while waiting in a multiplayer lobby, or to kill time with a friend on the couch. But when the entire game is built around an open world like this… let’s just say I hope it’s better than it looks and has much more going on than we’ve seen so far.
Art styles are a subjective thing, and there’s no denying that Mario Kart World looks better than Mario Kart 8 Deluxe did. But I’ll be blunt: I don’t think it looks a lot better. The art style is basically the same as it was in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and while there’s more texture to some parts of the game – like tyres, for example, or the metal on a Bullet Bill – I’m just having a hard time seeing the graphics as being a significant upgrade given the price hike.
This is definitely the best Bullet Bill has ever looked.
Mario Kart World will be, at launch, the most expensive racing game on the market. Heck, it’s technically the most expensive video game of all-time as no other Switch 2 titles are launching at £75/$80. But when you take even a cursory look around at other racing games, even in the arcade racing space, Mario Kart World looks positively last-gen. Again, this isn’t a criticism of the graphics or art style on their own, but rather how the game is priced relative to its competitors and how the price is seen in relation to the most recent entry in the series.
After more than eleven years and two entire console generations, Mario Kart World ought to be a massive step up in visual terms. But it isn’t. It’s a step up, sure, I won’t try to deny that. But it doesn’t feel like a game that can really push the Switch 2 to its limits. Even if we compare the Switch 2 to the previous-generation Xbox One and PlayStation 4, there are games on those consoles which looked better and did more with graphical fidelity than Mario Kart World is seemingly aiming for.
Is Mario Kart World a significant enough visual and graphical upgrade given its high price?
In this respect, I feel like Nintendo is cheaping out. The corporation knows it has a winner in the Mario Kart series (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold something like 60 million copies on the Switch) so there’s less of a need to push the boat out. Resources that could’ve been spent on improving the game’s overall visual style and graphical fidelity have been reallocated, because Nintendo feels confident that the new game will sell incredibly well no matter what.
There was a moment in the Mario Kart World direct where my favourite racer, Dry Bones, does a little spin and momentarily faces the camera. That animation seems practically unchanged from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (and trust me, I’ve spent hundreds of hours with Dry Bones in that game, so I know what his trick animations look like!) Neither the animation nor the character model itself look or feel noticeably different to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and I’m left underwhelmed by that. Nintendo has had years to work on improving the way Mario Kart looks… this new entry in the series feels like the least-impressive upgrade so far, at least in graphical terms.
This animation is lifted directly from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Nintendo isn’t the only company to be graphically stuck, of course. I noted before the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 launched that this console generation was likely to be the least-impressive so far in terms of graphical upgrades, and I think four-and-a-bit years of cross-generational games have more than born that out! But Nintendo has been years behind Xbox and PlayStation in terms of graphical fidelity, so there was an opportunity with the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World to get closer to what current-gen (or even just last-gen) consoles were capable of. That opportunity doesn’t appear to have been taken, at least not fully.
So Mario Kart World looks better, but only iteratively so. Its deliberately cartoony style and bright colours covers some of that up, and I wouldn’t say anything about the game looks bad. But from my perspective, nothing about it blew me away, either – and again, this comes back to the price point. For $80, and as the most expensive racing game of all-time, does Mario Kart World look good enough? Is the graphical upgrade significant enough to justify a $20 price hike from a mere one generation ago?
This is the best Mario Kart has ever looked… but not the best it could have looked with a bit more effort.
Mario Kart World is going to add some new features that look like a lot of fun. I noted above that anti-gravity racing is gone, but replacing it will be grinding on rails and hopping on vertical surfaces. These look like they have some potential to open up different ways to race, and I’m in favour of that. Gliders may be gone, but racing in the air isn’t, with karts seemingly transforming into planes at different points. Again, this looks like it could be a lot of fun, and while it’s not exactly ground-breaking in the way the introduction of gliders was in Mario Kart 7, I’m at least pleased to see it remains a part of the Mario Kart experience.
Then we have a feature that I can already tell is gonna be controversial: re-winding gameplay! Speaking for myself, I can see this having a very specific use: practicing particularly difficult jumps or shortcuts. Think about it: how many times have you played a track with a very precise shortcut, only to fail it and have to re-start? This re-wind feature seems like it’ll help players who want to practice certain parts of racetracks, and I don’t really have an issue with that. I don’t see it being especially useful in actual races, though, but it almost feels like an accessibility feature in some respects, which if you know me you’ll know I’m keen on in games in general.
There’s a use for this feature. A limited use, sure, but still a use.
