Mario Kart World Free Update Adds 10 Super Mario Kart Tracks, Live Today on Switch 2
Mario Kart World's newest free update is live today on Nintendo Switch 2, and it brings back 10 circuits from the 1992 SNES original, Super Mario Kart. Nintendo announced the update during its September Direct and pushed it out the same day, so there is no waiting period and no charge attached to any of it.
The retro courses sit in Versus mode rather than the Grand Prix ladder. Knockout Tour also picks up two new routes, Propeller Rally and Turnip Rally, which is the first time that mode has been expanded since launch.
What the Mario Kart World update actually adds
The headline addition is the set of 10 Super Mario Kart circuits. Nintendo has shown Choco Island, Ghost Valley, Vanilla Lake and Mario Circuit among them, and the remaining courses were not individually named in the presentation. All 10 are rebuilt in Mario Kart World's engine rather than emulated.
The detail that matters to anyone who played the SNES game is the item system. These courses use the flat question-mark panels painted on the road surface, the ones you drive over to pull an item, instead of the floating item boxes the rest of Mario Kart World uses. It is a deliberate throwback and it changes how you line up an item grab on those tracks.
- 10 Super Mario Kart circuits, playable in Versus mode
- Confirmed course names so far: Choco Island, Ghost Valley, Vanilla Lake, Mario Circuit
- Flat question-mark item panels on the road, as on the SNES
- Two new Knockout Tour routes: Propeller Rally and Turnip Rally
- Price: free, with no season pass or DLC purchase required
Which platforms get it
Only one. Mario Kart World is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive and has been since it launched alongside the console, so this update is Switch 2 only. There is no Switch 1 version of Mario Kart World and this content is not coming to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
That is worth stating plainly because Mario Kart 8 Deluxe received its own free update earlier this year, and the two games are on separate tracks. If you are on the older console, the relevant one for you is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe update 4.0.0, which added 8-player split-screen on Switch 2 hardware.
How to install it
The update downloads automatically if your Switch 2 has automatic software updates switched on and the console has been online. If it has not appeared, highlight Mario Kart World on the Home menu, press the + button, then choose Software Update and Via the Internet. You need the update installed to race online, because players on mismatched versions cannot matchmake together.
Nintendo had not published a version number or a formal patch-notes page at the time of writing, so the download size is not yet confirmed. Previous Mario Kart World content updates have been in the low single-digit gigabytes rather than the tens of gigabytes, but treat that as a rough guide rather than a figure to plan storage around.
Where this sits in Nintendo's week
This was one of two Nintendo presentations in the same week. The Mario Kart World update came out of the main September Direct, which followed a separate 40th-anniversary Zelda show a day earlier — we covered the schedule for both in our rundown of the Nintendo Direct start time and running order.
The Zelda show is where the bigger hardware news landed, including the Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 and its 62,980 yen Japanese price and the first retail listing for the Ocarina of Time remake at A$94.95. Nintendo has also been steadily back-porting Switch 2 enhancements to older titles, as with the Pikmin 3 Deluxe 1.2.0 update.
Is it worth reinstalling for
If you stopped playing after the launch window, the Knockout Tour additions are the more meaningful change. That mode shipped with a fixed set of routes and has not grown until now, so Propeller Rally and Turnip Rally are new territory rather than remixes. The SNES circuits are shorter and flatter than anything else in the game, which makes them a different kind of race — less about the open-world traversal Mario Kart World was built around, more about tight lines on a two-dimensional layout.
Nintendo has not said whether more free course drops are planned, and no paid expansion has been announced for Mario Kart World.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Mario Kart World update free?
Yes. The update costs nothing and does not require a season pass, expansion pack or any DLC purchase. It downloads as a standard game update to Mario Kart World on Nintendo Switch 2.
Which Super Mario Kart tracks are in the update?
Ten circuits from the 1992 SNES game are included. Nintendo has shown Choco Island, Ghost Valley, Vanilla Lake and Mario Circuit; the rest were not named individually during the Direct. They are rebuilt in Mario Kart World rather than emulated.
Is Mario Kart World on the original Nintendo Switch?
No. Mario Kart World is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive and there is no version for the first Switch, so this update is Switch 2 only. Owners of the older console are limited to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which receives its own separate updates.
How do I install the Mario Kart World update?
It installs automatically if automatic updates are enabled and your Switch 2 has been online. To force it, highlight Mario Kart World on the Home menu, press the + button, then pick Software Update followed by Via the Internet. You need it installed to play online.
What are Propeller Rally and Turnip Rally?
They are two new routes added to Knockout Tour, the elimination mode where players are cut from the race at checkpoints. These are the first additions to that mode since Mario Kart World launched, and they arrive in the same free update as the SNES circuits.
