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Mario Kart World runs on Mac at 60 fps through nxnative, a week after the private Mac and iPhone demos

Published 2026-10-28Updated 2026-11-047 min read

Key points

Nov 4: official nxnative added Mario Kart World. Its game page says an M6 Mac with 16 GB finishes the first 50cc race at 60 fps; iPhone and iPad are untested.
Oct 27-28: Will Faust showed the game on macOS and an iPhone 18 Pro through his private nxnative fork. That fork is still private, and the videos later vanished from X.
Since Oct 29, unofficial Eden forks like eden-nx2 and Eglantine have public PC builds that run the game. None of them are official Eden builds.
DSOGaming reports 60 fps across several tracks on Eglantine build 135 with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RTX 4080, with some stutter. Most user reports still land at 20-45 fps.
Per Eglantine's release notes, build 167 got LAN play working, build 174 boots version 1.8.0, and build 194 (Nov 4) adds a 30 fps mode and dynamic frame rate for this game.
There is still no public way to play it on iPhone.

On this page

Nov 4 update: nxnative runs it on Mac at 60 fps
Nov 3 update: official nxnative supports Switch 2
Update: public PC builds since Oct 29
Why Faust isn't releasing it
What the two demos showed
Why the Mac demo and the PC forks take different routes
Other demos the same week (as of Oct 28)
What this means for players

On October 27 and 28, 2026, developer Will Faust (@willfaustcuber on X) posted videos of Mario Kart World, the Switch 2's launch exclusive, running on a Mac and then on an iPhone 18 Pro. It was the first public demo of a Switch 2 exclusive running on other hardware, and it used Faust's private fork of nxnative, which is still unreleased. A day later the picture changed: from October 29, several unofficial Eden forks published builds, and as of November 1, 2026, Mario Kart World boots and gets into races on Windows PCs. It's experimental and buggy. Then on November 4, official nxnative added the game: according to its game page, it now finishes a full race on a Mac at 60 fps. iPhone still has nothing public.

Nov 4 update: nxnative runs it on Mac at 60 fps

On November 4, 2026, Mario Kart World joined the Switch 2 games in the main nxnative repository, a week after Faust's private demo. Here is what its game page says:

Item	nxnative's own notes
How far it gets	Title, main menu, Single Player and Grand Prix menus, character, kart, cup and class selection, then the Mushroom Cup's opening and the first 50cc race on Mario Bros. Circuit, driven with items
Mac tested	An M6 Mac with 16 GB of memory
Frame rate	60 fps; median frame time 15.5-16.5 ms in the race. The slowest frame in each 300 is usually 35-65 ms, and some stretches reach 140-233 ms, partly because pipelines compile the first time they're used
Game version	Base game 1.0 only. A profile for update 1.8.0 exists but hasn't been run
iPhone / iPad	Not tested; the README still marks every Switch 2 game "Mac only"

These are the project's own measurements on one Mac, and there are no third-party reports yet. Getting there took general fixes that also help other Switch 2 games: six huge terrain texture arrays used to exhaust the Mac's memory, and Switch 2-specific shader code (task and mesh shaders, Ampere instructions) had to be translated first. nxnative's Switch 2 list now has six games: Donkey Kong Bananza, Splatoon Raiders, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Pokémon Pokopia, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment and Mario Kart World.

On PC, the Eglantine fork has caught up too. DSOGaming reported on November 3 that the YouTube channel Unreal Gaming PC recorded 12 minutes of Eglantine build 135 on a Ryzen 7 9800X3D with an RTX 4080 and 64 GB of RAM, at 60 fps across several tracks with a few stutters. Per its release notes, build 174 boots the 1.8.0 version, and build 194 on November 4 adds two options for this game under Graphics → Advanced, a 30 fps mode and an experimental dynamic frame rate, both off by default. Most user reports are still slower, at 20-45 fps.

