Latest news with #KosukeYabuki
The Star
15-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Star
Review: 'Mario Kart World' proves why Nintendo needed a Switch 2
With Mario Kart 8 Deluxe , producer Kosuke Yabuki said he felt his team at Nintendo reached a finish line. In an interview published by the company, members of the developer's team said they perfected the formula that Nintendo had used since the original, and the team wanted to embark on a new adventure. They wanted to bring a bigger scope to the franchise, one where tracks are connected together, but they ran into hardware limitations on the Switch during development. 'It was difficult for us to incorporate everything we wanted, so we were always conscious of what we were giving up in return,' said programming director Kenta Sato. In 'Mario Kart World', players compete against 24 racers and travel on long, winding and complex tracks. The game they imagined had difficulty running on a system that came out in 2016, but that problem found a solution with the Nintendo Switch 2. The console's power allowed the team to create the natural evolution of the series, bringing it into a dazzling, enormous environment. The game was more than just another sequel with a new number. Yabuki said it deserved a new moniker and dubbed it Mario Kart World . Open-world via Mario Kart At first glance, the open-world racing game will draw comparisons to the Forza Horizon series, but it doesn't have that feel. The Nintendo racing game doesn't have players wandering around a huge space doing quest lines. At its heart, this is still a Mario Kart game, and the fun still lies in chaotic competition. In Mario Kart World , players compete against 24 racers and travel on long, winding and complex tracks. Players will drift and toss items at each other so they can move ahead. Rubberbanding is still a factor in the gameplay, with players out front obtaining lower-quality items compared to those running behind, creating comeback opportunities. To take advantage of the open world, players drive from one course to the next, giving the eight cups in the Grand Prix a different vibe. What's different, though, is how the open world impacted the track design and competition. The races in Mario Kart World are longer, and they stretch across different environments. Having such long races necessitated a wider competitive field and that created an experience that's even more riotous, where there's an equivalent of a Nascar-like crash at every corner. The structure also added a new emphasis on tricks. Aside from drifting on corners, players can now Wall Ride, Rail Ride and Charge Jump. These all provide short boosts while also opening up shortcuts for expert drivers. These new skills will take a while to master but they're vital for success, especially on long straightaways and against computer-controlled opponents who are much sharper and ruthless compared to past games. Interconnected racing All of this racing is framed in a new format. To take advantage of the open world, players drive from one course to the next, giving the eight cups in the Grand Prix a different vibe. It feels more natural, like a rally race, as each track transitions into another. It cements the world in players' imaginations as the environments become less episodic but more of a complete whole. Rubberbanding is still a factor in the gameplay, with players out front obtaining lower-quality items compared to those running behind, creating comeback opportunities. That unique blending gives Mario Kart World a distinct perspective from open-world racing that's different from Forza . It also leads to more fantastical track design. The courses in Mario Kart World feel like a Disneyland ride that tells a story with a beginning, middle and end. The pinnacle of this is the new Rainbow Road, which is a transcendent experience for those touching wheels to the technicolour thoroughfare. Aside from the Grand Prix, Nintendo also introduced the Knockout Tour, which is a battle royale-type of competition that's best played online. It pits 24 racers against each other as they go through several segments, and they have to be in the Top 20 in one round, Top 16 the next, until it cuts to the Top 4. Again, the mode takes advantage of the open-world environment while also creating frantic but fun gameplay. The last notable mode is the Free Roam, which lets players explore the world that Yabuki and his team crafted. Compared to Forza , Mario Kart World doesn't have as many activities. Players will run into P Switch challenges that will test their racing skills and teach them techniques they need to become better drivers. They can also collect Peach Coins or regular ones. They're needed to unlock Stickers and new cars respectively. Aside from drifting on corners, players can now Wall Ride, Rail Ride and Charge Jump. Sadly, there's not more that players can do, but the world itself has unbelievable potential with so many variations built into the map. It's a packed playground and Yabuki and his team will likely have more magic coming down the track. – Bay Area News Group/Tribune News Service
Metro
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Mario Kart World doesn't have 200cc but it is easier to dodge blue shells now
