Nintendo’s chaotic racer is undergoing some changes today thanks to its Ver. 1.2.0 update, which tries addressing many of the biggest complaints about the game. Emphasis on tries: at least one of the adjustments to Mario Kart World isn’t quite what it seems based on player testing.
So, what’s new? We’ll drop the whole patch notes at the end of this post, but some aspects that immediately stand out are the tweaks for the COM, which is what Mario Kart World calls its AI (as in, “computer”.) Since release, players have insisted that Mario Kart World’s AI seemed almost unfairly good at the game. Though all Mario Kart titles have had ”rubberbanding” — that is, AI that’s reactive to how the player is doing — the mechanic was overtuned on Switch 2 to the extent that it felt like the computer was cheating somehow.
Well, it seems that Nintendo agrees: From now on, the AI in everything but battle mode will be “weaker.” You can also play VS Race in single player with no COM.
Another eye-catching adjustment appears to address the complaint fans had about picking races. Basically, Mario Kart World gave players the option to vote for the next race, but players often selected “random” because it made it more likely that the game would load a normal 3-lap race. Though Mario Kart World is open-world, players have proven skittish about the way the game implements this mechanic. In general, diehard players preferred to skip the straightaways that connected the major tracks. Nintendo put a halt to this with the last update by making random include more intermission tracks, which upset some of the more vocal parts of the fandom.
In the late July update, the patch “increased the frequency of lap-type courses appearing in the selection when choosing the next course in VS Race and wireless races.” At first glance, this sounds like Nintendo undoing the thing that made everyone mad, but in the hours since the patch has gone live, player tests suggest that while the frequency is higher, it’s not much higher. Turns out, Nintendo still wants people to engage with the point of the game, which is its structure. But at least Nintendo threw players a bone?
There are a few other changes that will affect everyone. The boomerang’s homing mechanism is less precise now. You’re less likely to get a triple dash mushroom while in a low position in everything other than frantic difficulty. You’re more likely to get ? blocks from item blocks now outside of frantic. Helpfully, the game now includes an animation that tells you if you’re pressing A too early to accelerate when a race begins.
In typical Nintendo fashion, one of the most meaningful changes in the patch isn’t even mentioned in the notes. Already, a top Mario Kart World speedrunner is calling the change broken. “When you land from a trick now, you get a ton of extra momentum,” YouTuber svcTyler says in the video below, where he showcases the differences. “So much momentum to the point that it’s completely trivialized every currently existing world record in the game. I don’t think any world record from today will still be standing after tomorrow.”
The changes to momentum will make a huge difference for hardcore players, but casual players may not notice it as much, even if the adjustment might be meant for them. Hilariously, despite all the uproar around the AI when Mario Kart World was released, some players are bemoaning the fact that the AI is now easier. C’est la vie. Perhaps, with time, some of these diehard fans figured out better ways to deal with the AI — so the prospect of less challenge isn’t all that appealing. But for normies, Mario Kart World might’ve just gotten more pleasant.
Here are all the patch notes for your viewing pleasure:
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