Mario Kart World's internal code name was "Drive"

Nintendo's internal project code name for Mario Kart World has apparently been discovered, but does not expect to be surprised by what it was called.

In addition to being the only real launch title for Switch 2, Mario Kart World is a big moment for Nintendo. It not only takes the series in a new open world direction, but finally leaves the decades old Mario Kart 8 in the dust and makes room for a new era of Mario Kart. That era is one who has been in the works for a while now.

Since Mario Kart World was officially revealed a few months ago, Nintendo has shared a surprising amount of details about its development history, including that it originally started as a Nintendo Switch title. One thing like Nintendo Don't have However, it revealed what the internal code name for the world was, but it has not prevented it from slipping out.

Mario Kart World's internal code name is very on the nose

It is also in line with previous Mario Kart project titles

Mechanic Mario sitting next to a Moo Moo Meadows cow in Mario Kart World.

Nintendo may not have revealed Mario Kart World's internal code name itself, but Nintendosoup has managed to reveal it after “verified different materials for the game”. As the site recently revealed, that code name is very simple, as Mario Kart World was simply called “Drive” during development.

Sorry if you expected something more complicated, but it seems Nintendo was very literal for Mario Kart World's internal name. Of course, in this case, Drive refers more likely to the game's open world and specific focus on being able to go somewhere, but I think we all hoped it would have the title “cow” or something.

However, this code name is very much in line with what Nintendo has used for other Mario Kart games. As Nintendosoup pointed out, Mario Kart 7 was coded “Dash” during the development, while “Turbo” was used for Mario Kart 8. It seems Nintendo does not really bind specific game mechanics or themes to its code name for Mario Kart games.

Although there is nothing particularly remarkable about Mario Kart World's internal code name, it is nice to know a little more about the game's development history and how Nintendo approached it during its long development.