The Mario Kart World Direct is a wrap, and it's painted a pretty irresistible picture of one of the most exciting upcoming Switch 2 games. We've been live-blogging highlights - that Free Roam mode looks excellent - and if you weren't able to watch the Direct live, you're all covered here.
Breakout moments of the Direct include the reveal of several new items, an extended look at a few of Mario Kart World's new and returning courses, and the game's new movement mechanics in action. As far as Switch 2 news goes, it's been a pretty busy 15 minutes - check it all out below!
Everything announced
- New courses! We've seen Mario Bros. Circuit, Crown City, Salty Salty Speedway, Starview Peak, Boo Cinema.
- Toad's Factory, Peach Beach, Wario's Galleon will be just a few of Mario Kart World's "reimagined" returning tracks
- A day/night cycle will be applicable to both new and old maps.
- Several new drivers will be making their debut in Mario Kart World, including Goomba, Spike, and Cow (of Moo-Moo Meadows fame). That said, it seems like there are more racers yet to be announced.
- We got another look at Mario Kart World's two main modes: Grand Prix and Knockout Tour.
- Completing all Grand Prix cups will unlock a "certain colorful course" - welcome back, Rainbow Road!
- Mario Kart World adds 6 new items to Nintendo's beloved racing game series, including one that hasn't made an appearance in actual races for 33 years
- Mario Kart World's new outfits include pirate Wario and Pauline in a latex suit, which people are predictably being normal about
- Charge Jump is a new technique, which will allow players to pull off higher jumps. This can be used to latch onto a wall and briefly wall-run, dodge items, and find shortcuts.
- We'll also be able to Rewind, which lets players rewind characters in real-time - meaning while we go backwards, other drivers will continue as normal.
- Time Trials return, allowing for solo races or racing against other players' ghost data via Nintendo Switch Online.
- Mario Kart World's Free Roam feature is hiding "hundreds" of missions, but I'm not yet convinced that they're going to be better than the DS version's
- Back to Free Roam, we've seen "P Switch" buttons that create trials within the open world. Players will also be able to hunt for hidden coins and panels, suggesting we'll want to take time exploring between races.
- Four-player splitscreen returns, while local wireless play will support up to eight consoles. Meanwhile, up to 24 players can join an online race.
- If you're playing Mario Kart World with friends, you can hop into free roam and meet up with them anywhere.
- Mario Kart World will support the Switch 2's GameChat, which will include voice chat and live profile pictures above drivers in races.
Good morning! We're still a few hours away from the Mario Kart World Direct, but here's a little something to get us all in the mood: the game's first trailer, which dropped oh so long ago... er, two weeks ago.
I know what you're here for, and I'll save you some time: you can see Moo-Moo grinding along phone cables at 1:11.
How are we feeling - any predictions on what we'll see today? I'm hoping for more non-Mario characters to be revealed, but equally, there seems to be more to Mario Kart World's free-roam than meets the eye - perhaps we'll see what Nintendo has been teasing?
The second closest thing to playing Mario Kart World is watching someone else play it - no, you're coping - and Nintendo has kindly shared a whopping 20 minutes of Grand Prix gameplay. Watch it below! (Separately, did anyone else miss Nintendo Treehouse streams?)
With the Mario Kart World Direct kicking off at 2pm BST (that's 6am PT/9am ET/3pm CEST), we're now just two hours away from seeing what Nintendo's got in store. Exciting!
Until then, join me in ogling at returning moves I'll never actually pull off - like being able to dodge a blue shell.
As we wait for the Direct to kick off, let me get something off my chest: why aren't we talking about Mario Kart World's Knockout Tour more? Come on - it's a 24-player game mode which eliminates players who can't keep up with the pack. The Running Man, except with Mario and family-friendly pals? Sign me up yesterday.
I've been living vicariously through my colleague Rollin Bishop's Mario Kart World preview, which touches on Knockout Tour, and recommend you do the same. The blood and diesel must flow.
We're an hour out from the Mario Kart World Direct, leaving us just enough time to listen to Mario Kart's best track, Moo Moo Farm & Yoshi Valley, 28.8 times. As a reminder - you can watch the Direct itself through the YouTube video at the top of this page!
There's only 45 minutes to go until the Direct kicks off, but who's counting? Ahead of the stream, former Nintendo marketing leads have warned that the company will need to be "super transparent" around Mario Kart World's potential DLC, given the base game is already pretty pricey.
I'm still thinking about Mario Kart World's Knockout Tour, and you should be too. We've still got some time before the stream kicks off, which I'll be spending by diving into Mario's Mad Max pivot.
15 minutes to go! This is your last chance to get some ludicrous predictions in - do you think there's time for Nintendo to add Ganondorf, if I ask nicely?
Here we go! The Mario Kart World Direct has kicked off, and we're in for around 15 minutes of information.
First up, a look at Mario Kart World's open-world sections. We're seeing drivers cut through cities, meadows, deserts, and the sea as part of the game's "Fully interconnected world". The Dark Souls of... never mind, actually.
Mario Bros. Circuit shows us another glimpse at the rail-grinding we'll be able to do, while Crown City looks downright gorgeous. Salty Salty Speedway suggests we'll be spending plenty of time racing on water, while Boo's Cinema, Wario's Galleon, and Toad's Factory also get some screentime in this flyover look at the world.
So many drivers! The standout for many, I suspect, will be Cow.
Plenty of new items on offer here, starting with Coin Shell, which will leave a trail of coins to hoover up. Ice Flower will let you freeze other players, while Hammer - somewhat predictably - lets you throw hammers at them, with the caveat being that thrown hammers will stay on the track for a little while after being thrown. We've also got Mega Mushroom, which will make drivers huge, while Feather will allow for jumps - which will in turn allow for dodging and even some shortcuts.
Last up we've got the mysterious Kamek, who will transform other players - but we'll have to wait to see what that does, says Nintendo.
As for new techniques, we'll be able to pull off Charge Jump to dodge, clear obstacles and grind over power lines. But even more exciting is the Rewind feature, which we can use to - you guessed it - rewind our driver, which will be massively helpful for practicing courses in single-player.
While playing with friends online, we'll be able to drive around and meet up with pals anywhere in the world. I can't wait to found Mario Kart World's first biker gang.
No surprises here, but Mario Kart World has plenty of GameChat integration. User profile pictures can appear above drivers - no more cries of "Who's playing Bowser?" - and pals can watch each other's game via stream.
That's a wrap! Not too much new information here, but it's great to get confirmation of some items and courses we've briefly seen in previous videos. Free Roam in particular has benefited from this deep dive - it looks like there's some real meat to the sandbox mode.