After proving to be a big hit in Mario Kart Tour (and Super Mario Odyssey, too) character costumes are coming to Mario Kart World. I like this – and I like the idea of unlockables! I just hope that Nintendo isn’t planning on selling skins like they did in Tour, trying to pretend like the most expensive racing game of all-time is a free-to-play mobile title. As I won’t be buying a Switch 2 at launch, I’ll be able to keep an eye on this from afar, and if it seems like a crappy skin marketplace is going to be added, that’ll be a huge red flag against Mario Kart World for me.
I gotta say, though, the way some of these costumes are unlocked feels a bit… weird. I mean, the way it was explained is that you visit some kind of roadside food truck, acquire a dish, and then your character is transformed. When I watched the Switch 2 Direct, I thought it was funny that Mario ate a cheeseburger then was wearing a stereotypically “American” outfit. That couldn’t be on purpose, I thought! But no, that’s literally how this mechanic works. Eat sushi and you get a Japanese costume. Eat a burger and your character turns into an American. I guess if you want to get a Spanish outfit you eat paella? Or if you eat fish and chips you turn British? It’s funny in some ways… I guess. But it also feels like it’s kind of stereotyping whole countries and cultures, boiling them down to one dish and one type of outfit. It also wasn’t made clear how many alternate outfits are present in the game – and whether characters like Dry Bones will have any. It seems like every character should have alternate appearances if this consuming food mechanic is a universal thing, but again this wasn’t explained in any of the marketing material.
Mamma mia! That’s-a one spicy pizza pie!
There are things I like in Mario Kart World. Some of the new items look interesting, like the coin shell and the ice flower. Kamek’s magic could be interesting, too, though I suspect it’ll be somewhat limited. I like the idea of character costumes even if I’m not entirely sold on how they’re unlocked and implemented. And there are some fun looking racetracks – both brand-new ones and reimagined retro courses. If Santa Claus gave me Mario Kart World for free, I would play it, I’d enjoy at least parts of it, and it would probably end the generation among my most-played Switch 2 games.
But a game can be good and still underwhelming, delivering a fun experience while failing to live up to the expectations that have been set for it. By pricing the game so high, Nintendo has set expectations that its marketing material strongly suggests Mario Kart World will not reach. Given the corporation’s penchant for monetisation and microtransactions, I’m also concerned that things like new tracks, new drivers, new costumes, and even items might be sold separately, driving up that sky high price even further.
It’s Nintendo headquarters… I mean Bowser’s Castle!
So that’s how I feel coming out of the Mario Kart World Direct.
Nintendo has, in my view, not handled this situation particularly well. Mario Kart World’s marketing campaign is overwhelmingly dominated by its record-setting price point, meaning everything is being viewed through that lens. The sky high price comes with sky high expectations, and Mario Kart World may struggle to meet them for some players – such as myself. Of particular concern is the open world – will there be enough to do and enough variety of driving experiences in between the racetracks to make it a worthwhile addition to Mario Kart? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I hope this has been interesting – and not too depressing. If you’re beyond hyped for Mario Kart World, please keep in mind that all of this is just one player’s entirely subjective opinion, and I’m not trying to tell anyone how to feel or that they shouldn’t be excited for this game. In many ways, I’m still excited to play a new Mario Kart game. I’m just a little concerned that it won’t be as spectacular as it arguably should be given its price point, and as someone who used to work in games marketing, I’m left decidedly underwhelmed by the campaign Nintendo has created for its new console’s flagship launch title.
Mario Kart World will release alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 on the 5th of June 2025. Mario Kart World (and other titled mentioned above) is the copyright of Nintendo. Some promotional art courtesy of IGDB and/or the Mario Wiki. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
When I took a look at Nintendo’s Switch 2 broadcast earlier this month, I noted that the price for games has gone up – and that could be offputting for some players and families. It turns out that Nintendo’s self-inflicted price problem has blown up and quickly became one of the biggest talking points coming out of the presentation… so today I thought we could look at the issue in a bit more detail. We’re also going to answer a deceptively simple question: will it matter? Or by the time the console launches, will most people simply brush off the price hike and buy one anyway?
First of all, let’s separate the price of the Switch 2 console itself from the price of at least some of its flagship games. £400/$450 – which is the current price at time of writing, prior to any tariff-related adjustments – didn’t strike me as being terrible. It’s more or less in line with the current-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles, sitting somewhere in between those consoles’ cheaper and more expensive variants. But is that the right price point for a Nintendo console – particularly one which is a hybrid, and far less powerful than its competitors?
