The Nintendo Switch 2 has been revealed, and alongside it, we’ve gotten our first real look at one of the expected launch titles, Mario Kart World. Also, it won’t be available on the original Nintendo Switch. Mario Kart World is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive game.
Nintendo’s arcade racing series is arguably one of the biggest games in its portfolio, with Mario Kart 8 having sold more than 67.35 million copies at the time of writing. So it makes sense that this latest iteration is going bigger than any other in the franchise, with the ability to have races with up to 24 racers at once.
Mario Kart World opened the Direct, showing off new tracks and kart styles, along with new designs for races on water, a new style of airplane-looking wings for the flying sections, wall-driving, and the ability to drive off the tracks and go “virtually everywhere” to make it to the finish line.
There’s also a free-roam mode, which basically makes it look like the Mario Kart equivalent of Forza Horizon. We also got a look at plenty of shots of some of the new power-ups players can use, making characters go big-mode, or take control of massive trucks that let you smash through the competition.
It’s a bit of a surprise that Mario Kart World will be an exclusive title for the Nintendo Switch 2, as many would have expected the title to be available on the millions of Nintendo Switch consoles already in the hands of players.
But by the same token, having what you could say is Nintendo’s biggest Mario-based series exclusive to its new console could be a huge part of driving console sales for the Nintendo Switch 2. If too many of the games are still available on the original Nintendo Switch, the 100 million+ players who already have a Nintendo Switch will be more reluctant to leave their original Switch behind.
There was plenty more news about the actual Nintendo Switch 2 console during today’s Direct, but there will be more proper details about Mario Kart World still to come. We’ll find out much more about Mario Kart World in a separate livestream event this coming April 17, 2025 at 6am PT/9am ET.
