Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is at its best when you set up some private multiplayer racing with your closest friends. However, as reported by German Nintendo site ntower, those with more than 100 Switch friends are having trouble doing that.
According to the source, those with more than 100 friends on their Switch contact list cannot create a private multiplayer lobby for their friends to join. If they try to do so, a message will display instructing the host to add more friends by exiting to the Switch Home menu. As expected, the problem can be resolved by deleting some contacts and trying again.
Read: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Lets You Win Without Touching The Controller
While this glitch message might come off as a sarcastic commentary on the player’s excessive number of friends, some theories suggest the cause is a much deeper optimization issue. As most gamers will know, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is an enhanced port of the Wii U version of Mario Kart 8 from 2014. As it turns out, the Wii U’s social features are capped at a maximum of 100 friends. Due to an incomplete port job, it’s possible the software doesn’t know how to react when a Switch player passes that threshold.
Most people will likely never run into this problem on their Switch, but it could prove troublesome for games journalists or influencers who give out their Friend Code to fans. A fairly similar scenario cropped up for Kinda Funny co-founder Greg Miller when trying to play Tetris Ultimate and Dead Nation on PS4. Both games experienced bizarre glitches and crashes because his friends list was too large.
Beyond this minor setback, the launch of Mario Kart 8 seems to have lived up to Nintendo’s obsessively polished standards. There have been almost no serious crashes or connection issues reported during the game’s crucial first 24 hours.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is available now on Nintendo Switch. If you’re just getting into the game this weekend, be sure to check out our beginner’s guide, unlockables list and Gold Mario instructions.
Have you had many issues playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? Have you encountered this friends list glitch yet? Tell us in the comments section!