Somewhere in Fukuoka right now, a tiny Mario is doing laps around the outside of a steel can. Nobody’s pushing him along it. Magnets keep him on the curve.
That’s the new Mario Kart release Nintendo has confirmed for October 2026. It isn’t a game. It’s the Wall Run Collection, a line of miniature pull-back karts built around one of Mario Kart World’s signature mechanics, and it’s the strangest piece of merch the Switch 2 game has gotten so far.
A toy that does the one thing your display shelf can’t
Most kart collectibles just sit there. These drive. Each vehicle can run along the curved exterior of an included steel can, copying the Wall Run technique that Mario Kart World introduced.
The magnets hold the kart to the curved surface while it moves. It’s a small gimmick, and a smart one. It gives an otherwise standard collectible line a reason to exist beyond looking cute next to your amiibo.
You can collect six racers: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi and Toad. And yes, they’re blind-boxed, so you won’t know who you’ve got until you open the package. (Collectors who’ve chased a single Toad through six boxes of duplicates know exactly how that goes.)
What it costs to skip the gamble
A single box costs ¥2,200. If you’d rather not play the odds, Nintendo is also selling a complete six-piece box for ¥13,200 that guarantees the whole set.
Packaged with the can, each toy measures roughly 9 cm tall by 7.5 cm wide. The recommended age is 6+, though I’d bet a good share of these end up on adult desks.
The set first turned up at Nintendo FUKUOKA as an early-release item in August. It then spread to Nintendo’s official stores in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Fukuoka, and as of September 29 the toys are on sale at those physical locations in Japan. Nintendo’s Japanese online store is taking orders too, with deliveries currently scheduled to start October 10, 2026.
The catch if you don’t live in Japan
There’s no confirmed worldwide rollout. Nintendo’s announcement points only to its Japanese stores and its Japanese online storefront, and no North American or European release had been announced as of September 29.
Import listings from third-party sellers have already started showing up, so determined collectors can potentially get the set overseas. That isn’t an official international release, though.
That could change, especially if these sell well in Eastern markets, and Mario Kart merch tends to move. For now, the Wall Run Collection is officially a Japan-focused release.
Why Nintendo keeps feeding this series
Mario Kart has spent more than three decades putting Mushroom Kingdom characters and places into one of gaming’s most recognizable racing series. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe took it somewhere new. It has sold more than 71.5 million copies worldwide as of June 2026, which makes it the best-selling Nintendo Switch game by a wide margin. To be fair, part of that comes from Nintendo bundling the game with Switch consoles since launch.
Nintendo still isn’t done with it. A free update in September 2026 brought Nintendo Switch 2 enhancements, including improved visuals, faster loading, eight-player local multiplayer and CameraPlay support. Mario Kart World keeps growing on Switch 2 as well, most recently with 10 new courses inspired by the original Super Mario Kart plus new Knockout Tour routes.
So the games keep getting bigger. The newest release goes the other way: a Yoshi small enough to fit in your palm, clinging sideways to a can.
