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Time of India
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
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. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 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.' Tired of too many ads? go ad free now '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.
Tom's Guide
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Mario Kart World was supposed to be a Nintendo Switch 1 game — but I'm glad it's not
Mario Kart World is the Switch 2 launch title that most people will recognize, but it wasn't always intended to be one. In fact, the game's developers have revealed they actually wanted to release the open-world racer on the original Switch console. But the older hardware just couldn't handle it. Speaking in an interview on the Nintendo website, Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki confirmed that the game had actually been in development since 2017. But programming director Kenta Sato said that apparently developing for the Switch 1 means it "was difficult for [them] to incorporate [they] wanted." Evidently developers were always conscious of what they'd have to give up to get the game running on the Switch. They discussed things like lowering resolution, dropping visuals, and even reducing the frame rate to 30fps. But in the end the team realized they couldn't let any of that go. 60fps was something the team felt was particularly important for Mario Kart games — something that even Mario Kart 8 could handle consistently. Eventually the team decided to simply make more DLC for Mario Kart 8, as a way to bide time and figure Mario Kart World out. It was only after the Booster Course Pass was released that the topic of switching to Switch 2 came about. According to Yabuki this "suddenly opened up a bunch of possibilities on what [they] could do." noting that "It was truly a ray of hope." Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. If that means we get an uncompromised version of Mario Kart World, then that's definitely a good thing. Considering the expansive new environments and the 24-player races, it's not surprising that this is better off on the Switch 2 than the original console. It's enough to make me wonder what other games went through a similar situation. Considering how long ago Metroid Prime 4 was announced, and how good the game looks, I wouldn't be surprised if there were similar conversations happening behind the scenes. But we may never know for sure. And if you plan to play Mario Kart World on the Switch 2 for yourself but haven't got hold of a console yet, we're tracking pre-order restocks as they happen on our Switch 2 pre-order live blog.
Engadget
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Mario Kart World was initially planned for the original Switch
The upcoming Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World was originally intended for the OG Switch console, according to an interview with the game's developers . This was the goal until the dev team realized that the console couldn't handle it. "It was difficult for us to incorporate everything we wanted, so we were always conscious of what we were giving up in return,' said programming director Kenta Sato. A big sticking point seemed to be that the original Switch would have had to run the game at 30FPS. Mario Kart games have always run at 60FPS, for obvious reasons. You can't simulate speed without, uh, simulating speed. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Developers pecked away at the "tough situation" until finally deciding to create more DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as a way to bide time as the team figured out what to do. "As we'd decided to release Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — Booster Course Pass , we thought that would give us a bit more time to continue development," said producer Kosuke Yabuki. "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.' This interview also revealed that the game has been in development since 2017, which is a heck of a long time. However, it makes a certain amount of sense given that the original Mario Kart 8 came out in 2014. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. The upcoming racer was always set in an open world and it was never going to be called Mario Kart 9. The developers wanted to "take the series to the next level." The big, connected world seems to do just that. "I felt that in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe , we were able to perfect the formula that we'd been following in the series up to that point, where players race on individual courses," Yabuki continued. "That's why, this time, we wanted the gameplay to involve players driving around a large world, and we began creating a world map like this.' I personally think the company made the right call by delaying this game until the Switch 2. Recent first-party Switch titles have experienced massive framerate issues, and there's no way the console could have handled races with 24 participants. In any event, we only have a couple of weeks until we get to play Mario Kart World , if you've successfully reserved the Switch 2 for the June 5 launch.
