Current Events > Mario Kart World Direct April 17 2025

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq4uCJDwO9U

Join us on April 17 at 6 a.m. PT to learn more about Mario Kart World for Nintendo Switch 2 in the Mario Kart World Direct. The livestream will be roughly 15 minutes.

I hope this game doesn't suck

Surprisingly short amount of time for it.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

I'd be surprised if they do another one.

I wouldn't put it past shitposters to spam DROP THE PRICE as a meme even if there isn't a price debate going on then.

Tag.

show Funky Kong cowards

(I think this is the only thing left I seriously want. The track selection and currently-revealed roster look amazing, finally adding a Knockout mode is absolutely brilliant, and what I've seen of the driving it is more interesting than MK8's driving ever was.)

"Mario World will be available at the low low price of $100 in June!

Please Understand"

not really sure what else they can really show that'll make a big difference. feel like the game needs to actually be played for like a week to see how it is. i'm still torn on if i like the driving to each map thing or not. from what i seen it seems like most courses are really only like 1 lap on their actual course now.

do they still have like a normal grand prix mode to it? like how the series always been with 3 lap races.

creativeme posted...

i'm still torn on if i like the driving to each map thing or not.

i heard this is a gran prix-only thing, but i'm not sure.

I think they said there will also be an unlimited free roam mode where people can just mess around and go wherever as much as they want without worrying about races

creativeme posted...

not really sure what else they can really show that'll make a big difference. feel like the game needs to actually be played for like a week to see how it is. i'm still torn on if i like the driving to each map thing or not. from what i seen it seems like most courses are really only like 1 lap on their actual course now.

do they still have like a normal grand prix mode to it? like how the series always been with 3 lap races.

I'm not 100% sure about how it works for single player, but when we briefly saw the menu's from the Treehouse gameplay, there was an option to turn off the intermission sections for multiplayer. So I'm assuming you could play grand prix the normal way if you wanted. But we don't have a way of confirming that yet.

There's definitely a lot of single player stuff they're hiding. You can get some hints of it watching various videos from people playing at the Nintendo Switch 2 events.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciofAYgjBF8

that did not tell us much we did not already know

also the open world aspects just look intrusive

lmao it started 20 minutes ago and no one cared

I watched it. We got to see a few courses, some items and some costumes. It was nice to see a few things, but at the same time, I feel like announcing a direct tends to mean youre getting some solid or exciting info.

Doesnt affect my desire to get the game, but it was just underwhelming.

Literally told us nothing we didn't already know.

That Direct actively convinced me to not get a Switch 2 at launch. What an enormous disappointment this game is looking like relative to its price.

Here's hoping Bananza lives up to the hype.

I'm gonna be honest I don't care for the whole driving yourself to the next course thing. Does the race start immediately when someone gets there or is it like an interactive loading screen?

The only thing new we got was Zero Suit Pauline

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1eadbd15.jpg

Bloodmoon77 posted...

I'm gonna be honest I don't care for the whole driving yourself to the next course thing. Does the race start immediately when someone gets there or is it like an interactive loading screen?

No, it's a race in it's own right. Laps 1 and 2 are the drive over to the next course, and then lap 3 is on the course itself. There is an option to turn that off in multiplayer. Not sure if it can be turned off for single player yet

did they really pronounce kamek as comic

Garioshi posted...

did they really pronounce kamek as comic

It's a Tidus/Cecil thing. That's how it's pronounced, but nobody chooses to.

Didn't tell us anything we didn't already know from the Switch 2 Direct.

What a waste of time.

Still 30fps with 4 players...

I don't think I like the single line courses instead of the lap style. There's only seemingly 28 courses (probably 32, assuming star road turns into 4 courses), I don't see any point for the grinding on rails at all. Some of the items + the increased player count I think is just going to make the game even more chaos. No more kart customization is a huge miss. Split screen online confirmed, thank goodness at least.

The only reason they are charging $80 for this is because they know they can. And they are probably right; people will buy it in droves. I'll stick with MK8

Mario Kart World having some kind of Rainbow Road track seemed like a no-brainer, but Nintendo's playing its cards close to its chest with the details (apart from that one leaked image from the official website). However, during today's Direct, the jolly announcer dropped one big hint that the iconic raceway will make an appearance in the game, just don't expect to play it right from the jump.

It seems that Rainbow Road will be an unlockable course, only available to those who have beaten all seven of MKW's Grand Prix races. It's unclear whether you'll need to place a certain level or simply drive through all 28 circuits, but "a certain colourful course" will apparently be there waiting for you upon completion.

Of course, the "colourful course" in question could be a whole range of raceways (Baby Park's pretty colourful, no?), but based on the shining, rainbow-looking trail that accompanied the mystery course in the new footage and how it appears to be situated in the sky we're pretty confident we know where Nintendo's going with this one.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/04/nintendos-teasing-mario-kart-worlds-rainbow-road-but-youll-have-to-work-for-it

There was not much new shown, but it was nice to see Battle Mode is still in, and there is options to play the tracks in a normal 3 lap race

I stopped watching after like 4 minutes and they had shown nothing new

Rainbow Road being a secret unlockable. uh. isn't that how it is in most games (well the Special Cup is but you get the point).

