Mario Kart World is set to be a milestone for Nintendo, not only because it’s the first new mainline game in over a decade but also because it could feature the largest character roster the series has ever seen.
The recent Nintendo Switch 2 Direct and Treehouse Live stream gave fans a first glimpse at the upcoming racer, and it didn’t disappoint.
As spotted by Twitter user @BearUNLV, the character select screen showed something interesting: seven tabs, each with 12 characters.
That adds up to 84 possible choices, nearly double what we had in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, even after all the DLC.
Not every tab was shown, so fans think the final number might be closer to 73 or 76, depending on how many spots are filled. But even at the lower end, that’s a big leap from earlier entries.
Let’s break it down for comparison:
- Mario Kart Wii had 24 characters.
- Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS trimmed it down to 17.
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (including the Booster Course DLC) reached 42 characters.
Now we’re potentially looking at nearly double that in Mario Kart World. Nintendo is bringing in everyone from famous characters like Mario, Peach, and Bowser to lesser-known ones like Pauline and King Boo.
Some enemies are playable this time, including Goomba, Chargin’ Chuck, and Fish Bone. There’s also talk about character variants like Gondolier Luigi and Yukata Peach, which could be either costume swaps or separate characters, depending on how the game handles them.
IGN also shared a breakdown featuring around 60 characters so far, including alternate outfits. That version of the roster had only five tabs instead of seven, which adds some intrigue to how the full character menu is organized.
Some think the costumes may be tied to new in-game items like food pickups that swap your racer’s appearance on the fly, but Nintendo hasn’t clarified that yet.
With 24-player lobbies, having this kind of variety is essential. It escapes the classic pitfall of races being full of the same few fan favorites.
In theory, even if two or three people pick Luigi, it won’t feel repetitive when you’ve got 80+ other racers zooming around.
After a decade of waiting for a new Mario Kart, Nintendo might have figured out that more is better.
If this roster lives up to its potential, Mario Kart World could be the most ambitious iteration of the formula yet.