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Opinion | Mario Kart 9 could do so much more when it comes to tracks themed after the Nintendo’s most iconic series
(Image credit: Nintendo)
One of my favorite tracks in Mario Kart 8 is Hyrule Circuit. The inventive course cuts through Hyrule Castle which houses the Master Sword at its center, and instead of featuring the standard gold coin collectibles and Piranha Plant hazards, it stays on theme by swapping them out with Rupees and Deku Babas. It’s such a playful and engaging circuit that beautifully plays homage to one of Nintendo’s most iconic and enduring series, The Legend of Zelda.
Last week, that very racetrack was front of mind when I clapped eyes on the tailend of theSwitch 2first-look trailer. Because not only did Nintendo at last show off the long-awaited new console, but it also appeared to teaseMario Kart 9playing on its display. While we’re still awaiting an official announcement, I can’t help but hope the next racing game taps into what makes the likes of Hyrule Circuit so magical. With Nintendo’s extensive repertoire, there’s so much more potential to get creative and deliver more tracks that celebrate its most beloved game series.
Hyrule Circuit is by no means the only example of a themed track in Mario Kart 8. Another personal favorite is the one set in the world of Animal Crossing, which features a host of different villagers, familiar stores, and four different seasonal variations – which loads in at random each time you race through it. Mute City based on the F-Zero series is yet another example, and there’s also a neat Splatoon-themed Battle Stage, but there’s so much scope for Nintendo to deliver more themed tracks in Mario Kart 9.
With such a rich tapestry of games making up Nintendo’s storied history, there’s no shortage of series to draw. Over Christmas, my sister and I even waxed lyrical about which game characters we’d love to see as new racers in a theoretical Mario Kart 9, as well as what games would make for perfect circuit fodder. Just imagine, for example, a track based on Paper Mario that captures its playful paper-y style and sense of humor. The recent re-release of A Thousand Year Door – aka one of thebest GameCube gamesof all time – provides the perfect excuse to design a course around the classic RPG, and it would undoubtedly be a real delight to speed through. Some of the biggest upcoming Switch games we know about, such as Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, also beg to be paid homage to on the tarmac. I mean, a track themed around Samus and the Metroid series?Yes please.
And what about everyone’s favorite pink puffball Kirby? With so many games under his belt, there’s no end of possibilities when it comes to designing a racetrack that pays homage to one of Nintendo’s most beloved characters. So much fun could be had incorporating his signature copy abilities in the item boxes, or working in some of the famous foes in Kirby’s platforming adventures. Heck, if I had it my way, Kirby would also be a new racer, complete with a little star car modelled after his own racing game, Air Ride. I could go on and on with ideas, with everything from Pokemon to Pikmin and Starfox to Fire Emblem, which just speaks to how much fun Nintendo could and should have with its tracks in the next installment.
Honestly, I’m still kind of reeling over the fact that Mario Kart 9 could finally speed onto consoles in the future. It’s been such a long time since we’ve had a new instalment, with Mario Kart 8 originally coming out all the way back in 2014 on the Wii U. After it got the Deluxe port over to the Switch some years later, 48 additional tracks have since been added to round out the experience, with nostalgic circuits and more recent racetracks plucked from various Mario Kart iterations across console generations. As my go-to game to play with my sister, I’ve lost count of the amount of hours I’ve sunk into the racer over the years.
But even if Mario Kart 8 continues to be one of thebest racing gamesaround, a new entry feels well overdue, and I can’t think of a better way to kick things off for the Switch 2. If that does end up happening, as the recent trailer seems to suggest, I hope we see Nintendo seize the opportunity to make the most of its history and iconic series in whatever Mario Kart 9 ends up being. If more tracks like Hyrule Circuit come our way, you better believe I’ll be revving up my engine to be the first one at the starting line of the new entry.
Expect to get the full lowdown during a Nintendo Direct on April 2.
Nintendo
As the world turns, so do the console generations. The Nintendo Switch is over seven years old, so it’s due for a refresh. Nintendo Switch 2 rumors have been swirling for years, but now we have some signs of life. The company officially revealed the sequel to its most successful home console ever in a brief trailer on January 16.
