Mario Kart SHOULD NOT Become Nintendo Kart 

personally i think they should add a 2nd larry koopa

I desperately want Wario’s castle as a track. It could be based on Wario land 2 where it’s flooded.

This is what I keep saying. There are hundreds upon hundreds of Mario characters they could add. I would hate it if they turned the series into vehicular smash bros.

I agree, the Mario universe is expansive enough for an interesting roster, and we already got a semi obscure character with Birdo in this most recent wave, hopefully Nintendo keeps throwing more interesting characters for us to play as

I don't normally get my mind changed by videos like this, but damn he's done it, I *would* like to see a goomba driving with his mouth on the steering wheel

Yes. YES. YEEEEES! I feel the exact same way. Mario is my all time favorite franchise, and the biggest problem I've had with the series as of late, is how it doesn't really get to come together in anything, and I think it's absolutely deserving of doing so. Just look at games in other Nintendo franchises, like Kirby: Star Allies and Hyrule Warriors. Those games had character choices that were bonafide love letters to their respective fandoms, and with Mario being their flagship franchise, and how long it's been around, and how many different subseries have originated from this world, it should get to do the same thing, because it really does go much deeper than it looks on the surface.

While I think I would enjoy a Nintendo Kart anyway if one were to ever happen, I think the way MK8D does the concept is fine (having a couple of guest characters and tracks from other games, but keep the focus mostly on the Mario universe).

I‘ve been saying this for so long, thank you! It‘s so ignorant to not care about the inclusion of characters from the Mario universe (including the DK, Yoshi & Wario franchises) but then wanting characters like Sonic? No thank you. I take characters like Kamek, Diddy, Funky, Pauline or any other Mario Universe Characters anytime over outsiders!

This dude is speaking my language. Don’t fix what isn’t broken, ya know.

What if instead of Nintendo Kart or Mario Kart it turned into F-Zero Kart and we got a new F-Zero game and you can call it F-Zero and it can have cameos from F-Zero and be like F-Zero cmon Nintendo think about it

I think what made Mario Kart Wii special to me was that the tracks felt inspired by the GCB and Wii Era Mario games. Coconut Mall, Delfino Square and Pier are reminiscent of Sunshine. While the inclusion of Rosalina and Maple Treeway has ties to Galaxy. I think where MK9 can thrive is to include tracks inspired by Tropical Freeze, 3D World, and Odyssey. I’m putting it out there, but I think it’d be a cool callback to the first MK and MK Super Circuit by having tracks specifically for 2D mode. This format opens up to more styles like Paper Mario, Wario Inc., and other series not mentioned.

The reason they add characters like Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach is because they are clone characters that are extremely easy to develop for. They're less "hmm, who should we add to the game?" and more "We don't have enough time to develop any other new characters so let's do some easy ones instead." I definitely think they'd be on board with adding characters like Wart, Tatanga, E Gadd, Captain Syrup, and other DK & Wario characters. I'm not sure about RPG characters, but man would I kill to play as Prince Peasely, Popple, Lord Crump, Kolorado, or my favorite-- Broque Monsieur! I don't think we'd ever get Fawful, Cackletta, or Antasma, because they're canonically dead. Nintendo probably wouldn't have to try to explain why these characters that will NEVER appear again (outside of remakes) are playable in their kart game. They definitely already avoid specific characters due to relevancy, but I feel like there's gonna be a shift soon. With Super Mario Odyssey shoving in a ton of DK references into New Donk City, rumors of a new DK game bringing back the Kremlings, and the Super Mario Movie including characters like freaking Swanky Kong and Foreman Spike, Nintendo's gonna see how much the fans love this kind of stuff. Even though the Movie isn't the same universe as the games, it's clear they are trying to unify the expanded Mario series with Yoshi and DK. And again, there's New Donk City referencing Candy Kong, Expresso, Rattley, etc on street signs. Mario Kart Tour brought back DK Jr (in 16 bit) and even Dixie Kong. And I wouldn't be surprised if they put Cranky Kong in the game as well. And there was the newly announced Yoshi's Island course as well. Characters like E Gadd don't feel like a pipe dream anymore. They feel imminent. I really hope all these steps toward unifying the Mario universe aren't just exceptions to the rule, because it really does feel like the next Mario Kart could be an absolute blowout and love letter to the Mario series. I will not rest until I can play as Jimmy T, Broque Monsieur, E Gadd, and Cranky Kong in Mario Kart. And if Nintendo Kart ruins those chances I'm gonna be so freaking ticked off.

