Players have discovered the information Mario Kart World gives about the stats of its character and karts isn’t entirely true, as testing certain combinations of characters and vehicles have produced some surprising results.
Just as in Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart World displays basic character and kart information like top speed, acceleration, weight, and handling. These stats are affected by the size of the characters, which are categorized into different unofficial weight classes. Extremely small or light characters, like all of the game’s baby characters as well as some others, will have higher acceleration and lower top speeds, while heavy characters like Bowser and Donkey Kong will have higher top speeds but lower acceleration. The game doesn’t tell players this outright, but it can be gleaned by selecting the same kart with different characters and seeing how the stat graph changes or stays the same.
However, there are seemingly even more hidden stats that the game doesn’t tell players about. As highlighted in a video by svcTyler on YouTube, it appears some character and kart combinations are simply better than others in specific situations, despite the in-game stat graph showing that they should be identical. According to the video, certain characters and karts secretly perform better on certain types of terrain. Wario, for example, goes faster on paved tracks, while characters like Cow go faster on dirt roads. That means even though Wario and Waluigi are in same weight class, and even if they use the same kart, Wario will always be faster when driving on a normal road.
Since Nintendo is unlikely to ever give players the data they want outright, more testing will need to be done in the days and weeks ahead to learn which characters and karts excel in which situations. It’s a fascinating revelation that adds an interesting wrinkle when it comes to selecting what character and kart to use, as the answer to what is best will depend on the track you’re racing on. The question still remains why Nintendo doesn’t just put all this secret information in-game for everyone to see, but at least it gives hardcore Mario Kart World players something to pursue in their quest for top times.
In GameSpot’s Mario Kart World review, we said the Nintendo Switch 2 launch game expands on almost everything that made Mario Kart 8 such a success, providing a “fun and rewarding kart racing experience that’s easy to understand” while still providing “enough mechanical nuance to reward veteran kart racers.”
Secret character stats aren’t the only thing Mario Kart World doesn’t tell players. It also doesn’t disclose how to unlock Mirror Mode or that you can actually dodge Blue Shells using the game’s new rewind feature.
