Things move fast with Mario Kart World. After all, this is a racing game we're talking about. Roughly two months after the soundtrack's debut on Nintendo Music, the Big N finally crossed the finish line on Tuesday with the latest music drop on its streaming service. You can now stream this monstrous OST, featuring 348 tracks spanning over 14 hours of music, directly on Nintendo Music (Nintendo Switch Online subscription required).
To celebrate, Nintendo also highlighted two specific tracks on its YouTube channel with exclusive live recording sessions for the title theme and Crown City. It's a rare chance to get a look behind the scenes of one of the most exceptional soundtracks ever produced for a video game. However, Nintendo is teasing us mercilessly here, as these are mere clips lasting less than two minutes each. Come on, Nintendo! I know there must be a hard drive stacked with hours of footage just sitting on someone's desk. Just release the full sessions already!
Another classic, nerve-wracking Nintendo habit is the complete absence of musician credits in the video descriptions. Who are these guys? Where was the soundtrack recorded, and when? Nintendo missed a golden opportunity to give well-deserved recognition to the composers and performers who brought the Switch 2's most striking soundtrack to life.
Here is what we do know: the Mario Kart World soundtrack was composed primarily by Atsuko Asahi, Maasa Miyoshi, Takuhiro Honda, and Yutaro Takakuwa—largely the same team behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Most of the tracks were recorded live by Nintendo's in-house studio group, the Mario Kart Band, “made up of internal composers and session players from some of the biggest jazz fusion bands in the world,” as noted by VGM expert Mat Ombler on LinkedIn. Keen-eyed fans might even recognize a few returning faces from the MK8 recording sessions.
This kind of behind-the-scenes footage is immensely refreshing. Just seeing these stellar musicians having a blast shredding on guitars, pounding on drums, and shaping synths with a talkbox made my day. I truly hope Nintendo has more vault footage to share soon—and given their recent focus on music initiatives, there's reason to be optimistic. Speaking of which, those The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild vinyl boxsets should start shipping any day now!