The Switch 2 will sell for £430 here in the UK. Image Credit: Smyth’s UK
In 2018, I paid £280 for my Nintendo Switch. That’s just seven years ago, yet the price of a Nintendo console has gone up by 42% in that short span of time. That doesn’t feel right the more I think about it – and going back to earlier console generations, this is Nintendo’s biggest price jump… ever. In the ’90s, the price of Nintendo’s consoles stayed at $199 in the United States, even as inflation set in. The GameCube in 2002 cost the same $199 at launch as the Super NES had in 1991. From there, Nintendo consoles jumped up an average of 22% each generation from the GameCube to the original Switch. You can check out the numbers and do the sums for yourself if you like – all this information is publically available online.
All of this leads to a reasonable question. What is the Switch 2 offering to justify a 42% price hike over its predecessor?
It isn’t innovation. As we discussed last time, Nintendo seems content to double-down on the Switch format, not doing anything radically different. The Wii U, Wii, Nintendo 64, DS, 3DS, and other Nintendo machines all offered some kind of new or innovative way to play when they launched, but the company seems to have thrown in the towel on that front – at least for this current generation.
Elden Ring – as it will appear on Switch 2.
It isn’t better graphics, either. The Switch 2, as I noted in my response to the Nintendo Direct, looks okay, but nothing blew me away in graphical terms. Some titles – like Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and Hogwarts Legacy – look noticeably worse on the Switch 2 than they do on other consoles or PC. Look at the trees in the screenshot above – see how flat and two-dimensional they look? Compare that screenshot from the Switch 2 to a comparable one from Elden Ring running on a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series console and see how there’s a significant downgrade.
So the Switch 2 is, in essence, an iterative improvement on the original Switch format. It retains the branding, the same colour scheme, the same cartridge format, the same hybrid nature, and the same controls, too. Graphically, it may be an incremental improvement – but it’s going to be running cutting-edge titles in a noticeably worse way than its two similarly-priced competitors. Some of the biggest games around – Grand Theft Auto VI most noticeably – won’t run or even attempt to run on the system, too.
Mario Kart World running on a Switch 2 in handheld mode.
But people don’t buy a Nintendo console to play Elden Ring, right? Not as their primary console, anyway. Most folks I’ve spoken to have enjoyed the Switch’s portability, and have commented on the novelty of playing full AAA games like The Witcher 3, Monster Hunter, or Minecraft on a portable device. But those same people have, almost universally, owned a PC or another console which they’ve used as their “primary” gaming machine.
Look at the best-selling Switch games: they’re almost all Nintendo originals. Super Mario Odyssey, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Breath of the Wild, the Pokémon series… these are the games people buy a Switch for. And in comparison to the current Switch, there’s no doubt that the likes of Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, and Pokémon are going to look better on the new machine. Nintendo has even shown off “enhanced editions” of some popular Switch games that will get visual upgrades on Switch 2.
Is the $450 price point too high for a console like that, though?
Is the Switch 2 overpriced?
Speaking for myself, I won’t be buying a Switch 2 this year. My original Switch felt like a good deal at under £300, but I’ve only seriously played four games on it in the seven years I’ve owned it: Luigi’s Mansion 3, Super Mario Odyssey, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. I’ve tried my hand at a few other games, but that’s it. Four games in seven years. And I won’t be the only person in that position… the reality is that Nintendo consoles have a pretty specific use, and the days of people choosing a Nintendo console instead of an Xbox or PlayStation are pretty much gone. So… who’s gonna pay $450 for a secondary console? Or a console that their kid is asking for?
By pitching the Switch 2 at the same price point as an Xbox, a PlayStation, and more importantly, handheld PCs like the Steam Deck, Nintendo is inviting comparisons to those devices. A Steam Deck, which starts at $349 in the United States, would be a much more versatile machine in many ways, and arguably a better purchase than a Switch 2 for someone looking to play games on the go. Can Nintendo really win over players and parents at this price point?
The Switch 2 will be more expensive than a base model Steam Deck – and almost the same price as an Xbox Series X.
Really, the only thing the Switch 2 has going for it are its exclusives. And I gotta be honest here: the Nintendo Direct really only showed one which I could see being a system seller. Donkey Kong Bananza is the kind of game you buy when you’ve already got the console and you’re shopping for things to play. There’s no new Mario game or Mario spin-off. And there’s no Animal Crossing title, either, which could’ve taken advantage of the casual audience that showed up in droves for New Horizons. The Switch 2’s “killer app,” at least at launch, is Mario Kart World. That’s it. Everything else has either much more of a niche audience or just… won’t shift consoles on their own.
