Nintendo enthusiasts believe that an announcement for Mario Kart World DLC is imminent, though it takes a few steps to reach that conclusion.
Evidence, fans believe, stems from datamined information from the Nintendo Today app, which shares daily bite-sized pieces of news and offers several themes based on various Nintendo franchises. A new Donkey Kong theme came to the app recently, and per datamines (which you can see on Mario Wiki), it looks like the app will highlight a character that had a surprise appearance in Donkey Kong Bananza.
Spoilers for Donkey Kong Bananza to follow!
An intro animation for DK’s nemesis, King K. Rool, is purportedly set to feature in the Nintendo Today app on December 15. It’ll be the first time Nintendo officially acknowledges his presence in Bananza, since his role was a big plot twist in the game. So, how does that relate to Mario Kart World DLC?
Back when Mario Kart World launched alongside the Nintendo Switch 2, sharp-eyed players noticed that the Japanese voice performers for K. Rool and Bananza boss Void Kong appeared in the credits, despite their characters not appearing in the kart racer. While it’s possible that the two voice actors played different roles in the base game, fans took it as evidence that a Donkey Kong Bananza-themed expansion is coming to Mario Kart World.
The timing of K. Rool’s Nintendo Today animation rolling out a few days after The Game Awards 2025 streams on December 11 has fans trying to connect some dots, believing that putting K. Rool in the spotlight would tie in well with a possible DLC announcement at the awards show.
It isn’t the most implausible theory–Nintendo has made announcements at The Game Awards in previous years, and the relatively paltry number of costumes for Donkey Kong in Mario Kart World leaves room for a big DK-centered expansion.
Whatever the outcome, Mario Kart fans are hungry for more. Despite being the marquee launch title for Switch 2, with sales nearly matching those of the console itself, there hasn’t been any acknowledgement or hint of post-release content for Mario Kart World. At the very least, Nintendo has continued to update the game, most recently with a big patch that added features like custom item rules.