The Switch 2 looks functionally very similar to the original system, albeit with a larger display, magnetic Joy-Cons and a sleeker design. The company also reaffirmed that the upcoming console will be backwards compatible with Switch games.
While the reveal did confirm some rumors and have a few interesting details for those who were paying close attention, Nintendo is still largely keeping its cards close to its chest. We’ll have to wait until a special Nintendo Direct on April 2 for all the juicy information. Annoyingly, that date is a Wednesday and not a Two-sday.
The rumor mill had heavilysuggested that Nintendo would pull back the curtain on the Switch 2 on January 16, and that turned out to be the case.
The company hasn’t changed the core form factor. It’s a portable console with detachable Joy-Cons. The Switch 2 can be placed in a dock for big-screen gaming. There are some significant differences from the original console, however.
The most obvious one is that the next-gen Joy-Cons will no longer slide into place mechanically. Instead, they’ll attach to the main unit magnetically. There is a small connector that’s likely used to charge the controllers and perhaps remove the need to link them via Bluetooth. It’s unclear at this point if Joy-Cons from the original system will be compatible with the Switch 2.
One other big (and very welcome) change is the addition of a second USB-C port on the top of the device. That should make it much easier to plug in accessories while the Switch 2 is docked. It’s great to see that Nintendo has kept the headphone jack as well. Let’s just hope that Bluetooth headphone support is live from the jump this time and Nintendo doesn’t leave everyonewaitingfour yearsfor that feature.
The kickstand is getting an upgrade as well. As with the Switch OLED, it spans the length of the console. But, according to the trailer, this one looks fully adjustable, so you can tweak the viewing angle to one that works for you.
However, there are still a great many unknowns regarding the upcoming console. We don’t really know the specs yet, or what type of display it uses. We also don’t know anything about battery life, the UI or launch games. We’ll likely learn a whole lot on April 2.
It’s highly unlikely that Nintendo will release the console before the dedicated Direct on April 2, and not only because that’s at the start of Nintendo’s next financial year. However, accessory manufacturer Genki, which has been a major source of leaks in recent months,claims the console will be released in April.
In any case, we should learn the release date during the April 2 Direct if we haven’t already by then.
When can I try the Nintendo Switch 2?
Nintendo is planning a worldwide roadshow to let gamers go hands-on with the console. These events start in New York and Paris on April 3-6, with others taking place throughout the following two months. That lends credence to some suggestions that Nintendo will release the Switch 2 in June.
Ticket registration for the Switch 2 Experience events in the US (in New York, Los Angeles and Paris)starts on January 17 at 3PM ETand will remain open until January 26. A Nintendo Account is required to sign up. Nintendo will randomly select the recipients of the free tickets.
The full list of Nintendo Switch 2 Experience events is as follows:
Everything we’ve seen and so far about this console has been fairly, well, traditional. It looks like the original Switch, but better. That’s awesome, but will there be any of that unpredictable Nintendo magic? Maybe! There are two puzzling additions that folks can’t make hide nor hair of.
Keen eyes will have noticed a new button on the bottom of the right Joy-Con. It it not yet clear what this does. Could it initiate voice chat during gameplay? Could it calibrate the controllers? Could it create a room-sized hologram of Bowser in your living room? We’ll have to wait and see.
Now onto the updated Joy-Cons. There appears to be a new sensor on the connecting side of each controller. It looks awhole lot like an optical sensor, which is what a computer mouse uses. This has led to speculation that players will be able to flip the Joy-Con over and use it like a mouse. Of note: the trailer shows the Joy-Cons moving along a flat surface, connector side down and looking suspiciously like a mouse.
But why would anyone even want this? I can think of three words. NewMario Paint.
Isthe Nintendo Switch 2backwards compatible?
The company confirmed in November 2024 that theNintendo Switch 2 will be backwards compatible.It will also feature access to Nintendo Online, so users will be able to play all of those old retro titles.
In the initial Nintendo Switch 2 press release, Nintendo reiterated that physical and digital Switch games will work on the new system. However, it noted that “certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2.” More details about which games those are will be revealed later.
What about specs?
