Earlier this week, we reported that the Korean Nintendo website had accidentally revealed an announced character coming to Donkey Kong Bananza (spoilers!), and now the website has confirmed an iconic track is making a return for Mario Kart World.
Warning! Potential Mario Kart World spoilers follow:
As with the Donkey Kong snafu, the guilty images were removed speedily from the official website, but not before someone snapped them and posted them to Reddit, of course.
As the images are pretty fuzzy — and there’s no accompanying text — this is essentially all we know so far. With a little cross-checking, it looks as though a hidden Rainbow Road track will sit just below Princess Peach’s Stadium on the four-way intersection in the bay area (thanks, Eurogamer), although it’s unclear if it’s a secret track or some kind of unlockable extra.
It’s also got some fans wondering if every four-way intersection could be the location of a hidden course.
On Monday, Nintendo justified Mario Kart World’s shock $80 price tag in response to controversy over the $10 hike for some Switch 2 games. IGN interviewed Nintendo of America’s Vice President of Product and Player Experience, Bill Trinen, at a recent Switch 2 preview event in New York, and asked about Nintendo’s pricing strategy (albeit ahead of Nintendo’s announcement about delaying Switch 2 pre-orders in the U.S. due to the potential impact of tariffs).
“I would say it’s less about the strategy of pricing Mario Kart World, it’s more just whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience, and what’s the content, and what’s the value?” Trinen said at the time.
As IGN has reported, some Nintendo fans have expressed concern that they may be priced out of the next-generation if the company goes even higher than the already controversial prices for the Switch 2 and its games such as Mario Kart World due to the tariff situation.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.