I have a theory which also explains the lack of meaningful DLC for MK8DX, as well as the wealth of non-meaningful DLC:

Mario Kart Mobile will be an F2P game with a new suite of tracks which will be simultaneously offered as a paid DLC pack for MK8DX.

It would be a great way of bringing folks into the Switch ecosystem. (I also just want it to happen.)

Had they given a release date for it? I don't remember.

Haven't all of Nintendo's mobile games released later than the originally-announced release timeframes?

@Mop it up
Except the ones that just showed up, I guess?

I don't think they'll even give set dates for their mobile stuff in the future. Is there any benefit to doing so?

@Anand

Only to build hype, which generally Nintendo probably doesn't need so much (we smaller devs though require it!).

I didn't even remember them talking about Mario Kart on Mobile. I just hope we get another full entry on Switch, not just the rerelease.

@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!

8DX is probably halfway there...

What would that be, 150 tracks?

Regardless, the Switch is BEGGING for Double Dash mode. 60fps in four-player!

@Anand

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.

8DX looks like a smiling Howard Phillips.

@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.

I feel similarly. There are a lot of things I'd like to see in a new Mario Kart, but I don't think any of them are realistic possibilities, hee hee.

@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.

@J.K. Riki I wonder if they assumed that a lot of Switch buyers were double dippers and wouldn't want to have to unlock stuff again? Hmm.

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.

@Zero

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

@CPA Wei

I'd be up for SF Racing. Or more Excite Truck. I'd always and forever be up for more Excite Truck...

@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?

@Zero

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.

@Zero @J.K. Riki

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.

@J.K. Riki

You can still play the single player mode for its own sake rather than for the extrinsic reward!

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.

I too continue to mourn the loss of the Excite Truck series. I prefer it to Mario Kart, personally.