A producer behind Mario Kart World has hinted 200cc could be added post-launch, as various other tweaks are unearthed. Mario Kart World looks set to be the Switch 2's best game when it launches alongside the console on Thursday, but there are still some lingering questions about its features. Following our latest hands-on preview, our primary concern was whether there's enough to do in the open world, or if this will be expanded upon with live service style events and additional missions post-launch. While we don't know how Nintendo plans to support Mario Kart World in the future, the game's producer, Kosuke Yabuki, has implied 200cc, the fastest and highest difficulty from its predecessor, could make a return. Yabuki was asked about the possibility of 200cc making a return in an interview with Rolling Stone, where he gave a coy response. 'Some players are really happy with the addition of high difficulty modes like this,' Yabuki replied. 'However, does that mean we're going to consider adding engine sizes that are larger than 150cc to Mario Kart World? I'm afraid I can't say just yet.' Some people might bemoan the lack of 200cc in Mario Kart World at launch, but it was originally introduced as a free post-launch update for Mario Kart 8 in 2015, alongside the Animal Crossing DLC tracks. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Yabuki's comments don't rule out 200cc being added down the line, but the big question is what kind of post-launch support Mario Kart World will receive at large. Mario Kart 8 on Wii U received both free and paid DLC in the form of new tracks, which was later expanded upon with the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch. Beyond DLC, Mario Kart fans have noticed several other quirks about the next instalment. As highlighted in videos on X, it appears the window to dodge blue shells with a well-timed mushroom boost has been expanded and made easier to pull off. More Trending Other mechanics in Mario Kart World might make this easier too. The new ability to Charge Jump, along with the return of the Feather item, which allows you to pull off large hops, makes dodging pesky shells easier across the board – although you're still going to have to be very skilled/lucky to avoid a blue shell. If you're worried this might imbalance the fundamental laws of Mario Kart, the larger number of racers on the track at one time (24 in total) who are all firing weapons, coupled with the larger track sizes, appears to even these things out, based on our time with the game. Aside from Mario Kart World, the Switch 2 launch line-up also includes Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, Split Fiction, and others. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: New God Of War game is 'smaller scale' 2D Metroidvania claim insiders MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 updates for over 12 Switch games live now including Pokémon Scarlet and Violet MORE: Games Inbox: When will there be Nintendo Switch 2 console reviews?
Washington Post
03-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
‘Mario Kart World' is a clear-eyed, fully-featured multiplayer treat
In an era of multiplayer video games releasing with portentous 'plans' to add more content, Nintendo's 'Mario Kart World' is an anomaly. It's the marquee launch title of Nintendo's Switch 2, the highly anticipated successor to the blockbuster Switch console. It's also filled to the brim with content, including an unknown number of characters, the first seamless world of the series, and all the gameplay modes one can hope for. 'Mario Kart World' producer and Nintendo veteran Kosuke Yabuki is not taking for granted his responsibility to develop a game consistent with the offerings of the series while expanding the formula. As a director and creator of the series since 2008's 'Mario Kart Wii,' Yabuki says he always hears about people on holiday playing Mario Kart with their families. 'I really feel honored that people would use such an important time like holidays or time with family and spend it playing Mario Kart together,' Yabuki said in an interview through an interpreter. 'So from my perspective, I feel I want to make 'Mario Kart World' worthy of people choosing to spend that important time together.' I told Yabuki his sentiment reminds me of an anecdote of a surprising family who spent vacation time playing Mario Kart: the Bidens. In 2021, President Joe Biden and his granddaughter Naomi Biden played 'Mario Kart Arcade GP' at Camp David, according to an Instagram post by the younger Biden. Yabuki's eyebrows raised at the tale. 