Hopes for the next Mario Kart (discussion)

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Personally I'm rather indifferent on how Battle Mode will be handled this time, mostly because I tend to spend a much greater amount of time doing races than battles.

 

[Perkilator]

Personally I'm rather indifferent on how Battle Mode will be handled this time, mostly because I tend to spend a much greater amount of time doing races than battles.

Oh, that reminds me: as someone who uses the auto-accelerate feature pretty religiously during races, I hope it's able to be turned on for every mode instead of just being restricted to races like in 8 Deluxe.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

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.

Even Dr. Mario is new, among many others. Though that said, Dr. Mario and Captain Toad while still being variants, are treated as standalones, not pure costumes. So they definitely count as a proper newcomer in the franchise.

I honestly forgot Dr. Mario finally got in a Kart game too, heh. He'd be nice to see in 10. Captain Toad is probably going to be a High-end/Heavyweight if he appears, though Middleweight isn't really the most unrealistic either. They already see him as heavier than Toad either way(which makes sense. It's kind of his shtick).

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Oh, that reminds me: as someone who uses the auto-accelerate feature pretty religiously during races, I hope it's able to be turned on for every mode instead of just being restricted to races like in 8 Deluxe.

While I am more than capable of playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe without the auto-accelerate and smart steering features, bringing them back for the next Mario Kart installment will truly be helpful to those whom are new to the series.

But in terms of auto-accelerate being usable outside of the Grand Prix and VS Race modes, it can potentially be a liability in Battle Mode if you have to drive in reverse.

 

[Laniv]

Decided to take a crack at a Mario Kart roster

Spoiler: big image

 

[Opossum]

Decided to take a crack at a Mario Kart roster

Spoiler: big image

View attachment 398019

Whittle Bros this is our time. I feel it.

 

[Golden Icarus]

I made the biggest roster that I could, while still remaining within the realm of possibility.

This is 84 characters, which is insane, but I do think there are some valid reasons to believe that this is actually somewhat plausible, so please allow me…

Mario Kart 8 + Tour were also huge and more than 50 of these characters are simply ported from that. Now I use the term “ported” like it’s nothing. I’m sure there’s a certain amount of work that goes into transferring characters from game to game, but surely it’s easier than starting from scratch.

24 characters per race - That’s double the amount of racers that we’re used to, so wouldn’t it be nice to have near double the roster to make the most out of this feature?

MK8 will be playable on the Switch 2 and already has 96 tracks, on top of great gameplay and tons of features, so it’s gonna be hard to make this new game stand out. We’re likely gonna go back to somewhere around 32 - 48 courses, so a giant character roster can help distract from the overall decrease in content. Having a bunch of characters is not quite as exciting as having a bunch of courses, but it’s a decent trade off and surely a lot less work.

DLC and Updates - The ultimate justification for my delusion. Nintendo is getting more comfortable with post-launch content and Mario Kart 8 was the game that they took of advantage of the most, so why wouldn’t they do it here?

Spoiler: Individual Character Explanations

MK8 + Tour veterans - Might as well bring all of them back! The only exceptions that I made were some of the alternate versions of existing characters. I would be shocked if they had all the different costumes from Tour as unique characters and I don’t think the general audience was in love with Cat Peach, Tanooki Mario, etc. anyways. I decided to assume those characters can be costumes, while ones that are particularly unique / popular can still have their own slots.

Baby Yoshi, Plessie - You can think of this as a light and heavy variant of Yoshi. Mario Kart loves babies and Baby Yoshi has a particularly unique design and personality and Plessie had a memorable role in Bowser’s Fury and makes for a great new heavyweight.

Goomba, Paratroopa, Blooper, Ninji, Spike - Might as well, right? Nintendo seems to be appreciating there mooks more lately. Goomba feels too iconic to be missing, especially if Mario Party and Baseball already managed to make him work. Paratroopa’s an easy “clone,” Blooper’s been around forever, Ninji and Spike are both being used more. And truly I think it’s worth having a lot of these guys. More “popular” characters like E. Gadd and K. Rool aren’t immediately recognizable and too many guest characters take away from the game’s identity. These additions are perfect for balancing things out and maintaining the game’s core identity.

Boom Boom, Pom Pom - Bit less recognizable than a lot of the generic enemies, but both get a decent amount of favoritism. Both seem fairly likely.

