Nintendo’s Best Mini-Game Could Save Mario Kart World's Free Roam

The interconnected tracks of Mario Kart World make racing an incredible experience, especially in the map-spanning Knockout Tour mode, but Free Roam has proven to be the game’s most lackluster gameplay avenue. The open world itself is wonderfully designed, translating many Super Mario and Mario Kart hallmarks into plentiful scenery around the spacious island. There just happens to be very little of interest to do in Free Roam.

There are only a handful of activities to take part in while in Free Roam: completing P Button challenges, searching for ? Panels and Peach Medallions, crashing into a fleeing Nabbit for coins, taking down target racers with specific items, and unlocking alternate outfits for each Mario Kart World character. There’s some fun to be had, especially in testing your gameplay mechanical prowess to reach some of the Peach Medallions, but most players are likely to grow tired of it quickly. I know exactly what Mario Kart World‘s Free Roam needs: a mini-game from Super Mario Odyssey.

Luigi’s Balloon World In Super Mario Odyssey Is A Brilliantly Simple Mini-Game

Reach The Balloon

Super Mario Odyssey Luigi's Balloon World

Released a few months after Super Mario Odyssey in a free update, Luigi’s Balloon World is a simple mini-game with a remarkable amount of depth. Its premise is pretty straightforward: you choose to either hide a balloon, or find a balloon. When hiding, you have a timer that can be increased incrementally by collecting coins, and the goal is to get your balloon into a hard-to-reach place. Finding a balloon is then searching for those hidden by other players, with a similar timer system.

Like most of Nintendo’s online game modes, it’s rather bare-bones, but Balloon World works in perfect synergy with Super Mario Odyssey‘s movement and platforming mechanics. Especially now, years after the game mode was introduced, some balloons are incredibly tricky to acquire, requiring fast, precise, and intricate platforming. Alongside the Dark Side and Darker Side levels, Luigi’s Balloon World is what took Odyssey to its limits mechanically, and is a great showcase of how Nintendo’s games typically have a very high skill ceiling, despite their low barrier to entry.

Mario Kart World Free Roam Would Be Way Better With Balloon World

A Reason To Use Tricks

Although not to the same extent as Odyssey, Mario Kart World has a depth of movement that’s not immediately apparent. There are places in Free Roam where players have discovered mind-boggling lines – grinding, wall-riding, jumping, and performing tricks by bouncing off of objects in rapid succession to reach unexpected places. Very few of these are viable shortcuts in a race, however, as they’ll usually send you out of bounds to be retrieved by Lakitu on most Mario Kart World tracks.

Considering the wacky maneuvers people are pulling off, a tweaked version of Balloon World would be the perfect mini-game to give Mario Kart World‘s Free Roam some substance. It could essentially function the same: let players select a place to start, and put them on a timer when finding a place to hide a balloon. Some could be speed challenges, picking up enough coins en route to keep the timer going, while others require the aforementioned absurd acrobatics.

Mario Kart World key artwork showing lots of racers on a track

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Mario Kart World had big shoes to fill following the incredibly successful Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but it appears that Nintendo managed to pull it off.

It’d be a great way to give Mario Kart World extra content without the developers having to create more bespoke Free Roam objectives; introduce the mechanics and let the player base run with them. It would also help give purpose to the variety of tricks World introduced. It’s very fun to pull off a chain of tricks, but the flying and grinding speeds don’t let you keep up with the pack, so in a race, it’s often best to just drive normally.

Nothing is necessarily wrong with Free Roam – it’s just a bit lackluster. Mario Kart has always thrived in the competitive chaos of its races anyway. Driving around and exploring is great at first, but collecting Peach Medallions loses its luster after a while. Adding a version of Luigi’s Balloon World could help Mario Kart World‘s Free Roam reach its full potential, and keep players engaged with limitless challenges.