Mario Kart World’s Huge Roster Has A Fatal Flaw

Mario Kart World, the flagship launch game for the Nintendo Switch 2, has been the subject of controversy for its eye-watering $80 price, but gamers are also excited for its new features. The game’s roster of racers is also a big selling point, since it will offer the player over fifty characters to choose from. However, that doesn’t mean the roster is without a big flaw.

The Flaw in Mario Kart World‘s Roster

In Mario Kart World, you will be able to play as the expected characters – Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, and other familiar faces. In addition, there will be a bunch of new racers, with the complete roster consisting of over fifty racers. That sounds great, right? After all, gamers are already excited to race as the cow from Mario Kart 64′s Moo Moo Meadows and the penguin from Super Mario 64. However, a large portion of the roster feels like filler.

Who Are These People?

I consider myself pretty well-versed in the Mario universe, but I still had to Google Cataquacks and Biddybuds. Once I saw their pictures, I recognized them – Cataquacks are the duck-like enemies in Super Mario Sunshine, and Biddybuds are the ladybug-like enemies that first show up in Super Mario 3D Land. However, was anyone asking to play them in Mario Kart? A large portion of the new racers are minor enemies, which feels like Nintendo was running out of ideas while desperately trying to fill the racer pool.

And What About . . .?

The idea that Nintendo ran out of racer ideas seems odd, since there are still Mario fan favorites that have yet to be included in a Mario Kart game. Professor E. Gadd from the Luigi’s Mansion games was a racer in the mobile game Mario Kart Tour, so why isn’t he included in Mario Kart World? Why couldn’t Dixie Kong get a spot? For that matter, why were Diddy Kong and Funky Kong removed from the roster? Nintendo could have also used some of the fan favorites from series like Paper Mario, Mario and Luigi, and WarioWare. 

In addition, Mario Kart 8‘s DLC introduced characters from non-Mario series. In Mario Kart 8, you could play as Link from The Legend of Zelda, the Inklings from Splatoon, and Isabelle and a Villager from Animal Crossing. This had fans wondering if characters from other non-Mario franchises might appear in Mario Kart World. Many gamers would have loved to race as Kirby or Samus Aran from Metroid, but no non-Mario characters have been announced for Mario Kart World.

Conclusion

Numbers aren’t everything. Fifty characters sounds like a great selection, but when no one cares about a good portion of the new racers, that dampens the excitement. Many gamers probably would have preferred for Nintendo to listen to what fans actually wanted. We’ll still enjoy racing as the cow and the penguin, though.