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Nintendo Treehouse April 3rd 2025 Mega-Post.
Spoilers been placed for those who want to scroll past faster(mainly for when this gets pasted to Space For Anything).

Mario Kart World Segment 1

DK Bananza Segment 1

Metroid Prime 4 Segment 1

Mario Kart World Segment 2 & Nintendo Switch Welcome Tour

Drag X Drive Segment 1

DK Bananza Segment 2

BotW & TotK got a couple of enhancements: improved framerate(Korok Forest playable), GPS(with the app), autobuild sharing feature, cleaner graphics, HDR...you know, basic QoL.
Finally, they showed a bit of how GameChat works, & GameCube online.

That's all for today! See you tomorrow for another post.

You can practice on a course while waiting for races online, it looks like, similar to Smash & Splatoon(& really every other game) having a practice mode.
No more waiting for races to start to some generic lobby music!

We have gameplay from the experience today, there are in race speech bubbles(probably on the direction buttons) like in Smash.

Also, Vanilla Lake 1 spotted(looks like it's in an ice cave which is why it wasn't visible)
Old courses being part of the inbetween circuit routes hard confirmed.
Full video here.

Yeah they were on the official website, not really leaked.

Couple updates

Koopa Troopa Beach looks to be SNES Koopa Beach 1 & 2 combined(they were renamed to Koopa Troopa Beach in Tour, probably because Koopa is just Bowser, not the species)

And the Ghost Valleys, Choco Islands & atleast Vanilla Lake 2 have been spotted on the World Map. It looks like the SNES(& potentially GBA) courses have been sprinkled around the map & might be some of the routes between courses, which would be so cool!

I went ahead and put names over all the known courses with names(yes the course at the bottom is probably Dino Dino Jungle but we don't technically know that for sure so I didn't put it as that)

Yeah, it's just for nostalgia & variety, there's no real thinking behind it.

Also @ToadfromHisFactory the first 3 Mario Circuits are right there & all combined together. They could combine courses if they wanted to. Like, I'm sure that the roads between some of the listed courses will be detours through other old courses(for example there's a lake that looks very suspicious in the snow area)

Firstly, you're wrong. Squeaky Clean Sprint was the last 'new' track. Secondly, you're putting too much stock into why Sky High Sundae was picked. Sky High Sundae was not picked because it was in the Booster Course Pass. In fact, we literally don't know why it was picked. We've never known exactly why retros were picked, & never will. It's probably just for variety's sake, not any complicated reasons.

Tracks, costumes, characters. Just like new Tours were. In fact, I think that's why the game is $80: it could be live-service like Tour, but without the microtransactions. Obviously the map would have to be changed, but I don't see any reason not to do that.

That was cool, but it was only used in a single corner of the track. They could literally do the same but have it in more places & be more beneficial on any Yoshi Track they want to if they wanted. None of the tracks in World have any unique gimmicks so far that we know of either, they're just tracks which utilize new, game-wide mechanics. And again, if it's not on this map, then it doesn't exist. Maybe this map is outdated, like there will be a couple tracks on the exterior in the final game, but until then...this is it.

I'm 90% sure that this is literally it for tracks.
29 x 4 = 116 variants(obviously not going to be 4 for each, but this is still a fairly good amount)
Until the inevitable DLC, of course.

It's Pass, not Summit
& yeah Bazaar is shown by name.

Oddly enough retros don't have console name next to them, probably because they're being redesigned entirely & not just the track itself.

There are going to be a lot of "cups", but there won't be that many tracks(locations). We'll enter the courses from different directions & play a lot of them in reverse, so all tracks will repeat 2/3 times at some point.

Yes, someone posted a screenshot of it already(SFA I think) & the music was in the trailer.

One of the underrated aspects of how the cups work is that we'll be entering courses from different angles & playing them in reverse on later cups. Technically speaking, this game will have less courses than the cups would make you think, but if we're playing them differently then it'll feel more unique.

I'm not saying that there will be 4 versions of every course period, but every course will atleast be able to be approached in 4 different ways(1 for starting there & 3 for every other position that track could be in a cup.

I'm really wondering if free roam will let you travel from end of the map to the other for real.

The website doesn't tell us too much, but UMTs now use multicolored sparks instead of purely purple(they still start purple), and also it looks like courses can be played in reverse depending on which adjoining course you travel towards it from.

As well as mentioning that the map doesn't have a lot of room for DLC, so the number of courses we have might be it for good, unless they do a second continent somewhere else.

I did, my bad. Also, that makes more sense for SNES Mario Circuit.

More new characters.
Bonefin, Peepa, Dolphin, Snowman, Spike, Goomba, Stingby, Swooper.
Also I called Sidestepper Huckit, my bad.

Okay, anti-grav isn't back. I lied. My bad.
Also, proof about Peach Beach?

Mario Kart World Breakdown

It's been a long time coming. A lot of things here might get disproven in tomorrow's Treehouse, or during the Mario Kart Direct on the 17th, but I'll be working from what we do have here.

My sources for this breakdown:

Mario Kart World page of the Nintendo Switch website.
https://www.nintendo.com/us/gaming-systems/switch-2/featured-games/mario-kart-world/

The Mario Kart World trailer on the Nintendo Youtube Channel.


And the trailer for GameChat as well because it has a fair bit of Mario Kart footage.


Mechanic removals/changes:
Gliding remains, but gliders themselves no longer exist. Your vehicle just gets some wings, which makes sense. Certain characters already ate up a lot of the screen with gliders, now that the roster has been doubled, it makes sense for them to be gone.

Anti-gravity seems to be gone, permanently. Wallriding exists, so anti-gravity being gone tracks. (More on the new mechanics later)

Underwater’s fate is currently unknown. So far we’ve only seen rivers, which…again, more on that later.