I don’t want to undervalue Mario Kart World. The game does look good, no question. Nintendo has always had the premiere kart-racer, and that shows no signs of changing! But as I said in my look at the Switch 2 Direct… I can’t justify £430 (which is the bundle price for the Switch 2 + Mario Kart World here in the UK) to play one game. And this is where the next problem comes in, because for a lot of people… one game might be all they can afford.
Mario Kart World.
£75 ($80 in the US) for Mario Kart World is just obscene. Not only is it a ridiculous price for a simple kart racing game, but it’s a massive jump from the price of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – and other games on the current-gen Switch.
I paid £41 for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch, a similar price for Mario Kart 8 when I was one of about seven people who owned a Wii U, and I paid £32 for Mario Kart Wii in early 2009. Even allowing for inflation – which has punched all of us in the face in the last few years – we’re talking about game prices almost doubling from the Switch to the Switch 2 in some cases. I don’t have receipts for every Switch game I’ve bought, but the ones I could find average out at around £45. At the high end I’d pay £50, at the lower end closer to £30 or £35 for a brand-new Switch game. Even going from £50 – the RRP for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – to £75 is a jump of 50% from one generation to the next; if a new Animal Crossing game is similarly-priced it’ll have basically doubled. These are massive increases, there’s no two ways about it.
The next Animal Crossing game could easily be £75/$80 too.
There does seem to be some flexibility with pricing, as Donkey Kong Bananza will be less costly than Mario Kart World. So perhaps Nintendo is aiming to use the highest price only for its flagship titles, with “lesser” games in second-tier franchises coming in at the slightly lower price point. That’s not a bad idea in theory – and it’s something that the games industry has always done. But if the “lower” price for titles like Donkey Kong Bananza is still north of £60/$70… that’s not gonna feel like much of a saving.
There was talk earlier in the year of Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar potentially pricing Grand Theft Auto VI at $80, $90, or even $100 when it launches, and Nintendo’s price hike may well have cemented that – if it wasn’t guaranteed already. And this is another area where players are rightly concerned: if Nintendo gets away with jacking up its prices, what’s to stop everyone else in the industry from following suit? Gaming could be about to get a lot more expensive – less than five years after the basic price of many titles already leapt up by $10.
Take-Two and Rockstar must feel like celebrating right now!
This is not entirely Nintendo’s fault, of course. And there’s truth to the argument that these price rises were going to happen sooner or later anyway, if not with the Switch 2 then with Grand Theft Auto VI, and if not then then at the very latest by 2028 or 2029 when new Xbox and PlayStation consoles launch. But I don’t think that absolves Nintendo of blame; despite what the corporation’s mega-fans might want to tell you, it’s a greedy, money-grubbing company that will do anything to make an extra buck or two. Look at the Pokémon series as a prime example: two nearly-identical versions of most games are released. Why? To wring extra money out of Pokémon’s biggest fans. Nintendo, unlike most other gaming powerhouses, rarely puts its titles on sale – and if it does, the discounts are far less generous than those you’d see elsewhere. Despite its attempt to cultivate a family-friendly image, Nintendo is as ruthless and greedy as every other big corporation out there – something hammered home by this price hike.
So the question players will have to wrangle with is this: no matter how good a game like Mario Kart World might look, could it possibly be worth $80? Is any game worth that much? And given that at least one DLC or “season pass” seems like a guarantee, is Mario Kart World going to be worth the $110-140 that the complete version will cost? I’m a Mario Kart fan and have been for decades, but when you start talking about the next entry in the series hitting triple figures like that… I mean, it’s pretty offputting.
If Mario Kart World is getting the expected DLC or a season pass, the price could be well above the currently-stated £75/$80.
There are die-hards who turn up for every Nintendo game and every console – and the company knows it has those people in the bag. But where Nintendo has found success over the past twenty years has been with a more casual audience. People who don’t play a lot of games might pick up a Switch to play one or two party games or cozy titles like Animal Crossing. Folks who already have a PlayStation or Xbox might pick up a Switch as a secondary console to play some first-party Nintendo games or to play their favourite titles on the move. The price point of Switch 2 games really gets in the way of that casual approach. It transforms the way folks will think about the console and its games from a secondary machine or a casual multiplayer experience into a bigger investment. And that could be seriously detrimental to its prospects. If Nintendo has mis-read where the bulk of its audience is, and misunderstood the reasons for the Switch’s success, this unashamed greed could prove the Switch 2’s downfall.
