@J.K. Riki What would you want them to add, besides more tracks? I think that 8DX is pretty definitive. The only improvements I'd really want are enhancements to local play, like 60 fps in 3-4 player and Last Man Standing battle mode, with smaller maps to match.
I think it was always set to come out by March 2019, so they've still got plenty of time. IIRC Fire Emblem Mobile was announced early in 2016, and then not revealed until early 2017 and released a couple weeks later. Maybe we'll get a similarly short "hype cycle" for MK Mobile.
How about if Mario Kart takes a page from Smash and they make a Mario Kart Ultimate game? It could include every track and battle arena from throughout the entire series, updated with modern graphics and such. It could also include every vehicle, character, and item from the series, plus further refinements to gameplay mechanics and more. Throw in a slew of gameplay options and modes, and then it really is the ultimate Mario Kart!
I would settle for "not every single thing unlocked from the start."
That absolutely and utterly ruined the Switch MK for me. The reason I PLAY them is to enjoy unlocking everything.
That said, I would also love another creative attempt at Mario Kart, ala Double Dash. Would be cool - since technically we have an existing traditional MK on the console now - to stretch some creative wings and try something different. Maybe Diddy Kong Racing style, who knows? Or a Mario Kart Planes, taking things to the air. Or Mario Waverace Kart. Or Snowboard-Kids-Mariokart, or Mario Kart F-Zero, or Mario-Maker-Kart where you could literally make your own stages and share Circuits and stuff.
Or, yeah, I'd also be fine with MK8-2 and just a bunch more tracks. TRACKS I CAN UNLOCK, please.
@Mop it up Not a bad idea at all. That actually makes a lot of sense for the next Kart game, although without someone really ambitious like Sakurai at the helm, I'm skeptical it'd happen. Reusing the 48 tracks from MK8 would be a start though.
@J.K. Riki This is the thing that piqued my interest on that rumored Star Fox racing game. We already got Mario Kart so I would love to see Nintendo focus some attention on a different kind of racer. Even on the Wii we got ExciteTruck and ExciteBots to go along with Mario Kart.
Maybe they'll do Mobile and then do Mario Kart X, which has more emphasis on bringing other franchises to the mix. They've been toying with it for a while.
I assume that is exactly what they thought, but... why? Why would I not want to PLAY the game I just re-bought? Because that's how you unlock stuff in MK, you play. That seems insane to me.
Or heck, include a single button in the menu that says "Unlock All Content" and boom, done. Then the people who want to enjoy the full game and unlock new tracks/characters can have a blast and the ones who are lazy sluggards can skip it. :P
@J.K. Riki I can see both sides though. For instance, if I were to buy MK 8 it'd mostly be just to play online and I'd want everything unlocked right away so I could just hop on with the character and gear I like and have access to all of the stages (but wait, do you already have access to all of the stages online?! I forget how that works.) But I get why other people would want the progression there.
Maybe it'd be something as simple as a choice at the beginning of the game in these type of ports... do you want to unlock as you go or have everything unlocked already?
Indeed. That short simple question solves it entirely. But without the option to actually play the game, like I would if I just fired up the Wii U version, I find the port pointless and totally lacking in value. It basically removes the "game" part of the game, and now it is 100% a multiplayer experience.
ARMS and Splatoon 2 apparently have a hidden "Tournament Mode" toggle that you activate by pressing a button sequence at the title screen. It sends the player into a multiplayer-only mode where everything is unlocked and no progress is saved, or something to that effect. Seems like a best-of-both-worlds solutions to me.
Excite Truck and ExciteBots were a lot of fun on the Wii, and made good use of the Wiimote. I was really hoping there'd be another Excite game on the Wii U, and now hope for the Switch. Unfortunately, I don't think Nintendo were satisfied with the sales of those games, as Monster Games has since been relegated to a port factory. A shame.