So what new characters are in Mario Kart World so far?

I think you have seen all of them if you watched the Mario Kart World Direct. At least from what I have seen so far.

Was sorely disappointed with the lack of new Donkey Kong characters in the roster.

How's Battle Mode?

Did my unpacking and set up. 

Did not get the chance to play anything yet cause I was setting it up UI wise and physically wise.

Two things I noticed that I did not like (one which was fixable)

1. I made my Switch 2 my primary Switch console between my three Switches. Downloaded MK World, Super Mario 3D All Stars and Super Smash Bros Ultimate since those are the first three games I'm planning to play. 

Noticed it prompted me to load virtual cards....which was odd because I'm on my primary switch and the games were downloaded. 

After checking up online, noticed there was a place in the User settings to choose Online Licensing - I had to turn it on for my Switch 2 so the Virtual card option wont prompt - thats nice and all but any other game I wanted to download...I have to go into the Virtual Card settings and choose to "Download" in the "Redownload Software" section, its just an extra step so its whatever but still lol.

So on my Switch OLED which I plan to use when I'm not at home - I noticed all my downloaded games on my memory card are all turned into virtual cards. I'm okay with this because I guess its understandable why they would do this considering you could (if I remember right) play the same game on two different consoles at the same time (though I think they patched it out cause it requires you to choose a primary system to be able to play offline since I play with airplane mode on when I'm outside of home to conserve battery).

Anyways, its not that much of an issue for me.

2. Now this issue was something I had with the original Switch, Switch OLED and now the same thing with the Switch 2. Cant turn off the system through the UI which is pretty much a bother for me. All my other game systems I can turn off the systems through the UI (All playstation, Xbox, etc) so its mind boggling that Sleep mode is the only option - I have to get up and press and hold the power button to get the option.

Anyways, I'm happy so far with my purchase, cant wait to play, I would play now but I'm busy preparing for my daughter's birthday party this weekend.

My Switch Family Collection lol

Switch OG (2020)
Switch OLED (2024)
Switch 2 (2025)

Yeah, not gonna lie the virtual game card thing threw me off at first but I adapted pretty quickly.

Also I have the exact same setup as you. Red and Blue base model, white OLED, and then Switch 2 with Mario Kart.

I sat in line so long yesterday I became famous at the local store to the point when I called in this morning to see if they had Pro controllers (My Amazon preorder stalled and didn't charge my account), they called me by name and were like 'oh, first in line yesterday? yeah we can put one aside for you'.

Huh. Well then.

Out of the job, at a few meters from my EB Games, gosh can't wait to finally grab mine fina-freaking-ly !!

People are having a good blast with MK World apparently. It's kinda sad my use time will be limited this weekend so ce I'm gonna visit a friend but this will be a good excuse to use extensively the handheld mode !