Hopes for the next Mario Kart (discussion)

[Mamboo07]

I would LOVE to see more characters from the Yoshi/Wario/Donkey Kong series get in as new racers, since we got both Poochy and Dixie Kong in Tour

Would straight up play as King K. Rool himself

 

[Dinoman96]

Expecting the RPG characters to get in is a long stretch when you realize that the RPGs in question were developed by 2nd party (3rd party in the case of Square Enix) developers. Heck, when you look at the WarioWare cast, they've only appeared in the games that Intelligent Systems had developed, which strongly suggests that Nintendo doesn't have the full rights to them.

Ashley's outfit in Smash 4 only credits Nintendo, which tells me they fully own her.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

They do, IntSys didn't co-develop every single WarioWare game.

Ashley's outfit in Smash 4 only credits Nintendo, which tells me they fully own her.

It's still rather odd that Nintendo hasn't bothered to use the characters in the games that Intelligent Systems "didn't" develop.

 

[chocolatejr9]

It's still rather odd that Nintendo hasn't bothered to use the characters in the games that Intelligent Systems "didn't" develop.

I know its been brought up in other threads, but maybe it's a preferance thing? Like they'd rather stick to characters they were directly involved in the creation of than characters they weren't. At the same time, Waluigi is a series staple, so who really knows here?

As for my own hopes... admittedly I'm not TOO picky (not the biggest MK fan NGL), but I do agree that it'd be nice if Nintendo added some more deep cuts to the roster. Admittedly though, that might be me thinking about how Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled threw in basically any character they could get away with into its roster, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was a different situation altogether (I still remember the backlash to the microtransactions)...

 

[fogbadge]

I do hope a couple more of the tour racers get in as well, Cap, Nabbit, Dixie, King Bob Omb, Monty Mole are great inclusions

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I know its been brought up in other threads, but maybe it's a preferance thing? Like they'd rather stick to characters they were directly involved in the creation of than characters they weren't. At the same time, Waluigi is a series staple, so who really knows here?

Nintendo only wanting to use its own creations can feel hypocritical when it has had no problems using the likes of Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Cranky Kong, Funky Kong, Rambi, and Squawks; all of whom were originally created by Rare, Ltd..

 

[fogbadge]

I do hope a couple more of the tour racers get in as well, Cap, Nabbit, Dixie, King Bob Omb, Monty Mole are great inclusions

and poochy

 

[NintenRob]

Nintendo only wanting to use its own creations can feel hypocritical when it has had no problems using the likes of Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Cranky Kong, Funky Kong, Rambi, and Squawks; all of whom were originally created by Rare, Ltd..

You say that, but like in Mario spinoffs, it's becoming rarer and rarer for the DK Crew to show, heck DK games struggle to even get K Rool. There's some aversion on some level

 

[Louie G.]

I see a lot more criticizing people for wanting RPG, Warioware etc characters than I’ve seen any real belief of them doing so. Clearly they're a staple of dream rosters but I don't think anyone's expectations are warped about who usually shows up in these games. Getting to the point where I've seen a few people just be outright mean about it - not necessarily here, just in general.

In any case, in respect to Warioware, these worlds usually don't overlap (except once, in the Mario Kart arcade game's Diamond City track). The reason why characters like Ashley and Mona are unlikely to appear in Mario Kart are probably comparable to the reasons Waluigi doesn't appear in Warioware. Wario is a vessel to explore these brand new characters made by Ko Takeuchi, who have virtually nothing to do with Mario otherwise. I would personally like to see them make the jump over, but I think this series has established its own independent identity that it seems to want to keep.

I think though, had Wario Land been a bit more fortunate we could have seen Captain Syrup or someone. Wario Land has had a passive influence on a number of spinoffs already, with the theme from that game being present in Mario Tennis and his shoulder bash appearing in other games like Mario Strikers. Being a platforming series much like DKC and Yoshi's Island, I think it may be easier for them to visualize as an extension of Mario's universe - Wario Land 1 is called Super Mario Land 3, after all. I'm not holding my breath for it with MK9, but I think in a different world Wario Land would be in similar standing to Yoshi's Island.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

You say that, but like in Mario spinoffs, it's becoming rarer and rarer for the DK Crew to show, heck DK games struggle to even get K Rool. There's some aversion on some level

And then you've got Mario Party Jamboree, where Diddy Kong never even made the cut.

