Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been the unchallenged best-seller throughout the Nintendo Switch’s lifecycle, so it was clear that Mario Kart 9 (officially known as Mario Kart World) was going to be the first-party workhorse at the console’s launch.
Following yesterday’s unveiling of the console and the first confirmations of the games line-up (as well as the controversial pricing), we now have our first impressions after playing Mario Kart World, as well as some details straight from our hands-on coverage of the console at a Nintendo event in Paris. At the event we not only got to hold the hardware in our hands, we also got to play many of the games present at launch, including Mario Kart World, and brought back the full roster of characters, costumes, and cars (including variants of each), as well as all the Tour Rallies:
Note: Although they don’t appear in the press demo, we know that Pianta, Dolphin, and other racers are confirmed to appear in the final MK World roster. We imagine there are still variant costumes to appear as well.
All the characters in the Mario Kart World demo
- Mario
- Luigi
- Donkey Kong
- Waluigi
- Birdo
- Rosalina
- Baby Mario
- Baby Luigi
- Baby Peach
- Wario
- Lakitu
- Koopa Troopa
- Bowser Jr.
- Fish Bone
- Baby Peach
- Toad
- Spike
- Baby Daisy
- Daisy
- Stingby
- Dolphin
- Swoop
- King Boo
- Nabbit
- Wingler
- Cow
- Hammer Bro
- Shy Guy
- Goomba
- Toadette
- Pauline
- Bowser
- Yoshi
- Dry Bones
- Peach
All the special character costumes in the Mario Kart World demo
- Mario All-Terrain
- Luigi Pro Racer
- Daisy Swimwear
- Peach Touring
- Yoshi Food Slinger
- Bowser All-Terrain
- Bowser Jr. Biker Jr.
- Yoshi Matsuri
- Mario Cowboy
- Luigi Gondolier
- Peach Yukata
- King Boo Aristocrat
- Walugi Mariachi
- Toad Burger Bud
- Bowser Biker
- Pauline Aero
- Donkey Kong All-Terrain
- Yoshi Food Slinger
- Daisy Oasis
- Baby Mario Swimwear
- Baby Luigi Work Crew
- Baby Peach Touring
- Baby Daisy Explorer
- Toadette Soft Server
- Birdo Vacation
- Shy Guy Slope Styler
- Baby Rosalina Sailor
- Lakitu Fisherman
- Wario Biker
All the demo Rallies in Mario Kart World
- Acorn Rally
- Cloud Rally
- Heart Rally
- Golden Rally
- Ice Rally
- Moon Rally
- Spiny Rally
- Cherry Rally
Each of these Rallies goes through six defined scenarios or biomes, so we are talking about 48 more or less defined “tracks”.