Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Gets Eight-Player Split-Screen World Still Lacks

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe version 4.0.0 adds eight-player split-screen on Nintendo Switch 2, a free local mode the newer Mario Kart World still does not offer on one console. Nintendo of America’s newsroom dated the download September 1, 2026, and pitched it at a big group sharing one system.

The same hardware still holds World to four people on a single screen. Extra racers there need extra consoles, extra copies, and a wireless room, which is a steep bill for a living room that already owns Deluxe.

The Free Patch Nintendo Did Not Tease

Nintendo’s United Kingdom support page lists the build as Version 4.0.0 and says it became available on September 2, 2026, a calendar split that tracks with time zones rather than two different patches. The download is required for online play, save data stays in place, and a console left on the internet will pull the file on its own.

Switch 2 owners get the features that use the newer machine: support for its display and high-resolution TVs, shorter waits before races and battles, CameraPlay, and local play for 5 to 8 people. Everyone else on an original Switch still receives the general tweaks, including a speed bump Nintendo described as the equivalent of one extra coin and a Boo change that stops off-road slowdown while the item is active.

Booster Course Pass owners also get a “96 Races” rule in VS Race, a marathon setting that strings the full cup list into one sitting. Nintendo did not walk the patch out in a Direct. It simply published the notes and let the title screen show 4.0.0.

With one Nintendo Switch 2 system, and enough controllers, you can now race in split-screen with up to eight people. It’s great for when you’ve got a big group together and want to play some Mario Kart.

Nintendo of America, official news post, September 1, 2026

That line is the whole pitch. The company is selling a couch, not a new track list.

Eight Players on One Switch 2

Until this build, Deluxe stopped at four on one screen, the same ceiling the Wii U original used. Version 4.0.0 lifts that ceiling on Switch 2 only, so a single docked (or handheld) unit can now race in split-screen with up to eight people if the controllers are there.

The screen becomes a grid of tiny viewports. That is the joke and the draw: eight karts, eight item boxes, eight arguments about who threw the shell, all on one TV. Nintendo of America posted the feature the same day the notes went up.

#MarioKart 8 Deluxe now has added features when played on Nintendo Switch 2!

Find out more about the free update here: https://t.co/w5D6CiTyge pic.twitter.com/CmpbimbA5I

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 2, 2026

A fifth person in the room used to kill the session. Four could play and the extra friend sat on the arm of the sofa, or the group picked something else. Eight-player Deluxe is built for that exact mess, the birthday-party count that never matched the old four-player lid.

Why Mario Kart World Cannot Match This

Mario Kart World launched with Switch 2 on June 5, 2025, and it is the bigger, louder sequel: open roads, Knockout Tour, and local fields padded with CPUs to 24 drivers. On one console, though, Nintendo’s own multiplayer explainer still tells players to pick 2P, 3P, or 4P on a single system.

If more than four people want in, World’s answer is local wireless across multiple Switch 2 systems and copies, with each of those systems running 1P or 2P. LAN play exists for rooms that already have a pile of consoles and a router. That is not eight viewports on one television.

ONE CONSOLE, TWO LOCAL RULES

World can put 24 karts on a course. It cannot put eight humans on one living-room panel without buying more hardware. Deluxe just did the cheaper, uglier, more useful thing.

Seven Old Controllers and One New One

The eight-player mode is not a software-only gift. Nintendo’s notes cap original Switch pads at seven on Switch 2. The eighth seat has to be a Joy-Con 2 or a Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller.

Households that kept a drawer of old Joy-Con and Pro Controllers can cover most of the grid. They still need one piece of Switch 2-era plastic in the mix. That is a small, sharp nudge toward the new accessory shelf, not a lockout of last-generation gear.

WHAT AN EIGHT-PLAYER RACE REQUIRES

• The console: A Nintendo Switch 2 running Mario Kart 8 Deluxe version 4.0.0.
• The pads: Eight controllers in total, with no more than seven original Switch Joy-Con or Pro Controllers on the system.
• The new piece: At least one Joy-Con 2 or Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller before the eighth player can join.
• The screen: Split-screen on that one system, docked or in the hands, with each racer on a smaller slice of glass.