Nov 3 update: official nxnative supports Switch 2

nxnative: Switch 2 support landed in the main repository on October 31. As of November 3 the README listed four games, all marked "Switch 2, Mac only": Donkey Kong Bananza (60 fps in the opening areas on an M4 Pro), Splatoon Raiders, Pokémon Pokopia and Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave. Mario Kart World wasn't on the list until November 4 (see above), and iPhone and iPad aren't officially tested. Details in nxnative adds Switch 2 support: Donkey Kong Bananza runs natively on Mac.
Eglantine: according to its release notes, build 135 (November 2) added a Mac .dmg, so Mac users no longer have to compile it themselves; build 158 fixed stutters of up to 4 seconds in this game; and build 167 on November 3 got its LAN play (room mode) working. These are the project's own claims, and the Mac build hasn't been independently tested much. Latest progress is in the first emulators that run Switch 2 games.
Eden-NS2: the repository was archived (read-only) on November 3. The README gives no reason.
Unverified: X user blueemi99 said on November 2 that the game runs natively on an Apple silicon MacBook and reaches 120 fps with frame generation, without saying what tool was used. No other source confirms it.

Update: public PC builds since Oct 29

On October 29, user Takoroka published a Windows pre-release of eden-nx2 on Eden's code server. Outlets reported it could boot Mario Kart World, with stutter, graphics bugs and low frame rates. Eglantine, Eden-NS2, PokeDinner and other forks followed. Eglantine shipped dozens of builds in two days, and XDA wrote on October 31 that it ran the game fairly well, with some stutter but no major graphical errors. All of these forks are based on Eden, but none of them come from the Eden team, and official Eden still doesn't support the Switch 2. The full story is in the first emulators that run Switch 2 games.

What's been reported as of November 1:

Platform	Fork	Result	Source type
Windows	Eglantine	Project says decent to full speed depending on hardware and settings	Project claim + player videos
Windows	Several forks	Users mostly report 30-45 fps; black textures, missing geometry, crashes after a few minutes; AMD GPUs often crash while loading	User reports
Windows	Eden-NS2	Self-rated "playable, slow in some areas"; first track load is long, some geometry missing	Project claim
macOS	Self-compiled fork	Up to about 30 fps on an M4 Max	User report
Android	eden-nx2 Android port	About 6-10 fps on a flagship Snapdragon, black road surfaces	Developer's own notes
iPhone	None	No public build	—

So this article's original line that "nobody can download it and play" only still holds for Faust's Mac and iPhone demos. On PC, experimental builds are publicly available. Fake repos and malware downloads using these fork names showed up right after; see fake Switch 2 emulator scams.

Why Faust isn't releasing it

In an October 30 reply on X, Faust said he only posts proof-of-concept demos to inspire others to follow without inviting lawsuits. With AI, he said, anyone can reproduce it quickly from a demo and a short explanation; his part was really just an afternoon of work, and he doesn't want credit for any code.

The same day, VideoCardz noticed that the demo videos embedded in its October 28 story, including Faust's Mac and iPhone clips and Sheepish's Splatoon Raiders clip, had all disappeared from X. It wrote that Nintendo is reportedly sending copyright takedowns for Switch 2 content, but that it couldn't confirm why each video was removed.

What the two demos showed

Oct 27, macOS. The first build had missing geometry and off colors, and plenty of people called it fake, but it could finish a race. Faust said the hardest part was implementing NVN2, the Switch 2's graphics API. He believes the Switch 2's Horizon OS is basically a branch of the Switch 1 version, and that Mario Kart World doesn't use NVN2's Ampere-specific features, which made the port feasible.

Oct 28, iPhone 18 Pro. Shaders and frame rate looked better than on the Mac, and he added touch controls. It still stutters at times and loads slowly. TechPowerUp reports he built a swap-like, file-backed memory system in user space, keeping physical memory use under 6.5 GB. He said 8 GB phones like the iPhone 16 "should barely run" it.

VideoCardz reports the game was a legitimate copy Faust dumped from his own console using the ns2jb jailbreak.

Why the Mac demo and the PC forks take different routes

nxnative is not an emulator. The Switch, the Switch 2 and Apple chips all use ARM64, so nxnative runs the game's own code directly on the Apple chip, replaces the Switch system software with a small host program, and rebuilds Nintendo's graphics API on Metal. When Faust made his demos, public nxnative only supported original Switch games, so he added the Switch 2 pieces in his private branch. Official nxnative added Switch 2 support on October 31 and Mario Kart World on November 4. A regular x86 PC can't take this route, so GameRant's October 27 "you can now play it on PC" headline overstated things at the time.