Yeah I've always felt this way, I also feel that the crossovers we do get would become less special if they became the norm. And your point with tracks, even tracks that don't really represent any preexisting thing in the Mario universe like Maple Treeway, Electrodrome, or Neo Bowser City would be diminished in favor of surface level representation as well.

I would love to see Vivian in Mario Kart and more obscure Mario Characters like Mouser from Mario 2 or Geno

so true im so tired of people demanding a "nInTeNdO kArT"

Nintendo Kart would cheapen the crossover appeal of Smash. Not only that, but it would take so much originality away from Mario Kart. Most Mario Kart tracks are locations never before seen. We've never seen DK Mountain, Shy Guy Falls, Electrodrome,... outside of Mario Kart. Nintendo Kart would remove all of that in favor of locations we've already seen a million times before.

I would want to see the Koopa Kids (from Mario Party) get a cameo before the likes of Ganondorf and Pikachu get playable appearances in Mario Kart.

I wholeheartedly agree. I do enjoy the crossover characters, but I feel that Mario characters should still comprise a supermajority of the roster. Nintendo/Smash Kart would not only make Mario Kart feel less special, it would make Smash Bros. feel less special.

Wow this was an excellent video ngl. I’ve been guilty of the “game identity” belief as well lol. But your reasoning makes sooo much sense. I want Nintendo to explore the universe more. Plus, the Nintendo crossover thing is Smash Bros’ job. I don’t mind a COUPLE of Nintendo characters like how it is in 8 Deluxe but I don’t want them to completely take over the game. Great video once again man!👊🏽

Nintendo Kart sounds like something they would do if they were desperate. Most crossovers are just so lame, and a last ditch attempt to stay relevant. Why do you think nobody talks about games like Nickelodeon Kart racers? Cause they are really lame. That also brings me to this. If they change Mario Kart to Nintendo Kart, are they gonna remove every unique Mario spinoff like Mario Party and just make it Nintendo Party, Nintendo Golf, Nintendo Tennis? Its ridiculous.

Listen, whichever route gets us K. Rool faster is fine by me. Great vid, you actually might have convinced me, and I was a die-hard believer in Smash Kart!

I totally agree, as a kid I loved funky Kong and I only knew him from Mario kart. The less known character are often very cool and I wish there were more of them in mk8, along with unlockable characters that were harder to get like mkwii

Yes! I find it so weird how Link, animal crossing characters, and worse of all Inkling is in MARIO kart!

Agreed with this video. I also want to add… getting tired of cross overs. I adore smash and smash ultimate especially, but man, so many crossovers these days.

Great video! And I wholeheartedly agree, as someone who LOVES mario and all the niche little corners of it, better representation of that would be a DREAM

Someone who does understand me, because of those who ask for that "Nintendo Kart" it seems that they do not understand why they are called MARIO kart.