With all that being said, my gut feeling at this point is that the Switch 2 will find an audience. It may not launch to the unparalleled success of its predecessor right away, and it might never catch the Switch’s incredibly impressive 150 million sales. But I don’t think we’re looking at the next Virtual Boy or even another Wii U situation; there are enough players invested in Nintendo’s core titles to make the Switch 2 at least somewhat profitable. And, despite what we’ve talked about, there’s evidence from players already that price rises are acceptable. There will be complaints, no question – but at the end of the day, there are plenty of examples of players being vocal and upset about the price of a new game, only for that game to sell really well. It happened at the start of this current generation when prices went up, it’s happened incrementally with premium special editions and the like, and I see no reason why it won’t happen for Nintendo this time.
Donkey Kong Banaza will cost more than most other big releases this year, like Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Kingdom Come Deliverance II.
What all this means, then, is that gaming is about to get even more expensive. If you think PlayStation and Xbox will sit idly by and let Nintendo raise its prices while they don’t… I’m afraid you’re going to be proven wrong. It might not happen on the day the Switch 2 launches, but as we’ve already seen from Xbox and PlayStation this generation, if they can get away with it they will. And if there was any lingering fear at Take-Two headquarters about jacking up the price of Grand Theft Auto VI, I think we can safely say that’s gone, too. If GTA 6 launches later this year as scheduled, we might be looking at $90 or even $100 for AAA games across the board by this time next year.
Inflation has impacted games companies. But when they’re also making record profits… I really don’t have a lot of sympathy. Nintendo’s share price recently dropped a little due to tariff-related shenanigans that have impacted basically every publically-traded corporation, but the company made record profits across the Switch’s lifespan. “Game development is too expensive” doesn’t really fly as an excuse when Nintendo made $3.25 billion in profit last year.
Three of Nintendo’s senior developers.
Most of us in the real world haven’t seen our incomes rise with inflation, and even in the games industry that’s true for developers and other employees. As Nintendo jacks up prices by 40% for its consoles and 33% for games, do you really think that money is going into the pockets of the folks who work there? Is anyone at Nintendo – aside from the executives, naturally – getting a 40% pay rise? I doubt it.
Food for thought, anyway, if you’re considering buying a Switch 2.
Gaming is getting more and more expensive, that’s for sure. With Nintendo pitching the Switch 2 at a comparable price point to Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as portable PCs, while jacking up the prices of its games beyond the current industry standard… all I can really forsee at this stage is comparable price hikes from other corporations. But maybe Nintendo’s gamble won’t pay off. Maybe we’ll look back on this decision in a couple of years’ time and say that the hefty price tag doomed the Switch 2 before it could even get out of the gate. I’m not rooting for it to fail, but I will be keeping an eye on the situation!
The Nintendo Switch 2 launches on the 5th of June. Pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 are available now. The Switch 2, Super Mario, Mario Kart World, and other properties discussed above are the copyright of Nintendo. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Yesterday was a big day for the entire world. No, not because of Trump’s tariffs… there was a Nintendo Direct all about the upcoming Switch 2! I thought it could be interesting to break down what was revealed (and talk about a few things that weren’t, too) so that’s what we’re going to get into today.
First of all, I have to admit that I’m surprised about the name and branding, as well as the overall look of the console. Last year, I said that I felt pretty sure that Nintendo wouldn’t use the name “Switch 2,” and that the console would likely come with a new colour scheme to distinguish itself. I was wrong on both counts… and I hope that won’t lead to any confusion. Switch 2 game cards are going to be the same size and come in similar packaging, with the same red colour. There could be some disappointed kids on Christmas morning unwrapping a Switch 2 game when they only have an original Switch – and I’m a little surprised that Nintendo didn’t do more to help the console differentiate itself from its predecessor.
Nintendo executives Kouchi Kawamoto, Tetsuya Sasaki, and Takuhiro Dota presented the Switch 2 broadcast.
The same is true of the name. Every Nintendo console so far has had a unique name, even if those names were similar. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System followed the Nintendo Entertainment System, for example, but where a lot of folks seemed to get confused was with the Wii U. “Switch 2” is much more straightforward, so I don’t think there’ll be anywhere near the same level of confusion from the general public! But I am a bit surprised that the new console retains the Switch name, colour scheme, branding, and even really the same design. There are changes, particularly with the new Joy-Cons, but on a superficial level it’s hard to tell the consoles apart.
