Nintendo just shared their latest edition of ‘Ask the Developer’ for the upcoming Mario Kart World, one of the Switch 2’s launch titles, and the biggest Mario Kart game thus far. This massive four-part interview gives an extensive look at the development process of Mario Kart World, and some of it was quite surprising. Perhaps most notable is that Mario Kart World began the prototype phase of development in March 2017, right as the Switch launched. As such, it was initially planned to be a Nintendo Switch title.
However, the concept of Mario Kart World being open world with 24 players was too taxing on the Switch, which led to the team being moved onto Switch 2 development in 2020. The developers describe themselves as being “overjoyed” when they realised how much the power of the Switch 2 would be able to alleviate their technical difficulties of getting such an ambitious Mario Kart game to run on the original 2017 Nintendo Switch. This led to the complete realization of their plans for a 24 player, full 60 frames per second racing game – and the terrain staff were reportedly very happy they could add more trees into the world to make it appear more natural!
We highly recommend reading the full extensive interview for yourself, as it really is a beast of an interview covering many sides of the development, from the technical sides of things to the music, gameplay, free roam and more. Some other notable details though include there being over 100 track variations in-game when including the spaces between tracks, and an in-game achievement system will allow for cosmetic customization of the player’s kart.
Are you surprised to learn Mario Kart World has been in development for so long since the original Switch? Let us know your thoughts on the latest Ask the Developer interview for Mario Kart World in the comments down below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more breaking news as we approach the massive launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.