Personally, I want a lot of stuff and I think it starts with more iconic mobs. Magikoopa is one I’d like to see that’s a bit more of an oddball pick, but Hammer Bro and Monty Mole specifically are strange characters to leave out considering their consistent presence in other Mario party and sports games. And then you have characters like Geno and Funky Kong that fit well here since there were already so many people clamoring for their addition to Smash, and a TON of oddball characters like the ones you mentioned - I’m a Paper Mario stan so personally I’d love to see Bleck, Dimentio, Grodus, Flurrie, Rawk Hawk, Bobbery, Mowz, Vivian, Beldam, Doopliss, Crump, Don and Francesca Pianta, Merlon, and several more. That’s a TON of names from literally only one spin-off series, and primarily only from a couple entries in it. There’s SO much potential and I would kill to see them lean into it

I agree, I think Nintendo kart should just be a total different game as it would be good but don't want to spoil Mario by adding some other game characters

the fact that people think the Mario Kart Team, even after everything Tour has done, can't go any further than 8DX, really shows how creatively bankrupt their mindset is. there's still a TON to expand upon and its crazy that no one else realizes that having 90 tracks doesn't fix other issues

They could just make the biggest game ever and dive incredibly deep into the obscure niche lore of EVERY game in the crossover.

Great video! I agree that Mario Kart should branch out to other characters in the Mario series rather than just filling the game with a bunch of Nintendo characters (which is literally why Smash bros exists). It would be cool, for example, for the game to introduce Princess Shroob, Fawful, and Professor E gadd as characters.

The Vivian Enjoyer caption over the dude drinking wine was so funny lmao Definitely agree with your points, I'd rather play as Admiral Bobbery than Baby Rosalina any day. Great video!

I'm on the side of wanting a Smash Kart because when you see the crossover tracks in 8, they're so cool and I can only imagine an entire game of courses like that. I agree it shouldn't replace Mario Kart tho, I just think it should be a one off thing. But you probably made the most valid argument I've ever heard for keeping it strictly Mario and I can definitely see the appeal in that idea, but my issue is that Nintendo plays it too safe with Mario. As cool as it would be to get all the obscure stuff, I just can't see them going that far when we still have 4 versions of Mario and Peach on the roster and they can't even bring Diddy and Funky back.

This dude has less subs than me, but he deserves 10 times more! This is some of the best content I've seen!

Mario Kart including the niche casts from many Mario spinoffs is kind of why I feel Funky is more a Mario Kart character than a DK rep. As a fan of Warioware, I want to play as Mona on the Badwagon or a scooter-like bike.

Worth mentioning something regarding the Idea of throwing in more obscure or one-off characters into Mario Kart and the notion that it will make them more mainstream and popular as a result This is the exact thing that took Rosalina from just a one-off NPC character in one game, to a playable character in a Kart game, to being so popular that she's in every spinoff and is (annoyingly) even bumping Daisy off her plinth when it comes to inclusion, including being in promotional material over her in Mario Party Superstars, outright demoting Daisy to DLC in the new Strikers and even getting into a Platforming Game before her (not counting Super Mario Run). On top of that, Funky Kong became a meme because of Mario Kart, ROB was a fun little cameo people remember and want them to return again (and heck, may have re-sparked interest in the actual ROB peripheral) and Shy Guy pretty much started out as being a background character in spinoffs until they were playable in Mario Kart DS via Single-Cart play, now they're one of the few enemy types (behind koopa) that's a mainstay in the spinoff games. TLDR Nintendo absolutely has the power to push a character no matter how small or obscure, to become a mainstay or popular one. It's all down to their willingness to make it happen

Vivian racing through Rogueport, then down to the Sewers, finally on the third lap entering the Thousand Year Door and seeing the Shadow Queen right as you cross the finish line would be INCREDIBLE

I personally really want Nintendo to add Penguin (or Baby Penguin) as a playable character. If Mario Kart was replaced by a full-blown Nintendo crossover, I doubt there would be much of a chance of that happening

Looking at it from a marketing perspective, I feel Nintendo Kart is kinda unavoidable… I think you reach a way bigger audience with news articles like, “Pikachu’s racing along with Mario and Luigi now!” rather than Dr. Crygor getting added. It would be purely for popularity and profit which I don’t think Nintendo would be apposed to doing.

