With over 150 million copies sold, Mario Kart is the undisputed king of kart racers and one of the best-selling racing game franchises of all time. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is several years old now, so when will Mario Kart 9 be released?
When will Mario Kart 9 be released?
There are eight mainline Mario Kart games as well as the Tour mobile spin-off and Home Circuit, which uses augmented reality to superimpose characters and racetracks in your living room.
Mario Kart 8 was released way back in 2014 on Wii U. Since the Wii U was a flop, Nintendo ported it to Nintendo Switch with the release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in 2017, bringing the game to a much larger audience.
Considering MK8 Deluxe is over five years old, fans are starting to wonder when will Mario Kart 9 be released.
Nintendo was rumoured to announce Mario Kart 9 in 2022 but this never happened.
With the Booster Course Pass adding 48 classic Mario Kart tracks until the end of 2023 and MK8 Deluxe still entering the top ten game sales charts, Mario Kart 9 probably isn't high on Nintendo's list of priorities right now.
Nintendo is releasing these tracks in six Waves until the end of 2023. Each Wave contains eight tracks from past MK games. When every wave is released, the number of tracks in MK8 Deluxe will increase to 96 - the most of any MK game.
Mario Kart 9 release date
Nintendo hasn't announced Mario Kart 9 yet so there is no official release date. However, taking everything into consideration we expect Mario Kart 9 to be released in 2024 at the earliest.
By then, Mario Kart 8 will be ten years old (the original Wii U game MK8 Deluxe is based on was released in 2014), so Nintendo is unlikely to keep supporting it at this point. Mario Kart 9 may not even be a Nintendo Switch game either.
Historically, Nintendo consoles only have one Mario Kart game each generation. For example, Double Dash!! was the only MK game on GameCube.
This means MK9 could be a launch title for Nintendo’s next-generation console, with the Switch successor rumoured to launch in 2024.
Mario Kart 9 rumours
Nintendo hasn't officially announced it yet, but there is plenty of Mario kart 9 rumours flying around.
According to an analyst, MK9 is in “active development” and will reportedly feature a “new twist.”
Mario Kart sequels often add new gameplay elements such as underwater tracks, motion controls, and gliders. MK9 could add a track editor or new vehicle types such as boats and planes to shake up the gameplay, but this is pure speculation. We also expect MK9 to have new powerups, circuits, and characters.
Another rumour claims the new MK game is either called Mario Kart 10 (if you count Tour as the ninth MK game) or Mario Kart Crossroads.
Mario Kart 9 characters and tracks
No Mario Kart game is complete without a colourful cast of characters. MK9 will be no exception.
MK8 Deluxe features the largest character roster to date, with characters from Animal Crossing, Zelda, and Splatoon making an appearance. There are also reinterpretations of classic F-Zero tracks.
Recent rumours claim that characters and tracks from other Nintendo franchises such as Advance Wars, Animal Crossing, ARMS, Balloon Fight, F-ZERO, Kidicarus, Splatoon, and Zelda will appear in MK9.
If these rumours are correct, then MK9's mix of Nintendo characters from other franchises will be heavily inspired by Super Smash Brothers.