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Nintendo has lifted the veil on a few more features included in Mario Kart World, and the Switch 2 racing game looks to be packed with content, with Battle Mode returning and Free Roam adding "hundreds" of missions that feel like a throwback to Mario Kart DS's Mission Mode.
Shown off during today's Mario Kart World Direct, Nintendo confirmed that, as you'd expect, Battle Mode is back in the upcoming Switch 2 game. As a mainstay feature of the series, this isn't exactly a shock, but it's still great to see the challenge mode in action – we can expect the return of Balloon Battle (which has you firing items at your opponents in order to pop all of their balloons), as well as Coin Runners (where the goal is to collect as many coins as possible).
It's not clear if this is the extent of the games we'll be able to play in Battle Mode – Mario Kart 8 Deluxe offered a total of five ways to play, with Renegade Roundup, Bob-omb Blast, and Shine Thief rounding out the amount of content offered even further. If these aren't included this time, it seems like a bit of a downgrade, but we'll have to watch this space.
Elsewhere, Nintendo finally showed off the extra stuff in Free Roam it was being secretive about before, and pretty much exactly as I hoped, Mario Kart World appears to offer a take on Mario Kart DS's Mission Mode. There are "hundreds" of P Switches hidden around the world for you to hit, which will start missions. From the footage we've seen so far, it seems like these include things like collecting a certain number of coins, and dodging obstacles to get to a goal, all within a time limit.
I'm personally curious to see how varied these are – Mario Kart DS even included unique boss battles to spice things up, which were some of the most memorable parts of the game for me.
The couple of missions we've seen so far in World look pretty basic, but if there are hundreds to complete, hopefully we get some good diversity in there. The fact that this wasn't shown does make me worry slightly, as I'd definitely have liked to have seen more to convince me that the DS game's incredible version of mission mode had been surpassed.
Missions aside, Free Roam is also packed with collectibles, including hidden coins, panels, "and more," so it sounds like it'll be worth our while to fully explore courses beyond the races themselves.
All in all, it sounds like we'll have loads to do – but will this be enough to convince players that Mario Kart World's $80 price tag is justified?
While the Nintendo Switch 2 news keeps on coming, be sure to check out our guide to Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders if you're looking to get the new console on release day.