Prince Florian, Elephant Mario - Probably the two big standouts from Mario Wonder. Florian is the most iconic new face from the game and Elephant Mario was heavily used in the game’s promotional material and certainly stands out enough to be his own character. As others have said, he would make for a good “replacement” for Metal Mario as the new heavyweight Mario.

Cappy, Tostarenan, Shiverian - In the same vein, we should probably get some stuff from Odyssey, which had tons of new characters. Cappy feels the most obvious, while the other two are more out there. Honestly, the Broodals might be more likely, especially since they can easily fill up four (five?) slots. I just think the Tostarenans are way too charming to pass up and the Shiverians are cute and contrast really well with the rest of the roster.

E. Gadd, Gooigi - Luigi’s Mansion 3 feels big to warrant some stuff. King Boo is nice, but I do think it’s finally time we get Elvin in there. Gooigi feels like a great “clone” being quite unique and popular and probably wouldn’t make sense as a skin.

Penguin, Luma - Similar to the mooks, these are some “neutral entities” that feel significant enough to include. People love Luma, I’m kind of surprised they haven’t been playable yet. Penguin is a sillier one, but everyone remembers the Penguins from 64. They were prominently featured in the movie, they’ve had tons of appearances in the background of Mario Kart and they’re adorable! I wonder if they would be way more popular if they had any name other than “Penguin.”

Cranky Kong, King K. Rool - It looks like I have heavy DK bias, but these are the only new characters that I included. I hope K. Rool’s popularity and inclusion in Smash makes him genuinely likely. And Cranky‘s role in the movie feels like enough to justify rounding out the core DK cast.

Guest characters. I liked MK8’s approach. Not enough to overshadow the Mario characters, but not too little to make them feel out of place. My choices aren’t bold, but mainly an expansion of MK8. Especially since Zelda, Animal Crossing and Splatoon have only further solidified themselves as Nintendo’s big first party franchises.

K.K. Slider, Tom Nook - Who else if you’re gonna add two more AC characters?

Octoling Boy and Girl - Might be nice to get some named characters, but this is what I would expect. There’s no reason to cut the current Inklings and I feel it’s basically a rule now that the Octolings are treated as equals, so this is a damn near mandatory inclusion if Inklings return.

Zelda - The logical next step to Link’s inclusion.

Tulin, Riju, Sidon, Yunobo - Okay hear me out, Zelda popped off. A series that has always been a top dog at Nintendo absolutely shattered expectations. Getting a third or fourth character seems justified…six might be a lot, but the Sages are right there. 4 totally unique characters with designs full of personality. They’re also notably younger and sillier than the Champions. I feel like Link was one of the more out of place inclusions in Mario Kart, partly because of his more mature design, but also because he was alone. By increasing the the number of Zelda characters and specifically adding ones that blend better with Mario’s artstyle, I think this actually does a lot to help Link and Zelda fit in.

Olimar - Samus, Captain Falcon, Fox, all these guys would be nice, but I think Pikmin stands out as a franchise that would fit in very nice, so that’s the one I chose.

Any questions, comments, considerations? No? Good because I need to do other things with my day that doesn’t involve thinking about Mario Kart lol

 

[PLATINUM7]

I like the idea of a New Donker.

 

[chocolatejr9]

I made the biggest roster that I could, while still remaining within the realm of possibility.

View attachment 398022

This is 84 characters, which is insane, but I do think there are some valid reasons to believe that this is actually somewhat plausible, so please allow me…

Mario Kart 8 + Tour were also huge and more than 50 of these characters are simply ported from that. Now I use the term “ported” like it’s nothing. I’m sure there’s a certain amount of work that goes into transferring characters from game to game, but surely it’s easier than starting from scratch.

24 characters per race - That’s double the amount of racers that we’re used to, so wouldn’t it be nice to have near double the roster to make the most out of this feature?

MK8 will be playable on the Switch 2 and already has 96 tracks, on top of great gameplay and tons of features, so it’s gonna be hard to make this new game stand out. We’re likely gonna go back to somewhere around 32 - 48 courses, so a giant character roster can help distract from the overall decrease in content. Having a bunch of characters is not quite as exciting as having a bunch of courses, but it’s a decent trade off and surely a lot less work.

DLC and Updates - The ultimate justification for my delusion. Nintendo is getting more comfortable with post-launch content and Mario Kart 8 was the game that they took of advantage of the most, so why wouldn’t they do it here?

