In Nintendo’s latest Ask the Developer interview series, Mario Kart World Producer Kosuke Yabuki and other of the development team like Atsuko Asahi, Kenta Sato, Masaaki Ishikawa, and Shintaro Jikumaru explained how Cow ended up being a playable character and ushered in other NPC drivers. It all started when a developer, who Ishikawa didn’t name, drew a sketch of the cow in the background driving a truck. As a result, options opened up in the new entry in the series.
Both Yabuki and Ishikawa cited the “for fun” sketch of Cow driving a truck, which seemed to be made during brainstorming new possible racers. Ishikawa said, “Each new Mario Kart game features new characters to race with, but since we added so many to the previous game, we wondered where we could go from there. And then one of the designers came up with that silly sketch of Cow cruising along, and I thought to myself, ‘This is it!’” This led to a prototype of that character, and then other NPC drivers like Cheep Cheep and Pokey ended up being broached as well. Yabuki also noted, “It’s pretty funny to see a four-legged Cow holding onto motorcycle handlebars with her front hooves.”
Jikumaru also noted that the appearance of Cow as the first NPC driver in Mario Kart World also influenced the addition of the Kamek item. The developer noted, “It was thanks to the introduction of various ‘NPC drivers’ that the idea to have Kamek appear as an item was born. When Kamek casts a spell, the racers are transformed into playable NPCs, so one by one they might all turn into Cow mid-race. I think it turned out to be a unique item that has never been seen before. In fact, Cow is a character who’s inspired a lot of different ideas, including obstacle characters like Camel and Giraffe.”
Mario Kart World debuts for the Switch 2 on June 5, 2025, appearing alongside the new console as a launch title.
Published: May 21, 2025 04:00 pm