The best Mario Kart World character is not who you’d expect

Cliff Notes – The best Mario Kart World character is not who you’d expect

• Spike, an unlockable enemy character, has emerged as the top racer in Mario Kart World due to hidden stats that enhance his performance on smooth terrain.
• The game’s mechanics reveal that character weight classes and terrain bonuses significantly impact racing dynamics, with Spike benefiting from high acceleration and handling.
• Despite its casual appeal, Mario Kart World features complex competitive elements that players are beginning to explore, highlighting a deeper level of strategy than previously recognised.

We’re seeing more than double (X)

One character is now deemed the best racer in Mario Kart World, thanks to hidden stats Nintendo doesn’t want you to see.

Despite what some people try to pretend, Mario Kart is far more reliant on skill than getting lucky with the items. And that remains the case in Mario Kart World, even with the player count bumped up to 24 per race.

That being said, Mario Kart is the perfect casual game, that anyone of any age or skill level can pick up and have a good time with. But that’s not stopped some players from getting into the nitty gritty to try and figure out the best way to win races.

You’d think that would only require getting better at the game, but a significant number of players have come to the conclusion that the best way to win is by using a specific character.

The character in question? Not Mario, not Bowser, not the fan favourite cow, but Spike – one of the random enemies you can unlock through the Kamek item.

As spotted and translated by Automaton, Spike has become a popular pick amongst Japanese players for his stats; something most casual players will likely ignore when it comes to choosing a racer.

Mario Kart World divided across different weight classes

Although the game doesn’t draw attention to it, characters in Mario Kart World are divided across different weight classes, which has an effect on your vehicle’s stats.

Since Spike is a lightweight class, this gives him high acceleration and better handling than heavier characters, at the cost of being much easier to shove around.

As it turns out, though, characters have another hidden stat that the game never mentions: terrain bonuses. We don’t know how players figured this out, but characters can essentially drive faster depending on the terrain they’re on.

In Spike’s case, he gains a boost in speed when driving on smooth roads, compared to rougher terrain and water. Although heavier characters like Bowser gain even more of a boost benefit from terrain, according to data by CrypticJacknife, they don’t recover from being hit by items as quickly and have worse handling.

These are areas Spike excels at and his weaknesses can be offset by pairing him with the right vehicle, since all of those have their own stats as well.

It’s too soon to tell if this info will spread far enough to fill the online lobbies up with nothing but Spike players, but this is both a strange insight into the more competitive side of Mario Kart and proof that Nintendo puts a lot more thought into balancing Mario Kart than you may think.

Nintendo could afford to be forthcoming about how Mario Kart World works in general, though.

Hiding weight classes and terrain bonuses is one thing, but it makes little effort to explain driving techniques like charge jumping to new players, hiding them away in an options menu that’s easy to miss.