I feel like if Mario Kart was to become a celebration of the Mario series it should take cues from CTR nitro fueled which pretty much does exactly that (Outside of excluding any canonical dead characters)

I’m pretty sure the reason the Mario Kart developers don’t pull from niche parts of the franchise is because those games aren’t connected to their development DNA. Games by Intelligent Systems and AlphaDream aren’t relevant to the developers, and while series like Wario and Donkey Kong get nods here and there it’s mainly on the surface. It’s low-priority to include more obscure characters, and who’s to say the developers even know who these characters are or understand their appeal to begin with?

They need to change the Mario kart logo. Maybe just give the Mario letters color or something. It just looks so corporate and sterile compared to the PRE DS logo.

Wow, you won a subscriber with a single video, congrats ! (Speaking about me rn) seriously, I couldn't have explained this better ! Also the koopalings deserves their spots but that's besides the point.

There was a time when Nintendo were rotating character rosters around in Mario Kart during the 3DS era; Honey Bee, Wiggler, and Lakitu were given chances to be playable. Now it's just...the same roster over and over again, maybe at the bare minimum.

I feel like this happened in Smash Bros when we started to get a lot of 3rd party characters. The spots were given to popular 3rd party characters like Steve and Sora instead of obscure Nintendo characters like Mr. Game & Watch or Pit were at the time they were introduced. It’s fun when we’re surprised with an old NES character.

6:34 there's my collage. I made that like 10 years ago and have lost count of how many youtube videos it has shown up in now. 😁

I would love to have Pianta characters in Mario kart! They're really cute in Mario sunshine!

I have 3 compelling reasons why it should continue to be Mario Kart. 1 to maintain his identity and avoid being a kind of copy of Smash. 2 Avoid excluding dial characters because they are secondary characters that are not "iconic" and 3 and most importantly avoid that well of toxicity because a certain character isn't and why is this one? Etc.

One of the main reasons why I don’t want Nintendo Kart is because I don’t really give a crap about half of the games Nintendo would put into a game like that. The only franchises that I would care about in a crossover Mario Kart are Mario, Kirby, and Sonic. Everything else like Zelda, Pokémon, and especially stuff like Fire Emblem just bore me.

why keep mario kart strickly as mario based? If Fzero , starfox , and other places got added for potential endless places to race at. The zero gravity would make sense, in fzero, starfox, and metroid areas. So, Id honestly pay to play as Fox racing against Mario in team based competitions. Which adding non mario characters could help promote the other ips .

The only character not related to the Mario franchise that I want in the game is R.O.B, he appeared in MKDS and it would be cool to add him at 8 Deluxe.

Imagine a Castle Bleck track? Obviously there has to be better lighting due to the whole castle being black with white outlines. But Nintendo can definitely make it work somehow.

I believe if more Mario spin-offs have more characters from DKC, WarioWare, the RPGs, etc. I believe it would reignite interest in those games reignite interest for said games again instead of locking the most basic characters behind the 'Free Updates' wall.

This is what I’ve been saying… where are the Boom Booms, The Pom Poms, Funky Kong, Nabbit HECK even throw freaking Helen Gravely in there from Luigi’s Mansion 3… Nintendo can do SOOOOO much more with Just the expansive Mario universe

They did something like this in Mario Super Sluggers and it worked really well!

They should update the textures on earlier tracks of the booster course pass after all waves are released.

It wasn't mentioned in the video, but this is more or less *exactly* what CTR:NF did with its roster and why I think future Mario Karts need to take some cues from that game.

The people who say Nintendo Kart should happen because "They ran out of Mario characters for Mario Kart" are clearly not Mario fans, and, as such, are invalid.

I personally really like Mario Kart as a game that takes place within Mario's world, further expands that world, and lets you play as cool Mario characters who you can't play as in any other game. I don't want to lose that in favor of a big advertisement for every nintendo franchise.

I never really though about it, but I 100% agree with you, We already have a smash bros, we need to explore more the MARIO universe, who knows what hidden gems we could get

6:23 As part of the 3 Mario & Wario fans, I screamed when I saw that someone somewhere in the universe still remembers that game

I agree completely. Smash has its own personality as a franchise, but Mario Kart needs to stay mostly Mario characters.