And I guess Nintendo is playing it safe. The Switch has been a massive success, so why risk doing something new and innovative when there’s clearly still a huge demand for this kind of hybrid system? The drawback, as a player, is that Nintendo has been the last of the massive game companies to really invest in innovation, and if they’re stepping back from that… it kind of leaves the gaming landscape feeling pretty static going into the second half of the 2020s. I mean, no one really expects a new Xbox or PlayStation to do something wild and unexpected; Nintendo has been the only game in town when it comes to inventing new control schemes and new ways to play. Not all of those have worked, of course, and playing it relatively safe is probably the smart move from a business point of view. But there was nothing earth-shattering in the Switch 2 Direct in the same way as there was when the original Switch, Wii U, Wii, or even GameCube were announced.
The Nintendo Switch 2.
Even though my platform of choice these days is PC, I confess that I really only use the mouse for strategy games; I generally prefer to use a control pad most of the time. But if there’s one thing I could say about the Switch 2 that feels different and interesting, it’s using a Joy-Con like a computer mouse. Nintendo isn’t new to this, by the way – there was a SNES mouse in the 1990s that was used in titles like Mario Paint. But it’s a first for a home console in the current generation, and Nintendo seems to be leaning into the mouse idea in a big way. I can see it being phenomenally useful in games like Civilization VII, which will be coming to the Switch 2, and I’m sure fans of first-person shooters will appreciate the idea of using it in titles like Metroid Prime 4, too.
What most intrigues me, though, is the idea of using both Joy-Cons at the same time – basically like having two mice. I’ve never seen a game which played that way, yet if you think about it, the possibilities for dual-mouse gameplay seem almost limitless! It’s something quite simple, yet it’s never been tried before (or if it has, it never caught on). Nintendo showed off a basketball-inspired game called Drag X Drive which seems to use the two Joy-Cons in this way – but I hope it won’t be the only game to offer that kind of control scheme. Drag x Drive looks great, and it’s wonderful to see some disability representation in a presentation like this, too. I’d really like to see what other developers might be able to do with this way of controlling a game.
Using two Joy-Cons like this could be a really creative way to play games.
We’ll talk more about games in a moment, but if we stick with hardware for now… I was a bit surprised that Nintendo didn’t go into more detail about the Switch 2’s specs. We got a bit of information about the built-in screen, which will now be 1080p (full HD) instead of 720p, and that the Switch 2 can also scale up to 4K when docked. But there wasn’t a lot of meat on the bones; what kind of processor does the system have, how much VRAM, and pretty basic things like that weren’t mentioned.
I have to assume that this was a deliberate choice – that Nintendo knows the internals aren’t spectacular, so opted to talk about cameras and voice chat instead. From a totally unscientific look at the Switch 2 Direct – with the obvious caveat that a video presentation compressed for YouTube isn’t going to look its absolute best – I was underwhelmed with the graphics. It didn’t help that most games shown off aren’t brand-new, but nothing about the graphics on display really impressed me. If I had to guess, I’d say the Switch 2 is probably about on par with something like an Xbox Series S, which in turn was comparable to the previous generation of home consoles. So we’re talking about graphical fidelity that might’ve looked great in 2012… but is nothing special in 2025. That’s nothing new for Nintendo, of course, and it isn’t to say that (most of) the games on display didn’t look good! But it is notable that there doesn’t seem to be a significant graphical leap considering the price of the console and its games.
We didn’t get much of a look at the Switch 2’s internals this time.
One part of the Switch 2 that has me nervous is the magnetic Joy-Con connection. Despite Nintendo’s promises, the dual magnets to hold the controller in place when in handheld mode just don’t seem as sturdy as they would need to be to keep the console safe. The way it was explained in the Direct also made it seem like something that could be accidentally knocked, so even if the magnets are as strong as advertised, the mechanism to keep them working might be vulnerable to bumps, drops, and knocks. If you want to screw with your friend when they have a Switch 2, flicking the little magnet button might be a naughty way to mess up their gameplay!
Alright, let’s talk about price. The console itself doesn’t feel over-priced. It’s an increase from the Switch, but after eight years (and an inflation problem in the interim) that’s to be expected. But the price of games has jumped up quite a lot, too, with Mario Kart World seeming to retail at £66 for a digital-only version and a whopping £75 for a physical game cart in a box. That’s more than the so-called “standard price” of most other video games on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series consoles, at least here in the UK. Assuming other titles will be similarly-priced, the Switch 2 seems like an expensive proposition right now.
The Switch 2 – with Mario Kart World included – retails for £430 here in the UK. Image: Smyth’s UK
There are other gripes with the way things are priced, and a lot of this is the typical and expected anti-consumer shite from Nintendo that the company’s fans always try to pretend doesn’t exist! Selling the Switch 2 camera separately is fine; not everyone is going to want one. But charging £50 for what looked like a cheap, crappy webcam that, even in Nintendo’s own marketing broadcast, didn’t seem to output a particularly high-quality image? That feels like highway robbery.
