A surprising new strategy is emerging in theMario Kart Worldcommunity, as players are intentionally avoiding the starting line boost (or Rocket Start) to win races.
The iconic Rocket Start goes by many namesand has been a key element ofMario Kartsince its SNES days, even before drift boosts were added in Mario Kart 64. The Rocket Start has always been crucial in Mario Kart. Simply put, the sooner you can get ahead, the easier it is to stay there.
Slow And Steady Gets The Mushrooms
That’s Right, You Want To Go Slow In Mario Kart World
ShortCat, a popular YouTuberand Mario Kart content creator, recently posted a strategy that’s been growing among players. The tactic is simple: don’t use the starting boost.Mario Kart World’s item systemgives you better items the lower you are placed to keep races exciting and give players a chance to catch up, while being in the front gives you worse items.
“You’re pretty much guaranteed triple mushrooms at the start of the race,” said ShortCat. ShortCat has credited a smaller creator,Gyradosand many other players with discovering this strategy.
“He tried this on every race… he did this every single race, and he was winning a lot,” said ShortCat.
Getting an early item advantage can be crucial to placing high on many courses, especially courses with early shortcuts that require a mushroom to zoom through, such as Peach Stadium, Peach Beach, and Dino Dino Jungle. “The strategy is really good, but it is track-dependent,” Shortcat said.
In particular, this technique suffers on courses like Shy Guy Bazaar and Boo Cinema where getting ahead early is still the best course of action. “The main reason why you do this strategy is because you may pull completely ridiculous items at the beginning of the race,” noted Gyrados.
So why the sudden shift fromprevious Mario Kart games? Part of the answer lies in the way the courses are designed, with many of them having early shortcuts. Peach Stadium specifically has a shortcut right after the first set of item boxes, so intentionally taking a back spot at the start gives you a high chance for three mushrooms to boost through the shortcut and take a top place.
Additionally, the item system has changed abit from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, where you were much more likely to only get a single mushroom from the back of the race. This, combined with there being many more players in each race, makes it much easier to abuse an early item pull and make up the lost time.
This isn’t the first time or even the 10th time theMario Communityhas impressed us with their unconventional techniques, as anyone who remembers ‘Snaking’ can lament, but this does risk making races more boring if this meta takes hold and isn’t changed in a balance patch.