'Actually that's my first time hearing that, thank you for sharing that!' Nintendo has treated Thursday's release of the Switch 2 with secrecy and didn't distribute review models for critics. Instead I attended a day-long preview event in New York City to test the system and play several hours of the first $80 retail priced video game for the current generation of consoles. Yabuki wasn't able to comment on the price, which raised eyebrows when it was revealed. That was not his decision to make. But his passion for a fully-featured game and player experience is evident. Right at the menu, there are options for single-player and multiplayer modes. Solo options in multiplayer games are becoming rare. Just look at Bungie's upcoming and troubled 'Marathon,' the just-released FromSoftware game 'Elden Ring: Nightreign,' and even the story-driven critical success Hazelight Studio's 'Split Fiction,' all of which largely or completely abandon the solo experience. So it's a relief to see 'Mario Kart World' still offers solo modes for classic Grand Prix racing on individual tracks, as well as classic battle modes of balloon popping and coin collecting. For Yabuki, it's all about reassuring the player that the latest Mario Kart is a complete product. 'Sometimes that comes down to details like the menu. When you start up the game and you first see that screen, you're going to see single-player, multiplayer, and online, and that's going to be very familiar to people and hasn't changed from some previous titles,' he said. 'It's about getting people into the experience faster.' Tucked away in that start screen is an option to immediately enter 'free roam' mode, which allows drivers to explore the Mushroom Kingdom at their leisure. It's likely the mode I will spend the most time in, since 'Mario Kart World' is the first time the Mario universe — almost always separated out by levels (or boards, if you're Gen X) — has been constructed in a seamless format. Like the Switch's first blockbuster Zelda game 'Breath of the Wild,' this is new territory for the brand. But don't call it an 'open world' game, at least to Yabuki and his team. 'We actually don't use the phrase 'open world' in development. I think for us it's just a little bit too ambiguously defined,' he said. 'Even though we are creating this vast interconnected world with racing routes, you still do need some traditional elements. … That's why we have this opportunity to pull in classic courses from past titles and remake them for 'World.'' Classic Mario music has also been remixed. 'Mario Kart 8,' the previous entry, mostly used electronic music for its melodies, but 'World' opts for a full sound with a live band. Koji Kondo's reggae, bluegrass and jazz compositions from classics like 'Super Mario Bros. 3' are revived with a full horn section and bounding bass lines. Cruising around in free roam mode is a joy while the game dynamically shifts the mood for each piece according to your region or the time of day. Day-night cycles and shifting weather are a first for the series as well. 'As the player drives along, they're seeing changes in the scenery, but they can also feel changes in terms of what music comes in,' Yabuki said. 'You're not just racing, you also have this opportunity to free roam the world, so we need music that fits that also.' I also got to test the new Game Chat feature for the Switch 2 in 'World.' It's a built-in video chat system that experienced gamers balk at, since many already use robust third-party chat solutions such as Discord. But it's clear this system isn't made for them, it's for anyone who might find such features cumbersome or daunting. The Switch 2 can actually use any USB-charged web camera, and 'Mario Kart World' has tiny balloons above the player's character showcasing their face. When a racer gets struck by a weaponized turtle shell, the profile picture cartoonishly twirls around, livening up the already lively races. Yabuki said it was important to design the system for people in the same room as well as online. It echoes the very first 'Super Mario Kart' for Super Nintendo in 1992. 'Historically, Mario Kart is a bunch of games people play together with family and friends, so that kind of communication is always present,' he said. 'Game Chat is a continuing evolution of this communication alongside gameplay in Mario Kart.' Yabuki understands the importance of Mario Kart as a launch title for the new console. He's also following up his own successful work as director of 'Mario Kart 8,' the fifth best-selling video game in history with more than 76 million sold across the Wii U and Switch systems since its 2014 release. He's shy about taking any credit for the success. 'Those sales happened after it left my hands,' Yabuki said. 'I think looking back, perhaps the compatibility of Nintendo Switch and 'Mario Kart 8 Deluxe' was really good, and you also see the effort that teams across the globe put into sales and marketing.' Nintendo is hoping for that same synergy of hardware and software for the Switch 2 and 'World.' After about seven hours of play, I can't offer any final analysis of the game. The racing and battle modes were great fun with other journalists who attended the preview event, and I imagine that experience only gets better with, as Yabuki says, friends and family. If you can afford it, 'Mario Kart World' does all it can to soften the sticker shock of its $80 price tag. And I'm eager to return to free roam and vibe out with ska versions of classic Mario tunes as I drive around in the closest thing to a Mushroom Kingdom virtual world. In a games industry full of flimsy proposals from 'live service' titles with uncertain futures, 'Mario Kart World' is a clear-eyed promise.
