- Image of Mario Kart World courtesy of Nintendo and Nintendo Life

Why Doesn’t Mario Kart World have Characters from Other Beloved Nintendo Franchises?

Originally posted on Total Apex Gaming | By Liesel Booker | Last updated Jun 23, 2025 12:49 PM ET

Ever since the Mario Kart World Nintendo Direct dropped, fans have been asking an important question. After Mario Kart 8 introduced racers from non-Mario Nintendo franchises such as The Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing, fans were expecting the next entry in the series to feature characters from more franchises. So why doesn’t Mario Kart World include any non-Mario characters?

Mario Kart World Producer: “It Didn’t Seem Necessary”

In an Ouest-France interview with Kosuke Yabuki, the producer of Mario Kart World, Yabuki addressed the lack of characters from other franchises:

“As developers, it would have seemed incongruous to add characters from other games to this universe. And it didn’t seem necessary, given everything we could already do with Mario. We inevitably wonder how players will perceive this cast. But there are so many characters and so many costumes that there’s sure to be something for everyone.”

Was it Really Not Necessary?

Screenshot from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Courtesy of Nintendo

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe lets you race as Link from The Legend of Zelda, the Inklings from Splatoon, and Isabelle and a Villager from Animal Crossing. There were also tracks designed around non-Mario franchises. Granted, Mario Kart World already has the largest roster in the series without any guest characters. However, despite racers like the cow becoming favorites, many other new racers were background enemies that a lot of people didn’t care about. Many people would probably rather race as Samus Aran from Metroid or Kirby from Kirby than some random enemies.

DLC Possibilities?

Since Mario Kart 8’s guest characters first appeared in a DLC pack, there’s a chance that Mario Kart World might include some surprise guest characters in future DLC. Perhaps you could travel to another open world that connects different Nintendo franchises and includes tracks based on games like Kirby, Metroid, or Pikmin. That could be amazing.

Conclusion

Like many others, I was disappointed when I learned that there would be no guest characters in Mario Kart World. However, with a vast world to drive around and many different costumes to unlock, the game has plenty to offer without any racers from other franchises. Perhaps we should concentrate on what we do have instead of what we don’t have.

This article first appeared on Total Apex Gaming and was syndicated with permission.

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