Sorry, but the ‘best’ Mario Kart World kart is ugly

For some people, Mario Kart World is a nonstop cow party. For others, it’s a slow stroll that’s periodically interrupted by lightning strikes. But based on the emerging “meta” for Mario Kart World, the open-world kart competition has been diminished into a droll series of clones. If you’re in the know, you’re probably playing with a light character steering the Baby Blooper kart.

I get it. People want to win, and supposedly, this is the way. Tier lists and influencers insist that the colorless vehicle is, if not the best, then one of the superior possible picks in Mario Kart World. It doesn’t reach a high speed, but it has good acceleration and more importantly, it’s a light car that handles decently. Light characters and heavy characters alike fare well with the Baby Blooper.

It’s also sad to know that this is one of the most diverse Mario Karts we’ve ever gotten, but you wouldn’t know it from the lobbies. Mostly, you’re going to see baby characters and the occasional small NPC, all largely driving the same thing.

At first, I thought it was one of the cooler options. Sleek, compact, white on red, the Baby Blooper kart is classy and draws eyeballs without overtly feeling like you’re peacocking. It also helps that you don’t have to unlock the kart, so of course people are gravitating toward it. But seeing Baby Blooper so often started to take the magic away.

I also can’t help but feel a sense of loss when it comes to Baby Blooper. The diminutive car appears to be a descendant of the Super Blooper kart, a vehicle that actually looks like the squid that it’s based on. The Baby Blooper and its design clearly draw from the same inspiration, but the end result feels a lot more ordinary than its predecessors did. There’s something fun about the older design, which balances looking like a mollusk while also being designed in a convincingly realistic way. Super Blooper the lighthearted tone of the game better while also quintessentially belonging to the world of Mario.

Such is the destiny of any game that’s played competitively though; players will limit their own options to have an upper hand. For some of you, this isn’t a real problem at all — you’re more likely to see Baby Bloopers at the upper echelons of competition. To Mario Kart World’s credit, there’s also a wider assortment of viable options compared to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. On Switch, lobbies were often just an army of Yoshi. By contrast, seeing options like Wiggler in Mario Kart World is positively delightful.

But as far as I can tell, I’m not alone in feeling this way. “It’s crazy to see how herd-like people are with character choice,” one thread bemoans, in reference to the Blooper’s popularity. “Baby blooper seems to be everywhere?” remarks a thread on GameFAQs. “It hasn’t even been 2 weeks and already of meta of the baby blooper is ruining Mario Kart World,“ exclaims another thread.

It’s not all hopeless, though. Some are aware that there are other perfectly viable options that aren’t Baby Blooper. It’s entirely possible that the consensus of what is “best” might change over time, especially if Mario Kart World sees any DLC characters.

As one commenter succinctly puts it: “Yes, people forget too easily that it’s also about FASHION!”