Turns out Mario Kart 8 has a 12-player LAN mode that no one knew about

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Nintendo wasn’t exactly quiet about the feature either

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
(Image credit: Nintendo)

It turns out that Mario Kart 8 has a secret LAN mode that allows up to 12 players to race together via a wired connection. 

As pointed out by Mario Kart content creator and Twitter user, @Mankalor, Nintendo is hiding a secret LAN moded in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Mankalor demonstrates how to access this feature in a video attached to the tweet and all players need to do is hold L+R and click on the Left Stick on the main menu to swap the 'Wireless Play' option to 'LAN Play'.

This discovery may be new to many Mario Kart fans, but Nintendo hasn't ever been quiet about this largely unknown feature. In fact, there's even a Mario Kart 8 LAN support page on the Nintendo of America website. As the page reads: "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe supports LAN play, allowing players to connect multiple Nintendo Switch consoles together over a wired connection for the ultimate Mario Kart competition with up to 12 players."

The tweet by Mankalor has understandably gone somewhat viral and has introduced more casual Mario Kart players to the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe LAN tournaments, one of which was hosted by the Twitter user as recently as last week and live streamed online.  

Not entirely sure what a LAN tournament is? Starting in the late 90s and early 2000s, ''AN parties'' were essentially gatherings where players bring their computers/consoles to each other's houses or other locations and wire them together to play multiplayer games. Although they're not so much a thing anymore, due to the ease of wireless connectivity, these events still happen, as Mankalor has demonstrated.

Need an excuse to get back into NiNintendo'sconic racer? Find out what new courses are heading to the game in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC Wave 2.

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.