Mario Kart 8’s 200cc Mode Is Way Faster Than Nintendo Claims

For years, Nintendo has insisted that the data reflecting the speed of Mario Kart 8’s 200cc mode is accurate, despite fans and players pushing back that the mode felt much faster. Well, as it turns out, the user’s gut reaction was correct. According to data compiled by Supper Mario Broth on X, 200cc mode is actually 38% faster than it is supposed to be.

For players who want a challenge, 200cc mode for Mario Kart 8 has always been the immediate default. Even still, the race always felt incredibly punishing, and the data above shows why. The alteration of speed in comparison to other CC engine classes is so dramatic that the mode is far closer to 400cc than 200cc. That is a massive disalignment between description and reality, and players should feel fully vindicated that the suspicions and attacks they endured for speaking out on it were correct.

It is unclear if Mario Kart World will have the same 200cc mode that Mario Kart 8 did, but if it does, at least players can be more prepared for the speed. As Polygon reports, some strategies include “Learn[ing] to love braking, maybe even learn how to ‘brake drift’, which refers to the practice of slowing down slightly before boosting yourself. This way, players can manage corners more easily than they might at full speed. Fans also encourage one another to pick up lighter characters, which handle with more ease.”

Final Thoughts

We do not yet know what Mario Kart World modes will look like, and given Mario Kart 8 was released over a decade ago, things have changed since then in the gaming landscape. If a 200cc mode does exist, will Nintendo keep it overly skewed as it was, or will they fix it to match the speed it is actually supposed to be at? Time will tell, but at least players can sleep well knowing that they were not, in fact, losing their minds when they said 200cc was insanely fast.