Spoiler: Individual Character Explanations

MK8 + Tour veterans - Might as well bring all of them back! The only exceptions that I made were some of the alternate versions of existing characters. I would be shocked if they had all the different costumes from Tour as unique characters and I don’t think the general audience was in love with Cat Peach, Tanooki Mario, etc. anyways. I decided to assume those characters can be costumes, while ones that are particularly unique / popular can still have their own slots.

Baby Yoshi, Plessie - You can think of this as a light and heavy variant of Yoshi. Mario Kart loves babies and Baby Yoshi has a particularly unique design and personality and Plessie had a memorable role in Bowser’s Fury and makes for a great new heavyweight.

Goomba, Paratroopa, Blooper, Ninji, Spike - Might as well, right? Nintendo seems to be appreciating there mooks more lately. Goomba feels too iconic to be missing, especially if Mario Party and Baseball already managed to make him work. Paratroopa’s an easy “clone,” Blooper’s been around forever, Ninji and Spike are both being used more. And truly I think it’s worth having a lot of these guys. More “popular” characters like E. Gadd and K. Rool aren’t immediately recognizable and too many guest characters take away from the game’s identity. These additions are perfect for balancing things out and maintaining the game’s core identity.

Boom Boom, Pom Pom - Bit less recognizable than a lot of the generic enemies, but both get a decent amount of favoritism. Both seem fairly likely.

Prince Florian, Elephant Mario - Probably the two big standouts from Mario Wonder. Florian is the most iconic new face from the game and Elephant Mario was heavily used in the game’s promotional material and certainly stands out enough to be his own character. As others have said, he would make for a good “replacement” for Metal Mario as the new heavyweight Mario.

Cappy, Tostarenan, Shiverian - In the same vein, we should probably get some stuff from Odyssey, which had tons of new characters. Cappy feels the most obvious, while the other two are more out there. Honestly, the Broodals might be more likely, especially since they can easily fill up four (five?) slots. I just think the Tostarenans are way too charming to pass up and the Shiverians are cute and contrast really well with the rest of the roster.

E. Gadd, Gooigi - Luigi’s Mansion 3 feels big to warrant some stuff. King Boo is nice, but I do think it’s finally time we get Elvin in there. Gooigi feels like a great “clone” being quite unique and popular and probably wouldn’t make sense as a skin.

Penguin, Luma - Similar to the mooks, these are some “neutral entities” that feel significant enough to include. People love Luma, I’m kind of surprised they haven’t been playable yet. Penguin is a sillier one, but everyone remembers the Penguins from 64. They were prominently featured in the movie, they’ve had tons of appearances in the background of Mario Kart and they’re adorable! I wonder if they would be way more popular if they had any name other than “Penguin.”

Cranky Kong, King K. Rool - It looks like I have heavy DK bias, but these are the only new characters that I included. I hope K. Rool’s popularity and inclusion in Smash makes him genuinely likely. And Cranky‘s role in the movie feels like enough to justify rounding out the core DK cast.

Guest characters. I liked MK8’s approach. Not enough to overshadow the Mario characters, but not too little to make them feel out of place. My choices aren’t bold, but mainly an expansion of MK8. Especially since Zelda, Animal Crossing and Splatoon have only further solidified themselves as Nintendo’s big first party franchises.

K.K. Slider, Tom Nook - Who else if you’re gonna add two more AC characters?

Octoling Boy and Girl - Might be nice to get some named characters, but this is what I would expect. There’s no reason to cut the current Inklings and I feel it’s basically a rule now that the Octolings are treated as equals, so this is a damn near mandatory inclusion if Inklings return.

Zelda - The logical next step to Link’s inclusion.

Tulin, Riju, Sidon, Yunobo - Okay hear me out, Zelda popped off. A series that has always been a top dog at Nintendo absolutely shattered expectations. Getting a third or fourth character seems justified…six might be a lot, but the Sages are right there. 4 totally unique characters with designs full of personality. They’re also notably younger and sillier than the Champions. I feel like Link was one of the more out of place inclusions in Mario Kart, partly because of his more mature design, but also because he was alone. By increasing the the number of Zelda characters and specifically adding ones that blend better with Mario’s artstyle, I think this actually does a lot to help Link and Zelda fit in.

