With Mario Kart World launching in just two weeks on Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5, Nintendo has released a four-part interview series diving deep into the game’s development. In the series, music lead Atsuko Asahi discusses the game’s score, developing tracks, and even the fact that more than 200 songs are featured in the Mario Kart World jukebox.
These 200 songs are all new arrangements, and they were recorded live, too, according to Asahi, and if they’re anywhere near as delightful on the ears as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s excellent jazz-infused score, we’re in for a treat.
“Altogether, over 200 for the ‘jukebox,’” Asahi said when asked about the total number of musical pieces in Mario Kart World. “These are all brand-new arrangements, and we also did live recordings. We prepared pieces from quite a wide variety of musical genres. I believe those who are well-versed in video game music, as well as those who aren’t, will enjoy listening to them.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Asahi is asked about the challenge of crafting background music and integrating tracks into Mario Kart World’s open world design. Asahi explained music for the designated courses came first, then the open world parts of the game.
“First, we created music for the courses like we’ve always done before and then thought about what to do for the roads outside the courses,” Asahi said. “We decided to have two different kinds of music depending on how you’re playing. For the Knockout Tour mode, we started off by simply trying to connect the course themes. But that approach didn’t work well. It ended up sounding weird because the tracks have different tempos and beats. So, we decided to find a way to end each of the course themes, even though they’re connected by the route.
“Video game music often plays on a loop, and in this game, too, the same music keeps playing if you’re driving laps around a course. But for Knockout Tour, as you get closer to the next course, the music transitions to the outro, so the theme ends nicely. We also created a new intro for each course theme, which starts to play shortly before you reach the gate, building excitement. Then, as you actually pass through the gate, it changes to the theme of the course you’ve entered. By repeating this, it feels like a medley is playing along to you live, creating a sense of immersion.”
For other modes in Mario Kart World, like the open world Free Roam, Asahi said the team prepared lots of music in addition to the course tracks, and that the game automatically selects the right track depending on the situation. During development, the team referred to this carousel of music as the “jukebox,” and that’s how the jukebox feature made it into Mario Kart World.
Mario Kart World launches exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5.
For more, read about how Nintendo considered dropping the resolution and frame rate of Mario Kart World before changing development to Switch 2. After that, read about how Nintendo says there are more than 100 courses in Mario Kart World, and then check out Game Informer’s 2025 Switch 2 video game release schedule list.
What genre of music do you hope to hear in Mario Kart World? Let us know in the comments below!