Mario Kart Needs A Super Smash-Style Makeover

Mario Kart is a fantastic franchise – one of Nintendo’s best, easily – but it’s time for it to come to an end. Now, that’s a bit of a loaded phrase, but I wholeheartedly mean it: we don’t need another Mario Kart game. We do require a new, exciting Nintendo kart-game. It should feature not just Mario (can’t leave behind the Kart King like that) and the gang, but Link, Zelda, and other Hyrulian characters, too. While we should be allowed to race alongside the Inklings of Splatoon, I can race as Protagonist or Lappy if necessary. 

What I’m proposing is the end of Mario Kart and the beginning of Nintendo Kart. 

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch is the pinnacle of the franchise – it features more tracks than any other entry, the most characters, the smoothest racing, the best mechanics, and one of the most banging soundtracks in all of games. I can’t see a world where Nintendo tops it. Mario Kart 9 might be created, a game that is equally good as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe but better than it. You can do all that within the Mushroom Kingdom and the limited number of tracks, characters and tracks not made by Mario. But how do you do it? I don’t think you do, and that’s why Nintendo should blow off the lid with Nintendo Kart, a new kart franchise with a Super Smash Bros. inspiration. 

Super Smash Bros. began on the Nintendo 64. The game featured fewer characters and had a simpler mechanic than the later entries. It was so dang fun, though, and at the heart of that fun was watching Mario beat Kirby up right after Kirby laid into Link, who just took Ness’ final stock. Seeing these characters interact in a new way was fascinating, and it provided the groundwork for what would become one of Nintendo’s most successful games. I’m not saying Nintendo Kart needs to immediately jump to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate status – just focus on Nintendo characters for now and keep the roster small. 

Make each racer unique and keep them heavily inspired by the franchise they’re from. Choose the best locations in their games to create thrilling playgrounds that players can race on and compete. Add new items to the mix, or even character-specific mechanics. Imagine if Astral Chain’s hero could throw a chain around a racer ahead of them and use it to pull themselves up? What if Link could use the Sheikah Slates’ magnesis ability to latch onto another racer and trail behind them for a couple of seconds? The possibilities of these abilities may be limitless, no matter how creative Nintendo is with what they create. 

And yes, I expect upbeat jazz renditions of every racer’s theme, but don’t stop there: bring in some of the more metalcore-inspired music from Astral Chain, utilize the Ocarina of Time, juice up races with some Splatoon-inspired funk rock, and toss in the Pokémon theme song for good measure. You can be wild. 

Personally, I’m tired of racing around on Mushroom Kingdom tracks. Shaking the formula up with tracks from each racer’s franchise and sticking to said franchise’s art, rather than trying to blend it all together into the colorful and bubbly style of Mario Kart, would provide the fresh coat of paint Nintendo’s kart racing efforts need. 

What’s best about the idea of Nintendo Kart is that it’s just the start. Then you can create a sequel, and bring the series to greater heights. This is similar to Super Smash Bros. Melee’s GameCube game. Nintendo Kart Ultimate will eventually become a reality. While its Smash Bros. counterpart lies dormant for a couple of generations (Sakurai deserves the break, y’all), let this be the flagship Avengers EndgameEvery Nintendo console should have a team-up kart racing driver. 

Nintendo Kart Ultimate may carry the banner of advertising that Smash Bros. used to for other Nintendo IPs. All the while, it could give fans a new way to interact with beloved characters like Mario, Ganondorf, Shulk, Olimar from Pikmin, and eventually, Sora, Master Chief, and others (maybe Waluigi if Nintendo’s feeling nice). 

I love Mario Kart. It’s been a Nintendo staple in my life for as long as I can remember. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is almost unimprovable, but let’s not try to fix it. Let that series come to an end and start anew with Nintendo Kart. 

Which direction would you like to see Mario Kart go with its next iteration of the game? Leave your comments below