 

[Perkilator]

I just realized that there’s a non-zero chance of Universal-branded DLC in the next Mario Kart, since Universal and Nintendo are business partners.

 

[NintenRob]

Here's my bold prediction. I fully expect elephant Mario to be a newcomer, a version of Mario that is in a large Kart frame.

 

[Good Night !]

Since it seems that they're gonna be 24 racers, I expect A LOT of playable characters, and with some skins too. I will be happy if we have a Luigi's Mansion version for King Boo.

I would like to see the Thunder Cloud making his return. This item was fun.

 

[Ruler of Subspace]

My weird idea is that the whole reason why the suspension is more visible and colorful than ever before is that they're introducing a new jumping mechanic. Would be pretty neat to have and I could see tracks being completely different than usual. Simple but effective

 

[Perkilator]

If DS Airship Fortress came back, I think it'd be cool if it was redesigned to resemble the Flying Battleship and Palace stages from Wonder. The Wonder Effect could be used as an excuse to take elements from the Tour version's R, T, and R/T variants on the second and third laps.

 

[Pupp135]

Going back to this thread, my most wanted characters for the upcoming game are Ninji and Pom Pom for newcomers given their appearances in one of the Switch Mario Party games, and if we’re adding crossover characters, then I’d like to see Princess Zelda, Captain Falcon, and Tom Nook because of the F Zero stages in Falcon’s case and the supplemental franchise characters in Zelda and Tom’s case.

I’ll only focus on returning stages, but here are some stages that would be cool to see:

Spoiler: Race Tracks

Peach Beach again (DD)
Dino Dino Jungle again (DD)
Airship Fortress again (DS)
Wuhu Island (7)
Wario’s Shipyard (7)
Maka Wuhu (7)
Bowser’s Castle (7)
Toad Harbor (8)
Sunshine Airport (8)
Electrodome (8)

Spoiler: Battle Tracks

Skyscraper again (64)
Tilt a Kart (DD)
Twilight House again (DS)
Delfino Pier (Wii)
Funky Stadium (Wii)
Dragon Temple (8)

My most wanted things are these two: an elimination option for Balloon Battle and maybe Coin Runners (It would just be like Shine Runners in DS but with coins), and a knockout race mode. The knockout mode would be probably be closer to other racing games where the last place player after a certain amount of time is eliminated, but there are Mario Kart Wii mods that eliminate players who get last after a race or a series of races, which could be cool to see.

 

[HyperSomari64]

At this point my Sperm Cell Bowser Junior joke will be real, and Nintendo adds this "baby" version, while Baby DK or Baby Wario are forgotten.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

As for Captain Toad, he has different stats as a costume in Tour. If Mario Kart 10 goes with costumes with different stats, he'd be a costume. Otherwise, he could possibly be a standalone character if costumes don't allow for any differences.

Tour had over 100 characters. And was a gacha, so it had some unique ways to do things. Other mainline entries don't necessarily run on the same rules. We're kind of in new territory for that~

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I feel that alternate palettes should be purely aesthetic. Just look at Gold Mario and Champion's Tunic Link.

 

[Gorgonzales]

My weird idea is that the whole reason why the suspension is more visible and colorful than ever before is that they're introducing a new jumping mechanic. Would be pretty neat to have and I could see tracks being completely different than usual. Simple but effective

I'm glad the kart suspension physics are back from Double Dash. The sense of impact really helped all of the jumps and airtime you got in that game feel more real.

 

[MBRedboy31]

I wonder what they might have in mind in terms of new items?

I was just thinking about one of my most nostalgic racing games, Lego Racers 1. The grappling hook item could probably easily be implemented in Mario Kart, where you fire it forward at an enemy and, if it hits, it slows them down while boosting you forward. Thematically, it could be a very small Chain Chomp that bites the enemy’s rear bumper, or it could be the grappling vine from Wonder. Maybe Mario Kart’s version of it could be an item that appears in lower placings, and it could be reused if you hit a player with it, so you could quickly grapple your way back to nearer to the front if your aim is good.

