Mario Kart World's high price tag.
Excitement is still palpable, though, and Nintendo has delivered 15 minutes of information on Mario Kart World in today's Direct. It was broadcast and is still available on the Nintendo of America YouTube channel, and solely revolves around the launch title; there was not any information on other games, nor new info on the Nintendo Switch 2 itself. Check out our list of the biggest reveals below.
Biggest Reveals From The Mario Kart World Nintendo Direct
Mario's Triumphant Kart Racing Return
Nintendo remained mum ahead of the Direct, but new information on the game has steadily trickled in since the Mario Kart World's confirmed courses, characters, and karts. The Direct took a deep but quick dive, though, so here's all the major information Nintendo provided on World:
Eight new courses were shown off and named: Mario Bros. Circuit, Crown City, Salty Salty SPeedway, Starview Peak, Boo Cinema, Toad's Factory, Peach Beach, and Wario Shipyard. |
Races can be initiated at any time during Mario Kart World's persistent day/night cycle. |
Three new racers were specifically highlighted and named: Goomba, Spike, and Cow (of Moo Moo Meadows fame). Here is every confirmed Mario Kart World racer. |
Grand Prix and Knockout Tour are Mario Kart World's two primary game modes, each ing the brand-new 24-player races. |
Mario Kart World's Rainbow Road was teased as a reward for winning every Grand Prix. Rainbow Road has been the final track unlocked in every Mario Kart title. |
New items were named and shown in clips: Coin Shell, Ice Flower, Hammer, Mega Mushroom, Feather, and Kamek, whose magic has a variety of random effects. |
Accessibility options and alternate control schemes were revealed, like automatic steering and tilt controls. |
Picking up Dash Food in the open world will unlock new outfits inspired by the meal; outfits can be chosen from the character select screen. |
A new trick called Charge Jump is performed by holding the drift button while driving straight – it provides a boost and can be used to avoid obstacles. |
A Rewind feature has been implemented to let you instantly retry sections of a race or get another attempt at reaching a shortcut, but Rewind does not affect your opponents while in a race. |
Multiple secondary game modes were confirmed to be returning in Mario Kart World, including Time Trials, VS Race, Teams races, Balloon Battle, and Coin Runners. |
Puzzles and missions can be found throughout the open world during Free Roam, and are activated by hitting P Switches. Shown examples include collecting blue coins while grinding on a set of wires, or completing an offroad time trial by driving through checkpoints. |
Free Roam includes many collectibles, like hidden Peach Medallions and "? s" that can be activated by driving into them. |
Local co-op options include four-player split-screen and eight-player wireless play, both of which the full 24-player races, with empty slots filled with bots. |
It's possible to your friends in a Free Roam session, which also acts as a sort of private lobby from which you can access a variety of game modes together. |
Our Take: Mario Kart World Direct Wasn't Groundbreaking, But It's Exciting Nonetheless
Mario Kart Practically Sells Itself
The Mario Kart World Nintendo Direct had a handful of minor reveals, like course names and some of the new items, but it was otherwise largely a rehash of information already revealed in the Switch 2 Direct and the Nintendo Treehouse streams. This isn't surprising; despite the novelty of World's Free Roam, Mario Kart is largely a known quantity, and anyone keen on new info has likely watched the Switch 2 Direct already. It's still a little disappointing that Mario Kart World is one of only two new Switch 2 launch day exclusives (the other being Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour), but it's hard not to get excited about a new Mario Kart.
It's obvious why so much attention is being given to World: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been a tremendous success for Nintendo as the Switch's bestseller, and World is practically guaranteed to continue the series' reign. Still, there's a lot of pressure on one game to carry a new console's launch window almost alone – Donkey Kong Bananza won't arrive until over a month later – and especially with its high asking price, many might wait to pick up Mario Kart World and a Switch 2 until there are more games to play.
Source: Nintendo of America/YouTube
Mario Kart World
- Released
- June 2, 2025
- ESRB
- Everyone // Mild Fantasy Violence, s Interact
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer
- Prequel(s)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Franchise
- Mario Kart
- Number of Players
- 1-24
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- June 5, 2025
- Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date
- June 5, 2025
Developed and published by Nintendo, Mario Kart 9 is the long-awaited sequel to Mario Kart 8. The title was reported to be in development in January 2022.
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch 2
