The racetrack ofMario Kart World(MKW) is one of the most chaotic games inMario Karthistory, thanks to more racers, items and mechanics than ever before. It can be hard to keep on top of everything, but it all still comes back to your skills on the road.
With so many fundamental changes to the formula, MKW is one of the most technical entries in the series. With that comes loads of mechanics that you may not understand. If you want to become a top driver, then you need to learn what you should and shouldn’t do while on the racetrack.
10Not Effectively Defending From Items
Defense Is The Best Offense
Items are essential to every race, and how you effectively use your own can cost you everything. Defending is one thing that is always a priority, and nearly every item has a defensive use. Bananas, Shells, and even Bomb-Ombs will defend you from the back and can be thrown to destroy any oncoming items, while things such as the Feather can allow you to leap over any in your way.
If you have no items to defend yourself, however, you do have one extra option. With the power of a well-timed Charge Jump, you can actually leap over incoming items, including Red Shells. Just keep in mind that any kind of more precise item dodging online will be a tad bit risky due to the potato servers the game uses.
9Miss Timing The Start Boost
Over Before The Race Has Begun
When Lakitu counts down the start of the race, you may be shaking with nerves. But you have to hold it together and focus on getting the perfect Start Boost. This can easily be messed up and cause you to either get a tiny boost or even burn out, but by holding A as soon as you see the number two count down, you will get a Rocket Boost every time.
While the start of the race often feels irrelevant, it can make more of a difference than you’d think. In MKW, it’s more important than ever to stay out of the pack, as there will bedozens of powerful itemsbeing flung all over the place. By getting a boost on the start line, you can get an early breakaway from the other racers and hopefully keep that distance for the entire race.
you may also look at Lakitu instead and press and hold A when you see him put his hand down the second time, or when the second light is lit up.
8Not Taking Advantage Of Slipstream Boosts
Wind Is Your Friend
One mechanic that many players do not even know about is the slipstream boost. Slipstreams can be triggered by driving right behind another racer for a short period to gain a massive speed boost, which allows you to rocket past them.
In other titles in the series, these boosts were great but not essential, but with MKW’s long straightaways, they are the best option for overtaking without an item. If you’re in the middle of the pack, it is ridiculously easy to get a slipstream due to just how crowded the track is, and the boost it gives is almost as good as a Mushroom.
7Using Anything As A Shortcut
Make Your Own Paths
This might sound a bit wild of an entry, but trust us when we say almost everything in MKW can be used as a shortcut. With the ability to trick off and ride on walls or take rails and ropes, a ton of side paths and shortcuts have opened up in every corner of the tracks you know and love in the most unexpected of places.
Take, for example, Shy Guy Bazar. In the opening stretch, some ropes can be used to reach the upper area. Another great one is in DK Pass, which has one turn with a pole off the edge, which you may actually trick onto to skip the corner entirely. There are plenty more like these, and keeping your eyes peeled for anything off the road is key to taking the lead.
6Not Collecting Coins
Jobless Behavior
Appearing randomly throughout the series, coins are a staple that is more important than ever in MKW. Coins are used for more than justunlocking more karts, as they increase your speed in races. In this entry, you can get a maximum of 20 coins instead of the usual ten, and they make a huge difference.
With 20 coins, you will be approximately five percent faster than your base speed, allowing you to reach your top speed much quicker. Combining this with the momentum collisions in MKW makes coins your best friends. Coins also have a secret use as they also give you a tiny boost in speed when collected, so even if you have the maximum, it is still worth collecting them.
5Taking Every Rail
Not Every Race Has To Be Gnarly
One of the coolest new additions is the ability to rail grind on a variety of rail surfaces, giving each track more depth than ever. These rails allow you to take corners much tighter as well as do tricks on them to gain large amounts of speed, but it’s not all bread and butter for every rail.
While some rails can be great shortcuts, not every one of them has been made equally, and sometimes you will find it is actually quicker to just drive on the main road. Even tricking on rails gives you practically no extra speed, so even though it feels super-fun, you may want to consider driving the old-fashioned way if you want to take home the crown inKnockout Tour.
4Spiny Shell Dodging
You Don’t Have To End Up In Eighth Place
The dreaded Spiny Shell is an item that has likely appeared in your nightmares after stealing victory away from you, but it can actually be quite simple to avoid. The easiest are with the Super Horn or any Mushroom. When in first place, you should save them for this job specifically.
The Spiny Shell is one of the few items that completely resets all your momentum and speed, which makes it extra important that you know how to avoid them. Another way is to slow down when you see the icon appear on the mini-map, as this will allow second place to take the bullet for you.
A bonus way to avoid the Spiny Shell in offline races is by using the Rewind feature to rewind just before the shell hits you.
3Charge Jumping
Not As Useful As You Would Think
A new mechanic in the series, Charge Jumping, has added a layer of height to the series that has never been seen before. Whenever you want, you may hold the A and R buttons to charge up drift sparks that will launch your kart up into the air. While this does give you a little boost, Charge Jumping is less useful than you think.
Using a Charge Jump randomly actually slows you down, as while charging it, you will be slowed and, since you get some air time, you also lose even more speed. It is essential that you do not spam this on large straightaways and only use the move when you need to jump onto a rail or wall to take a shortcut.
Charge Jumping on rails can be faster if you are on a straight away and can chain many together.
2Item Spamming
Hurting Other Racers' Feelings Is Not Worth It
Items are what make Mario Kart as beloved as it is, as they bring a layer of chaos and carnage that may make you want to break your controller in half. While your first instinct will be to use your items to destroy your competition’s hopes and dreams, you must instead prioritize your defenses and keep at least a single item for protection.
By spamming items, not only do you leave yourself vulnerable, but you also miss out on the chance to aim your items. As a series, first you can move the camera while driving using the right stick, which allows you to throw some items in any direction you want. This can open up a world of possibilities if you are skilled and patient enough.
you’re able to press the L button while the item roulette is still rolling to get your items faster from an item box. Just be careful not to spam the button, as you may end up using the items by accident.
1Not Taking Advantage Of The Environment
It’s Called Mario Kart “World” For A Reason
The world of MKW is rich and heavily detailed in every little inch, but this is not just for aesthetic reasons, as the environment is now highly important to every race. Physics, weather, and terrain now play a huge role in how you approach every race, and to become number one, you will need to be adaptable and take advantage of them.
For example, in some water sections you will gracefully go across still waters, but in stormy weather the water may be rougher, which you’re able to actually trick on. Not to mention, some tracks have corners that have lava or mud that would normally be an out-of-bounds part of the track. However, in MKW you can use items to take these paths as shortcuts to get ahead of the pack.