Also, the version of the boost that makes your car hover above the ground in LR1 looks super cool, but IDK where you’d make that fit in Mario Kart. Maybe the golden mushroom would make you hover since it’s just that powerful? It’d mainly be just a cosmetic thing but it’d make it feel like its own thing instead of merely just a bunch of regular Mushrooms.

 

[Opossum]

If DS Airship Fortress came back, I think it'd be cool if it was redesigned to resemble the Flying Battleship and Palace stages from Wonder. The Wonder Effect could be used as an excuse to take elements from the Tour version's R, T, and R/T variants on the second and third laps.

I mean...you can just make a new Wonder related track without paving over the only track based on the best 2D Mario game of all time. Super Mario Bros. 3 erasure would be crazy.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

I don't know where anyone got the idea that anyone was actually expecting RPG characters to make the cut of the next Mario Kart's roster. Even I made a point to say "it's never gonna happen" because odds are, they sadly most likely never will add any of the RPG characters to a Mario Kart game. It's more of a wishlist/most wanted character thing, and I think that's the case for anyone and everyone else who expressed interest in RPG characters being playable in a future Mario Kart game, here.

It's a shame because many of the partner characters in the RPG are among the best written characters in the entire Mario franchise, with some of the coolest character designs along with that. But while it's not unheard of for RPG characters to reappear in later mainline installments in the series or other Mario spin-offs (King Goomba/Goomboss appeared as a boss in Super Mario 64 DS and Mario Kart DS after debuting in Paper Mario, the Star Spirits showed up in Mario Party 5, etc) none of the characters in quesiton have appeared again in years, and it's been so long since another Mario RPG character returned in a non-RPG Mario game that it doesn't look likely that such a case will happen again for the foreseeable future.

 

[Gorgonzales]

I don't know where anyone got the idea that anyone was actually expecting RPG characters to make the cut of the next Mario Kart's roster. Even I made a point to say "it's never gonna happen" because odds are, they sadly most likely never will add any of the RPG characters to a Mario Kart game. It's more of a wishlist/most wanted character thing, and I think that's the case for anyone and everyone else who expressed interest in RPG characters being playable in a future Mario Kart game, here.

It's a shame because many of the partner characters in the RPG are among the best written characters in the entire Mario franchise, with some of the coolest character designs along with that. But while it's not unheard of for RPG characters to reappear in later mainline installments in the series or other Mario spin-offs (King Goomba/Goomboss appeared as a boss in Super Mario 64 DS and Mario Kart DS after debuting in Paper Mario, the Star Spirits showed up in Mario Party 5, etc) none of the characters in quesiton have appeared again in years, and it's been so long since another Mario RPG character returned in a non-RPG Mario game that it doesn't look likely that such a case will happen again for the foreseeable future.

Yeah. I typically leave RPG characters out of my wishlist rosters because even I'm like "alright this is like the pipe-dreamiest of pipe-dreams".

At the very least, I think you could make a case for Goomboss since he's the only RPG character to defy the odds and somehow appear in both mainline Mario and Mario Kart. Kinda wild when you think about it.

 

[Louie G.]

Here's my bold prediction. I fully expect elephant Mario to be a newcomer, a version of Mario that is in a large Kart frame.

I'm really into this idea. If you're gonna do different variants of racers, I feel like that's the way to go - also IMO a bit more of an exciting take on "heavyweight Mario" than Metal Mario. And well, I don't hate Metal Mario, but I like that Elephant Mario would fill this role and offer a more distinct visual identity.

I'm hopeful / optimistic that next game will feature character costumes so stuff like Tanooki Mario, or prospects like Dr. Mario could very easily be regulated to that and just provide a new trick animation or two. How hard could that be, ultimately? I feel like the strain on developing Mario Kart racers / costumes should be relatively thin especially relative to the kind of considerations you need to make for something like Smash.

 

[Arcadenik]

plz a Pokémon tracksuit for the Miis
Even if it's just a generic PKMN branding

Edit: A Fire Emblem one can work too

Ooh… I like the idea of Pokémon costumes for Mii.