Guest characters can exist, but that’s it “guest”. It shouldn’t be Nintendo Kart.

Let's get Diddy, Dixie, and Funky in and I'll be good!

I’m literally so anti nintendo kart that I wouldn’t mind if they straight up cut the animal crossing, zelda and splatoon characters Rn.

Dude the way you present your arguments is gold 😂 “Mario Peach and- thank God not Fawful” liking for the impeccable humour 👌

I totally agree with you! We should keep Mario kart as Mario kart. The only non Mario universe characters I think should be added are Pac-man,ms pac-man,Blinky and Mamaetchi and Don-Chan since they where in the arcade Mario karts so they are part of the series history.

I wish the base game would drop in price. Selling a game from 2014 for $60 in 2023 is absolutely ridiculous even for Nintendo.

This actually changed my mind on the whole crossover thing

You could blame Miyamoto for the bland roster. He tends to pretty strict these days with the Mario franchise. I remember hearing an interview where he was given a demo of Sticker Star and hated it because it was similar to the original paper Mario. Having the team changing it to what we have now.

Finally someone says it. But I wouldn't mind if mario sub franchises be represented in mario kart

Absolutely agree. There is so much potential in the Mario universe. We could have Wart, Kamek, Goomba, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Funky Kong. Also from the Super Mario RPG series, Mallow, Geno, Booster. There's also the Warioware and Warioland franchise characters. Captain Syrup, Dangerous Duck, 9 Volt, Mona, Crygor, etc. The list goes on.

Honestly hoping that characters like Kamek and Petey Piranha make it in the Booster Course pack! Seeing Birdo really made me excited!

Not only would Nintendo Kart be extremely surface level in terms of what it pulls from (like you’re saying), but it likely also wouldn’t have very much of its own identity, unlike Mario Kart which has established an identity beyond “Mario characters in go-karts” over the time it’s existed.

I think the argument of its identity is still solid. If it becomes a crossover it would definitely subtract from the personality it gets by being Mario centric, and it would make smash less special in the process. Also, i think even as is with the basic roster it has, mario kart has made some incredible tracks and themes to race around in. I think they've done enough with Mario that they could keep exploring for a long time. I personally think Mario kart should drop a lot of the gimmicks and focus on a deeper driving experience. For it's entire life, driving in Mario kart has felt kind of 1 dimensional. Not saying it needs realism, but a bit more depth could be a breath of fresh air

Smash Kart wouldn't work because there's no way the Fire Emblem characters would have any idea on how to drive a car

Bro I just fell in love with your work dude, these videos are killer but the THUMBNAILS?? tryna be RU-vid buddies?

Honestly, I think Mario Kart and Nintendo Kart could co-exist since we all know someone is going to try to make Nintendo Kart competitive, and if its ever the case I would like a more hardcore racing gaming with combat mechanics that represents each character besides just items.

dude i gotta say this video is such a banger and professional. i clicked on the video thinking it was gonna be a like 300,000 sub channel but find out halfway thru that you have 172???? you’re such an amazing channel, your editing, your voice, everything man this is amazing. good job bro much love

I’m glad someone sees this. I can think of 50 more Mario characters I want to see added, and we aren’t going to see any of those if it’s one big crossover. The way they do it in 8 is fine. Keep the car majority of characters all Mario characters, then add a row of crossover characters to keep those people happy, everyone wins. Also add a couple of crossover tracks, but not a ton.

Nintendo: [Sees this video] "I know what we need!" Mario Kart 9: "Introducing... BABY METAL MARIO!"

I think the way you put it was just succinct. Players who want Mario Kart to just be Mario Kart see adding crossover elements as offputting, but usually can't properly explain it besides its just off. You actually managed to explain the FEELINGS with reasonable evidence that could greatly improve Mario Kart's ability to provide representation without having to branch out to other franchises. I love the Mario RPGs, and all those side games add so much lore and rich worldbuilding potential for the plumber, that I can't help but say I'm a Mario fan specifically because the Mario series is far more nuanced than it looks at first glance.

