Was the Mario Kart World Direct Even Worth It’s Own Presentation?

WAS THIS MARIO KART WORLD DIRECT EVEN WORTH IT’S OWN PRESENTATION?

 

On April 19th, Nintendo broadcasted their Nintendo Direct presentation dedicated to their new upcoming title, Mario Kart World. Nintendo has been telling concerned fans that the Direct would help us realize why it’s priced so high: “Look forward to the direct on the 19th, stay tuned for that, go check that out!” Bill Trinen and Doug Bowser said this, countless times, in an attempt to keep people’s tempers at bay. 

 

And so, the presentation was shown bright and early…and it unfortunately did NOTHING to help justify the price or showcase anything that was big enough that it needed to have it’s own presentation, and fans are NOT happy with what was given to us, and yes “Drop the price” was spammed once again, evening trending on Twitter according to Game Rant. 

 

The Direct was only around 16 minutes, which was short but fans were still confident that plenty of new information would be shown, and we were presented with 14-15 minutes of info about the game that we were already made aware of in the Nintendo Switch 2 Presentation.

They even went into characters that are literally staples and acted like we should be surprised they’re here. “Hey Mario and Bowser are here!” Wow, good to have them”! As if we wouldn’t have those two in a Mario Kart game!

 

I’m getting flashbacks of the Mario Kart 8 Direct which was thirty minutes long and also filled with unnecessary filler, odd skits, and minor new information! 

 

After the Nintendo Switch 2 presentation, we had DOZENS of new footage and showcases thanks to their Nintendo Treehouse live events and demo playthroughs at some Nintendo stores, and yet they felt the need to fill in this Direct with repeated information, “Check out Grand Prix, check out Knockout Tour.” WE ALREADY KNOW NINTENDO, YOU TOLD US THIS ALREADY! 

 

It felt like this presentation was given to show to those fans who didn’t even see ANY gameplay footage or the debut trailer. Numerous videos and tweets/posts from other gaming journalists, content creators, and fans all feel the same way stating this didn’t need to be its own individual direct, this was just a 16-minute overview trailer, it felt pointless.

 

When Nintendo says “a Direct” that means to fans that plenty of NEW information about anything they focus on will be shown, not a big recap and only small bits of new information 

 

VIDEO THUMBNAIL IMAGES THAT DETAIL PEOPLE’S FEELINGS TOWARDS THE DIRECT

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWEETS AND VIDEO QUOTES

Sam Procrastinates: “Mario Kart World looks amazing. A lot of cool mechanics, graphics looks beautiful, and the new move set like jumping and grinding look like a fun addition; With all that said, there is absolutely NOTHING about this game justifying the $80 price tag. NOTHING!”

 

DynamoSuperX: “Imma be honest, this didn’t need a Nintendo Direct. All of this could’ve been in the original Mario Kart World trailer; This was basically just a 10 minute recap with 5 minutes of new information.”

 

NathanielBandy: “Gotta be honest, the Mario Kart World Direct had almost no new info; the new stuff could’ve just been in the Switch 2 Direct.”

 

Nintendo Life: “This Direct would have been the place to show off more cool things that they haven’t talked about already or that the press hasn’t talked about or people that have gone to the experiences and they didn’t do that.”

 

All of us were hoping for them gives us way more, as an example, we wanted to know more about their Free Roam mode as it seemed to be the big deal of the game because of the open world with possibly a single player mode aspect, but we still don’t know much about it, they did talk about the mode, but they only touched onto things very briefly, what does clearing missions do? What do those collectible medallions and coin panels do? Do we use them in a shop? We don’t know!   

*IN-GAME IMAGE, WHAT IS THIS FOR? NO EXPLANATION GIVEN!

 

This whole thing was a nothingburger! And speaking of, they detailed more about that food item which gives you costumes but, what is the point of this item? Not all characters get costumes and if I unlock all the costumes…what would be the point of the item in any race other than it giving me a boost? Why can’t I just unlock the costumes in a shop? Why have them as items in a race to collect? And why are the costumes individual slots in the character select menu? It makes the whole roster selection screen too jumbled up!  

On a personal sad note, we did not get any new characters other than who we know now (R.I.P Diddy Kong).

 

 

We did get confirmation about Battle Mode, VS, and Online as well as new techniques such as a Rewind option (which is honestly pointless); This Direct has still not yet justified this whole price thing, still no reason to be $80! 

 

I assumed we would be getting a live service type of game with content added over the years, that way it would justify the extra money, it would technically be the dlc payment you would do but no! 

 

Nintendo has set this price standard moving forward and it makes me worried about future titles that may or may not be $80 or higher! Any child who asks their parents to buy an $80 game is going to get the big N-O! 

 

This presentation was not worth the “big hype” they were building on, all of the small new info they gave us could’ve been an individual tweet or a minor trailer drop. We will get more information about Mario Kart World as June 5th approaches. As a fan, I will still get it at some point, I just do not think any more information they give us will ever justify their strategy here.