New Mario Kart World footage seems to confirm a new way to race that was originally planned for Double Dash 22 years ago

Mario Kart World screenshot for Switch 2 showing Wario blasting ahead with a host of characters right behind him in a desert biome — (Image credit: Nintendo)

Footage from a Japanese advertisement for Mario Kart World seems to confirm a reverse mode for the upcoming racer.

In case you haven't noticed, Mario Kart World is looking to shake the series up somewhat when it arrives on Nintendo Switch 2 next week – what with the open world and all. But one of the most shocking omissions on Nintendo's part was the lack of a Mirror Mode, which has been present in almost every single Mario Kart game.

However, Nintendo may be giving us something even better this time around. While Mirror Mode simply flips the track horizontally, turning left turns into right turns and vice versa, Reverse mode would allow players to actually race the track from the end to the start. Reverse mode was originally a feature planned for Double Dash, that was later revived for the mobile game Mario Kart Tour, and it looks like it's finally going to make its console debut in Mario Kart World.

Mario Kart World NEW EXCLUSIVE JAPANESE Gameplay Footage Switch 2 4K - YouTube

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A user on the r/Mariokart subreddit noticed something strange in some of the new gameplay footage seen in Japanese commercials for the game. Notably that there's a clip of Bowser Jr racing on the new Mario Bros. Circuit track, but compared to footage seen in the recent Nintendo Treehouse streams, it's clearly in reverse (and as NintendoSoup points out, the minimap is flipped).

Although, what players are trying to figure out is if this will be a dedicated Reverse Cup mode (like the scrapped Double Dash variant) or if this is just what happens when you race between Crown City and Mario Bros. Circuit in Vs mode. One user points out that you can see characters cross over the starting line and appear on the minimap in the footage, implying that it's following one of the game's new intermission tracks (in which you drive from one track to another during grand prix mode).

Regardless, it looks like Nintendo may be throwing in variants of each map to keep things fresh in Mario Kart World, so you likely won't be able to get too comfortable. But the real question is when is Nintendo bringing back 200cc mode for the real sickos?

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