Olimar - Samus, Captain Falcon, Fox, all these guys would be nice, but I think Pikmin stands out as a franchise that would fit in very nice, so that’s the one I chose.

Any questions, comments, considerations? No? Good because I need to do other things with my day that doesn’t involve thinking about Mario Kart lol

Okay, since you asked for questions, I do have one: in regards to DK Jr., are they just gonna use the original sprite, or will they go the extra mile and make him a new 3D model? Because if it's the former, then I could totally see them adding the original Mario sprite as a seperate racer.

 

[Golden Icarus]

Okay, since you asked for questions, I do have one: in regards to DK Jr., are they just gonna use the original sprite, or will they go the extra mile and make him a new 3D model? Because if it's the former, then I could totally see them adding the original Mario sprite as a seperate racer.

Hmm, it’s probably more likely that we’d see the sprite version, especially if they’re porting as many characters from Tour as I’m expecting. And the sprite versions of both characters would almost certainly warrant a unique slot, but personally speaking I’d still want to see a 3D version of Dk Jr.

Honestlyx while I wanted to be realistic with my roster by restraining myself from adding Geno, Fawful, MC Ballyhoo, Rawk Hawk, etc. I’m still probably underestimating the amount of repeat characters that we’ll see. Dr. Mario, Sprite Mario, Metal Mario would probably all have a unique slot on a 80+ character roster. I mostly avoided those because I just personally dislike having that many duplicates.

 

[Laniv]

Y'know I put Foreman Spike as DLC on my roster, but I realized he actually has way better chances than people think

 

[Ruler of Subspace]

Y'know I put Foreman Spike as DLC on my roster, but I realized he actually has way better chances than people think

I feel like any character that appeared in the movie has a big chance of appearing in base instead of DLC, and more likely to appear in general than not.

 

[Golden Icarus]

That’s why we’re finally gonna see Penguin baby it’s time!!

 

[Thegameandwatch]

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

Also Creatures since they share it with Nintendo and GameFreak. It not being straight forward is presumably there wasn't any Pokemon Mii costumes in 8.

The fact that it was presumably easier for Nintendo to get Sonic, Mega Man and Ryu as costumes for Mario Kart 8 and Yoshi's Woolly World for the latter is weird. Also PAC-MAN but Namco worked on 8 and Tour so makes sense.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Cat Bros. We've had Cat Peach.

But it's time to ask for more.

That's right, we should ask for Cat from Bowser's Fury.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Cat Bros. We've had Cat Peach.

But it's time to ask for more.

That's right, we should ask for Cat from Bowser's Fury.

Any cat is good to me. :3

Though I'd also love to see funnier additions, like some of those various enemy Statues(like the Fireball-shooting Bowser ones), or even just a Whomp or Thwomp. There's so much variety available for silly additions as is, who don't have to worry about anything special on how they play. Also, more Goomba, pls~

 

[NintenRob]

I personally predict 48 characters (+ maybe Mii) as the perfect sweet spot

48 is double the racer count, something Mario Kart has done twice before with Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Wii, so it has merits. It also lets you bring back most Mario characters from Tour and 8 Deluxe, especially if stuff like Metal Mario and Tanooki Mario is grouped into costumes like the lack of Peach's biker outfit could suggest.

My example roster

1. Mario
2. Luigi
3. Peach
4. Daisy
5. Rosalina
6. Baby Mario
7. Baby Luigi
8. Baby Peach
9. Baby Daisy
10. Baby Rosalina
11. Bowser
12. Bowser Jr
13. Yoshi
14. Birdo
15. Donkey Kong
16. Wario
17. Waluigi
18. Pauline
19. King Boo
20. Lakitu
21. Koopa
22. Shy Guy
23. Toad
24. Toadette
25. Petey Piranha
26. Dry Bones
27. Dry Bowser
28. Kamek
29. Wiggler
30. Larry
31. Morton
32. Wendy
33. Iggy
34. Roy
35. Lemmy
36. Ludwig
37. King Bob-Omb
38. Hammer Bro
39. Diddy Kong
40. Funky Kong
41. Dixie Kong
42. Poochy
43. Charging Chuck
44. Monty Mole
45. Nabbit
46. Foreman Spike
47. Cranky Kong
48. Elephant Mario

 

[Geno Boost]

i would like Geno, Mallow and Boshi in mario kart since SMRPG got a recent remake but knowing square-enix probably the only way that would be possible is through DLC as a pack of its own because they want the extra money
but damn think about it booster tower, star hill, weapon factory would all be cool locations
also there are SMRPG stuff that could work as car parts

 

[Borskaboska]

instead of baby rosalina, i wish they went with the child version of rosalina from her storybook.

