Even with Mario Kart World’s massive roster, Nintendo fans will be disappointed to hear that the likelihood of future collaboration racers is low. Though racers like Link from The Legend of Zelda and Isabelle from Animal Crossing will likely not be coming anytime soon, Nintendo says it is working hard to make the Mario characters that appear in Mario Kart World more appealing and varied.
In an interview with Ouest-France, Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki reveals that the development team thought that adding characters from other Nintendo properties felt inappropriate for the game’s Mario-centric open world. As such, all of the 50 currently playable racers come from the Mario universe. From mainstays like Mario and Luigi to longtime-Mario-characters-turned-racers like Cheep Cheep and Cow, Nintendo is looking at past Mario games instead of other franchises for potential racers (unlike a certain hedgehog).
The development team also changed the designs for the mainstay racers. While some characters like Donkey Kong received massive changes due to Nintendo’s re-designs, others were changed ever so slightly to make them look more like their original Mario Kart designs. Racers’ color schemes are softer, and the vehicles they drive have more rounded edges – adding to a sense of fun that is at the center of all Mario games.
Apart from Cow, which has already been well-received by the community, Yabuki hopes that the new racers will resonate well with fans. Each Mario Kart World racer has been given several costumes and customization options that players are sure to find someone (or something) that they would want to take on the track. You might not be able to play as the Inkling Girl anymore, but at least you can own the streets as a Cow.
Mario Kart World is available for the Nintendo Switch 2.
Related article: Mario Kart World had a significantly larger dev team than past entries, with art-related positions increasing threefold