Metro
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Mario Kart World was originally designed for Switch 1 reveals Nintendo
The new Mario Kart for the Switch 2 was not originally designed for the console, as Nintendo reveals how and when the game came to be. The launch of a new console is always an exciting time but the first few years of a new format's existence can be frustrating, when it's obvious that most of the games were actually designed as titles for the previous generation of hardware. This has been exacerbated on the PlayStation 5, where Sony continued to release cross-gen games for much longer than usual. It was equally obvious with the Switch 1, given launch title Zelda: Breath Of The Wild was released simultaneously on Wii U and many of the other first party titles were also Wii U ports. The only similar situation so far for the Switch 2 is Metroid Prime 4, which is primarily a Switch 1 title, but Nintendo has revealed that Mario Kart World was originally designed for the earlier console, until they realised it was never going to work on the older hardware. Nintendo has revealed that they first started thinking about the new game way back in March 2017, when the Switch 1 was originally released. That's not too surprising, as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a Wii U port and technically there's never been a new Mario Kart made for the Switch 1. 'I felt that in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, we were able to perfect the formula that we'd been following in the series up to that point, where players race on individual courses,' says Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki in a new interview. 'That's why, this time, we wanted the gameplay to involve players driving around a large world, and we began creating a world map like this.' The idea that Mario Kart 8 takes the original idea as far as it can go has been echoed by many, with Mario Kart World appearing to be the series' Breath Of The Wild moment, where it radically changes the franchise's approach. No previous Mario Kart game has had an open world environment but according to programming director Kenta Sato, the current Switch 1 couldn't handle the ideas they wanted to include. 'We discussed things like toning down the visuals, lowering the resolution, and we even considered dropping the frame rate to 30 fps in some cases. It was a tough situation,' he admitted. '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.' According to Sato, the decision to move the game to the Switch 2 took place 'around 2020', which enabled the team to expand their plans and ensure the game would still run at 60fps. More Trending 'Back then, we already had an idea of the next console's expected specs, but it wasn't until a bit later that we actually received working development units. Until then, we just had to proceed with development based on provisional estimates,' says Sato. '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.' The whole four part interview is well worth a read on Nintendo's website, with a lot of insight on both the game and how Nintendo prepares for the launch of a new console. Mario Kart World will launch alongside the console itself on June 5. Controversially, the game is £75 for the physical edition and £67 for a digital download. However, the game is effectively half price if bought along with the console, as part of the official hardware bundle. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Xbox exclusive with best graphics ever is getting enhanced on PS5 Pro MORE: Cyberpunk 2077 sequel will feature at least two cities says franchise creator MORE: Fortnite mobile still not available in UK despite return to US App Store
The Verge
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Nintendo explains why it's not called Mario Kart 9
Nintendo's latest entry in its 'ask the developer' interview series has some fun new details about the Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World. Among the many things discussed is an explanation for why the game isn't called Mario Kart 9, despite being a sequel to the best-selling Mario Kart 8 — and it has to do with the game's approach to open-world design. 'If the idea had just been to add more courses, then I think we would've called it Mario Kart 9,' explained producer Kosuke Yabuki. 'But, that wasn't our approach this time. We wanted to take the series to the next level. So, we decided to drop the numbering this time and go with a completely new title, Mario Kart World. So, we'd already added ' MARIO KART WORLD ' to the concept art from the early stages of development.' The development team also discussed the game's origins on the original Switch. Many of the key aspects of World — including its interconnected map and increasing the number of players per race from 12 to 24 — were in place early on, but they apparently proved to be a challenge on the previous hardware. 'When we were developing for the Nintendo Switch system, it was difficult for us to incorporate everything we wanted, so we were always conscious of what we were giving up in return,' programming director Kenta Sato said. 'We discussed things like toning down the visuals, lowering the resolution, and we even considered dropping the frame rate to 30 fps in some cases. It was a tough situation.' Yabuki added that when the idea of moving the game to the Switch 2 came up, 'It was truly a ray of hope.' There's a lot more to dig into in the four-part Q&A, including the fact that there will be 200 tracks to listen to and how important food is to the game from a worldbuilding perspective. So you should definitely check out the full thing. My favorite detail, though, is how a character named Cow made it onto the roster of racers. As art director Masaaki Ishikawa explains it 'Cow is actually a pivotal character in the Mario Kart series.' After looking at this concept art, I can't help but agree:
