Mario Kart World features a massive map to explore full of puzzles, challenges, and other quests to complete. Players can wander around it to their hearts content in Free Roam mode. But they won’t be able to do it with a friend sitting next to them. Unlike the rest of the Switch 2 exclusive’s game modes, this one doesn’t support local co-op. It’s an unfortunate shortcoming for such a major addition to the franchise.
Nintendo provided fans with a deep dive into Mario Kart World’s free roam mode back in April. It showed players exploring different zones, attempting P-switch challenges, collecting coins, and discovering other secrets. “In Free Roam, you can also meet up with your crew anywhere in this game’s world,” the company wrote at the time. “Drive around, see where your friends are on the map and warp to them instantly. Then race, battle with custom rules or take a road trip to see the sights together.”
While that’s not confirmation of local splitscreen, it did give some the impression that free roam would be a multiplayer-friendly mode. But it turns out that’s not really the case. There are essentially two versions of Free Roam. One is single-player and includes all of the challenges and collectibles. The other is a glorified online lobby where you drive around in-between matches but there’s not really anything to do. And neither lets you play with another person sitting next to you.
Now, Forza Horizon 5 doesn’t support local co-op either. Rendering an open world is very resource intensive, and duplicating that for a second player in a second screen on the same system even more so. There are probably very valid technical and logistical hurdles that explain why Free Roam doesn’t have local splitscreen co-op. Is it still a bummer? Definitely.
As Remap co-host Patrick Klepek alluded to on X, the limitation will be especially galling for families who want to play together, or for parents with kids who struggle with taking turns. My own children, at least, love undirected play in video games. Minecraft and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are the games they spent the most time with for that exact reason. Free Roam was by far the thing that they were most intrigued with when it came to Mario Kart World. They like racing but they’ve done it before (and have trouble with losing).
Free Roam, with its undirected and uncompetitive gameplay, looked poised to answer both of those needs, making Mario Kart World something they’d love messing around in just for fun. Unfortunately, when it comes to multiplayer at least, the meat of the $80 sequel is still very much in traditional racing modes, just with some new open-world twists.
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