 

[Perkilator]

Probably not the best example, but watching this video made me think "If a fan mod could make 24 racers work with retro tracks, then maybe Mario Kart Switch 2 can, too."

 

[Guynamednelson]

Probably not the best example, but watching this video made me think "If a fan mod could make 24 racers work with retro tracks, then maybe Mario Kart Switch 2 can, too."

Surprised there seemingly aren't any performance issues, then again MKWii's driver models were always extremely low-poly.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

Probably not the best example, but watching this video made me think "If a fan mod could make 24 racers work with retro tracks, then maybe Mario Kart Switch 2 can, too."

Seeing Mario Kart Wii gameplay again raises the most important question about Mario Kart 9.

Will Fake Item Boxes return?

 

[Guynamednelson]

Seeing Mario Kart Wii gameplay again raises the most important question about Mario Kart 9.

Will Fake Item Boxes return?

Please for the love of god make them actually blend in to real item boxes, like MK64 where the main difference was that they had upside-down question marks.

 

[Perkilator]

Seeing Mario Kart Wii gameplay again raises the most important question about Mario Kart 9.

Will Fake Item Boxes return?

Oh, they better.

Anyway, here’s a neat fanmade song for the Mario Bros. Circuit that I came across on YouTube. Fits the “Route 66” type vibe of the course pretty well.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

Please for the love of god make them actually blend in to real item boxes, like MK64 where the main difference was that they had upside-down question marks.

It wasn’t as bad in DS although more obvious then 64 because it didn’t move.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Please for the love of god make them actually blend in to real item boxes, like MK64 where the main difference was that they had upside-down question marks.

Fake item boxes also had defensive purposes in Mario Kart 64, which didn't exist in the later games. In other words, they were literally useless for blocking red shells.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

I want Mission Mode from DS back. Something like that or those special online tournaments from Mario Kart Wii with unique objectives outside of just racing, but in offline mode as well. Just really want more robust single player content.

Another idea I have is from Pac-Man World Rally, where they had shortcuts. Basically they would put a cherry or grape (which in Mario could be a shine sprite or power moon), in the middle of the course and if the player collected it, later on in the course a door would open up for the player giving them access to a shortcut.

 

[ivanlerma]

View attachment 397872

He looks like a Wallace and Gromit character.

"Coconut CREAM Pie! Gromit"

 

[P4ST4N4G4]

I want Mission Mode from DS back. Something like that or those special online tournaments from Mario Kart Wii with unique objectives outside of just racing, but in offline mode as well. Just really want more robust single player content.

Another idea I have is from Pac-Man World Rally, where they had shortcuts. Basically they would put a cherry or grape (which in Mario could be a shine sprite or power moon), in the middle of the course and if the player collected it, later on in the course a door would open up for the player giving them access to a shortcut.

The online tournaments sound the most reasonable since it isn't as resource intensive as missions because they can be reused multiple times and allow for more multiplayer content for people to enjoy.

They also serve as a cool way to get records as opposed to only getting records for time trials.

 

[Master Hero Sock-on-Rye]

In regards to the next Mario Kart game, I actually would like to see the crossover characters to be relegated to DLC, with a focus on actual Mario (and DK/Wario/Yoshi) characters for the base game.

For instance:

Spoiler: Mario Kart DLC

DLC Pack #1: Hylian Races
Racers

1. Link
2. Zelda (Newcomer)
3. Revali (Newcomer; curveball pick)

Triforce Cup

1. Hyrule Circuit
2. Koholint Island (New)
3. Skyloft (New)
4. Termina Tours (New)

DLC Pack #2: Mayor's Retreat
Racers

1. Villager
2. Isabelle
3. Tom Nook (Newcomer)

Crossing Cup

1. Animal Crossing
2. Wild Woods
3. Nook Island (New)
4. Tarantula Territory (New)

DLC Pack #3: Splat Your Engines
Racers

1. Inkling (Boy and Girl)
2. Octoling (Boy and Girl) (Newcomer)
3. Judd (Newcomer)

Inkopolis Cup

1. Urchin Underpass (Upgraded to race track.)
2. Moray Towers (New)
3. Piranha Pit (New; includes Pirahna Plants as enemies.)
4. Mincemeat Metalworks (New)

DLC Pack #4: Super Nintendo Kart
Racers

1. Captain Falcon (New)
2. Kirby (New)
3. Sonic (New)

16-Bit Cup

1. Mute City
2. Big Blue
3. Green Greens (New)
4. Casino Night Zone (New)

I know Pac-Man is left off here, but trust me, he'll be headlining a pack like this.