I bet the road to Rainbow Road is going to be insane if they're keeping it this hush hush

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/228b2049.jpg
~156 character/costume slots

Heres my takeaway on the open world thing

mario kart 8 deluxe launched with 48 tracks, so the only way they felt they could get away with launching a new game with a much lower track count, was by adding in all this other content in the form of the big map

TheGoldenEel posted...

Heres my takeaway on the open world thing

mario kart 8 deluxe launched with 48 tracks, so the only way they felt they could get away with launching a new game with a much lower track count, was by adding in all this other content in the form of the big map

I don't think that's the reasoning they're going with. The original Mario Kart 8 launched with 32 tracks. If rainbow road unlocks within it's own cup, that will be 4 new courses, putting World's total, also at 32. Deluxe may have been the base game for the Switch, but it included courses that were dlc for the Wii U. No way they were going to try and match dlc numbers at launch.

I'm just happy that they are bringing missions back!

NoxObscuras posted...

I don't think that's the reasoning they're going with. The original Mario Kart 8 launched with 32 tracks. If rainbow road unlocks within its own cup, that will be 4 new courses, putting World's total, also at 32. Deluxe may have been the base game for the Switch, but it included courses that were dlc for the Wii U. No way they were going to try and match dlc numbers at launch.

right, but deluxe was the base game for the switch, and so it was the default MK8 for most people

this is their way of having a comparable amount of content imo

Snowman.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/0d935ca7.jpg

The major thing I took from it is the Switch 2 Bundle with MKW is only available until the Fall.

You could still get Switch 1 Bundles new with Mario Kart 8 like, 5 YEARS after launch. I'm under no illusion that Nintendo is pro-consumer, but this is just really fucking gross. Making the quintessential bundle from last generation a like, 4 month timed exclusive just to increase release window sales?

I'd say you're better than this Nintendo, but you also didn't understand people streaming your games for free as a good thing until like 18 months ago.

looks like you STILL can't play teams online with a friend. all i watched for was a single-player mode (nope) and improved online (nope)

and kamek shouldn't have been downgraded to an item

just wondering where that golden, shining $80-value was that bill trinen was on about, i must have missed it

firedoom666 posted...

There was not much new shown, but it was nice to see Battle Mode is still in, and there is options to play the tracks in a normal 3 lap race

I saw Big Donut from MK64 got a nice glow-up.

Jeff_AKA_Snoopy posted...

The major thing I took from it is the Switch 2 Bundle with MKW is only available until the Fall.

You could still get Switch 1 Bundles new with Mario Kart 8 like, 5 YEARS after launch. I'm under no illusion that Nintendo is pro-consumer, but this is just really fucking gross. Making the quintessential bundle from last generation a like, 4 month timed exclusive just to increase release window sales?

I'd say you're better than this Nintendo, but you also didn't understand people streaming your games for free as a good thing until like 18 months ago.

Yeah people are arguing about that on the Switch board.

I think it's extra scummy to make that bundle available for a limited time when the bundle is a discount. $450 for the console alone and $500 when bundled with Mario Kart World. But MKW is going to be $80 when sold normally. So the bundle saves you $30

My guess is that something else will be coming out around then which they'll want to bundle with it for Christmas. Not saying this to defend them, just considering what their strategy is.

i'm also not loving that customization got gutted. the meta was obnoxious in 8, but that doesn't mean i wanted all personalization and player expression fucking cut from the game.

bill trinen said this is the "richest" mario kart experience. so where was that demonstrated?

I never really cared for customization. People only ever used the same few parts, anyway, and even if not, in the middle of the race you really only see the kart body, itself, anyway (and sometimes the glider, but). If less customization results in more kart bodies, I'm all for it.

Probably just a production thing. They'll absolutely resell a MK bundle again

Smashingpmkns posted...

Probably just a production thing. They'll absolutely resell a MK bundle again

It's a digital download copy. So no, not a production thing. It is forced scarcity. Which I mean, Nintendo does often. That Mario 3D Collection they did for the Switch and only produced it for like a year? Why?!

Jeff_AKA_Snoopy posted...

It's a digital download copy. So no, not a production thing. It is forced scarcity. Which I mean, Nintendo does often. That Mario 3D Collection they did for the Switch and only produced it for like a year? Why?!

You can find a boat load of those 3D Mario's at any store that still sells physical games lol and they're still different skus so it is a production thing. It'll probably come back every holiday season.

a bit bummed that inside drift doesn't seem to be returning in any capacity but I'll manage. pretty lame direct overall but i was pretty sold on the game during the initial direct

oh and 200cc better be back

HashtagSEP posted...

If less customization results in more kart bodies, I'm all for it.

all the karts do look great, but very few of them feel 'mario karty'

i've only seen a few returning karts: pipeframe, B-dasher, biddybuggy (sigh)