Nintendo Switch's best-selling game has been gaslighting players for years
Now you have a valid excuse during Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's 200cc mode
Update: Go straight to the next Nintendo Switch 2 restock in the US if you still need a console, and check out our in-depth Nintendo Switch 2 review for our full analysis.
💨 One clever fan has realised that the 200cc designation in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is faster than we thought
😮 In crunching the numbers from Reddit, X user MarioBrothBlog worked out it’s 38 percent faster than it should be, working out to an actual displacement of 415cc
🤔 It isn't clear why this is, in spite of it only being 50cc ahead of the 150cc class
👏 Nintendo first introduced 200cc in Mario Kart 8, and it is set to return in Mario Kart World for Switch 2
According to one clever fan, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's top 200cc power mode is actually much faster than we all thought.
Mario Kart 8 added the speedier 200cc mode as a real test of skill for the most talented of players, or just for those who wished to push themselves. However, fans have complained the mode is simply too fast to get to grips with.
It turns out there's a good reason for that. According to X user @MarioBrothBlog, who recently crunched some numbers provided by Reddit user sammy_zammy, the 200cc mode is much faster than it should be: 38 percent faster, to be precise.
That's because it far exceeds the otherwise uniform ratio that exists between a class and its top speed for the lower classes. With this in mind, the 200cc class designation is actually closer to 415cc, if the numbers are correct.
So, it turns out there is reason you can blame all those crashes 200cc when you've played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in the past – the karts are simply too fast for their own good.
200cc is also set to reappear in Mario Kart World for Nintendo Switch 2 when it releases alongside the console on June 5 as one of the Switch 2's most prominent launch games.
Mario Kart World was also nearly called Mario Kart 9 before the ambitions of the developers grew with the Switch 2 as a 'ray of hope' for the game's development, and Nintendo has also revealed why it chose to bundle Mario Kart World with the Switch 2, too.
Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.