Mario Kart World update: version 1.8.0 added 10 SNES courses and 26-player rooms, plus every update since launch

Mario Kart World’s newest update went back to where the series started, the original Super Mario Kart. Here’s what version 1.8.0 added and every free update before it.

What’s in the latest Mario Kart World update?

Version 1.8.0 arrived on Sept. 9, 2026. It added 10 courses from Super Mario Kart on SNES: Mario Circuit 1, 2 and 3, Ghost Valley 1, 2 and 3, Choco Island 1 and 2, Vanilla Lake 1 and Koopa Beach 1. You can pick them in VS Race, Time Trials and online and wireless races, and they use item panels instead of item boxes, like the original. Knockout Tour got two more routes, Propeller Rally and Turnip Rally.

Online play changed too. Rooms in Online Play and LAN Play now hold up to 26 players, with up to 24 racing, and a new Spectator Mode lets people watch without joining. While spectating, you can switch to a player’s view and see live rankings. Time Trials now show each lap time, and Nintendo also tuned item odds, Blooper ink and how often shells and fireballs bounce off walls.

When is the next Mario Kart World update?

Nintendo hasn’t announced it. The last five updates with new features came on these dates: version 1.4.0 on Dec. 2, 2025, 1.5.0 on Jan. 21, 2026, 1.6.0 on March 30, 2026, 1.7.0 on June 30, 2026 and 1.8.0 on Sept. 9, 2026. All of them have been free.

Every Mario Kart World update so far

Version 1.3.0 on Sept. 23, 2025, let you join friends in Knockout Tour and improved Free Roam. 1.4.0 in December added Custom Items, so you can choose which items appear, and showed the name of the song that’s playing. 1.5.0 in January added team races to Knockout Tour in online and wireless rooms. 1.6.0 in March brought a new Battle mode, Bob-omb Blast, where you can hold up to 10 Bob-ombs at once. 1.7.0 in June added the Drill Rally and Boomerang Rally to Knockout Tour, stickers in Photo Mode and faster acceleration for slower characters and karts.

Mario Kart World launched with the Switch 2 on June 5, 2025, and it’s $79.99 on the Nintendo US store. It has sold 15.39 million copies as of June 30, 2026, more than any other Switch 2 game. For what’s next on the console, see our upcoming Switch 2 games and next Nintendo Direct pages, and for more Nintendo multiplayer, our Star Fox Switch 2 multiplayer page.

This page is updated as soon as Nintendo announces or releases the next Mario Kart World update.