Mario Kart World free update adds 10 classic SNES courses

Nintendo released a free update for Mario Kart World on Sept. 9 that adds 10 race courses based on tracks from the original Super Mario Kart, the 1992 SNES game that started the series. The version 1.8.0 update was revealed during the September Nintendo Direct and is available now for the Switch 2 title, which launched June 5, 2025, alongside the console.

The new courses draw from the first game's four cups and include Mario Circuit 1, 2, and 3, Ghost Valley 1, 2, and 3, Choco Island 1 and 2, Vanilla Lake 1, and Koopa Beach 1. Polygon reported that the maps were already tucked throughout Mario Kart World's open world but will now become fully playable in VS Race mode. Kotaku noted the retro tracks come complete with the question blocks that appear on the ground in the original game.

Beyond the classic courses, the update adds two new routes for Knockout Tour, the battle royale-style mode introduced in this entry in which a large group of players races and those in the rear are eliminated. The new tours are called Propeller Rally and Turnip Rally. The update also introduces a Spectator Mode for online and LAN play, allowing players to watch without participating, and raises the room cap to 26 players, with up to 24 able to join the game at once.

The patch notes include a range of gameplay tweaks. Time Trials now display lap times, and the color of the time difference between the player and ghost data changed so red marks a faster player time and blue a slower one. The update reduced how often Green Shells, Coin Shells, fireballs, ice balls, and Boomerangs bounce off walls, shortened the recovery time after being crushed by a Thwomp, and lengthened the window in which Boo cannot damage a player after taking an item. Item box probabilities in races and Knockout Tour were adjusted, and Auto-Use Item now works even when Custom Items is set. Players can also see certain items rivals are holding, including Coin, ? Block, Kamek, Blooper, Feather, Fire Flower, Ice Flower, Boomerang, and Hammer. Wall riding around the edge of the road in Ghost Valley is no longer possible.

The update arrives as Mario Kart World has sold 15.3 million copies but drawn mixed fan response over its open-world design. Polygon reported that the game's default online mode forced players to trek through relatively boring stretches of open road before reaching traditional tracks, and that players found a workaround to mostly play traditional tracks online by voting for random stages, which developers later patched out. Nintendo addressed the criticism by redesigning several of the straightaways, a change that was relatively well received even if it did not fix the problem completely.

Super Mario Kart, the source of the new courses, was released in Japan on Aug. 27, 1992, for the SNES and became the system's fourth-best-selling game with 8.76 million copies sold worldwide. It was later re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console and the Super NES Classic Edition. The new tracks give players a way to race the series' original circuits in the current entry, and the update is free for existing owners of Mario Kart World.