Gaming tech experts at Digital Foundry have recently provided an in-depth analysis of early footage of Mario Kart World, the highly anticipated next installment in the beloved racing franchise, seemingly poised to be a launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2.¹ Their initial examination suggests a significant generational leap in several aspects compared to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Digital Foundry noted that the analyzed footage appears to showcase a 1440p resolution without the use of TAA (Temporal Anti-Aliasing) or temporal upsampling in docked mode. The game is also running at a consistently smooth 60 frames per second, which is expected for the series, while the photo mode operates at 30fps. Interestingly, their analysis alludes to the potential inclusion of a 120fps mode, although no direct footage of this has been observed yet.

One of the key innovations highlighted by Digital Foundry is the apparent open-world structure integrated into Mario Kart World, a departure from the traditional circuit-based format. This new design allows for a seamless connection between tracks via explorable environments. Furthermore, the game is shown to support up to 24 racers simultaneously on the track, a substantial increase from previous entries. While some familiar rendering techniques like baked lighting are still utilized, improvements in areas like water rendering and environmental detail are evident, suggesting a notable step forward for the series on the new hardware.