The Verge
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Mario Kart World's designers had to rethink everything to make it open world
From the very beginning, the goal for Mario Kart World was ambitious. A follow-up to the Switch's (and Wii U's) best-selling game, one that steadily grew over the years, World 's original concept focused on two key changes: doubling the amount of racers, and creating a connected, open world for players to explore. It was so big that, early on in development for the original Switch, the team was having a hard time making it work on the hardware, and eventually it shifted to become the main launch title for the more powerful Switch 2. But even outside of technical issues, those changes meant a fundamental rethink of many of Mario Kart 's core elements. 'We knew when we came up with this idea that it really would be a big change for the series,' says producer Kosuke Yabuki, 'but we had no idea at the time how many people, how much time, and how much effort that would require to actually achieve it.' The most obvious change is right there in the title: it's the world. Instead of a series of individual racetracks, all of Mario Kart World 's courses take place on the same landmass, connected by a series of routes. The game isn't set in an existing version of the Mushroom Kingdom, but instead a brand-new location that has been designed from the ground-up around the idea of racing. 'As you travel through this world, you will see things that remind you of the Mushroom Kingdom,' Yabuki explains. 'Elements like the question mark blocks or warp pipes. In terms of world design, I would say this world was designed for Mario Kart World. If you look at the height of a mountain, or the length of a desert, those were all things that we decided specifically for this title.' According to Yabuki – who previously worked on both Mario Kart 7 and 8, and served as producer on the Switch fighter Arms – unlike many open worlds, the game wasn't designed to be a recreation of a realistic or believable place. He says that 'we have to think about not simply recreating real-world patterns in terms of a town or an island. Rather, this world exists purely to make Mario Kart more fun.' Building the world wasn't difficult purely because it was larger than past games, but also because of that connected nature. As Yabuki explains it, when one element of the world was changed, it had a cascading effect that could impact other parts of the world as well. 'If you change the height of a mountain you have to think about whether you've diminished its usefulness in the surrounding areas as a landmark, for example,' Yabuki says. 'This means that in the end terrain design is actually quite a difficult task, because if you change one thing, you have to adjust many more.' This influenced the way the race tracks themselves were designed. In previous Mario Kart games, the developers had more control over how players were able to view the courses, because they were racing along pre-defined roads and paths. But that's no longer the case. 'You used to be designing courses with the notion that people are going to drive and look in a very few fixed directions that we know ahead of time,' Yabuki says, 'compared to Mario Kart World, where people might enter a course from anywhere, or leave that course from anywhere, and continue driving. So we have to think about those entry and exit points, and how they affect the player's vantage. In that sense, Mario Kart World course design is quite a bit more work compared to previous games.' What is on Toad's head? In 2018, Super Mario Odyssey producer Yoshiaki Koizumi confirmed a long-debated fact: the mushroom on Toad's head is actually his head, and not a hat. But Toad's appearance in Mario Kart World, in which he's wearing a racing helmet, raises a new question as to what the helmet actually is. Unfortunately, like in some of my past Mario-related investigations, I was unable to get a definitive answer on this. 'When it comes to Toad, there really are a lot of secrets about this character, and I have to say not all of them are mine to share,' Yabuki told me. 'But I would like for you, when you play the game, to consider when Toad is wearing a helmet, sometimes he'll have that transform and you'll see suddenly it's a hamburger. So I want you to think about that moment and what your personal theory about Toad's head might be.' The expansiveness similarly had an impact on the game's structure. For one thing, it inspired an all-new mode called Knockout Tour, where players are racing across the entire continent, while their numbers steadily dwindle, sort of like a Mario Kart take on battle royale. It also introduced a notable change for the classic Grand Prix mode, as now players have to drive to their next race, instead of being automatically transported. Yabuki says that one of the inspirations behind this change was the concept of kishōtenketsu, a four-part story structure used for everything from poetry to comic strips. 'First you introduce an idea, you let it develop, then you have a turn, and then you have a conclusion,' Yabuki says of the structure. 'We tried to follow that kind of thinking. The start of the Grand Prix is that first frame of a four-panel comic, for example, and you're going to have moments along the way as you develop, and then you have a turn, and a conclusion. In order to allow those moments to breathe, you have to think about the difficulty of each step. So when you're driving from one course to the next, you have more freedom, there's a little bit more latitude, and it's purposefully not as difficult, to give some variation in that pace so that the feeling can develop.' It's not just the world that has gotten bigger, but the number of participating racers as well. World has doubled the number per race from 12 to 24. It wasn't as simple as adding more players, as the additional racers created balance issues with multiple elements of the game, which Yabuki says forced the development team to 'reconsider all elements from their fundamentals' in order to accommodate everyone. 'We had to consider as varied elements as the road width, the kart size, or even things like when a player is hit by a shell, how much speed do they lose? How much speed do they lose with other types of collisions? All of these things had to be considered from scratch to balance,' he explains. One thing that hasn't changed is just how weird the game can be. Recent Mario adventures have taken a turn for the surreal, but strangeness has always been a part of the franchise's DNA. This is, after all, a game where eating mushrooms and flowers gives you superpowers, and the new Mario Kart lets you race as everything from a cow to a Goomba. So when Yabuki was trying to convince the team on one of World 's more out-there ideas — that eating food at a diner gives your character a whole new look — he was able to point back to some of the older Mario titles. 'We've always had some really interesting and weird precedents that we could draw from,' he says. 'When I was trying to explain the concept of eating something and having a costume change, sometimes in order to persuade them I would say 'look, it's the sort of thing we used to do.''
