Mario Kart World

The first Mario Kart with a connected open world is the right reason Switch 2 owners are still playing this twelve months after launch. World stitches the franchise’s familiar courses into one map you drive between, with biomes that change weather and time of day and a Free Roam mode that exists for its own sake. The headline systems work: 24-player races, a Knockout Tour that rewards consistency over peak racing, and GameChat that genuinely changes how a four-player party experiences the game.

The honest catch worth knowing before you buy: GameShare does not work for Mario Kart World. The single-cartridge multiplayer feature Nintendo built into Switch 2 is excluded from this title by design. Every player in a local wireless lobby needs their own copy.

Game overview

Mario Kart World is the first mainline Mario Kart with a literal open-world map. The 30-odd race courses are stitched into a single continent of plains, cities, oceans, deserts, and volcanoes, with day-night cycles and weather running across the whole space. Grand Prix events take you from one course to the next through the world itself, with shortcuts hidden in city alleys, snowy peaks, and jungle clearings.

Free Roam mode lets you drive the world for its own sake, picking up P-Switch missions, collecting Peach Medallions, and taking photos. It is the surprise long-tail mode of the game: not the reason you bought it, but the mode that quietly racks up the most playtime.

Standard Race, Grand Prix, and the new Knockout Tour all support 24 drivers. The 24-player limit doubles the franchise’s prior maximum, and Knockout Tour adds elimination pressure across six races, dropping the bottom four racers at each of the first five checkpoints until four remain for the final race.

Where you can play it

Switch 2, and Switch 2 only.

World shipped on 5 June 2025 as a Switch 2 launch-day title and the headline system-seller for the new console. The original Switch (Lite, OLED, standard) cannot run it. Switch 2 backwards compatibility runs almost everything from the prior generation, but new first-party titles like World are Switch 2 forward only.

On Switch 2 the performance is the cleanest of the launch wave: 1440p at 60 fps in TV mode (post-process scaled from a native render), 1080p at 60 fps in handheld with native pixel mapping. Photo mode drops to 30 fps. Digital Foundry’s technical review was strongly positive, singling out the game’s visual artistry as the standout of the Switch 2 launch wave.

No PC, no PlayStation, no Xbox version. Mario Kart World is part of Nintendo’s first-party stable; expect that to stay true for the life of the title.

Cross-saves and keeping your progress

Mario Kart World supports Nintendo Switch Online Save Data Cloud. Your save lives on the Switch 2 locally and backs up to NSO if you have a membership, which is the standard Switch 2 cloud-save story for first-party Nintendo games.

There is no cross-platform sync because there is no other platform to sync to. If you upgrade to a new Switch 2 console, NSO cloud restore or the standard system-transfer wizard moves your save over. That is the entire cross-save story.

One thing worth knowing for households: persistent progression — unlocks, Grand Prix progress, Free Roam discoveries — is tied to each Nintendo account. For everyone to keep their own progression on a single Switch 2, each player should race under their own user profile rather than a shared one; if your kids want fully separate save data they are best on their own console with their own copy.

GameShare is the feature in Switch 2 that lets one cartridge owner share a multiplayer game with nearby Switch 2 owners who do not own the title. World is one of the few Switch 2 titles where Nintendo deliberately excluded GameShare. The reasoning is commercial: World is the system-seller, and a GameShare path would undercut local-multiplayer sales. Honest editorial flag: if you bought Switch 2 for kart racing with the family, every Switch 2 in the house needs a copy.

Features that matter on the move

• Twenty-four-player races in handheld mode work without compromise. You play the same lobby as TV-mode players.
• Knockout Tour fits portable sessions better than Grand Prix because the elimination structure forces a clean stopping point every checkpoint. A six-race Knockout Tour takes about 12 minutes; Grand Prix is longer.
• Free Roam is the portable mode you did not know you wanted. Driving the world with no race timer is a strong “play for fifteen minutes on a commute” loop, and the photo mode reward loop is real.
• GameChat needs a mic. Switch 2 has a built-in mic on the console, so handheld GameChat works untethered. CameraPlay needs the optional Switch 2 camera accessory and is harder to do on the move.
• Suspend-resume is reliable across twelve months of post-launch reports.

Recommended setup

The default Switch 2 Joy-Con 2 controllers are fine for World, but a Pro Controller or third-party pad is better for long Grand Prix sessions. The 8BitDo Pro 2 pairs with Switch 2 and adds proper triggers and a sturdier grip than the Joy-Con; it is also the cleanest cross-device pad if you also play on PC or Switch 1.

For couch play, a second Pro Controller per player avoids the Joy-Con sideways grip that nobody actually enjoys past age 12. Local split-screen is supported up to four players; everyone needs their own pad.

See our controllers guide for the full multi-device pad recommendations, and the Steam Deck vs Switch 2 cornerstone for how the Switch 2 portable experience compares with a Steam Deck if you are weighing the two.

Verdict

A year on, Mario Kart World is the Switch 2 game most owners are still actively playing, and it earns the position. Open-world is real, not branding. 24-player races and Knockout Tour give the competitive layer fresh shape. GameChat genuinely changes party-game multiplayer. The honest editorial flag is GameShare exclusion: family households with multiple Switch 2 consoles need a copy per console, not one shared cartridge. Worth knowing before the second console arrives.