Mario Kart World update 1.3.0 makes big Free Roam improvements

Nintendo has updated Mario Kart World to version 1.3.0, and the patch includes some notable quality-of-life improvements, especially for the game’s slightly undercooked Free Roam mode.

The biggest of these is that the Free Roam map now displays the locations of P Switches and Peach Medallions you’ve already found. While this keeps the locations of these collectibles a mystery, it should still make hunting for them easier, since you can easily see which parts of the map you’ve already covered and which could use further exploration. P Switch challenges you’ve yet to beat appear greyed out, and best of all, you can now fast travel to the location of any P Switch.

Nintendo has also added a new method for unlocking Mario Kart World‘s special characters. Previously this was only possible if you happened to be transformed into them by Kamek during a race — an entirely random occurrence. The new method is slightly less arcane, but only slightly. If you see a UFO in Free Roam, are sucked up by it, and assume control of it, you can now use the UFO’s tractor beam to pull in special characters and transform into them. UFOs have been made more common as well.

Nintendo has also further increased the frequency of three-lap courses appearing in multiplayer races, a key complaint among players who are less keen on Mario Kart World’s point-to-point racing style (which was already the subject of an earlier patch). Many won’t be happy until the game introduces a circuit-racing-only mode, though.

Balance changes include item boxes reappearing faster after they’ve been taken, and increased invincibility time after spinning or crashing out during a race. Some game transitions have been sped up, and there are a slew of bug fixes, too.

Nintendo’s full patch notes for Mario Kart World 1.3.0 are below.

General

• You can now join friends playing “Knockout Tour” by selecting “Friends” from “Online Play” “1p.”
• Up to 2 players can now play “Free Roam” while waiting if the game was full when trying to join friends playing “Race,” “Knockout Tour” or “Battle” in “Online Play.”
• The “Free Roam” map now displays the locations of P Switches you’ve run over and Peach Medallions you’ve obtained.
  • You can now select a P Switch from the map and move to a location near the P Switch.
• In “Free Roam”, you can now transform into the character pulled into the UFO.
  • If “Dash Food” in “Settings/Controller” is set to “Doesn’t transform” then you will not transform.
• It is now easier to encounter UFOs in “Free Roam.”
• The conditions for the appearance of some Peach Medallions in “Free Roam” have been adjusted.
• When spectating in “Knockout Tour” or “Balloon Battle” in “Online Play” or “Wireless Play”, you can now choose who to watch, even if you are holding the Joy-Con 2 or Joy-Con horizontally.
• Decreased the time between when an item box is taken by someone and the next time it is revived.
• Increased the invincible time after spinning or crashing during a race.
• Reduced the force of jumps when landing on a rival from above.
• Decreased the amount of time between when you finish and when spectating begins in “Knockout Tour” or “Balloon Battle” in “Online Play” or “Wireless Play.”
• Decreased the amount of time between passing through the checkpoint and when the ranking is displayed in “Knockout Tour” in “Wireless Play” and “LAN Play.”
• Further increased the frequency of lap-type courses appearing in the selection when choosing the next course in “VS Race” and wireless races.

Fixed Issues

• Fixed an issue in “Online Play” and “Wireless Play” where the ranking would sometimes become incorrect if a player went off course at the same time as reaching the finish line.
• Fixed an issue in “Grand Prix”, “Knockout Tour”, and “VS Race”, where the CPU’s ranking would sometimes drop after reaching the finish line.
• Fixed an issue in “Knockout Tour” in “Online Play” where other players’ ratings would sometimes appear as “0” on the results screen.
• Fixed an issue where a Spiny Shell would sometimes pass the first place player in “Wireless Play” or “Online Play.”
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be sent flying backwards a great distance when hit by a Spiny Shell.
• Fixed an issue where the second item in an item slot would sometimes not disappear when hit by Lightning.
• Fixed an issue where hitting the base of a pillar in mid-air would sometimes cause a large jump.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused movement to become unstable when doing a wall ride on water.
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be swept away strongly after landing when doing a mini jump while going up a river.
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes pass through the ground when hit by a car driving on the road.
• Fixed an issue in “Free Roam” where players would sometimes be unable to enter pipes correctly after exiting a trailer.
• Fixed an issue where the results screen would sometimes become distorted after spectating “Balloon Battle” in “Online Play.”
• Fixed an issue where the game would sometimes not proceed to the course selection screen after exiting a pipe during “Free Roam” in “Online Play.”
• Fixed an issue where Bullet Bill would sometimes slip through walls when used in “Sky-High Sundae.”
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes get stuck on a wall at the start of the race heading from “Airship Fortress” to “Shy Guy Bazaar.”
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes get stuck in walls when using a Bullet Bill in “Bowser’s Castle.”
• Fixed an issue in “Cheep Cheep Falls” where item boxes were sometimes difficult to pick up when Smart Steering was turned on.
• Fixed an issue in “Knockout Tour” “Spiny Rally” where sometimes there was an item box buried in the ground.
• Several other issues have been addressed to improve the gameplay experience.