Pokémon Trainer Red/Leaf costumes and Team Rocket Jessie/James costumes for Mii.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Ooh… I like the idea of Pokémon costumes for Mii.

Pokémon Trainer Red/Leaf costumes and Team Rocket Jessie/James costumes for Mii.

Nintendo would have to go through Game Freak first if it ever wanted to do something like that.

 

[MBRedboy31]

I think my realistic most wanted character is Plessie. Plessie recently showed up in Mario Party Jamboree, so it seems to be among the characters they’re willing to use in spin-offs. They would need to scale it down a lot and make it very hunched-over to fit in the kart, but they could probably make it work.
My favorite Pokémon is Buizel and Plessie is basically dino-Buizel, ahaha.

Nintendo would have to go through Game Freak first if it ever wanted to do something like that.

Pokémon is willing to play ball sometimes, such as with costumes in Mario Maker 1, a splatfest in Splatoon, and events in Tetris 99. Although, the specifics of all 3 of these show that they’re way more interested in crossovers specifically when they have something to advertise, so the new Mario Kart might not have the right timing (at least at its launch.)

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Pokémon is willing to play ball sometimes, such as with costumes in Mario Maker 1, a splatfest in Splatoon, and events in Tetris 99. Although, the specifics of all 3 of these show that they’re way more interested in crossovers specifically when they have something to advertise, so the new Mario Kart might not have the right timing (at least at its launch.)

When you look back at Super Mario Maker 2, copyright was most likely the biggest reason why there was no amiibo support.

 

[P4ST4N4G4]

All this talk about new characters/new designs and race tracks but i personally would prefer if they added new mechanics or items like they did with gravity for 8.

Just something interesting to make it more unique compared to it's predecessors.

 

[BritishGuy54]

Not gonna lie, it’s a tragedy the Princess’s biker outfits might have been cut. Especially after the Mario Movie used it a lot.

In terms of hopes, I hope my GOAT GBA Bowser Castle 4 gets a shot, but I doubt it.

 

[Ruler of Subspace]

All this talk about new characters/new designs and race tracks but i personally would prefer if they added new mechanics or items like they did with gravity for 8.

Just something interesting to make it more unique compared to it's predecessors.

Like I said before, a new jumping mechanic seems plausible with the detailed suspension on some karts. I've heard talks about Wonder Flowers and even saw something about time manipulation.

As for items, I hope all of the ones from Tour return, as well as the fake item box, mega mushroom, thundercloud, Chain Chomp, and some Arcade GP items, such as Thwomp, fine mushroom, invisible mushroom, tornado, and snow cloud. Some I could see being interesting would be the rock mushroom, F.L.U.D.D., baddie box, and double cherry.

 

[Mamboo07]

Not gonna lie, it’s a tragedy the Princess’s biker outfits might have been cut

The trailer might be early footage or something, but we'll have to wait and see if the outfits return

 

[Golden Icarus]

I was looking at Tour’s roster and aside from costumes / variants, the new characters in that game (that weren’t also added to MK8) are Monty Mole, Chargin’ Chuck, Nabbit, King Bob-Omb, Poochy, Dixie Kong and Hammer Bro (+ Fire, Ice and Boomerang Bro). Also Captain Toad, if that counts.

That’s a pretty nice selection honestly. Hopefully they all have good odds of showing up in Switch 2 Kart.

 

[Perkilator]

Got bored, so here’s some item ideas & descriptions I came up with.