 

[LimeTH]

If I can be frank, I think I'd prefer they not turn Mario Kart into Nintendo Kart. If every spinoff is Smash, then Smash loses what's special about it, and then all the lower rung fan favorite Mario characters like Shy Guy and Dry Bones are out.

That said, I could totally see a standalone Animal Crossing kart racer working.

ALSO that said, if we're going to cross over with anything in the base roster, then I want more DK and Wario characters, since those at least have ties to the Mario universe.

 

[Golden Icarus]

I feel like “Nintendo Kart,” or “Smash Kart” isn’t a real thing that would happen. People like Mario characters and the name is too well known to change, so there isn’t really a good incentive.

I think Mario Kart 8 had a perfectly acceptable balance. It was very distinctly a Mario game, but seeing Link and Isabelle was cool. And the Excitebike and F-Zero tracks were some of the coolest in the game.

I’d be fine if they went back to pure Mario, but reserving just 5-10% of the roster and race tracks to other Nintendo stuff is cool (and probably likely). This isn’t gonna suddenly become “Smash Kart” because of a few guests. The same way Smash didn’t lose its identity as a Nintendo crossover just by adding a few third parties.

 

[Diddy Kong]

If we're talking wishes and stuff, and F Zero was mentioned already, I kinda hope that there's gonna be at least SOME sort of Diddy Kong Racing recognition. At the very least, Diddy Kong himself.

This is the closest thing I can ever experience as a true DKR sequel, so please allow me just this little thing.

 

[PLATINUM7]

If we're talking wishes and stuff, and F Zero was mentioned already, I kinda hope that there's gonna be at least SOME sort of Diddy Kong Racing recognition. At the very least, Diddy Kong himself.

This is the closest thing I can ever experience as a true DKR sequel, so please allow me just this little thing.

I'd like that to happen as well but I do have to wonder how much Nintendo actually owns. There's Diddy and Krunch but what about the tracks, music and vehicles? Can they use any of that without having to go through Microsoft first?

 

[BritishGuy54]

I think Mii Costumes will return if Mii’s are coming back. Specifically amiibo costumes.

I think Kirby’s chances are overrated. I think Pikmin, Metroid, and Xenoblade have a better chance.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Decided to do my roster prediction

Spoiler

• Mario
• Luigi
• Peach
• Daisy
• Rosalina
• Pauline
• Bowser
• Bowser Jr.
• Yoshi
• Birdo
• Toad
• Toadette
• Donkey Kong
• Diddy Kong
• DK Jr
• Wario
• Waluigi
• Koopa
• Paratroopa
• Sprixie
• Ninji
• Star Bunny
• Peachette
• Wapeach
• Baby Mario
• Baby Luigi
• Baby Peach
• Baby Daisy
• Baby Rosalina
• Kamek
• Lakitu
• Wiggler
• King Boo
• Petey Piranha
• Shy Guy
• Charging Chuck
• Hammer Bro
• Whittle
• Penguin
• Larry
• Lemmy
• Wendy
• Morton
• Roy
• Ludwig
• Iggy
• Dry Bowser
• King Bob-omb
• Cappy
• Tiara
• Monty Mole
• Luma
• Dixie Kong
• Funky Kong
• Dry Bones
• Nabbit
• Toadsworth
• Honey Queen
• Bob-omb Buddy
• Ashley
• King K Rool
• Tiny Kong
• Mona
• Cranky Kong
• Florian
• Stella
• Metal Mario
• Pink Gold Peach
• Professor E Gadd
• Gooigi
• Hellen Gravely
• Pianta
• Jimmy T
• Captain Syrup
• Geno
• Mallow
• Vivian
• Koops
• Goombella
• Starlow
• Foreman Spike
• Noki
• Poochy
• Mii

DLC

• Link
• Zelda
• Samus/Zero Suit Samus
• Olimar
• Captain Falcon
• Kirby
• King Dedede
• R.O.B.
• Villager (M/F)
• Isabelle
• Tom Nook
• Inking (M/F)
• Octoling (M/F)
• Callie
• Marie
• Pit
• Palutena
• Wii Fit Trainer (M/F)
• Ring Fit Trainer (M/F)
• Fox
• Shulk
• Pyra/Mythra
• Marth
• Lucina
• Min-Min
• Ninjara
• Sonic
• Tails
• Mega Man
• Roll
• Pac-Man
• Ms. Pac-Man

.... I might have gone a little too far in some places.

