Mario Kart World has hundreds of missions in its open world
By Ryan Woodrow
The Mario Kart World Direct has blasted by like a Bullet Bill, giving us a closer look at all of the new features and modes in the game. While not a lot of it was outright new information, there are plenty of interesting tid-bits about the mode and plenty of cool-looking footage of the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive.
Grand Prix mode is the one we already knew the most about, where you’ll be racing across four courses, including the drive between them all. There have been some concerns that the long straightaways between each track will make this a little less interesting, but the footage in this Direct looked as chaotic as ever, thanks to double the number of racers and interesting features along the way.
We also got a hint that Rainbow Road will be unlocked after completing all of the Grand Prixs, so you’re going to have to work for it this time. Classic tracks are also back, and you can check out the full list of every returning track in Mario Kart World at that link.
Knockout Tour is a much longer mode that spans across the whole map and slowly eliminates racers as they go. This mode seems much better suited to the new open world gameplay style as it means you’re always fighting to survive across much longer races, and we can’t wait to try it.
Classic modes like Time Trials, VS Races, and Balloon Battle are all still there too, so we’re not missing out on anything from previous games, including teams mode, which now allows you to split your group into up to four teams thanks to the increased racer count.
There are a few surprising new features, too. We already knew rail grinds and wall rides were coming, but to aid that, you can now do a charged jump instead of the small hop from Mario Kart 8, which can let you jump onto rails and maybe even dodge certain attacks. Plus, if you mess up a run or a shortcut, you can now easily try again with rewind mode – only available in singleplayer. This just rewinds your position though, not the other racers, so it’s mostly for practising tricks and shortcuts.
Finally, the Free Roam mode looks to have a lot more content than originally thought. More than just aimless wandering the map, there are mini P-Switch challenges, hidden coins, and question mark switches for you to find that may give you cool new unlocks.
Overall, this Direct has shown Mario Kart World to be a fantastic new entry into the series, taking things in a brand new direction after Mario Kart 8 Deluxe arguably perfected the “classic” kart racer formula. It will be released on the Nintendo Switch on June 5, 2025, the same day as the console.