Nintendo just reversed course on one of its most controversial changes to Mario Kart World, sorta. The Switch 2 maker just buffed the appearance rate of three-lap courses after previously nuking a sneaky workaround players had been exploiting to avoid the new game’s in-between driving sections. Somehow that’s not even the biggest change in the game’s first major update since launch. The Switch 2’s biggest exclusive is back on the menu.
Mario Kart World version 1.2.0 includes new features, lots of game tweaks, and some massive rebalancing. One thing that might bring back some lapsed players is this patch note: “Increased the frequency of lap-type courses appearing in the selection when choosing the next course in ‘VS Race’ and wireless races.” Fans are taking that to mean that traditional three-lap stages will be more frequent, including when playing online.
A big criticism of the game has been throwing lots of straightaway, interstitial courses into the mix that just have players racing between the actual tracks they want to play on. When Mario Kart World first released, choosing random while playing online automatically removed these tracks from the selection pool. The community’s preference was so strong it became common to see all 24 players in a race choose random. So Nintendo being Nintendo they got rid of that workaround in an apparent attempt to “force” fans to play Mario Kart World “the right way.”
The company now seems to have backed off a bit, though it’s anybody’s guess whether it was “bullied” into accommodating players preferences or simply wanted to try and fix how the random selection option worked without making everyone extra miserable. Mario Kart World version 1.2.0 is so big that’s not even the most consequential part of the update. Far from it, in fact.
“Made COM weaker in everything other than ‘Battle,’” reads a major change that’s already rippling throughout the community with fans unsure whether to embrace the difficulty nerf or call for an unofficial “hard” mode to return. Grand Prix and Knockout races could get pretty gnarly at 150cc (a 200cc mode doesn’t exist in the game yet, though many suspect it will get added at some point). It’s not just the higher speeds that make things tricky.
Instead, its CPU’s tricking off every surface in sight and hammering players with shells and other items. Mario Kart World’s item box RNG also tends to incentivize players “bagging” it in last place before trying shoot up the ranks with the powerful items they’ve earned. Twenty four players also means races have huge middle packs with double the carnage of previous Mario Kart games. We’ll see how it shakes out, but some players are already claiming special bragging rights for unlocking three-stars on all races without the CPU nerf.
Other notable patch notes include “made homing of Boomerang weaker” and “On the ‘Free Roam’ map, when you gather all of the P Switches, ? Panels, and Peach Medallions, the colors of the various numbers will now change.” There are also dozens of fixes to race tracks where players were previously falling through the map or getting snagged on trees and other obstacles. It’ll take some time to see how all the changes shake out but it definitely feels like we’ve entered Mario Kart World’s first official “We’re so back” era.
Here are the full patch notes for ver. 1.2.0:
Latest update: Ver. 1.2.0 (Released July 29, 2025)
General
- In the “VS Race” of “Single Player”, added “No COM” to the COM rules.
- In the “VS Race” of “Single Player” and “Multiplayer”, added “Mushrooms only” to the item rules.
- You can now choose “View Replay” after downloading ghost data in “Time Trials”.
- You can now choose whom to watch when spectating in “Knockout Tour” and “Balloon Battle” in “Online Play”, “Wireless Play”, and “LAN Play”.
- You can now see the waiting time until the next race or battle starts in “Online Play”, “Wireless Play”, and “LAN Play”.
- When using CameraPlay in “Multiplayer” and “Online Play”, the game will now remember the camera cursor position and size until the player closes the game.If you change the number of people playing, the cursor position and size will return to their original settings.
- On the “Free Roam” map, when you gather all of the P Switches, ? Panels, and Peach Medallions, the colors of the various numbers will now change.
- Made COM weaker in everything other than “Battle”.
- Made homing of Boomerang weaker.
- Decreased the probability of getting a Triple Dash Mushroom in the low position, whenever the item rules in a race are anything other than “Frantic”.
- Changed it so order of getting ? Block is higher than in the past, whenever the item rules in a race are anything other than “Frantic”.
- Made it so there is a wheel spinning animation if the player presses the A button (acceleration) too early when starting a race while driving.Player will not lose speed even when spinning wheels.
- Increased the frequency of lap-type courses appearing in the selection when choosing the next course in “VS Race” and wireless races.
Fixed Issues
- Fixed an issue where the rate fluctuations were sometimes displayed incorrectly in wireless races.
- Fixed an issue where the vehicle would stay floating in air when jumping off a half pipe.
- Fixed an issue where, when a player crashes while gliding and uses Bullet Bill, they go out of the course.
- Fixed an issue where, if a player quits a Rewind in the location where they were wall riding, the driver’s posture would not return to what it was before.
- Fixed an issue where the item that was displayed in the item slot would turn into something else when using it.
- Fixed an issue where in “Online Play”, the player would not dash even when getting on a Dash Panel.
- Fixed an issue where the points in a team race in “Wireless Play” would display incorrectly.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes controls were inoperable on the menu screen after the player was retired in “Balloon Battle” in “Wireless Play”.
- Fixed an issue where a Peach Medallion would sometimes disappear when doing Rewind in “Free Roam”.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes controls were inoperable when the player pointed the cursor at their own character or course and pressed A on the “Free Roam” map.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes controls were inoperable when the player quit a mission in “Free Roam” right before entering a pipe.
- Fixed an issue where the player would slip through some drift ice around “Sky-High Sundae”.
- Fixed an issue where the player would get caught on the outside of a handrail on the left and right sides right after the start of “Airship Fortress”.
- Fixed an issue where the player would get caught on the fence and not be able to move forward in “Bowser’s Castle”.
- Fixed an issue where, when the player used a Bullet Bill in “Bowser’s Castle”, they would not be able to glide and fell into the abyss.
- Fixed an issue where the player would go out of the course when using a Mega Mushroom on the last turn of “Whistlestop Summit”.
- Fixed an issue where the player could not get out of the location where they fell from a railroad when “Smart Steering” is on in “Whistlestop Summit”.
- Fixed an issue where the player would slip through the ground at a ramp near the goal at “Choco Mountain”.
- Fixed an issue where the player would get caught on a block when using a Bullet Bill on the road that enters “Choco Mountain”.
- Fixed an issue where the player would get caught on a plank of wood laid on the road when throwing a green shell on the road between “DK Spaceport” and “Whistlestop Summit”.
- Fixed an issue where the last place would be sometimes incorrect in the wireless races of “Dino Dino Jungle”.
- Fixed an issue where the player would get caught on the back of a leaf when using a Bullet Bill in “Acorn Heights”.
- Fixed an issue where the player would not be able to slip through a vase that is placed on the road in “Shy Guy Bazaar”, when using a Boo.
- Fixed an issue where the player would slip through the ceiling in “Dry Bones Burnout”.
- Fixed an issue where the player would sometimes hit a fence when throwing a red shell on the first turn in “Moo Moo Meadows”.
- Fixed an issue where one part of the effects that take place for the bridge transforming when heading toward “Rainbow Road” did not display.
- Fixed an issue where the player would slip through the ground on the road between ”Starview Peak” and “Sky-High Sundae”.
- Fixed an issue where some of the item boxes would not have appeared in “Wario Shipyard”.
- Fixed an issue where the player would slip through the bottom of a rock near the goal of ”Wario Shipyard”.
- Fixed an issue where the player would go out of the course when using a Mega Mushroom on a turn inside “Wario Stadium”.
- Fixed an issue where the player gets caught on a tree in the middle of a shortcut if they have “Smart Steering” on when heading from “Starview Peak” to “Dandelion Depths” in “Ice Rally” of “Knockout Tour”.
- Several other issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience.
.
