Nintendo Direct coming tomorrow – will Mario Kart 9 be announced?

By Martin BiggEditor in Chief

Nintendo has announced the first Nintendo Direct show of 2022 will air tomorrow on 9 February. According to Nintendo’s announcement, the show will feature around 40 minutes of gameplay and focus on Nintendo Switch games "launching in the first half of 2022.”

Naturally, there’s only one question on our minds: will Mario Kart 9 finally be announced?

Will Mario Kart 9 be announced at Nintendo Direct tomorrow?

With speculation about the next Mario Kart game rife, Mario Kart 9 could finally be announced at tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct. But with MK8: Deluxe still selling like hotcakes, it’s probably unlikely.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed, though. Considering that MK8: Deluxe was released in 2017 and is a port of the original 2014 Wii U release, a new MK game is long overdue.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe screenshot
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Mario kart 9 will reportedly have a "new twist"

While nothing is official yet, rumours suggest Nintendo will announce MK9 this year. The MK8: Deluxe sequel is expected to have a “new twist” and an expanded roster of characters from other Nintendo franchises.

What other racing game announcements can we expect?

Even if MK9 isn’t announced, there could be other racing game-related news announced at tomorrow's Nintendo Direct. With a release penned for next month, we’re expecting to find out more about Chocobo GP at the show and see some new gameplay footage of the Final Fantasy kat racer.

We could also find out the release date for the Wreckfest Nintendo Switch port after it was announced last September. Originally, Wreckfest was supposed to smash onto the Switch last autumn.

Since then, the release has been postponed. Porting Wreckfest to the Switch has proven to be “more challenging than anticipated” according to an update from THQ Nordic in December 2021.

Wreckfest Nintendo Switch
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A Nintendo Switch port of Wreckfest was announced last year but still has no release date

There could also be some new track or car DLC announced for Cruis’n Blast. We're also hoping to see more classic N64 racing games like Diddy Kong Racing get added to the online store.  

How to watch tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct

You can watch the first Nintendo Direct of 2022 at 10pm UK time or 2pm PT/5pm ET/11pm CET. We’ve embedded the video below so you don’t miss it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhDFA_O7zNg

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