How to unlock characters in Mario Kart World

There are a ton of characters in Mario Kart World (50 to be exact), but you have to unlock a few of them first. If you’re rushing to unlock Cataquack or Rosalina, you’ll want to know the specifics for unlocking certain characters, as some require you to clear a cup, whereas others require you to use the Kamek item.

For the sake of organization, we’re considering character outfits an entirely different thing. We know that they’re listed on the character menu as a separate entry for each outfit, but their unlock requirements are different, so… y’know. We’re breaking it up or else this page is going to have too many entries and it’s going to be confusing.

Below explain how to unlock all characters you can unlock in Mario Kart World.

Update (June 9): We’ve confirmed the unlock methods for characters and added details about potential Kamek theories.

How to unlock characters in Mario Kart World

Characters have different unlock methods in Mario Kart World. Some characters require you to win at a certain cup, whereas others are random unlocks from using the Kamek item in races.

For the cups, you’ll need to play and complete the cup in the Grand Prix, it doesn’t matter if you place or not.

Kamek-based characters are a bit trickier, as the creature that Kamek turns you into is somewhat random. You’ll also only unlock the character if you get turned into it, rather than if you are the one who called Kamek to turn your opponents into it.

Some players have noted that it’s possible that Kamek is more likely to turn you into certain characters on specific maps where the characters can inherently be found (like Cataquack on Peach Beach), we can’t confirm this yet. We haven’t figured out a specific way to get Kamek’d constantly or quickly unlock these characters outside of just… playing races.

Below we list out all the unlockable characters in Mario Kart World and how to unlock them: