Mario Kart World is the biggest game in Mario Kart history, and all that stuff isn’t fully explained, even if you dig into the in-game manual. There are secrets you’ll have to discover yourself, and after a week of playing this free roaming spin on the Mario Kart formula, we’ve walked away with six secrets you really ought to know about.
For more Mario Kart World secrets, check out how to unlock bonus characters and costumes. Or learn all the different ways you can boost. If you’re missing Rainbow Road, check out how to unlock it here.
Get Abducted By UFOs (& Take Control)
While exploring the desert region in the west of the map, we spotted a UFO — a flying saucer — stopping to abduct cars on the road. If you drive into its tractor beam, you’ll get sucked up and take control of the UFO yourself. For a short time, you’ll be able to fly and abduct anything and everything that isn’t nailed down on the ground. You can activate the beam of light and suck up cars or other random objects on the ground. It’s the kind of weirdo, unnecessary feature we love.
You Can Aim During Races
Here’s a quick tip we had no idea you could do — certain items can be aimed in Mario Kart World. The [Right-Stick] will adjust your camera, allowing you to look around while driving. Turning the camera to face other racers, certain items can be thrown in whatever direction you’re looking.
That means you can throw with more precision than just directly forward with your racer or directly backward. If you’re wondering how some players are scoring super-accurate hits online with Green Shells, that’s how they’re doing it.
Transform Into A Semi-Truck
While in Free Roam mode, look for those giant semi-trucks with trailers in the back. Sometimes these trailers will have an open-back — hold [ZR] to charge a turbo-jump and hop into the back of the trailer to find rare “?” pick-ups. If you’re lucky enough to spot one of these, you’ll briefly take control of the entire semi-truck and go on a short rampage.
There’s A Mirror Mode
In addition to 50cc, 100cc and 150cc there’s a hidden Mirror Mode you can unlock in Mario Kart World. To do it, you’ll need to get 10 of each collectible in Free Roam (Peach Medals, “?”s and P-Switches) and then finish all the Knockout Tour courses and Grand Prix courses on 150cc. Once you’ve earned a green checkmark on all of them (at 150cc speed) you’ll need to finish the Special Cup at 150cc.
You don’t need to earn stars or trophies on any of the 150cc events. You just need to finish them. In Knockout Tour, that means you need to stay in the top 4.
Mirror Mode flips the course from left-to-right, giving you another way to play that’ll mix up your friends. This is a returning mode that’s only ever appeared in Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart Wii so far — and we’re always excited to see a secret mode.
And You Can Activate in Free Roam Mode
Mirror Mode isn’t just limited to the main menu — it’s possible to activate Mirror Mode while in Free Roam with a Mario 64 Easter egg. At Princess Peach’s Castle (Peach Stadium) in the middle of the map, climb up to the rooftops with a view of the Princess Peach stained-glass window. Hop into the window to reverse the world and explore a mirror-image! This is only available if you’ve already unlocked Mirror Mode, but it is a pretty wild Easter egg.
Play VS For Classic 3 Lap Races
If you’re a fan of the classic 3-Lap style of races in Mario Kart, there’s an option for you in both offline and online play. Use the Vs. mode menu and you can select tracks in any order in “Open” — use “Open” instead of “Connected” to get tracks with laps.
- Go To Vs -> Open -> Select locations by themselves. Just the track name and nothing else. If that track has a 3-Lap Race variant, you’ll get it.
Some tracks like Mario Bros. Circuit will ALWAYS have three checkpoints and will never have laps. Most tracks have a 3-lap variant, and this is the only way (that we’ve found) to actually consistently play them. You can also play these tracks online.
- When playing Online Multiplayer, select Random for a higher chance of getting a track with 3-lap race variants. Always choose the track that’s just a name instead of two names — going from one track to another. Those are always checkpoint races.
3-lap races are still some of the most fun in Mario Kart World and they’re not as extinct as they look. If you dig in the menus, there are ways to still play them by yourself, with friends or with random opponents online.
