The crowd roars as Mario drifts around the final bend. The finish line is in sight. Then, out of nowhere, a red turtle shell speeds towards him and overturns his kart, allowing Yoshi to slip past and snatch the crown. This isn’t just Mario Kart, it’s the new Knockout Tour mode in the forthcoming Mario Kart World. In this thrilling new version of the game, 24 competitors start the race, but four racers are eliminated at regular checkpoints, ratcheting up the tension to painful heights. My Princess Peach, riding a chic pink motorbike, bowed out gracefully in 12th place.
Prying myself away from the controller, I take in the scene: clusters of excited Nintendo fans, including one dressed as Mario, another as Donkey Kong, crowd the hands-on event to test the Switch 2 console which will be released on June 5 (though not in China). Though the staff are relentlessly upbeat and there is scarlet Nintendo branding everywhere, no amount of forced cheer could bring warmth to the harsh lights and grey surrounds of the ExCel London conference centre. Still, nobody’s thinking about the ambience — they have a new console to ogle.