The rumors regarding specs are all over the place, so it’s tough to pin down. We know one thing for sure: It’ll be more powerful than the ancient Switch hardware, which was already antiquated back in 2017. One analyst allegedly got a hold of a spec sheet from theKorean United Daily Newsthat said the Switch 2would boast an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal eMMC storage. This tracks for me, as these specs are about as underpowered in 2024 as the original Switch was in 2017. However, some reportsdo indicate that the consolewill include 12GB of RAM.
Another source suggests that the eight-core CPU will be packaged inside an NVIDIA-producedTegra239 SoC (system on a chip). Given the current Switch runs on an NVIDIA chip, that makes a lot of sense. The CPU will be more powerful, but it’s the Switch 2’s new GPU that will be a major differentiator. It’s all-but-confirmed that the Switch 2 will support DLSS, NVIDIA’s “deep learning supersampling” upscaling tech, which would allow the console to render games at a low resolution internally while outputting a high-resolution image. (Fun fact: We actually wrote abouthow perfect DLSS was for the Nintendo Switch 2when the technology was announced alongside the RTX 20 series back in 2018.)
There are still questions about the Switch 2 and DLSS: Will the system supportnewer DLSS features like frame generation? Will existing games be automatically tidied up by NVIDIA’s algorithm? Regardless of the exact implementation, DLSS upscaling will be a huge leap over the rudimentary techniques available to Nintendo Switch developers.
As for the display, there are many conflicting rumors. Early reports from solid sources suggested the Switch 2 would have an 8-inch display LCD display. The Switch 2’s display certainly looks larger than that of the original Switch in a side-by-side comparison in the reveal trailer.
Some analysts have suggested this would be an OLED screen, while others have said it would be aMini-LED display. A Mini-LED display is basically an LCD display that has a backlight made of (surprise!) mini-LEDs rather than edge lighting. This allows for local dimming, making the blacks more black. I’m hedging my bets here. I think it’ll be a standard LCD, to cut costs, with an OLED or Mini-LED model coming later down the line. However, Mini-LED screens are slightly cheaper than OLED displays, so that’s certainly a possibility at launch.
As for resolution, recent reporting suggests that the console will output 1080p in handheld and 4K when docked. That’s much better than the OG Switch. Meanwhile, it’s not yet clear if the Switch 2 will deliver performance or visual upgrades to original Switch games.
How much will the Nintendo Switch 2 cost?
We don’t have too much information regarding price but we do have plenty of history to work with. The original Nintendo Switch launched at $300, which is pretty much the “magic number” when it comes to Nintendo console releases in recent years. The Wii U also came in at $300.
However, there are plenty of rumors circulating that Nintendo could be upping the asking price for the Switch 2. Numerous outletshave reported it’ll be $400, or potentially even more expensive. However, the same analysts who say the console will be $400 were also fairly certain it would be out by the end of 2024 and, well, that didn’t happen.
Dipping back into history, there is some precedence for a price uptick. The GameCube was $200 and the Wii was $250. The Wii U and Switch increased to $300 and, well, numbers like to go up. A $400 price tag would make it nearly as expensive as a PS5 and Xbox Series X. That would also put it at the same price as the 256GB LCD Steam Deck.
Again, we should get confirmation of the price during the April 2 Nintendo Direct.
Do we know about any launch games?
Not so much. The reveal trailer offered a peek at a new Mario Kart game. Nintendo releasedMario Kart 8on the Wii U over a decade ago and it’s been milking that cash cow ever since, having sold more than 64 million copies of the game across that console and the Switch. It’s definitely time for a new entry!
It’s certainlybeen a long time sincewe’ve gotten a proper 3D Mario adventure as well, so a new one could be a launch title. That would be one heck of a system seller. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. Past as prologue, we can expect something from Ubisoft and an off-the-wall title like1-2-Switch.
If there’s a gimmick or hook involved with the console, we’ll also get a game that takes advantage of that. A dual release ofMetroid Prime 4, just likeBreath of the WildandTwilight Princessbefore that, is also a possibility.
It’s all but nailed on that we’ll learn much more about the Switch 2 launch lineup during the April 2 Nintendo Direct. You’ll definitely want toset your Alarmofor that one.
(Image credit: Nintendo)