I didn't realise how much I wanted Vivian in Mariokart until you planted that thought into my head Now I *need* it

I don't really get the fascination myself since, like you said, they still haven't even tapped into what half the Mario has and I feel like it'd be a waste if they went down the route of smash if we got some relatively new or unrelated series' picks before anything that's been here for ages with no representation.

IDK I think more and more guest characters and tracks would be awesome. F-Zero needs more love since the future of Smash is uncertain. Idc if it stays as Mario Kart + guests but having an F-Zero Cup or a DKC Cup would be sick, especially if a special item from that series is added to the rotation in that cup like a barrel cannon or warp star or something idk

it always felt criminal to me that they included two villagers but not diddy kong. Would love to see K rool, kamek, e gadd and for them to bring back king boo and petey

Thanks for bringing up this new (to me) perspective. Now I want to see a Mario Kart with Mario RPG characters.

honestly, I'm glad this video exists, because while I get why people want more nintendo characters in Mario Kart, they all seem to forget that Mario Kart 8's base roster dosen't do a good job pulling from the MARIO franchise.

I agree that there's so many good mario universe characters that haven't been utilised, heck we still don't have kamek! while i personally like the odd non mario character, i don't think they should make up more than like 10% of the roster. especially since unlike smash, i feel it's a lot easier for a character to not really have the feel of mario kart. like we may see kirby or captain falcon, but i don't expect characters like samus or snake. but hey, nintendo does weird stuff sometimes. you never know.

I don't want mario kart to become nintendo kart because if so every track is gonna have to be representative of the franchise it is from. Things like coconut mall, baby park, superbell subway. They don't scream Mario, and that's why I like them, they are just places in the mushroom kingdom. And I'm sure that if nintendo kart happens tracks would just be generic plains and pipes and stuff, track design is still probably gonna be good, but the theming? nah its gonna be dead... so yea :P

there is 1 problem with the Paper & M&L original characters though they never had a single 3D look, and i feel like it should stay that way but even then there is still plenty of options (just look at Tour) with Pauline, Kamek, Chargin' Chuck, King Bob-Omb, Nabbit, Boom Boom, Pom Pom and they could use characters from other spin-offs like Mc Ballyhoo, Brighton, Twila

4:37 “and thank god not fawful”

You completely changed my opinion about this, so thank you! Bring back Funky Kong!

You should see the sheer amount of characters and character outfits in Mario Kart Tour!

I installed a mariokart mod to change whigller in the Maple treeway to shrek head with donkey legs and is the BEST that i could imagine

Dude I agree with this so much, the push for Nintendo Kart is a bit frustrating because of this. The Mario Kart series hasn't even embraced its identity as Mario yet, why would I want it to become another Smash? Plus that would just make Smash less special. Also you raise such a good point no one ever talks about; "Nobody cares about obscure rpg characters!" Right.. because Nintendo never DOES anything with them!!! If, say, rpg characters Like Dimentio or Goombario or Admiral Bobbery appeared in more games, they WOULDN'T be random nobodies. They would become household names as you said!! It's just like Rosalina; if Rosalina was stuck in Super Mario Galaxy and never appeared in any mario game ever again, she'd be a nobody too.

Conveniently, this same logic explains why I absolutely hated the trend of Smash Bros. newcomers becoming a game of "which new third party would get representation"

If y’all notice closely, there’s also smoke coming from bullet bill which is a great little detail they added

Thank you. There’s so many characters in Mario they aren’t using. E Gadd, Nabbit, Pleasie, Pauline, Cappy, Captain Syrup or any WarioWare characters, some more Kongs etc The RPGs anyone???

The only guest characters i would like to see that are not strictly mario's are the ones from franchises related to Mario like Donkey kong country, Wario Land or Wario's biker outfit from warioware