Mario Kart World quietly fixes one of the series' longest-standing annoyances and I suspect I will get hit with 10% fewer red turtle shells because of it

In Mario Kart, often times the only thing standing between you and certain defeat is a banana peel, which you can drag behind your kart by holding down the L button to protect yourself from turtle shells and the like. Thing is, in a game as fast-paced and chaotic as Mario Kart, it's easy for your finger to slip and cause your precious banana peel to be released and you to become unprotected. I'd estimate I accidentally let go of my "ass protection," as my stupid friends call it, about 5-10% of the time I'm carrying it, which means if my math is correct, red turtle shells will successfully connect with my kart about 5-10% less often in Mario Kart World, the upcoming kart racer and Nintendo Switch 2 launch game.

That's because, as revealed in today's Nintendo Treehouse livestream (timestamped here), Mario Kart World makes it so that you don't need to hold down any buttons to keep your items dragging behind your kart. Instead, as the hosts of the stream explain, items will automatically place themselves in a defensive position when you collect them, so they'll just passively be there to protect you from your jerk friends.

The other benefit from this is that you'll presumably be able to spam the item button to make items usable faster without letting go of the item behind you, which was something I always found frustrating in the older Mario Kart games. Actually, come to think of it, why haven't items just always worked like this?!

Anywho, Mario Kart World is out exclusively on Switch 2 with the console's launch on June 5.

After racing my heart out in Mario Kart World, I'm convinced the 24-player Knockout Tour is a real racing revolution.