Mario Kart World was 'saved' by Switch 2 console, Nintendo officials claim
Nintendo
claims that the upcoming Switch 2 console was crucial in "saving" the development of Mario Kart World. The company's officials have noted that the title, which was previously planned to launch on the original Switch, faced significant technical challenges on the older hardware.
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The game, featuring a 24-player concept, also began development more than five years ago exclusively for the original Nintendo Switch. However, Nintendo's development team reportedly struggled to make the game's ambitious multiplayer vision work on the ageing hardware without making substantial technological compromises. In 2020, when developers working on
Mario Kart World
reportedly gained a rough understanding of the Switch 2's technical specifications.
This led to discussions about delaying the project to launch on Nintendo's next-generation machine.
During a recent "Ask the Developer" interview (as seen by IGN), Nintendo's Mario Kart World team stated they initially approached the concept of incorporating
open-world gameplay
and
24-player multiplayer
"from a calm and collected programming perspective" to assess its feasibility. However, the team quickly determined it would not be possible on the existing hardware.
What Mario Kart World team said about delaying the launch of the game
Mario Kart World programming director Kenta Sato said:
'It was difficult for us to incorporate everything we wanted, so we were always conscious of what we were giving up in return. We discussed things like toning down the visuals, lowering the resolution, and we even considered dropping the framerate to 30 fps in some cases. It was a tough situation.'
Despite their confidence in the concept, the Mario Kart World team kept pushing to make it work, but producer Kosuke Yabuki said they felt they were 'kicking the can down the road.'
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'We knew it was going to get messy. But as we'd decided to release
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
's Booster Course Pass, we thought that would give us a bit more time to continue development. That's when the conversation of moving it to the
Nintendo Switch 2
system came up, and this suddenly opened up a bunch of possibilities on what we could do. It was truly a ray of hope.'
Yabuki continued.
The interview also reveals that this took place 'around 2020,' when Nintendo developers had 'an idea of the next system [Switch 2]'s expected specs' but hadn't yet received working development units.
Consequently, the Mario Kart World team pressed on using those estimated Switch 2 capabilities.
'If we had included everything we wanted to in this game's vast world, then it wouldn't have run at 60 fps and would have suffered from constant framerate drops. I think there were a lot of people on the team who were worried about whether we could really manage it. But once we decided to release this game on Switch 2, we expected our worries to evaporate all at once.
I remember being overjoyed when I discovered we could express even more than we'd originally set out to,'
Sato added.
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