Mario Kart World Devs Explain Lack Of Non-Mario Characters

Mario Kart World doesn’t feature any characters or elements from outside the Mario universe, and one of the game’s developers recently explained why. Mario Kart World could be one of the biggest entries in the classic mascot racing series yet, with larger, branching tracks, an open-world hub that players can explore at their leisure, and massive 24-player races. The game’s roster is also quite impressive, sporting 50 playable characters from across the Super Mario Bros. franchise.

However, that 50-character roster doesn’t include any Nintendo characters outside of Mario and his ever-growing cast of friends and enemies. 2017’s Mario Kart 8 Deluxe featured guest appearances from The Legend of Zelda hero Link, Splatoon’s Inkling Girl and Inkling Boy, and Isabelle and a pair of Villagers from Animal Crossing. Players could also race through F-Zero’s Mute City and the Excitebike Arena from Excitebike, leaving fans to wonder what new crossover content the next installment would bring.

Mario Kart World missing national flags in lobby

Mario Kart World Players Left Frustrated by Missing Feature

Mario Kart World is missing a popular lobby feature from Mario Kart 8 that’s been leaving many longtime fans hoping for its return.

Mario Kart World doesn’t feature any crossover content with non-Mario Nintendo properties, and producer Kosuke Yabuki offered his explanation of why in a recent interview with Ouest France (via GamesRadar). Yabuki says that with so many characters from the Mario franchise being playable in Mario Kart World, it felt incongruous and unnecessary to add anyone else. “It didn’t seem necessary to us, given everything we could already do with Mario,” he stated. Yabuki was then asked if he ever considered adding a character from Arms (his last project before Mario Kart World), to which he replied, “Absolutely not!”

Mario Kart World Devs Felt Crossover Characters Weren’t Necessary

That isn’t to say that crossover characters couldn’t be added to Mario Kart World in future DLC, but for now, Yabuki and his team are pleased with the warm reception the latest Mario Kart game has received. He was even asked about his favorite playable character in Mario Kart World, and Yabuki shared the same sentiment as many other players by saying that it is the newcomer, Cow. This lovable bovine has been dominating Mario Kart World multiplayer lobbies, much to Yabuki and the development team’s amusement.

So far, Mario Kart World is on the fast track to becoming one of the highest-rated games in the series and has been a blockbuster opening act for the new Nintendo Switch 2 console. There is currently no word on Mario Kart World receiving any post-launch DLC aside from the possibility of a new 200cc engine class. Still, perhaps Nintendo could dig further into its catalog of iconic games and characters for future content, just like Sega is doing with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.