Wireless matchmaking with anyone still on an older build is cut once 4.0.0 is installed, so the party has to update together. Extra accessories are sold separately, which Nintendo repeats in the footnotes because eight people never arrive with eight pads.

CameraPlay Stops at Four Faces

CameraPlay is the other Switch 2 hook in the same patch, and it does not scale with the new player count. A USB camera, sold separately, plugs into the system. Players can switch the camera on or off in local play for 2 to 4 people and in online play. When it is on, the racer’s face sits on screen during the race.

Online camera use is fenced off. Nintendo says you must be in a GameChat session, and the footage plus microphone audio go only to the people in that session, not to a random worldwide lobby. Nintendo Switch Online and a Nintendo Account are required for those online pieces, and the camera itself is not in the box.

An eight-player couch race can therefore show four faces and four blank karts. The feature is built for a smaller group, or for a GameChat night, not for the full eight-wide grid. Compatible USB-C cameras include Nintendo’s own Switch 2 camera and other units that pass the system’s Test USB Camera check.

71.53 Million Copies Meet a $549.99 Bundle

Deluxe is still the Switch catalog’s sales floor. Nintendo’s software table, dated June 30, 2026, lists 71.53 million copies sold worldwide, a figure that includes bundles and downloads. Mario Kart World, in Nintendo’s results for the year ended March 31, 2026, sold 14.70 million units including hardware bundles.

Those are not head-to-head year scores. One is a 2017 Switch edition that never left the chart. The other is a Switch 2 launch game whose first fiscal year includes the consoles it shipped with. Nintendo has already said Deluxe kept selling because Switch 2 plays Switch discs and downloads.

THE TWO KARTS ON THE LEDGER

• Deluxe stock: 71.53 million copies life to date as of June 30, 2026, per Nintendo’s IR table.
• World’s first fiscal year: 14.70 million units in the year ended March 31, 2026, including bundled copies.
• New hardware price: A standalone Switch 2 lists at $499.99 from September 1, 2026.
• The September bundle: Switch 2 plus a Mario Kart World download plus a 3-month Nintendo Switch Online Individual Membership for $549.99 in late September, $37.98 below buying the pieces apart.

The bundle is a real product with a real date window. It is also a sequel sold at full holiday price against a free eight-player patch for a game millions of Switch 2 owners already have installed. A family that wanted eight people on one TV did not get that layout in World. They got it in Deluxe, at no extra software cost, as long as one new controller is in the pile.

That is the odd shape of the week. Nintendo did not retire the 2017 kart. It taught the new console to split the old one eight ways, then pointed a $549.99 World bundle at the same door.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do You Need Version 4.0.0 to Play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Online?

Yes. Nintendo’s support notes say the update must be applied to use online features, and that installing it turns off wireless matchmaking with anyone still on an earlier version, so every console in a local group has to be on 4.0.0 before the race starts.

Can an Original Nintendo Switch Run Eight-Player Split-Screen?

No. Support for 5 to 8 players is listed under Nintendo Switch 2 system support, so an original Switch, Switch OLED, or Switch Lite still tops out at the old four-player split-screen even after 4.0.0 installs on that hardware.

Does CameraPlay Work During an Eight-Player Race?

No. Nintendo limits the on/off camera toggle to Multiplayer with 2 to 4 players and to Online Play, so an eight-wide split-screen race cannot put all eight faces on the karts even if a USB camera is plugged in.

What Does the 96 Races Setting Do?

It is a VS Race rule added only for players who own the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass, and it lets that group queue a single custom run that covers the full 96-race list instead of picking cups a handful at a time.

Late September will still sell World in a $549.99 box. The free patch already answered the narrower question a fifth player used to ask on the sofa: whether this machine, tonight, has a seat for everyone in the room.