Mario Kart World’s big open map is one of the major things that sets it apart from the rest of the franchise, but it’s also become a real drag for fans who just want to have traditional three-lap races around their favorite tracks online. A workaround was soon discovered, a sneaky way that let people always guarantee a three-lap race—until now. Nintendo just nerfed the trick in the Switch 2 exclusive’s latest patch.
“Why would Nintendo downgrade their console-seller?” asked one player on the Mario Kart subreddit. That’s the question on everyone’s mind following the release of Ver. 1.1.2 on June 25. The update is very small, with only a few patch notes. The most controversial one reads: “Adjusted courses selected in ‘Random’ when selecting next course in a wireless ‘VS Race.’” That’s apparently Nintendo-speak for “you’re playing the game wrong.”
See, Mario Kart World is divided into two types of stages. There are the familiar ones like Mario Bros. Circuit and Bowser’s Castle, and then there are the interstitial courses that connect each of these stages in the open world. Each Grand Prix consists of a mix of both, with races on the tracks themselves and also the routes racing between them. They make sense for the game’s new knockout mode, but can otherwise upend the flow of a race.
Players were getting tired of needing to do that in online vs. mode, too. Mario Kart fans are a competitive bunch and wanted consistency, plus some of the connective tracks are kind of boring. People quickly discovered that if everyone in a lobby selects “random” for the track, Mario Kart World would automatically default to a regular three-lap version of a track. Everyone started doing it. There were memes about it. Mario Kart fans essentially created their own version of Super Smash Bros. fans’ “No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination.”
Apparently Nintendo did not like that, taking roughly a week from when the workaround hit peak meme status in the community to pull the emergency break. “They addressed this in the most Nintendo way possible,” wrote one player on Reddit. “You WILL play as we intend and you will like it!” “Please understand,” another wrote, “Like. Why would they even do this????? because it’s funny?? what do they even gain?” It’s not an overstatement to say the online Mario Kart World community is currently in shambles. The copypastas write themselves.
Some players are calling for fans to submit feedback through the profile settings section of their Switch 2. Others are scrambling to find Discord communities for private lobby matchmaking in order to escape the newfound track chaos of quickplay. If Mario Kart World were on Steam it would be getting review bombed right now. But it’s not and Nintendo rarely bends to community pressure.
“During times like this I remember the old Miiverse days,” one fan waxed nostalgically. “If Miiverse existed now there would be a wave of upset players posting and/or making images (written posts/drawings) protesting against Nintendo’s decision.” We’ll see if Mario Kart World players can find other creative ways of protesting.
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