Mario Kart World was originally planned to be a Switch 1 game, confirms Nintendo
"It was difficult to incorporate everything we wanted."
Despite now representing the flagship game of the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, the company has now revealed that Mario Kart World was initially supposed to release on the Switch 1.
In the latest edition of Ask the Developer, Mario Kart World programming director Kenta Sato revealed the news that the team had originally intended for the game to be a Switch 1 title.
"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," he explained.
"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."
The last Mario Kart game, Mario Kart 8, was originally a Wii U title that moved onto the Switch as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe when the console released.
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According to Sato, development for World began once Mario Kart 8 Deluxe released on the Switch, but it was eventually decided around 2020 to focus entirely on making it a Switch 2 title.
"We worked on it while kicking the can down the road in terms of deciding what to give up on, so at some point, we knew it was going to get messy," said producer Kosuke Yabuki.
He explains that the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe allowed them to tide Switch 1 owners over while they worked on Mario Kart World, saying that once work began on the Switch 2, "this suddenly opened up a bunch of possibilities on what we could do. It was truly a ray of hope".
It would not have been the first time that Nintendo had released a flagship title across multiple consoles at once.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was originally conceived as a Wii U title, and ended up launching simultaneously on both the Wii U and Nintendo Switch when the latter came to market in 2017.
That being said, the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild has since become rather infamous for running poorly, especially when it comes to the game's frame rate.
For that reason, it's perhaps not hard to see why Nintendo ended up deciding to focus entirely on one definitive version of the game on a more powerful console than trying to shoehorn it onto weaker tech.
Mario Kart World releases alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 on 5th June 2025.
Read more on the Nintendo Switch 2:
- Nintendo Switch 2 release date - all the details
- Nintendo Switch 2 price - how much does it cost?
- Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders - where to buy
- Nintendo Switch 2 vs original Switch - what are the differences?
- Nintendo Switch 2 reveal trailer - see the console here
- Nintendo Switch 2 Experience - how to try out the new console in person
- Do Switch 2 games work on Switch 1? - are there Switch 2 exclusives?
- Switch 2 backwards compatibility explained - can you play OG Switch games on Switch 2?
- Switch 2 games - confirmed and predicted games
- Mario Kart 9 - everything we know!
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