Which Mario Kart racer will rocket ahead-or spin out? In Mario Kart World, the character you choose determines far more than just your look on the starting grid: eight unique weight classes now define every racer’s speed, acceleration, and handling, shaping every drift and every duel on the Nintendo Switch 2’s tracks.
Weight classes in Mario Kart World work much like they do in Mario Kart 8, in that they determine how a kart performs. With no kart customization in World, though, a character’s weight class is the sole influencing factor on your kart’s stats. There’s no quick-and-easy way to see who belongs in what category, and since every character can use every kart, it’s easy to miss some of the stat nuances if you don’t know what you’re looking for.
Below, we explain how weight classes work in Mario Kart World, the difference between lighter and heavier sizes, and which characters belong in which weight class.
How weight class works in Mario Kart World
In Mario Kart World, weight classes play a crucial role in defining a character’s racing attributes, affecting acceleration, top speed, handling, and overall kart weight. Unlike previous games, where kart customization allowed for more variation, here a character’s weight class directly influences the kart’s performance stats. Characters are categorized mainly into light, medium, and heavy classes, with additional nuanced subcategories. Lighter characters excel in acceleration and handling but have lower top speeds and are easier to knock around. Heavier characters have higher top speeds and are more resistant to being displaced, though they suffer from slower acceleration and less agile handling. This system encourages players to choose characters based on their preferred racing style and track conditions, balancing speed, control, and resilience. Every player can use any kart, but the stats changed by weight class remain the key factor in performance during races.
Reddit user VikeStep first posted a chart with character weights in April 2025. There was no way to verify the information at the time, but after comparing it to the stats you can see in Mario Kart World, it turns out VikeStep was completely right. Nintendo used a scale from 1.0 to probably 4.0, in keeping with how World handles its other stats, to determine character size. There are no official weight classes, but you can still broadly group characters together as very light, light, and so on, just like with Mario Kart 8.
Every character can use every kart in Mario Kart World, and a character’s weight class determines their kart’s handling, top speed, and acceleration. You can’t customize kart parts in Mario Kart World like you could in Mario Kart 8, so weight class is the only factor determining a kart’s stats.
Character size influences:
- Top speed
- Handling
- Acceleration
- Kart weight
In other words, basically everything. Bear in mind that the weight value shown on the kart stat screen is for the kart, not the character, and shows how easy it is to knock the kart around. Knowing a character’s actual weight value doesn’t matter, though, since you can see the affect their size has on the kart details screen.
Mario’s Rally Kart, for example, has better acceleration than Bowser’s, but slightly worse handling than Toad’s. If you’re Rosalina and boost into a monster truck driven by Toad, you’ll likely be able to knock him for a loop, whereas Yoshi driving into Donkey Kong isn’t quite the equivalent of driving a dune buggy into a brick wall, but it’s close.
The value Nintendo assigned for character size remains the same for each of these groups, so you won’t find any variation between characters in, for example, the medium group. You’re free to pick any character in that class without having to worry about performance variations.
All Mario Kart World weight classes
Mario Kart World features a detailed system of character weight classes that significantly impact kart performance attributes such as speed, acceleration, handling, and weight. Unlike previous titles where kart customization played a big role, in Mario Kart World the character’s weight class alone influences these stats. The game categorizes characters into several distinct weight classes, broadly divided into light, medium, and heavy groups, with further subcategories including featherweight, very light, light, medium, and heavy subclasses. Lighter characters typically have better acceleration and handling but lower top speed and weight, making them more susceptible to being knocked around. Heavier characters tend to have higher top speeds and greater resilience but lower acceleration and handling. Understanding these weight classes helps players choose characters that best suit their racing style and the demands of different tracks.
Similar to Mario Kart 8, you can divide Mario Kart World’s weight classes into three major groups – light, medium, and heavy – with several variations in those for a total of eight groups.
Below, we’ll explain a bit about all eight weight classifications in Mario Kart World, plus list all characters in each weight class.
Featherweight characters
These are the lightest characters, the ones whose karts will always have the best acceleration and handling – and the slowest top speeds. They’re also the easiest to push around on the track.
- Baby Peach
- Baby Daisy
- Para-Biddybud
- Swoop
Very light characters
These characters are slightly harder to knock aside and have acceleration that’s just a little worse than their featherweight counterparts. Otherwise, they perform in much the same way.
