{"id":252,"date":"2025-06-20T21:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T21:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/252\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T21:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T21:26:08","slug":"mario-kart-world-fans-are-bagging-races-in-a-fight-for-last-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/252\/","title":{"rendered":"Mario Kart World fans are bagging races in a fight for last place"},"content":{"rendered":"

First place is one of the most dangerous places to be during a Mario Kart match<\/a>. A lead can prove temporary as the game regales everyone else some of its most powerful items<\/a>, many of which will be aimed directly at the front of the pack. First place, meanwhile, is relegated to garbage weapons like bananas and green shells.<\/p>\n

In this sense, Mario Kart World<\/a> is like any other iteration of Nintendo\u2019s chaotic racer. The difference is that players are trying to exploit this design, which can lead to some absurd races now that lobbies hold 24 players. As we\u2019ve witnessed with our own eyes, rather than showcasing a fight for dominance, Mario Kart World can sometimes devolve into a struggle for mediocrity.<\/p>\n

The tactic isn\u2019t adopted across the board. Some Mario Kart World players are learning new wall-riding techniques that make the racer look more like Tony Hawk, and the feather is empowering some fans<\/a> to create their own amazing shortcuts.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also becoming increasingly common to see people take things slow, happily lagging behind the competition with the confidence that 24th place can transform into first place after a good item box draw. In a video with over 360,000 views, YouTuber Shortcat<\/a> spends 46 minutes encouraging players to bag their races, because it\u2019s a good strategy that can ensure you\u2019ll place well by the end of the match. Ideally, you go along at a leisurely pace until you get a really good item, like a star. Once you have it, you\u2019re supposed to hold on to it until an opportune time, like the last lap of the race.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s wild to watch in action. You can see people stop accelerating altogether for a few seconds so they\u2019ll fall behind. Some players don\u2019t go for extremes, and instead simply aim to be near the middle of the pack, especially as the match progresses.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played that race SO SLOW and won?!?!\u201d one YouTube commenter says of Shortcat\u2019s gameplay footage. \u201cIt felt like watching a grandpa play. He didn\u2019t even do anything crazy he just took the two shortcuts. That\u2019s ridiculous, thanks Nintendo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, while players cop to adopting the strategy, they don\u2019t really seem happy about it. \u201cIt really is ridiculous,\u201d says JupiterClimb, as he narrates a match where he\u2019s shown in last place. \u201cJust absolutely flagrant. Just fully parked, not even trying to play the game,\u201d he says, describing what other people are doing during the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith 24 players this is the only way to keep it competitive,\u201d one reply reads. \u201cEven in dead last you should feel like you have a chance go win.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a complex issue, especially when you consider that people who do try and compete normally also dislike that the game treats them like a digital punching bag<\/a>. It\u2019s not fun when you\u2019re doing well and get hit by five different things in a row. But if that happens, and you end up near last place, Mario Kart World\u2019s design also means you have a real shot at regaining better placement if the trouncing didn\u2019t happen near the end of the match. In this clip<\/a>, you can watch as one racer goes from first, last, to then first again over the course of about 20 seconds. The player still calls the whole thing \u201cbroken.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also not a concept unique to Mario Kart, arguably. In running, there\u2019s something called progression runs, where athletes will start off at a slow to moderate pace and then speed up near the end, which is done to build endurance and avoid injury. Then again, there are also controversial instances<\/a> of competitors who intentionally slow down during a race, as it can be difficult to discern the motivation behind the tactic.<\/p>\n

One of the most common forms of sandbagging in a Mario Kart World race involves waiting for a drop of the lightning item, which hits every single rival on the track. The race then becomes about managing lightning attacks from opponents, and optimally timing when you unleash it.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now a lot of people hold their dodge items in around 10~17 [place],\u201d reads one YouTube comment on Shortcat\u2019s video. \u201cBut doing so means more people behind you are likely to use an early shock, so you have to predict when it\u2019s going to happen. It becomes a bit of a 50\/50 guessing if it\u2019ll be used early or not, so it\u2019s usually better to just slow down and avoid it altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n

With time, it\u2019s likely that players will develop all sorts of tactics and shortcuts that we can\u2019t even imagine at present. Perhaps sandbagging will fall from grace as a preferred method once people find better ways of staying in first. For some, it doesn\u2019t seem like a particularly big deal now that Mario Kart World has shortened the amount of time<\/a> players get stunned after getting hit by an attack.<\/p>\n

People also complained about sandbagging in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and insisted that it ruined the game. Perhaps Nintendo agreed with this assessment, because in 2023, the best-selling Switch racer got an update that seemed to nerf the tactic.<\/a> Specifically, Mario Kart 8 prevented players from acquiring strong items if they stopped or drove in reverse, or if they picked up the same box multiple times during a race. But that patch dropped many years into Mario Kart 8\u2019s lifespan, amid a generation when Nintendo was still getting a grasp around games as a service.<\/p>\n

Will things be different this time around? Switch 2 is a new generation, and a new opportunity for Nintendo to display its adeptness at maintaining live-service games. We could get a version of Mario Kart World that feels more actively in conversation with player concerns.<\/p>\n

Or, just as likely: We\u2019ll have to accept that Mario Kart\u2019s accessibility is directly tied to Nintendo\u2019s willingness to level the playing field so that anyone, regardless of skill, has a legitimate chance of doing well during a race. So long as that design ethos holds true, sandbagging can never go away completely.<\/p>\n

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