Why isn't Mario Kart World a crossover racer? A Nintendo dev says it would have been "incongruous"

Having Mario Kart World include a roster of characters from other Nintendo series would have been “incongruous”.

That’s according to Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki, who recently discussed why the likes of Legend of Zelda’s silent hero Link and Animal Crossing’s Isabelle weren’t part of the game’s line up of racers, as they were in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

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As spotted by Nintendo Everything, Yabuki told Ouest-France the inclusion of characters from other games in the Mario Kart World universe would have been both “incongruous” and, quite simply, unnecessary.

“It didn’t seem necessary, given everything we could already do with Mario,” Yabuki told the publication (via machine translation). “We inevitably wonder how players will perceive this cast. But there are so many characters and so many costumes that there’s sure to be something for everyone.”