- Baby Mario
- Baby Luigi
- Baby Rosalina
- Cheep-Cheep
- Goomba
- Dry Bones
- Sidestepper
- Spike
- Peepa
- Fish Bone
Light characters
Lightweight characters can reach higher maximum speeds compared to their diminutive counterparts, though they still have a lower speed cap. On the bright side, they recover from accidents more quickly than characters in the heavier classes.
- Toad
- Toadette
- Koopa Troopa
- Lakitu
- Shy Guy
- Nabbit
- Stinger
Medium-light characters
This sub-category includes racers who perform better than most light characters and are just a smidgeon slower than standard medium characters.
- Monty Mole
- Yoshi
- Bowser Jr
- Peach
- Daisy
- Dolphin
- Coin Coffer
Medium characters
These are your all-rounders, the characters with solid speed, good acceleration, and reliable handling. They might get outpaced by heavier characters with faster top speeds, but their ease of use and faster recovery times make them competitive anyway.
- Mario
- Luigi
- Birdo
- Pauline
- Penguin
- Pokey
- Hammer Bro
- Rocky Wrench
Medium-heavy characters
Medium-heavy characters are where you start to notice differences in kart handling and how quickly you can reach your top speed. They’re excellent choices when you want to start experimenting with something more challenging.
- Rosalina
- Piranha Plant
- King Boo
- Snowman
- Conkdor
- Cataquack
Heavy characters
Heavy characters can reach higher top speeds at the cost of worse handling and slower acceleration. Playing them effectively takes solid knowledge of a course and knowing when to brake, drift, and boost to avoid moments where you have to build up to your maximum speed again.
- Cow
- Donkey Kong
- Waluigi
- Wiggler
- Wario
- Chargin’ Chuck
- Pianta
Very heavy characters
Very heavy characters are the fastest of the bunch, but they’re also the hardest to control and take a long time to reach their top speed.
- Bowser
Did you just get a Nintendo Switch 2? Are you trying to unlock every character and outfit in Mario Kart World? Or maybe you’re trying out The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the first time and you need a walkthrough for those pesky stoplights in the Forsaken Fortress? Either way, we have your back when it comes to helping you sort stuff out.
Which characters are classified as the fastest in each weight class in Mario Kart World
In Mario Kart World, the fastest characters in each weight class are as follows:
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Feather Weight (smallest class with highest acceleration and handling): Baby Daisy, Baby Peach, Para-Biddybud, and Swoop all share the top speed of 1.4 in this class, combined with high acceleration and handling.
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Light Weight: Characters like Toad, Toadette, Koopa Troopa, Lakitu, Shy Guy, Nabbit, and Stinger rank here, achieving higher top speeds than featherweights, around 1.6 for speed, with good acceleration and handling.
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Medium Weight: Yoshi is a prime example in this class with a speed of 1.8, balancing speed, acceleration, and handling.
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Heavy Weight (fastest overall, but harder handling): The very heaviest characters have the highest top speeds, with Bowser, Pianta, and Cheep Cheep hitting 2.6, making them the fastest. Bowser, in particular, is noted among heavyweights with 2.6 speed, though their acceleration and handling stats are lower.
These distinctions show that the heavier the character, the faster their top speed, but they sacrifice acceleration and handling. Lighter characters excel at quick acceleration and tight handling but have lower top speeds.
So for the fastest in each class by speed:
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Feather: Baby Daisy, Baby Peach, Para-Biddybud, Swoop (Speed 1.4)
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Light: Toad, Koopa Troopa, etc. (Speed 1.6)
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Medium: Yoshi (Speed 1.8)
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Heavy: Bowser, Pianta, Cheep Cheep (Speed 2.6)
This speed ranking is consistent across the Nintendo Switch 2 version “Mario Kart World” and is essential for choosing characters based on racing style and track type.
Which characters are the fastest in the Heavy weight class in Mario Kart World
The fastest characters in the Heavy weight class in Mario Kart World are Bowser, Wario, and Waluigi, with Bowser being the fastest among them. Bowser boasts the highest speed stat of around 2.6 but has lower acceleration and handling, making him harder to control. Wario and Waluigi follow closely with slightly lower speed stats of about 2.4, but with marginally better handling and acceleration compared to Bowser. These heavyweight characters excel in top speed and can dominate straightaways, but their lower handling stats make sharp turns and regaining speed after hits more challenging.
Additional notable heavyweights include Pianta and Cheep Cheep, but Bowser remains the premier fastest heavyweight racer.
