How to play Mario Kart World online with friends

A Cheep Cheep secures a much deserved victory in Mario Kart World Online — (Image credit: Nintendo)

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Playing with friends online
Can you play with online friends and randos?

To play Mario Kart World online with friends and enjoy multiplayer together, players will have to overcome a few limitations and set up rooms where they can team up accordingly. It's relatively simple, though it's not the most flexible of systems, as we'll outline below. MKW has several gameplay modes and options to enjoy together, including standard races, Knockout Tour, and Battle against each other, all of which can be played with your friends.

Below, we'll cover the steps needed to play with friends online in Mario Kart World, including the best options and what you'll need to do to form rooms together, as well as if there's an ability to bring friends into larger games with randos in multiplayer.

How to play with friends in Mario Kart World online

A friend list and room options in Mario Kart World Online — (Image credit: Nintendo)

To join friends online in Mario Kart World, you need to do the following:

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Make sure all players have a Nintendo Switch Online Membership. You can't play online games without them.
One player goes to the main menu of Mario Kart World and selects "Online Play".
From there, select "Friends" and then "Create Room."
Select your character and kart, and this will put you in Free Roam.
Press + to bring up the menu and select "View Room Info" to get your Room ID, a six-digit code.
At this point, your friends who want to join you should Select "Online Play" and "Friends" too, then "Search By Room ID" at the top.
Enter the code of your friend's room to join it.
When everybody has joined, the person who created the room can press + again and choose "Start Game".
At this point the room-creator can decide your game mode and the rules accordingly.
When the game is done, you will all be returned to the Free Roam room to decide the next game!

A sample Room ID in Mario Kart World Online — (Image credit: Nintendo)

It's relatively basic as room-based systems go: one of you creates a room/server, and shares the code so everybody can join, then just starts up some matches. You can also change your kart and character while in the free roam area from the pause menu.

Can you play with online friends and randos on Mario Kart World multiplayer?

The Mario Kart World online menu — (Image credit: Nintendo)

Annoyingly, there is no way to join friends for larger online play in Mario Kart World at time of writing, meaning that players on two different Switch 2 consoles can't form a lobby that then fills in the remaining spaces with random online players – instead, it will use bots to fill the gaps.

The only way to play with friends in larger multiplayer is by doing so locally, using two controllers on the same Switch before selecting the multiplayer option. It's possible that updates will change this in the future, but there's no guarantee right now.

Want some more help with all things motorized? Check out how to unlock characters in Mario Kart World with our dedicated page, or find out how to wall ride in Mario Kart World and pull off some sick tricks!

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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.