 

[PeridotGX]

My hot take is that I'd like to see Smash Kart in addition to Mario Kart, not replacing it. Mario Kart would stay Mario Kart, while Smash Kart would be a sort of follow up to Mario Kart Tour. I know people don't love tour, but by the end it fixed most of it's major problems and was a fun little game. Making the follow-up game a crossover also feels like a reasonable next step from the "world tour" idea.

 

[Guynamednelson]

My hot take is that I'd like to see Smash Kart in addition to Mario Kart, not replacing it. Mario Kart would stay Mario Kart, while Smash Kart would be a sort of follow up to Mario Kart Tour. I know people don't love tour, but by the end it fixed most of it's major problems and was a fun little game. Making the follow-up game a crossover also feels like a reasonable next step from the "world tour" idea.

If Nintendo's going to have two racing series active, and one of them (probably) features Captain Falcon playable, I have a better idea for that...

 

[fogbadge]

Part of me kinda wants to revive the wapeach concept for this game

 

[Golden Icarus]

DLC Pack #1: Hylian Races
Racers

1. Link
2. Zelda (Newcomer)
3. Revali (Newcomer; curveball pick)

Triforce Cup

1. Hyrule Circuit
2. Koholint Island (New)
3. Skyloft (New)
4. Termina Tours (New)

DLC Pack #2: Mayor's Retreat
Racers

1. Villager
2. Isabelle
3. Tom Nook (Newcomer)

Crossing Cup

1. Animal Crossing
2. Wild Woods
3. Nook Island (New)
4. Tarantula Territory (New)

DLC Pack #3: Splat Your Engines
Racers

1. Inkling (Boy and Girl)
2. Octoling (Boy and Girl) (Newcomer)
3. Judd (Newcomer)

Inkopolis Cup

1. Urchin Underpass (Upgraded to race track.)
2. Moray Towers (New)
3. Piranha Pit (New; includes Pirahna Plants as enemies.)
4. Mincemeat Metalworks (New)

I think reserving crossover stuff for DLC is a smart way to go.

On another note, your post made me realize how much I’d appreciate “themed cups.” What's the point of having the "Triforce Cup" if we just go to Hyrule Castle and then a bunch of random Mario locations? I feel like no one's really concerned with "immersion" in Mario Kart, but it really is weird that they never even attempt solid theming when it comes to cups, aside from like...Mushroom is easy, Special always has Rainbow Road, etc.

But why not a Shine Sprite Cup with Delfino Airstrip, Delfino Plaza, Gelato Beach, Corona Mountain? Or a "Barrel Cup" with DK Mountain, Mine Cart Madness, Fruity Factory, Gangplank Galleon. Maybe people would miss the diversity that every cup would bring, but it's easy to make a Sunshine, Galaxy, Yoshi, DK, etc. theme that still offers plenty of unique locations. I feel like this could make the cups feel more meaningful and distinct, while only slightly restricting the variety each cup could bring.

I guess Mario Kart has settled into the 4 main cups + 4 retro cups, but this would still be a cool way to make the new game stand out. Or at the very least, it would be a fun direction for DLC, especially if they're doing guest characters again. I said before that Link felt oddly out of place, but I think that's partly because he was just awkwardly alone with one track that almost felt like a mod. But if we got a few more Zelda characters, plus a cup that actually lets us thoroughly explore 4 different areas of Hyrule, then that would really help justify the crossover.

I don't know if I'm in the minority, but a DLC pack with Link, Zelda, Midna, Revali including a cup dedicated to Hyrule sounds more enticing than a DLC pack with Link, Samus, Captain Falcon and Olimar that explores a random assortment of Nintendo locations. If we're gonna do a crossover, then they should really lean into it.