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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Mario Kart World began prototyping in March 2017, with official project work starting at the end of that year, according to producer Kosuke Yabuki. That makes “eight years” a reasonable shorthand for the elapsed time before Nintendo discussed the project in 2025, but it does not mean the game was in uninterrupted, full-scale production for eight years.
When did Nintendo start making Mario Kart World?
In Nintendo’s Ask the Developer interview, Part 1, published May 21, 2025, Yabuki said the team began prototyping in March 2017. He distinguished that early work from the formal start of the project: “It was at the end of that year when we officially started work on it as a project.”
- March 2017: Prototyping began.
- End of 2017: The team officially started work on the game as a project.
The interviewer described Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as having launched around eight years earlier. That is the basis for the headline’s time frame: it describes elapsed calendar time, not a documented stretch of continuous full-team production.
What did Nintendo mean by the eight-year gap?
Yabuki said the team was thinking about the next Mario Kart even while developing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The prototype and project milestones came in 2017, but Nintendo’s account does not say that the whole team worked on Mario Kart World continuously or at full capacity from then on. It is more precise to say the game’s development traces back to 2017 than to claim it took eight years of uninterrupted production.
#1 Best Overall
- Race from one course to another through interconnected paths that span the world
- Traverse mountains, forests, cities, and more—with shifting weather patterns and a day/night cycle
- Ride on rails, jump off walls, skim across water, and more as you race for the finish line
- Take on the adrenaline-packed Knockout Tour—a fierce 24-driver elimination mode
- Explore courses at your own pace and wander the world to discover fun surprises in Free Roam
The long interval also reflects a change in ambition. Yabuki said the established formula of racing on separate courses felt perfected, and the team wanted players to drive around a large world. He recalled that the name “Mario Kart World” appeared on concept art early in development. As he put it, “If the idea had just been to add more courses, then I think we would’ve called it Mario Kart 9.”
Why did development move to Nintendo Switch 2?
Programming director Kenta Sato said Yabuki first raised moving the game to Nintendo Switch 2 around 2020. In Part 2 of Nintendo’s interview, Sato explained that the team had worried about balancing the expansive world it wanted with performance on the original Nintendo Switch. He said the game would not have run at 60 fps with all the intended elements included and would have suffered constant frame-rate drops. Those are Sato’s retrospective comments about the team’s design and technical concerns, not an independently reported performance test.
Rank #2
![Mario Kart World Standard - Nintendo Switch 2 [Digital Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51zaiyfzDeL._SL160_.jpg)
- Race from one course to another through interconnected paths that span the world
- Traverse mountains, forests, cities, and more—with shifting weather patterns and a day/night cycle
- Ride on rails, jump off walls, skim across water, and more as you race for the finish line
- Take on the adrenaline-packed Knockout Tour—a fierce 24-driver elimination mode
What changed in the game’s design?
Nintendo’s developers describe a game built around a large, seamlessly interconnected world rather than only a set of discrete race courses. The design includes familiar three-lap races alongside roads that connect courses, Knockout Tour races spanning the world, changing day and night and weather, and Free Roam. The developers also discussed Rail Ride and Wall Ride as ways to make straight travel through the broad environment more engaging.
Part 3 of the interview adds examples of how that wider setting informed development: the team discussed food and regional outfits, made characters who had previously been incidental playable, and broadened the vehicle lineup for varied driving surfaces. These details show the scope of the concept; they do not change the dates Yabuki gave for its start.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Race through an interconnected world of courses spanning mountains, forests, and cities with dynamic weather patterns and day/night cycles.
- Experience intense 24-driver elimination races in Knockout Tour mode, where racers compete checkpoint by checkpoint until one champion remains.
- Master new racing techniques including rail riding, wall jumping, and water skimming to find the fastest route to victory.
- Explore the vast world at your own pace in Free Roam mode, discovering hidden surprises and alternate paths.
- Enhance your racing experience with magnetic Joy-Con 2 Wheel accessories, providing secure and realistic steering control.
Rank #4
- Ferocious Competition - At the heart of Puyo Puyo Tetris is the fighting spirit of players competing against each other to be most clever, cunning, and quick-witted one to set up devastating attacks on opponents. It's the classic easy-to-learn puzzles mashed up into a multiplayer battle like no other!
- Adventure Mode - The game also has a single player mode with ten unique acts, eatch with ten stages. They feature different characters from the Puyo Puyo or Tetris universes and have unique challenges to learn and master game mechanics that players must overcome!
- Arcade Modes - Online play has Puzzle League, which tracks players' ratings, players can save replays to upload and share, and more.
- There's also an in-game shop players can use their points to unlock different Puyo and Tetrimino skins, background music, stages, and more.
Rank #3
- [SEAMLESS OPEN WORLD] Experience an interconnected racing environment with zero loading screens between courses. Navigate a massive world featuring 24-hour dynamic day/night cycles and shifting weather patterns that directly impact vehicle traction and handling across mountains and cities.
- [ADVANCED RACING MECHANICS] Master all-new maneuvers including high-speed rail riding, wall jumping, and tactical water skimming. These next-gen traversal abilities allow players to discover hidden shortcuts and alternate routes within a 100% seamless world-map architecture.
- [24-PLAYER ELIMINATION MODE] Compete in the high-stakes Knockout Tour, an adrenaline-packed 24-driver elimination mode where racers are removed checkpoint by checkpoint. Supports up to 24-player online multiplayer with integrated GameChat for real-time social coordination.
- [NEXT-GEN TECHNICAL SPECS] Optimized exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 system to deliver stunning 4K Ultra HD resolution in docked mode and a locked 60FPS frame rate. Features enhanced texture mapping and global illumination for the most immersive visual experience in series history.
- [OPEN-WORLD EXPLORATION] Step away from the Grand Prix in the all-new Free Roam mode to wander the world at your own pace. Discover hidden surprises, unlockable vehicle parts, and brand-new drivers across diverse biomes including dense forests and sprawling urban landscapes.
What the timeline does—and does not—establish
- Nintendo producer Kosuke Yabuki dates the start of prototyping to March 2017 and the official project start to the end of 2017.
- The “eight years” framing is an elapsed-time comparison to the roughly eight-year-old Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, not proof of eight continuous years of full-scale development.
- Nintendo’s developers say the team planned the game for the original Switch before discussing a move to Switch 2 around 2020.
- Nintendo describes the central creative shift as moving from separate race courses toward a large connected world.
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