Everything announced in the Mario Kart World Direct

Nintendo just wrapped up its third Nintendo Direct in under a month, with a Mario Kart World Direct that lasted a little over 15 minutes. The presentation showed off more of the game that’s set to be the Nintendo Switch 2’s big launch game, and likely one of the best-selling games the console will ever see, if last generation’s Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is anything to go by.

The Mario Kart World Direct didn’t have a great deal of entirely new information, but it did expand a lot on some things that we already knew, like the game’s available game modes, what you can do in the new open world, and more.

We got a good look at Grand Prix mode, the game mode we knew the most about from prior info drops, but it looked good nonetheless. In Grand Prix mode, you’ll be racing on a series of tracks, and then in between you’ll have to drive to the next track. There were some concerns based on prior footage that the long, straight roads between tracks would lead to boredom in these sections, but here we saw a chaotic and frantic race with 24 players all bumping into each other and plenty to see and do in the world — it looked great.

We also saw plenty of Knockout Tour, a new elimination mode that has you driving much longer stretches, with players eliminated at various checkpoints. It looked a lot more suited to the open-world gameplay featured in Mario Kart World, and fans on social media certainly seemed to be excited by it.

There are classic game modes returning from prior games, too, including Time Trials, VS Races, and Battle Mode, as well as a new expanded teams mode which now supports four separate teams thanks to the higher player count. Players will also be able to play a classic race, with repeated laps, just like prior games, and a few returning tracks will make an appearance, too.

In terms of new features, we did see a new jump mechanic that lets players charge up a jump and release it at the right time to jump onto rails and walls, and even dodge items and attacks like shells. There’s also a rewind mechanic you can activate in single-player modes that lets you rewind time — but only for yourself. Fellow racers will continue moving forward, so you’ll have to use it sparingly.

We also got a better look at the game’s Free Roam mode, which lets you drive around the world with no time limits or requirements. Nintendo revealed that Free Roam has a lot more to it than first said — there are apparently “hundreds” of missions to discover and complete out in the world, all of which offer rewards.

Mario Kart World is set to launch on June 5, 2025, the same day as the release date for the Nintendo Switch 2.