Sub-Zero

Super Mario Kart is going to turn 30 years old next year. Will Nintendo release Mario Kart 9 to celebrate the milestone? After all, the last game in the mainline series was Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which was released four years ago, while the Wii U original was released back in 2014.

Mike86

Tough to say with Nintendo. They might do something, but I could see them not doing anything too. At most I can see a new entry being announced. The games have done updated versions to some of the original courses over the years.

Adam Tyner

It'd be nice. I wonder if they'd time it to release alongside a Switch successor (either a pro unit or, further out, whatever the next-gen Switch is a few years from now).

8 Deluxe is still selling bonkers numbers even all these years later -- #6 on the NPD chart in March and #10 in April, without even counting digital sales -- so they might want to ride that out for the rest of the gen.

A track creator could be fun. More character-specific abilities or team-ups a la Double Dash (still my favorite Mario Kart) would be nice to see as well.

milo bloom

8 Deluxe is still fun, we still bring it out sometimes and find out there's still cars and stuff to be unlocked.

But I wouldn't mind a new entry with some new track designs.

tanman

Mario Kart 8 deluxe was a weird bird. Nintendo has always been consistent with MK releases. Always releasing one but only one entry per hardware platform since the SNES days. And usually a couple of years into the life cycle of the system (except the virtualboy of course) until MK 8 deluxe. Which was fine since the Wii U failed so terribly and MK8 release so close to the Switch's debut it made sense. There's such little difference between the Wii U and the Switch in terms of graphical capability when it comes to a MK title that I don't really see a need to release another one. It might be nice to see a collection of MK titles ala the recent 3D collection. But then again MK titles don't always age the best. It might be nice to see a deluxe anniversary edition and redo all the tracks from the previous entries using the MK8 engine. That would be a pretty awesome release.

But I can also see them not doing a damn thing about it.

Sonny Corinthos

Man, how I wish they would release a new MK game. My family and I played MK8 to death on the Wii U. We were sadden when MK8 Deluxe was released for the Switch with very few additions. We bought the DLC on the Wii U, so the Zelda and Animal Crossing tracks were nothing new for us.

Michael Corvin

Yeah, MK8 is 7 years old for most of us, but does Mario Kart Live count as Nintendo's next effort in this franchise? If so we could be looking at next gen for a new Mario Kart game.

The Questyen

The mobile game is insanely popular and they update it regularly. I assume that is what most of their effort is focused on right now.

Mike86

Honestly what they could do is just add some DLC content to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and I’d be satisfied. Some new characters and tracks maybe. That game is still solid as is.

Sub-Zero

Thanks for all of the replies and a good point about Mario Kart 8 Deluxe still being such a popular game.

zero

If we do get a new Mario Kart, I'd love it if Nintendo included the Arcade GP tracks.

Sub-Zero

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is now the best selling game in the Mario Kart series:

New Mario Kart 8 News Has Fans Worried About Mario Kart 9

Michael Corvin

Of course it is. It's the only console Mario Kart game across two console cycles. Isn't that kinda like saying GTAV is the best selling GTA game?

Adam Tyner

It’s specifically 8 Deluxe for the Switch that unseated Mario Kart Wii as the best selling in the series. (38.74 million on the Switch vs. 37.38 for the Wii game.) If you count the Wii U version of 8, which sold 8.46 million copies, that’s more than 47 million for all editions of the game!

Goonies85

I also don't imagine they'll do too much, as they seem to often drop the ball for anniversary events and whatnot. Plus, like others have pointed out, it's still highly successful, and i'm still playing it (maybe not as frequently, but I usually end up playing at least a couple rounds a week). At this point, I also don't wanna pay the standard $80 for a new game, when you know or can at least safely assume they'd recycle a lot of content. Thus, I'd much prefer DLC, which I can see them doing. Something like $25 would be cool, mostly for maybe a dozen new levels, and maybe some additional characters (kind of similar from what they've done with Smash Bros. a few times).

bluetoast

I imagine the most they would do would be like that Mario 99 game, and remix a few levels of the SNES game for online gameplay. Then promptly take it down a few months later.

Sub-Zero

So I assume that the announcement of paid DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, releasing through the end of 2023, means that Mario Kart 9 will likely not release any time soon. Considering how successful the Nintendo Switch is, I'm surprised that it will apparently not get a unique Mario Kart game now, with Mario Kart 9 likely being held for the eventual successor to the Nintendo Switch.

majorjoe23

I bet it will end up being a cross platform title, launching at the end of the Switch's lifetime and the beginning of the next, like Breath of the Wild.

beavis69

I can't imagine it will, Nintendo knows that there are very few games that guarantee people will buy a new console day one and Mario Kart is one of those. I think what this really does confirm is we aren't going to see the next N system until end of 23/beginning of 24.

RichC2

Honestly at this point I see them going with a Switch 2 and it being like the Series X. A 4k backwards compatible version of what's already available (and upped 1080p performance for cross platform titles).

I can see MK being xgen in that regard, but who knows.

Xander

While I would love a new Mario Kart title, my family does still play 8 fairly regularly, so I'll probably end up buying the DLC.

Sub-Zero

Wave 1 of the Booster Course Pass is now available:

Michael Corvin

I bought the game & course pack. Finally pushed me into double dipping from the WiiU version.

We played both cups a couple times yesterday. I never had any of the Gameboy games so I have no nostalgia for those tracks so as a new player to them... they're the weakest of the bunch. Courses are too wide (general complaint about 8 in general as well), and they seem pretty barren. Not to mention the tracks are pretty basic. I guess that's kind of expected given the platform's limitations at the time, but they could be jazzed up a bit. One of the maps got an audible "this is a boring course" from my daughter. I don't recall which, but that's not something heard often with Mario Kart.

Still glad I bought the pack and I'm looking forward to whatever's next.

The Questyen

I was going to buy the DLC pack but then I decided to just upgrade to the Expansion Pack and get the DLC as part of it. So when I went to upgrade to the "individual with expansion pack" it won't let me since I currently have it set as family since at the time there wasn't a big price difference between individual and family and I wasn't sure if my wife was ever going to get a Switch. Pretty weird that it doesn't let you change in between. Basically I have to wait until next month when my Switch online expires and then re-sign up as an individual or I would have to pay the much higher family rate which I'm not using.

tanman

Maybe a dumb question I don’t know but this is Nintendo. Is $25 the upgrade price for all the waves of courses to be released or just wave 1? That’s be hella pricy if it’s just for wave 1 but then again each character pack in SSB was sold individually…