Mario Kart for Nintendo Switch 2 needs these new characters
Mario Kart 9 has been officially teased for Nintendo Switch 2, and we presumably won’t hear much about it until the full Nintendo Direct presentation on April 2. In the initial footage, a whopping 24 racer slots were shown on the track. That’s double the amount of racers per match in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. And with more drivers than ever present on the field all at once, Mario Kart 9 (which isn’t the game’s official name yet – it could wind up being Mario Kart 10 if we count Mario Kart Tour) needs more characters than ever to match. A while back, we talked about all sorts of crucial features Mario Kart 9 needs to succeed – but this time, we’re honing in on all the characters we want to see, no matter how obscure.
Returning characters
Before we talk about what characters we want to see in Mario Kart 9, we have to list off all the characters we’ve already seen in the game. In the short reveal trailer alone, you can spot a whole bunch of racers. Here’s the full list: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Toad, Toadette, Bowser, Rosalina, Wario, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Koopa Troopa, Pauline, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Peach, Baby Daisy, Baby Rosalina, Shy Guy, Bowser Jr., King Boo, Birdo, and Lakitu. Of course, there will be many more drivers revealed over the coming months – every Mario Kart game introduces new characters, after all, and this one will be no exception. From what we’ve seen, the roster isn’t bad so far – there’s a questionable amount of baby characters again, but we’re happy to see that Pauline is seemingly a mainstay for the series after appearing in Mario Kart Tour and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Booster Course Pass DLC.
It’s definitely a bit unrealistic to expect every character from previous Mario Kart games to return, so we’ll just pick out some highlights. From Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Petey Piranha, Kamek, Dry Bones, and Dry Bowser would all be solid picks. Mario Kart Tour has tons of unique characters that we’d like to see in Mario Kart 9. It’s got a ton of character outfits, and while it’s unrealistic to expect all of these alternate costumes to appear in the game, it’d be neat to at least have one or two per character. From Mario Kart Tour’s expansive roster, some interesting picks would be Monty Mole, Hammer Bro, Poochy, King Bob-omb, and Nabbit. Many of these are enemy characters, and we think those are fairly safe choices for returning characters. Including Poochy would create some much-needed Yoshi series representation, so that’d be nice to see as well. Some deep cut picks from previous games could be Chargin’ Chuck, Captain Toad, R.O.B. from Mario Kart DS, or Honey Queen from Mario Kart 7. We don’t know that any of these are particularly likely, but they’d still be cool references to previous Mario Kart games at the very least.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe included a few characters who are not part of the Super Mario series: Inkling, Villager, Isabelle, and Link. The latter three were added to the original Mario Kart 8 as DLC, whereas Mario Kart 8 Deluxe added Inkling. We’re not sure if Mario Kart 9 will continue this trend or not – it can really go either way – but it’d be nice to see these drivers return regardless.
Another interesting note is that we’ve not yet seen Miis in Mario Kart 9. Of course, we’ve only seen a couple seconds of footage, but it’ll be interesting to see if they make it into the final game. Nintendo Switch Sports prioritized its new Sportsmate characters rather than Miis, and we’re not sure if Miis will be sidelined on Switch 2 or if they will carry over as-is for the most part.
New characters
This is where things really get interesting. Mario Kart 9 is bound to introduce at least a couple of new characters, and there’s a huge pool of picks to choose from. Mario Kart is a celebration of the Super Mario series, in a sense, so nothing’s off the table when it comes to our picks. Starting with some tame picks, it seems odd that a Goomba has never been a playable driver in Mario Kart – not even in Mario Kart Tour, surprisingly. You could also go with other oddball enemy picks like Blooper, Bullet Bill, Piranha Plant, Boom Boom, or Pom Pom. Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2 would be an interesting choice – Shy Guys originated in this game, so we don’t see why Wart wouldn’t be possible as well. Shadow Mario from Super Mario Sunshine could be another interesting pick. You could also include a Mini-Mario toy from Mario vs. Donkey Kong if you wanted to represent that series, or Prince Florian for some Super Mario Bros. Wonder rep. Professor E. Gadd seems like he should’ve been playable in the Mario Kart series by now, so he’s another good choice.
We also think it’d make a lot of sense to include characters from prominent Nintendo Switch Mario titles. Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey is an obvious choice, and it’s surprising that we haven’t seen that given how successful the game was. Olivia or King Olly from Paper Mario: The Origami King could be another neat option. Continuing Mario RPG picks, you could include Geno, Mallow, any of the Thousand-Year Door partners, or a character from Mario & Luigi: Brothership like Connie or Snoutlet. Fawful is possible too, but possibly unlikely given he has not appeared on Switch.
We’d also like to see a few more characters from the Donkey Kong franchise. While DK’s new design in Mario Kart 9 is not directly lifted from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it does appear to at least be partially inspired by it. Given that Donkey Kong is much more popular now that he’s appeared in a successful film, it makes sense to include a few more of his friends and adversaries as playable drivers. Currently, the only other DK characters who have appeared in a Mario Kart game are Diddy Kong, Funky Kong, and Donkey Kong Jr. – the latter of whom we are never expecting to appear again. You could go with King K. Rool if you wanted to include a more classic DK rep, or even Tiki Tong given the recent remaster of Donkey Kong Country Returns. Alternatively, you could just include more Kongs – Dixie Kong seems like a notable exclusion at this point. And whether we like it or not, Baby Donkey Kong is always a possibility. Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 8 both introduced new baby characters, so there’s a non-zero chance the same happens here. At least Baby DK has some history, though – he appeared as a playable character in both Yoshi’s Island DS and Mario Super Sluggers.
WarioWare is another good idea to pull a character or two from. This is unfortunately somewhat unlikely; though WarioWare has had a solid presence on Nintendo consoles for a few generations now, we’ve never seen a WarioWare character in Mario Kart. Wario has appeared in Mario Kart 9’s initial trailer, but in his standard overalls rather than his WarioWare outfit. While it’s not flat-out impossible, it is unlikely we’ll see a crossover even though WarioWare characters fit very well into the main Mario cast. Ashley and Mona are the most likely candidates, but theoretically we could see any one of Wario’s friends.
Like we mentioned before, we’re not sure if Mario Kart 9 will keep the tradition of introducing drivers who aren’t in the Super Mario series. If it does, we’d like to see Kirby, Captain Falcon, or Pac-Man – they all seem like appropriate newcomers. Captain Falcon has two courses present in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so he makes a lot of sense. Kirby has appeared in a racing game of his own, and Pac-Man has appeared alongside Mario in the Mario Kart Arcade GP series. You could also go for a more unlikely character like Sonic. Anything’s possible!
Which characters, returning or new, do you want to see most in Mario Kart 9? Feel free to let us know in the comments down below. We’ve undoubtedly only seen a small portion of the roster thus far. And with a few months to go until the Nintendo Switch 2 presentation, we have plenty of time to speculate. If you want to catch up on Nintendo’s Switch 2 trailer, you can do so right here.