Game Modes:

#1: Grand Prix. Grand Prix is pretty different this time. Instead of the race ending after completing a course, the race continues(sorta). You legit just drive to the next course(during the countdown), making it a bit like rally(if you know what that is, I’m sure EU players will know, NA players probably won’t)
This was probably what we were seeing in the initial trailer: driving to the next course via the highway.

#2: VS. While not mentioned officially, there’s obviously gonna be a VS mode. I predict a route system, kind of like a road trip, where you race on a specific number of courses in a specific order, that you will maybe be able to drive to. Even potentially able to do them out of order, allowing optimization. (Like, instead of going SNESMC1 to some other longer track, you could get the longer track out of the way first, then do SNESMC1. Obviously the first track of the VS will be forced, whether this happens or not)

#3: Free Roam. There isn’t any out of bounds in this game, except maybe like lava or preventing you from falling onto buildings or something. You can drive literally anywhere in this mode.(obviously in Grand Prix & VS, you won’t be able to drive to courses not part of the cup/route) Keep in mind that Grand Prix & VS already let you go anywhere within a specific course if you so choose. Free Roam also lets you take screenshots, & you can play it with friends.

#4: Knockout(Elimination) Not named Elimination, but we do have a KO mode. It’s GP but with Elimination, not much else to it.

Unconfirmed Modes
Battle Mode. I dunno how Battle would even work in this mode, but I do have ideas that would make battle cool. What if we battled…on the tracks? Like, on other tracks, not available as race courses? We already know that retros will be expansive versions of courses. What if we battled on those now?(Or they could just make massive new battle arenas and new versions of old battle arenas, but tracks would be really cool if done well)

Time Trial. It’s Time Trial. I doubt it’s gone, but it hasn’t been confirmed.

UI Things!
1: We have a real minimap in the bottom right. Like, a real, overheard, GTA looking minimap.
2: All the UI has been redesigned(double item system returns) and the item boxes look cool. First place also gets a crown in KO mode.

The (confirmed) cups are:
Mushroom, Flower, Star, Shell, Banana, Leaf & Lightning
Golden Mushroom, Ice Flower, Moon, Spiny Shell, Cherry, Acorn, Cloud Flower, Royal Heart

3: Boosters & Glider Ramps look different. They also seem to change color to fit with the current course, too.

Idk where else to stick this, so I’ll put it here.
The game has day/night cycles & weather! It’s unknown what this will affect besides lighting & the road getting slippery, but I’m sure some routes will be closed or open depending on the time.

Items!
Basically everything from 8 but the Potted Plant. Hammers & Coin Boxes are in, too(Special Items, maybe?)
Mega Mushrooms return.
Only new “item” is the Hamburger(from the restaurant bags as seen in the first trailer)
These will…change your costume? To fit with the current track(Yes, costumes from Tour are in, kinda). I’m sure that they’ve got other effects, but that’s the main thing shown.

Characters!
There were so many prediction vids, but what we’ve gotten here is absolutely nuts.
Aside from all the familiar faces(including Tour characters like Hammer Bro, Charging Chuck & Nabbit!), we’ve got Pianta, Huckit, Moo Moo, Penguin, Goomba, Cataquack, Para-BiddyBuggy, and probably a lot more. Clearly, anything is on the table, so don’t worry too much about not seeing a fan-favorite yet(like the Koopalings, Diddy, Funky & Kamek, with the absolute whacked out list we’ve got now, they’re probably in too.
For Diddy, Funky(and likely Dixie), they’re probably getting redesigns that they remembered to hide this time. Same for the Koopalings & Kamek, probably.

Basically, anything goes. Crazy stuff.

Vehicles!
There are so many vehicles shown, it’d take hours to cover what they all look like & which ones are returning. Just know that the karts, bikes & ATVs are back, karts now transform into boats & planes when on water and flying, biker fits are dead, choosing wheels & gliders(as a whole for this one)are gone.

Tracks!
Confirmed:
Nitros:
Mario Bros Circuit
Crown City
Whistlestop Summit
DK Spaceport
Starview Peak
Faraway Oasis
Crown City(again?)
Peach Stadium
Retros:
DS DK Pass
DS Desert Hills
Wii Moo Moo Meadows
3DS Shy Guy Bazaar
DS Airship Fortress
N64 Wario Stadium(not DS, the finish line can be seen in the clip)
Tour Sky High Sundae
3DS Wario Shipyard
N64 Koopa Troopa Beach
SNES Mario Circuit 3(AGAIN??? wtf)
GCN Dino Dino Jungle

Unnamed courses: A lot. A lot a lot. We’ll find out later, I’m sure.

New Mechanics
Parkour: Wallriding, grind rails, the works. No explanations of how much liberty you have with these yet, well have to see tomorrow(or during the direct)

Random!(A lot of stuff will be here later)
One of the desert tracks has a P Switch, which is interesting.
One of the courses has the same wall texture as Shroom Ridge(in the Booster Course Pass), which is atleast worth mentioning for now.
You can trick more than once in the air!(penalty for landing weirdly currently unknown)
Surfboard cars return!

That’s all for now, I already know that I’ll be editing this alot…

UPDATE 1: Anti-gravity isn't gone. You can seem Mario's wheels turn blue before he walljumps.
The use cases are just much better applied now.

Switch 2 price confirmed to be $450 USD
Japan gets it for around $334 USD, and Japan only(their currency has been struggling)
Thanks to Mario Kart, we now know the prices for Switch 2 games.
The extra massive releases will be $80 USD, & normal releases will be $70 USD.

Also, where are you seeing Moo Moo Meadows???