From the outside looking in, I wouldn’t blame anyone for assuming that Nintendo has been sitting on its laurels regarding the Mario Kart franchise. If you dismiss the Japanese-exclusive arcade titles, mobile spinoffs, and the mixed-reality experiment that was Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, there has only been one new mainline entry in the past decade, and that also happens to be an enhanced port of a Wii U title.

With Mario Kart World, Nintendo has injected new life into the franchise. We wouldn’t be shocked if it ends up being the only Mario Kart title to release for the Switch 2, but if that turns out to be the case, you won’t hear many complaints from our end.

Perhaps the biggest change to the long-established formula is the one that’s built right into the name. For the first time in series history, races don’t unfold on standalone tracks, but rather, each drivable stage is part of an interconnected world. Grand Prix tournaments unfold across a small part of the rather vast in-game map, and there’s something oddly satisfying about seeing how each themed stage links together.

Of course, you can also explore this wide-open world (either solo or online with friends) outside of your standard races. There are some side distractions; there are hidden collectibles such as Peach Medallions and Yoshi’s, and P-Switch challenges are fun in their own right, often tasking you with driving to a hard-to-reach destination or collecting coins within a time limit. Admittedly, the open world can feel a bit empty at times, but it’s still fun to explore in its own right.

Of course, the meat and potatoes of Mario Kart World — the actual racing — is as tight as ever. Full disclosure: diehard Mario Kart 8 Deluxe fans will take issue with some of the changes under the hood. For starters, kart customization is a thing of the past. While individual karts still have their unique stats, there’s nothing in the way of mixing and matching frames, wheels, and glider types. Similarly, drifting and driving feel more physics-driven, and on the whole, slightly more weighty and less controlled than the cold, hard precision of prior entries. In fact, inside drifting is a thing of the past, meaning that all bike types control rather similarly.

This might seem like a step backward, but if anything, the skill ceiling is higher than ever thanks to a few minor changes. Some are minor — for instance, having bananas and turtle shells automatically drag behind you frees you up to focus on the driving. For those who like to push mechanics to their limits, charge jumping allows you to hop over small obstacles, and when combined with rail grinding and wall riding, paves the way for some insanely high-level play. Mario Kart World has only been out for one week, and players have already begun to develop wild strategies to lower their race times.