Mario Kart World, for example, doesn’t feature The Legend of Zelda characters like Zelda or Link, unlike Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki has revealed the decision behind the newest title in the kart racing franchise not featuring any characters from outside of the Mario franchise. While Mario Kart games – especially Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – have often featured characters from other Nintendo franchises like Link and Zelda from The Legend of Zelda as playable members of the roster, Mario Kart World sticks to only having Mario characters.

In an interview with Quest France, Yabuki spoke about not wanting Mario Kart World’s roster to feel “incongruous” by having characters from disparate universes. He also said that the development team didn’t find it necessary to bring in characters like Link and Zelda, considering the already expansive character roster in the kart racer.

“As developers, it would have seemed incongruous to us to add characters from other games into this universe.” Yabuki said (via Google Translate). “It didn’t seem necessary to us, given everything we could already do with Mario.” Yabuki also said “Absolutely not!” when asked about adding characters from ARMS to the series.

He also noted that, while Mario Kart World lacks many of the guest racers from other Nintendo franchises that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe had, “the reception has been so warm that it surprised even us! It definitely exceeded our expectations.” Yabuki also confirmed that the Cow has been his favourite new addition to the kart racer’s roster so far.

In the same interview, Yabuki also reiterated the studio’s previous insistence that it doesn’t like calling Mario Kart World an open-world game because of the vagueness of the term’s definition. “We don’t really use the term open world on our side,” Kosuke Yabuki said, ” because the definition can be a little vague. The main idea is to be able to explore beyond the tracks, to be able to wander around in this continuous world.”

When it comes to the kart racer’s overall world design, Yabuki also spoke about how the development team didn’t want to add more scenery for players to explore just for the sake of it. Rather, all of it has to contribute to the fun in some way. With this in mind, the studio also focused on allowing players to interact with the world in different ways, aiding in the sense of discovery that players can feel.

“But most importantly, every element had to contribute to the fun,” Yabuki explained. “We didn’t just want to add scenery for the sake of it: every time we added something, we thought about how players would interact with it, what effects it would have on them, or what they would discover.”

Mario Kart World was released on the Nintendo Switch 2 as one of the console’s launch titles.