Official Mario Kart World Direct showcase – 3 days to go: Start time, new open-world details, more

Update: 4/16: Nintendo has now confirmed tomorrow’s Mario Kart World Direct showcase will be a relatively short and sweet 15-minute broadcast.

With the full official reveal of Nintendo Switch 2, the release date, the announced $450 starting price, and the debacle that immediately followed after pre-orders were officially delayed in the U.S. (and Canada), one thing that might have raced under your radar was this week’s official Mario Kart World Direct showcase. It has been a busy couple weeks for Nintendo to say the least, and while it officially debuted the new Mario Kart game during the Switch 2 Direct alongside some Treehouse gameplay footage thereafter, it still has more to show us on the keystone Switch 2 launch game and it is set to go live later this week.

Official Mario Kart World Direct showcase – 3 days to go

Nintendo is officially set to broadcast its next direct showcase in just a few days now, and this week it’s all about the new Mario Kart World.

The show is set to go live on April 17 at 6 a.m. PT/9 a.m. ET across all of the usual official Nintendo channels – we of course will be watching along with you to learn more about the Switch 2’s flagship launch game.

Mario Kart World is, as of right now, scheduled to launch on day 1 alongside Switch 2 come June 5, 2025. Pre-orders for it and the console you can play this Switch 2 exclusive release on are still in a holding pattern (we will update you as soon as we get any firm details).

Mario Kart World was first teased way back in January during the first-look Switch 2 trailer – at the time most folks assumed it was Mario Kart 9, and they were mostly right. We now know the game is actually called Mario Kart World – the first new release in roughly 10 years – and is the game Nintendo has decided to launch its next-generation of gaming with.

We know there’s 24 racers, we know there’s all-new tracks, there’s what appears to be a sort of open-world thing going on here (at least to some degree), and we have already got a couple good looks at the game:

This is the official Switch 2 Direct trailer.

Race seamlessly across connected roads and racetracks that deliver Mario Kart racing like never before. Participate in the new Knockout Tour mode, where you’ll barrel through back-to-back courses with no pit stops along the way. And in Free Roam mode, it’s possible to go off the racetrack and drive in any direction you wish, explore areas that pique your interest and take some photos at scenic spots with a group of friends.

Here’s the Mario Kart World Grand Prix Gameplay from the Treehouse stream.

And here’s the Mario Kart World Knockout Tour & GameChat Gameplay.

So clearly, we have already had more than a few chances to get a good look at the game, including both edited trailer form and some slightly more free-form gameplay via the Treehouse stream. But there is apparently more Nintendo has to show us this week and while I’m going to be pre-ordering the bundle with MK World included (if Nintendo ever lets me), I think it still has more work to do to warrant that $79.99 MSRP.

It is still, at least to me, a little bit unclear has to just how open-world this game is. We can clearly see that we can drive from course to course, on what appear to be sort of mini courses in between, and you can sort of drive around the environments in between races, but I still can’t tell exactly how open this thing really is. Just me? Or are you still wondering as well?

Are there full-on flying courses? Will Rainbow Road be making an appearance? And I really want to see more about how the rail grinding and wall riding will come into play across the experience.

Maybe we’ll even get more details on the Moo Moo Meadows racer?