The PC forks like eden-nx2 and Eglantine are traditional emulators. They add Switch 2 graphics and system services on top of Eden, and the CPU code goes through the emulator, so they need strong hardware (eden-nx2's notes ask for 8 GB or more of VRAM and 16 GB or more of RAM).

Other demos the same week (as of Oct 28)

Game	Platform / method	Status	Confidence
Splatoon Raiders	PC, Sheepish's private Eden build	On Oct 28 it went from booting to character select, with heavy lag, no VSync and many missing features. He credited AI help and hinted at a release	Reported by several outlets, no public build at the time
Donkey Kong Bananza	PC	Centro Leaks posted only an image. Who made it, and whether it's a recompile or a modified Eden, is unclear	Unverified
Pokopia	PC, patched Eden	An X user claimed it reached the opening on Oct 27	Unverified

After October 29 all three showed up in the unofficial forks' compatibility notes (mostly self-reported). See each game page for the latest: Splatoon Raiders, Donkey Kong Bananza, Pokémon Pokopia.

What this means for players

There's still no way to play Mario Kart World on an iPhone. On Mac, official nxnative now runs it at 60 fps through a full race, but the support is days old, only the base game has been tested, and there are no third-party reports yet; Eglantine's Mac build is the other, less stable option. On PC, the unofficial forks can reach 60 fps on strong hardware, but expect stutter, graphics bugs and crashes, especially on AMD GPUs. None of them are official Eden builds, and anything beyond the project names deserves extra caution, so check our Eden Switch 2 forks page and how to spot fake emulator sites first. Compatibility records are on the Mario Kart World page, and the full picture is in our Switch 2 emulation guide. If you want to play original Switch games, or the other Switch 2 games nxnative supports, on Apple hardware, look at nxnative, the Mac setup guide and the iPhone and iPad guide. On PC, start with Eden.

FAQ

Can I play Mario Kart World on a Mac or iPhone now?

On Mac, yes, experimentally. Since Nov 4, 2026, official nxnative supports it: its game page says an M6 Mac with 16 GB gets through the menus and finishes the first 50cc race on Mario Bros. Circuit at 60 fps, with hitches the first time each pipeline compiles. Only the base game 1.0 has been run, and there are no third-party reports yet. The Eglantine fork also has a Mac build, but users report crashes on M4 and M5. On iPhone, no: nxnative hasn't tested iPhone or iPad, and Will Faust's iPhone demo used a private fork he won't publish.

Is Mario Kart World playable on PC?

Yes, experimentally. Since Oct 29, unofficial Eden forks such as eden-nx2, Eglantine and PokeDinner have public builds that get into races on Windows. DSOGaming reported on Nov 3 that a YouTuber ran Eglantine build 135 at 60 fps across several tracks on a Ryzen 7 9800X3D with an RTX 4080, with a few stutters. Most user reports still land at 20-45 fps, with black textures, missing geometry and crashes, and more problems on AMD GPUs. None of them are official Eden builds. Per Eglantine's release notes, build 167 got LAN play working and build 194 adds an optional 30 fps mode and dynamic frame rate for this game.

Were the Mac and iPhone demos emulation?

Not traditional emulation. It's a private fork of nxnative. Switch 2 and Apple chips are both ARM64, so the game code runs directly on the Apple chip while the fork supplies the system services and the NVN2 graphics API. The PC forks like Eglantine are traditional emulators.

Why won't Will Faust release his code?

In an Oct 30 reply on X, he said he only posts proof-of-concept demos to inspire others to follow without inviting lawsuits. With AI, he said, anyone can reproduce it quickly from a demo and a short explanation, his part was only an afternoon of work, and he doesn't want credit for any code.

Where did the game files come from?

Reports say Faust used a legitimate copy dumped from his own console.

Sources

nxnative Eden Eden Switch 2 forks