During last week’s Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, Mario Kart World got a huge focus. The launch game has already revealed several returning characters and tracks from past entries, as well as new features. Despite this, there are a lot of questions remaining about what content will be coming back. Fans of the series can rest assured that one constant will remain: Rainbow Road will be coming back. Posters on Reddit have shared images of the unannounced track appearing on Mario Kart World‘s map, which have apparently come from Nintendo’s Korean website.
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The return of Rainbow Road isn’t all that surprising; some variation of Rainbow Road has appeared in every game in the series since Super Mario Kart, and it even played a big role in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. However, the interconnected nature of the map in Mario Kart World has already raised a lot of questions about how Rainbow Road will be incorporated. We don’t know how the game will handle a track that basically appears out in space when every other one appears as part of a map on the surface. Unfortunately, the leak doesn’t offer any specific hints. Readers can check out the image in the Reddit post embedded below.
Mario Kart games are known for bringing back older tracks, but there’s reason to suspect that a lot of tracks won’t be coming back for the new game. From our hands-on time with Mario Kart World, it seems like the focus this time is solely on content from the Mario franchise, as characters like Link, the Inklings, and Isabelle could not be selected. It’s possible that those characters must be unlocked first, but there could be some other decisions at play.
With Nintendo putting a big focus on the interconnected world this time, it’s probably safe to assume we won’t see tracks that wouldn’t fit on a Mario-themed world. This could mean that tracks like Hyrule Castle and Mute City won’t be making the jump over from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. That’s all just speculation, but it’s hard to imagine how those locations would be integrated on Mario Kart World‘s map in a logical way. The same could be argued for Rainbow Road, but it seems the location is far too important to leave out!
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A Nintendo Direct solely focused on Mario Kart World will take place on April 17th. That should shed a lot more light on several elements from the game. Rainbow Road tends to be the final track in Mario Kart games, so we probably shouldn’t expect to see it show up. Since each take on Rainbow Road is significantly different from the rest, showing the track ahead of time could be considered a spoiler for big fans of the series. However, the Nintendo Direct could give us a better idea about how the track is accessed, and the overall scope of Mario Kart World.
Are you happy to see Rainbow Road’s return? What tracks do you expect to see left out from this game? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