Spoiler: Items

Spoiler: Descriptions

• Attack Class
  • Green Shell: Thrown forward and can ricochet off of surfaces
  • Red Shell: Homes onto nearby racers once thrown
  • Blue Shell: Always targets the racer in 1st
  • Bob-omb: Explodes a few seconds after being thrown
  • Boomerang: Comes back to you two more times after being thrown
  • Fire Flower: Shoots multiple small fireballs
  • Ice Flower: Shoots a single, large ice ball that freezes racers upon contact
• Shield Class (just as a general rule of thumb, shielding works as it did in games prior to 8)
  • Banana: Can be used as a shield or to trip up opponents
  • Fake Item Box: Temporarily disables one of the three item roulette slots upon contact
  • Super Leaf: Flings a tail to deflect items and obstacles, as well as lengthening air glides. No longer disappears after spinning out.
  • Super Bell: Functionally replaces the Super Horn. Can be used up to three times.
  • Life-Up Heart: Steals any item thrown at you
  • Thunder Cloud: Placed as a trap for unsuspecting racers. Once the trap is sprung, the affected racer must tag another racer to get rid of it. The affected racer is shrunken after 10 seconds.
  • Bubble: Can be used as a shield or blown forward to neutralize items and obstacles, turning them into Red Coins. No longer reduces your top speed and you can use other items while shielded by the bubble.
• Speed Class
  • Mushroom: Gives you a boost
  • Super Star: Makes you invincible
  • Cape Feather: Allows you to glide without a glider armor
  • Warp Box: Warps you up to five places forward. Can be interrupted by the Super Bell.
  • Chain Chomp: Tugs you along the main path of the track. It’s released by either spinning out or pressing the item button again.
  • Dash Ring: Boosts the racer who uses it as well as the other racers. Once it’s on the track, it has a limited number of uses.
  • Bullet Bill: Speeds you forward while bumping into other racers. Cancels out early if it hits too many items or obstacles.
• Triple Items
  • Triple Green Shell: Give you three Green Shells
  • Triple Red Shell: Gives you three Red Shells
  • Triple Bananas: Lines up three banana peels behind you
  • Triple Mushrooms: Gives you three Mushrooms
  • Triple Life-Up Heart: Gives you three Life-Up Hearts
  • Triple Fireball: Functions like the Fireball from Double Dash, which was a spreadshot of three projectiles
  • Triple Ice Ball: Same as the above, but with ice balls
  • Triple Bubble: Same as the above, but with bubbles
  • Triple Dash Ring: Throws out three Dash Rings
• Special Items
  • Bowser Shell: Bounces around like a Green Shell, but cannot be destroyed
  • Big Banana: Splits into multiple smaller bananas upon contact
  • Golden Dash Mushroom: Gives you continuous speed boosts until it runs out
  • Lightning: Temporarily disables all three item roulette slots of every racer, along with shrinking them. Can only be used once per race.
  • Yoshi’s Egg: Homes onto nearby racers once thrown, releasing an item upon contact
  • Baboom: Splits off into three sections
    • The top blue section flies into the air and rains down upon racers
    • The middle yellow section explodes around the racer who used it, protecting them
    • The bottom red section homes onto nearby racers
  • Crazy 8: Grants you the following items
    • Green Shell
    • Red Shell
    • Banana
    • Mushroom
    • Super Star
    • Fake Item Box
    • Ice Flower
    • Bob-omb

 

[fogbadge]

. Also Captain Toad, if that counts.

it counts!

 

[Gorgonzales]

(and elimination-based balloon battle to return, too)

 

[P4ST4N4G4]

Outfits sound nice, but i think it isn't enough on it's own.
New characters should be added apart from outfits to actually make it a new game in my opinion.

 

[Louie G.]

Outfits sound nice, but i think it isn't enough on it's own.
New characters should be added apart from outfits to actually make it a new game in my opinion.

Of course, I'm sure there would be both. As well as the usual new courses, mechanics, the obvious style change etc that will have no problem conveying this as a much different experience to Mario Kart 8.

I feel like new characters in Mario Kart are more superficial than anything. I love to see it, but it's fairly low on the list of ways to make the game fresh. We can count on a decent number of new faces just because that's how it always is, but if we somehow didn't I think all the stuff we mentioned would do enough to make it feel like a brand new game anyway. Much moreso than something like Smash, at least.

 

[MBRedboy31]

View attachment 398013

(and elimination-based balloon battle to return, too)

I assume elimination-based Balloon Battle would have to be modern-battle-royale style since there’s 24 players, with you being able to quit immediately after being eliminated and the play area shrinking over time?

It’d be cool if they included some small maps for classic style balloon battle for local multiplayer and friend rooms, too.