Mario Kart World was first developed for the original Switch, but 60fps only possible on Switch 2

Mario Kart World was originally in development for the original Switch, but Switch 2 has allowed the developers to realise their vision of an inter-connected world.

Nintendo began prototyping for the new Mario Kart game back in 2017, even during development of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Development then began at the end of that year.

“I felt that in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, we were able to perfect the formula that we’d been following in the series up to that point, where players race on individual courses,” explained Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki in a new interview from Nintendo. “That’s why, this time, we wanted the gameplay to involve players driving around a large world, and we began creating a world map like this.”

Programming director Kenta Sato continued: “When we were developing for Nintendo Switch, we often worried whether we could find the right balance between planning and performance. Of course, the Switch system’s performance is sufficient for developing different kinds of games, but if we had included everything we wanted to in this game’s vast world, then it wouldn’t have run at 60 fps and would have suffered from constant framerate drops.