Mario Kart World

Mario Kart World is a kart racing game. As in previous Mario Kart games, players race as characters from the Mario series in one of many selectable go-karts. The game features 50 playable characters; 24 of the playable characters have alternate unlockable costumes accessed by consuming food items found throughout races, while most of the remaining characters additionally exist as obstacles on the game's tracks.^[1][2][3] It supports up to 24 players, twice as many compared to previous Mario Kart games,^[4] and includes features such as an open-world design, a free-roaming mode, off-roading segments, boat racing, rail grinding and wall jumping and riding.^[5][6]

Unlike prior Mario Kart games, the Grand Prix mode does not consist of four separate races; rather, racers must drive to each course.^[7] Outside of Grand Prix, it is possible to race on tracks for three laps like in previous Mario Kart games.^[8] Mario Kart World features some past courses from the series that have been reimagined to fit the game's open world design and to include a shift from day to night.^[9] In addition, a mode called Knockout Tour is introduced in the game; the 24 racers compete in one much longer race spanning the game's world, with four eliminations at each of the six intermittent checkpoints.^[10][11]

Battle Mode returns from previous games; players compete against one another to pop each other's balloons in Balloon Battle, eliminate others to become the last player standing in Bob-omb Blast,^[12] or collect the most coins in Coin Runners.^[13] "Mirror Mode", which horizontally inverts the entire map, also returns from the previous games.^[14]

Another new mode called "Free Roam" is introduced in World; players are permitted to drive to any location (with Rainbow Road as the sole exception^[15]), including those that are off-road or outside of race tracks. Numerous missions, such as finding collectibles, are present in this mode. In addition, players can also take photos of their chosen driver.^[13]

Mario Kart World entered development on the original Nintendo Switch (top) before shifting to the Switch 2 (bottom).

Nintendo began prototyping Mario Kart World for the Nintendo Switch in March 2017, just before the release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. At the end of that year, Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development officially began development on the game. Kosuke Yabuki, series producer, wanted the new entry to innovate on the series' gameplay formula with an open world, as he thought the traditional gameplay formula had been perfected with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The game was titled Mario Kart World instead of Mario Kart 9 since the early stages of development; the developers intended for it to be a completely new approach.^[16] Most of the new playable characters also exist as obstacles on the game's tracks; according to art director Masaaki Ishikawa, one of the designers sketched a Cow from the Moo Moo Meadows track driving a truck, leading to many of the course's other obstacles becoming NPC drivers.^[17]

In 2020, development was moved to the Nintendo Switch 2 after problems arose when trying to optimize an open-world racing game with 24 players on the original Switch hardware. The Switch 2's hardware specifications were beginning to take shape and gave the developers room to expand on their ideas.^[18][19] The "Booster Course Pass" downloadable content for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was also conceived around this time, as a stopgap release to allow development on World to be prolonged.^[18]

On January 16, 2025, Nintendo announced the Nintendo Switch 2 with footage of Mario Kart World. Critics likened the art style to Super Mario Bros. Wonder and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, both released in 2023.^[23] In a Nintendo Direct presentation on April 2, 2025, Nintendo announced the title Mario Kart World and revealed the first trailer.^[24] Nintendo announced that it would sell for US$79.99, $20 more than the standard price for games on the original Nintendo Switch and more than most standard editions of AAA games, which led to criticism.^[25][26] Nintendo held a Mario Kart World Direct presentation on April 17.^[27] Mario Kart World was released in most regions on June 5 as a launch game for the Nintendo Switch 2.^[28]

Mario Kart World received "generally favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic,^[29] and 97% of critics recommended the game according to OpenCritic.^[30] All four critics from the Japanese magazine Famitsu gave it 9 out of 10.^[36]

Logan Plant from IGN praised Mario Kart World for its polished gameplay and controls, "celebratory" soundtrack, new mechanics, and the Knockout Tour mode. He criticized its "online multiplayer limitations", several "design decisions around the interface and unlockables", and the free roam for its "uneven" execution. He expressed optimism toward future updates.^[41] Destructoid wrote that it was a "hallmark of excellence" and that it "may be the best game in the Mario Kart franchise", praising the Knockout Tour mode, open-world exploration, and unlockable content.^[32] PCMag described it as "a generational leap forward for the series".^[45] GameSpot praised the new features and gameplay elements, and said the version of Rainbow Road was "an all-time great".^[38] The Guardian's Keza MacDonald praised the "broad and ridiculous" selection of racers.^[46] Edge called the game's free-roam challenges "decent but unexceptional", but said that they were a good exercise of the driving mechanic, offering something to preoccupy the player's "canine instinct" of quest-completing while waiting for a friend to join the online lobby.^[34]

Some criticism was directed at the lack of local co-op multiplayer for the newly introduced "free roam" mode,^[48][49] a feature previously reported to be in the game.^[50] Reception was mixed regarding the "Route" courses that connect the racetracks, particularly in online play. Before the version 1.1.2 update, online player lobbies favored the "random" gameplay option, which offered traditional three-lap games around one of the 30 courses; after the 1.1.2 update, the 202 intermission courses were added to the "random" option. The update led to the option disproportionately favoring the highway-style intermission courses, leading to player backlash and review bombs on Metacritic.^[51][52] This issue was slightly reverted in September 2025 with the 1.3.0 update, along with making it easier to unlock characters.^[53] Yussef Cole, writing for The New York Times, said that the game is "elegant, but mostly empty of anything terribly meaningful" and that its Free Roam mode does not compete with other open-world racing games such as Forza Horizon (2012) or Burnout Paradise (2008).^[54]