Mario Kart World: A Guide to Unlocking All the Drivers

If there's one new feature that's immediately apparent about Mario Kart World, aside from its large, interconnected open world, it's the colourful parade of characters you're allowed to select to drive in races. It's no longer limited to the babies that debuted on the Gamecube and became permanent fixtures, or a select few of the Mushroom Kingdom's baddies. Now they let anyone drive, and this includes everything from the lowliest of low-life, scuzzy enemies, to the extras you'll only remember from just passing through.

We have the 1980s Crab from the first Mario Bros; the Fish Bone, which, as its name suggests, is a scrape; or animals that have already become memes, like Cow or Penguin. And it doesn't matter if they don't have arms, like the Goomba. They can drive just as well.

• You may be interested in: Mario Kart World Guide: How to unlock all vehicles

Of the 50 playable characters in Mario Kart World, "only" 32 are unlocked by default, meaning you have two and a half screens in character selection, and from there you'll need to unlock 18 racers and a whole host of outfits to complete the roster 100%.

We're putting together this guide so you can get all the secret racers. If it's the costumes you're after, check out the Mario Kart World guide for all the costumes.

All 32 Mario Kart World characters available to start with

These are the racers you can select from when you first boot up the game on your Nintendo Switch 2, in order of their appearance on the selection screen:

1. Mario


2. Luigi


3. Peach


4. Pauline


5. Yoshi


6. Toad


7. Koopa


8. Baby Mario


9. Wario


10. Waluigi


11. Bowser


12. Baby Luigi


13. Toadette


14. Baby Daisy


15. Goomba


16. Wiggler


17. Baby Peach


18. Baby Rosalina


19. Dry Bones


20. Hammer Brother


21. Shy Guy


22. Nabbit


23. Piranha Plant


24. Crab


25. Monty Mole


26. Stingby


27. Penguin


28. Cheep Cheep


29. Cow


30. Para-Biddybud


31. Pokey


32. Snowman

Mario Kart World's 18 secret characters and how to unlock them

Here are the 18 characters you'll have to unlock as you play more and more Mario Kart World. If you notice, each unlocked driver is somehow thematically related to the different Cups. In alphabetical order because each one follows its own order in each game:

1. Birdo: Unlocked by completing the Banana Cup on any engine capacity.


2. Bowser Jr.: Unlocked by completing the Lightning Cup on any engine size.


3. Daisy: Unlocked by completing the Flower Cup on any displacement.


4. Dolphin: Unlocked when you are randomly transformed into it with Kamek's magic.


5. Donkey Kong: Unlocked by completing the Mushroom Cup on any tier.


6. Rosalina: Unlocked by completing the Star Cup on any tier.


7. Peepa: Unlocked when you are randomly transformed into them with Kamek's magic.


8. Pianta: Unlocked when you are randomly transformed into them with Kamek's magic.


9. Lakitu: Unlocked when you complete the Shell Cup on any tier.


10. Coin Coffer: Unlocked when you are randomly transformed into it with Kamek's magic.


11. Fish Bone: Unlocked when you are randomly transformed into it with Kamek's magic.


12. Conkdor: Unlocked when you are randomly transformed into it with Kamek's magic.


13. Cataquack: Unlocked when you are randomly transformed into them with Kamek's magic.


14. Chargin' Chuck: Unlocked when you are randomly transformed into him with Kamek's magic.


15. King Boo: Unlocked when you complete the Leaf Cup on any tier.


16. Swoop: Unlocked when you are randomly transformed into them with Kamek's magic.


17. Rocky Wrench: Unlocked when you are randomly transformed into him with Kamek's magic.


18. Spike: Unlocks when you are randomly transformed into them with Kamek's magic.

What's your "main" in Mario Kart World so far, and which vehicle? Leave us a comment below.