Why on earth is Switch 2 – Welcome Tour something to pay for? Nintendo bundled Wii Sports with the Wii when that console launched, introducing players to the Wii remotes and motion controls. If there are things I need to know about my new Switch 2, and Nintendo has created an interactive presentation for the express purpose of explaining those things… it’s not unreasonable to expect that to be included in the price, is it? The console is going to be £400 ($450 in the United States) at a minimum, so why be so stingy with this Welcome Tour thing? It also feels like an exceptionally bone-headed move… who’s really going to buy Welcome Tour, even if it’s only like £5? I can’t see it being a popular item.
Why is Welcome Tour something I have to pay for?
I can’t help but feel Nintendo missed a trick with its Game Chat feature, at least based on the way it was marketed in the Direct. Being “alone together” would’ve been great… five years ago when it was lockdown! But now? I know online gaming is huge and it’s gonna find an audience, but the choice of marketing language just strikes me as odd. It’s as if Nintendo thinks people are still stuck at home, desperate to find ways to connect. There were other ways to show off this feature without harkening back to the covid era which, quite frankly, a lot of people want to forget.
Game Chat, on its own, is nothing new or revolutionary. People have been using voice chat while gaming for literally decades at this point, so Nintendo is unusually late to the party. I do, however, like the promise of a microphone that can isolate a voice and cut out background noise, and a camera that can crop out the background. Neither of these things are new; streamers have been using green screens to appear in their live streams for years. But to have it work smoothly, in real-time, with several people at once… that’s impressive. If it works as advertised!
The Switch 2 will have a camera accessory.
Let’s get into the games! After all, what good is a console without any games?
I’ll do the third-party titles first, because I don’t really have that much to say about them. As I said above when we were talking graphics, none of the third-party games blew me away. In fact, Elden Ring in particular seemed to have gotten a noticeable downgrade, at least based on gameplay and screenshots that I’ve seen. The trees in particular looked exceptionally flat and two-dimensional, and I just didn’t think the game looked its best. The same was true of Cyberpunk 2077, which looks and runs great on my PC but seemed downgraded and less visually impressive on the Switch 2.
On the one hand, these are large, demanding games, so the fact that they’ll run at all on Switch 2 is impressive in itself. But… Cyberpunk 2077 is a game approaching its fifth anniversary and that launched on last-gen hardware (albeit in a poor state). So, the fact that it doesn’t look great on the Switch 2 seems to suggest that the internal hardware is lacking, which could have a knock-on effect for games later in the console’s lifespan. Maybe Switch 2 games in 2025 will look pretty good, but by the time we get to 2029 and a new PlayStation and Xbox are in the offing… what will players make of the Switch 2’s capabilities by then?
Elden Ring’s open world has never looked… flatter.
I’ve been intrigued by IO’s Project 007 since it was announced, and I’m a tad disappointed that we didn’t get so much as a whiff of gameplay. The game was teased… but that’s all! It’s not a bad thing necessarily, and it’s great for Nintendo fans to know a new Bond game is coming to Switch 2. But given that the game was prominently included in the Switch 2 Direct, I would’ve liked to have seen something more!
Onward to Nintendo’s own games!
So… the Switch 2 is launching with two cartoony racing games? Did I get that right? In addition to Mario Kart World, there’s also going to be Kirby Air Riders, which is the sequel to a GameCube title that I think I might’ve played once. As with so many things Nintendo does… this has confused me. By all means, have both games on the Switch 2. But should they both be releasing in the same year, perhaps just weeks apart? And should they have both been shown off as part of the new console’s marketing campaign? Really, Nintendo… you couldn’t have prioritised another game for 2025 and pushed Kirby Air Riders to next year? It just seems… repetitive.
Did the Switch 2’s launch announcement really need two cartoony racing games?
When the Mario Kart World broadcast arrives later this month I might have more to say! But for now, I like the look of the new game. I’m not sold on the “free roam” idea necessarily, but it could be a fun addition and a way to shake things up. Games like Forza Horizon have done fun things with more of an open world design, and as long as there’s content and not just empty roads and fields, it should be okay. The Mario Kart series has always given players options, so adding new modes like “free roam” and the knockout race should be fun. I’m not sure how much I’d personally play either, but I can see them both becoming beloved by some Mario Kart players.
