For over seven years, rumors and conversations have circulated the internet about Nintendo’s next move in regards to the Mario Kart franchise. With total revenue in the tens of billions it stands as one of Nintendo’s key pillars in console success. Nintendo finally broke their silence on April 2 when Mario Kart World was officially revealed.
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The Long Journey to Mario Kart World
Long Road Back
According to Kosuke Yabuki (Mario Kart World producer) and Kenta Sato (programming director), development on the title began back in 2017 for the Nintendo Switch. Due to the hardware limitations they planned on making adjustments to allow the game to function. Reducing visual clutter, lowering resolution and even dropping the frame rate to 30 fps. Finding themselves in a dilemma the team was unable to fully realize their concept for an open-world Mario Kart experience.
Once it was decided to release Mario Kart World on the Nintendo Switch 2 the team’s reaction was described as simply “relief“. Art could now become more rich with detail and texture, and also become more dense. In turn, making the world feel alive and lived-in which further enhanced the experience the team was aiming for.
Yabuki had also answered the question in regards to the title of the new game. Instead of following the typical naming convention to “9”, they opted for “World” instead. This entry to the franchise aims to break the fundamentals of Mario Kart. Yabuki recalls “If the idea had just been to add more courses, then I think we would’ve called it Mario Kart 9.”
Tinkering The Formula
With Mario Kart being as popular as it is, innovation can be challenging. “I also felt that with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, we’d pretty much perfected the formula of a Mario Kart game” lead planner Shintaro Jikumaru explains, “I felt that our first challenge was to figure out how to add new elements while still making it satisfying for those who’ve played previous Mario Kart games”.
To make straight-line driving engaging in the open world, the team utilized bends and straights interchangeably to avoid monotony. They also focused on natural transitions between courses and biomes and other notable stylised choices to allow for seamless exploration.
New driving elements such as Rail Ride and Wall Ride give players new ways to race and explore. Mario Kart World also introduces the ability to drive on water. They emphasize the fact that whilst doing so you can create waves to disrupt other drivers. Close attention has been given to car physics with Ishikawa stating “suspension movement has been added so that when you drive it, the tires move in accordance with the unevenness of the surface and your actions”.
Mario Kart World releases June 5th as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2.
