--- title: "Mario Kart World Is So Complicated That It Has a Rewind Feature" date: "2025-04-17" modified: "2025-04-17" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/mario-kart-world-is-so-complicated-that-theres-a-rewind-feature" categories: - "Culture" - "News" - "Video Games" --- # Mario Kart World Is So Complicated That It Has a Rewind Feature ![Side-by-side images of Mario Kart World gameplay.]() *\Nintendo, The Drive\* *Mario Kart* has a reputation for being a rather simple [racing game](): You collect and fire power-ups, aim for boost pads, and sometimes drift. If you're driving at 200cc pace, then you occasionally have to tap the brake button. That's about it. And that's not to say that *Mario Kart* isn't challenging to play well; it's historically been one of those easy-to-pick-up/hard-to-master-type experiences. Some people are unbelievably good at it, of course. But *[Mario Kart World]()*, due to launch with the [Nintendo Switch 2]() on June 5, looks considerably more complicated, so much so that Nintendo's implemented a Rewind feature like *[Forza Horizon]()* has. Nintendo shared more information on *World* during a [specific Direct stream]() on Thursday. If you love *MK*, you've either already watched it by now or should check out the reel in its entirety; it covers everything from tracks to characters to modes. Yes, this'll be a sprawling game, one that will delight the most obsessive Nintendo fans who will no doubt recognize that one minor enemy from *Yoshi's Island*, or that level melody from *Super Mario Land*. That's not me. Instead, what caught my eye were all the new mechanics built into the gameplay. For one, there's a new Charge Jump ability that works by holding the drift button while driving straight ahead. That starts sending up flames from your tires, just like what happens when you drift. When you let go, you jump and get a little boost. Simple enough, though it's hard to imagine super try-hards not just doing this repeatedly all of the time (real ones remember snaking in *Mario Kart DS*), unless there's some kind of speed penalty in place, maybe pre-jump. We'll have to see. https://www.youtube.com/live/mq4uCJDwO9U?si=bsulLOHvBFAn9uxJ&t=534 Anyway, you can Charge Jump over obstacles and onto rails now, because grinding is another extra layer of complexity that *World* is bringing to the old-school *Mario Kart* formula. Time it right, and you might even dodge an incoming turtle shell. But what's even wilder is that if you Charge Jump toward a wall, you'll ride it. Some tracks in *Mario Kart 8* offered limited opportunities to wall ride, accessed via boost ramps. *World*'s mechanic, though, looks to be much more open-ended. It seems like if you see a surface, you can drive on it. In this Direct, [we got a glimpse at a particularly skilled player]() (at about 9:50 in the embed above) linking together a string of perfectly timed drifts, jumps, grinds, and wall rides to reach shortcuts above the track, inaccessible to the average player. In such moments, the game honestly resembles *Tony Hawk's Pro Skater* more than *Mario Kart*. And that's part of the reason the Rewind feature will be so critical, because it's going to require plenty of practice to really memorize the optimal path through a course. It's only a matter of time before we see the best players cutting massive sections of track entirely to record impossibly short lap times. As someone who was first introduced to *Mario Kart* on the Nintendo 64 in the '90s, all of this sounds way too complicated to me, like building a house mid-firefight in *Fortnite*. Kids will probably love it. And while that Rewind feature will be a valuable tool to learn the ropes, don't think it'll allow you to correct all of your mistakes in races, because other competitors will continue at normal speed in forward motion while you rewind, like in the *SSX* reboot from 13 years ago. (13 years! My god.) Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to eventually giving *World* a try, though probably not on launch day. If you're a longtime *Mario Kart* fan, what do you think of all of these changes? Let me know in the comments. *Got tips? Send ’em to tips@thedrive.com* ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()