The free update arrives today.
Mario Kart World is getting a free update today that adds several retro courses pulled from the SNES original. These include classics like Choco Island, Mario Circuit and Ghost Valley, among others. All told, there are ten newly-uploaded courses to race on, which will be available in Versus mode.
There are two neat things here. The courses were already hiding in plain sight within the open game world. However, they only offered exploration rewards and timed P-Switch missions. Now they are actual tracks to race on. They also feature question blocks that appear flat on the ground, instead of floating in the air. This is exactly how people accessed power-ups in the first Super Mario Kart.
That’s not the only thing coming in this update. Two new routes will be available in Knockout Tour. This is an elimination-style racing mode in which drivers traverse lengthy, interconnected routes.
Despite having several updates already, this is the first time that Mario Kart World is getting new tracks. Version 1.8.0 will be available to download later today. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe also just got a free Switch 2 update that added eight-player split-screen and slightly better graphics.
Today’s news comes from a recent Nintendo Direct livestream. This event also gave us a new 2D Metroid game and some kind of open-world Kirby thing.