Seasoned Mario Kart players know to drift often to build up boosts and get some extra speed coming around corners. With charge jumps, Mario Kart World seemed to add yet another technique to get some marginal gains and edge out opponents–but the story isn’t that simple.
Charge jumps, which are essentially drifts done on straightaways instead of corners, come with all the same visual indicators of granting a speed boost as classic drifting, but it turns out that the technique may technically slow you down. Following intensive investigation from the Mario Kart community, fans have seemingly confirmed that normal acceleration on a straight is preferable to charge-jumping.
YouTube user Karting All Day comprehensively explored the differences in speed between charge-jumping and normal racing in the video embedded above. Kotaku also independently confirmed the results across different top-speed builds.
So what, then, is the point of Nintendo even adding this capability to the game? There are a few reasons why charge-jumping can still be useful. In general, they’re a way to gain access to certain things; a quick charge jump can get you up to the requisite height to grab a grind rail, and they can also help start wall rides.
Mario Kart World launched alongside the Switch 2 last month, and it has been a commercial success. Its tweaks and additions to the Mario Kart formula have inspired a wealth of tips, tricks, and investigations, including one detailing how coins work slightly differently than you’d expect.