There seem to be character costumes in Mario Kart World, which is fantastic. And new mechanics seem to include transforming vehicles (I saw a boat, a plane, and a snowmobile), bouncing off walls, and even grinding on rails and cables. I’m not sure how big all of these new features will be, or whether they’ll only be available at certain places in certain racetracks – that’s almost certainly gonna be the case for the big articulated lorry that we saw! But these features all look like a lot of fun. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been great on the Switch, and I’m hopeful for Mario Kart World’s prospects on the Switch 2. I just hope Nintendo won’t ruin the game by overly monetising features like alternate costumes.
Mario Kart World is getting its own dedicated Direct in a couple of weeks, so there might be more to add then. Be sure to check back!
Mario Kart World is the Switch 2’s big launch title.
The final game to talk about is Donkey Kong Bananza. I was hoping for a new 3D Donkey Kong title – the first since Donkey Kong 64 a quarter of a century ago – and Bananza looks… well, it looks okay. I was kind of getting more of a Yooka-Laylee vibe than an Astro Bot vibe from the reveal, if that makes sense. I’m not sure it’ll be the first game I buy for the Switch 2, but if it reviews well I’ll definitely give it a try. I enjoyed Donkey Kong 64 on the Nintendo 64, and it’s definitely a treat to welcome back DK for another 3D adventure.
There were a couple of absences from the game lineup, though. There was a tiny glimpse of what looked like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but other than that there was no mention of the series. Given that New Horizons is the best-selling Switch-exclusive title, that’s a bit of an oddity in my opinion! I guess that means a new Animal Crossing game isn’t imminent. There was also no new 3D Mario game – nor a 2D Mario game or a Mario sports title, come to that. A new 3D Mario title is unlikely to be too far away, and Donkey Kong Bananza is clearly intended to be in the same space for players. But I was a little surprised to see absolutely nothing from either of these big titles which I assume are in development.
Donkey Kong is back for his first 3D adventure in a quarter of a century!
The final thing to talk about is pre-ordering. If you’re a massive Nintendo fan, you pay for Switch Online, and you play a ton of games… you still might not be able to pre-order a console. Why? Because even if you’re a paid Switch Online member and have been for years, if you haven’t opted in to marketing emails from Nintendo, you can’t pre-order from the Nintendo shop. What utter dog shite is that?
I had hoped Nintendo would’ve learned from the Wii and Switch about ensuring there’ll be enough consoles to meet demand, but apparently not. Nintendo seems to be deliberately setting up pre-orders in such a way as to assume there won’t be enough to go around… or, if I put my cynical hat on for a moment, to create an artificial and forced sense of scarcity. An attempt to drive up sales by playing on fans’ fears of missing out is just scummy, and I really hope that there will be enough Switch 2 consoles for everyone who wants one on launch day – and especially later in the year as Christmas approaches.
Given the weird pre-order requirements, will there be enough Switch 2 consoles for everyone who wants one on launch day?
So I think that’s everything from my notes!
Will I buy a Switch 2? Probably… but it’s unlikely to be in 2025. I really do like the look of Mario Kart World, and as someone who’s been playing Mario Kart since the first game back in the SNES days, I’m definitely excited to try it out for myself. On its own, though, Mario Kart World is a big ask when you’re talking about spending £430! Maybe when there’s news of a new 3D Mario game and/or the next Animal Crossing title, the Switch 2 will feel more like a “must-buy!”
So if you’re planning on pre-ordering a Switch 2, I guess you’re glad to hear that there’s at least one fewer competitor out there for what could be a limited number of consoles at launch!
I don’t think I can justify the expense of picking up a Switch 2 in June!
The Switch 2 Direct was interesting, but I think it’s too early to really judge how successful the console will be. On the one hand, the original Switch has been a resounding win for Nintendo. But on the other, the high price of games on Switch 2 could be a hindrance, and while I could be alone in this, I feel that the new console’s design and marketing haven’t given it a strong identity of its own. Piggybacking on the Switch’s success could prove to be a masterstroke for Nintendo… but someone at the company said the same thing about the Wii U drawing on the popularity of the original Wii, and look how that turned out!
After the Mario Kart World Direct later this month, I may have more to say about that title. And as the year rolls on and the Switch 2 launches, I’ll definitely be checking out the reviews. I daresay I’ll have more to add before too long – so be sure to check back from time to time for more coverage of Mario Kart, the Switch 2, and Nintendo in general. I hope this look at the Switch 2 Direct has been interesting!
The Nintendo Switch 2 launches on the 5th of June. Pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 go live on the 8th of April. The Switch 2, Super Mario, Mario Kart World, and other properties discussed above are the copyright of Nintendo. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 