The Best Mario Kart Game Officially Gets Switch 2 Update

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Just Got Updated For The Switch 2 Published Sep 2, 2026, 3:33 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. Sign in to your TheGamer account Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Nintendo's second-best-selling game in its storied history, has finally received a massive update for the Nintendo Switch 2. It's a little late to the game, with more than a dozen first-party titles having received Switch 2 updates already, but better late than never, as they say. This new update makes some fundamental changes to the nine-year-old game, including an increase in the number of human players you can race against in multiplayer mode. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Version 4.0.0 Has Just Been Released For The Nintendo Switch 2 Only Wii Sports has sold more copies than Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so it's a surprise it's taken this long for it to get an update for the Switch 2. Games like Arms, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, and Pikmin 3 Deluxe all received the treatment first. This new update improves the graphical fidelity of 8 Deluxe, and increases the number of players in local multiplayer to eight, up from four. You can read the full list of changes to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in update 4.0.0 below: Added support for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs, allowing for clearer visuals. Shortened the loading time before races and battles begin. Added support for 5–8 players in Multiplayer. You can connect up to seven Nintendo Switch controllers (Joy-Con or Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers) to the Nintendo Switch 2 system. In order to play with eight people, you need at least one Joy-Con 2 controller or a Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller. Added CameraPlay support. A USB camera (sold separately) is required to use CameraPlay. Players can turn camera ON or OFF in Multiplayer (2-4 players) and Online Play modes. In order to use a camera on the internet, players must participate in a GameChat session. The camera footage and microphone audio will be sent only to GameChat members. When the camera is ON, the player’s face is displayed during the race. General Increased player speed during races by the equivalent of one coin. Players will not slow down while using Boo to become invisible, even when entering an offroad area. Players with access to the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass will have “96 Races” added to the “VS Race” rule settings. There's a high chance Nintendo held off this long to push sales of Mario Kart World, but now they're potentially slowing down, updating Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with these new features is a great move. Systems Released April 28, 2017 ESRB E Developer(s) Nintendo EAD, Nintendo EPD Publisher(s) Nintendo Engine Unreal Engine 4 Franchise Mario Kart