Despite working my way through all the Circuit Cups in Mario Kart World and playing a bit online, I expected to move on to the next game after finishing my Mario Kart World review. Instead, I have continued to boot up my Switch 2 on a near-daily basis, not to explore the free roam of Mario Kart World, but to queue up for Knockout Tour. Knockout Tour is a new mode in Mario Kart World, using interconnected racetracks. Instead of each race having a set finish point, after which points are awarded, Knockout Tour has continuous races, where at each checkpoint that would be the end of a single race, the bottom four racers are eliminated. This mode swings from chaotic to incredibly intense, and it's some of the most fun I've had with a multiplayer game this year.

Why Knockout Tour feels great online

Playing against people keeps it fun and tense

While I enjoyed my time with Knockout Tour in the single-player mode, that version doesn't live up to its true potential. Having the game be populated by 24, or close to it, people instead of CPUs, makes the mode feel far more chaotic and intense. Even on 150CC, I only felt like I was at risk of losing when I would get hit with a blue shell in first place. In the online mode, every other person is much closer to, or past, my skill level compared to the CPUs. I've won races, I've been eliminated in the first set of four, it's an experience that is always challenging, and to me that makes it special. To me, this mode feels like a far better use of the open world of Mario Kart World than the free roam, which has some Nintendo magic in it, but the built-in goals are tedious at best.

Knockout Tour blows normal online out of the water

I didn't realize how strange the single-race format felt before Knockout Tour

Prior to Mario Kart World, I would play some online races in both Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Wii. It never hit me the way the cups or local multiplayer did, and Mario Kart World finally made it click why. The regular version of online racing is based on single races, increasing or decreasing your rank depending on how you perform. The cup format makes a series of races all feel important, since you need to succeed in each race to win overall, so the online mode only being a single race feels less exciting. The Knockout Tour races consist of four to six races, serving as the different checkpoints. Instead of those individual sections being separate, and all having the same level of intensity, as you go further and more players get eliminated, it becomes more intense. Winning also feels more special.

Winning feels euphoric in Knockout Tour

It's much harder to win in Knockout Tour, and that's great

Mario Kart World is a fun game to play, but there aren't a ton of modes where winning feels satisfying. When attempting to get gold and three stars in every cup in single-player, I was never pumped to win, but I was deeply frustrated when I lost. In Knockout Tour online mode, winning is rare, which has made it so much more satisfying. Not only do you have to constantly survive elimination, but you then have to win a sweaty final stretch against three other players. Making the top four against other people is tough. Not only are people better at the game than the CPUs, but the quality of items flying with 24 people is chaos. Fighting to make it through the chaos, before an intense final stretch of the race, makes for an incredible experience, with only one flaw.

No three-lap circuit tracks sucks

I don't know how to fix this in Knockout Tour

It might feel obvious that there aren't any three-lap circuits in Knockout Tour, since that would be antithetical to the mode, but Mario Kart World does lose something by not having them. The stretches of track in between these racetracks, which is what most of Knockout Tour is made up of, have way less personality than the actual tracks. Instead of experiencing the creativity of a Boo Theater or DK Spaceport, you spend a ton of time driving on the equivalent of a highway. Sure, there is still some Nintendo charm in the cars on the track, and some of the environments and visual details, but it doesn't compare to the actual tracks. I don't know how Knockout Tour solves this problem without adding loops to some sections, but it does feel like an area that could use improvement.

The gameplay makes up for the lack of visual delight

Who needs pretty landscapes when you have high-octane racing?

My complaint about not getting to experience the best parts of Mario Kart World's track design does bother me a bit, but overall, I think the fun gameplay outweighs it. There also isn't a guaranteed way to get three-lap circuits in online mode, as the traditional racing multiplayer mode also includes the track-to-track races. Putting that aside, the intense and chaotic gameplay of Knockout Tour is the part of of Mario Kart World that feels new compared to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which is why I gravitate towards it more than the rest of the game.