WIRED
03-06-2025
- Business
- WIRED
'Mario Kart World' Devs Broke Their Own Rule on Who Gets to Drive
Jun 3, 2025 10:00 AM The list of playable characters in the Switch 2's premiere game has expanded to more than 50—including birds, plants, and other players without hands or feet. Still from Mario Kart World. Courtesy of Nintendo Conkdor, an ostrich-like enemy that made its debut in Super Mario 3D World , should not be able to drive. First, it is a bird. Second, it has no hands. But in Mario Kart World , Conkdor can race alongside Mario on bikes, cars, and magic carpets, just like everyone else. This newfound ability of dozens of new characters to compete in the game is a first for the series, and a change that required the developers to rethink how they approached playable characters. 'I have to say that in previous Mario Kart titles, we had to consider whether or not that character would be able to drive,' producer Kosuke Yabuki told WIRED during a translated interview. 'My old way of thinking was, well, surely they would need to have hands and feet to be able to drive.' As a Switch 2 launch title, Mario Kart World heralds the next generation of the series, and it does so with a huge cast of playable racers. At least 50 characters have been confirmed so far, and many variations of those characters exist with costume changes. Yabuki says that when deciding on the game's cast, the team first had to consider if players would like new characters and, more importantly, if they'd use them. Nintendo wants players to be surprised by who they can play as, but that's not all: 'If you're playing a match, would it be fun to see that character alongside you,' Kabuki says. That may explain much of the game's new cast, which includes several characters lacking feet, hands, or both. Yabuki mentions Goomba, the series' iconic, grumpy fanged foes, or Pokey, a cacti character made of stacked spikey balls: 'OK, sure, they can drive,' Yabuki says. 'I probably wouldn't be able to even explain how they drive exactly in this setting,' Yabuki adds, 'but so long as we're surprising and delighting people, I think that's the important part.' The game's cow character is already a huge hit with players since her reveal. Yabuki expects that other new characters will be popular as well. 'I'm sure that we'll see a lot of players that are choosing to race as the cow or the penguin,' Yabuki says, 'but this is still a Mario Kart game. I hope that everyone remembers to play Peach and Mario as well.' Mario Kart World 's huge cast is necessary now that its races can accommodate up to 24 players; the most recent Switch version of the game, Mario Kart 8 , allowed only 12 players per round. Yabuki says the team decided early on that it would be doubling the number of racers for this game. 'We knew that with a vast world that is interconnected and covered in all of these different routes, we needed a large number of simultaneous players to give a populated and fun feeling to that big a space,' he says. That required some additional balancing. A race with 24 people can quickly go off the rails. 'If we didn't adjust anything else, you'd be receiving too many attacks and it would be too stressful of a gameplay experience,' Yabuki says. The same goes for crashes or spinouts, which have been adjusted so when players lose speed, they're different depending on the event. 'Certainly, we have to think about the chaos element as well,' Yabuki says. 'Sometimes, a free for all is a really fun experience too.'
