Hype - Mario Kart World coming June 5th to Nintendo Switch 2

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Available on: Nintendo Switch 2

Mario Kart World is an upcoming open-world racing game from Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Mario Kart World was originally going to be a Switch 1 game, but the scope of the game

(Being an Open World Racing game) made the game too strong for the current Switch console. It is a brand new game in the Mario Kart subseries of Mario games.

Those facts alone help make the game interesting, and it shows that Nintendo is always thinking ahead with their games.

An interview with Programming Director Kenta Sato revealed that "It was difficult for us to incorporate everything we wanted, so we were always conscious of what we were giving up in return.” That quote helps build up the hype for me at least, as we could’ve gotten this game a lot sooner, but quality and polish always trump a poor rush job.

To me, they gave up a lot of their free time and resources to try and get this game working on Switch 1, and ultimately transferring development to Switch 2 when they could’ve scrapped the whole project and done something entirely different.

The fact that this game has been developed and worked on since the start of the Switch 1 era in 2017 has me hyped for this game. There’s a lot of content outside of races. For the first time ever, we get to Free Roam around the racing world.

For the first time since Mario Kart DS, we have a Mission Mode (within the Free Roam). I remember when my older brother and I would try to 3-star each Mission and boss battle, and I’m glad some semblance of that is brought back in Mario Kart World.

For developers, the game’s objective is to take the series to “the next level.” For players, the objective is to come in 1st place on all courses to unlock a “special course.”

I find the visuals, and characters such as the Moo Moo Cow, Mario Bros Sidestepper, and FishBone, track design, what with tracks able to be navigated in both standard and reverse directions freely in Free Roam, missions such as navigating a thinning wall of Moo Moo Cows and open world-free roam with the ability to meet up with friends and online players to take photos with to be things worth getting hyped for in regards to this game.

I also love the non-static title screen showing Mario and co riding around one of the tracks.

This amazing game will come out on June 5th, 2025 - the same day as the Nintendo Switch 2 console, as a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive.