Both series are iconic Nintendo party games, but there are a few things Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The two have little in common aside from being Nintendo IPs and featuring some of the same characters, but Ultimate has undeniably been a massive achievement within its series, and MK9 could benefit from emulating the platform brawler in how it approaches its content.
Mario Kart historically has a few more releases than Super Smash Bros., mainly due to the former's presence on the Super Nintendo and the DS, but the two follow similar release structures. There is typically one Mario Kart and one Smash Bros. game released for each Nintendo home console, though Mario Kart has yet to receive a whole new entry on the Switch. Despite no mainline releases since 2014, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - the Switch re-release of the Wii U's MK8 - is constantly a top seller for Nintendo's hybrid home and portable console.
Mario Kart 9 is reportedly in active development, and insiders say it will have a new twist, which isn't unexpected from a Nintendo game. The biggest variation on the Mario Kart formula was probably selecting a pair of drivers in Double Dash on the GameCube, but MK8 did introduce anti-gravity sections which opened up a new dimension for track design. With such a large gap between MK8 and 9, Nintendo is almost sure to have something interesting in the pipeline, but the game at large could take several cues from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Mario Kart 9 Could Use A Giant Roster Like Ultimate's
Super Smash Bros. continuously grew in its number of fighters with each release, but Ultimate took it to another echelon. After all DLC, the last of which brought Kingdom Hearts' Sora to Smash Bros., Ultimate has an astounding 89 fighters. It's virtually impossible that MK9 could have such a massive list of racers, but it would be a missed opportunity if the excitement surrounding Ultimate's roster wasn't capitalized on in Mario Kart. There are plenty of Nintendo characters that could be included, but Ultimate really succeeded in going beyond Nintendo umbrella to include other video game darlings.
Mario Kart can certainly be competitive, and there's an active community of players that are insanely good at the game, but it's also an incredibly arcade-oriented racing game. It's already wildly popular, as MK8's sales have proven, and adding a wider variety of character options would only make MK9 more appealing. Ultimate's roster is actually something of an outlier in of Nintendo party games. MK8 especially highlights Nintendo's roster problem, but Mario Party and sports games like Mario Golf consistently have disappointingly small playable character lists. A mind-boggling roster like Ultimate's isn't possible without the cooperation of other games companies and consideration of move sets, but less is needed from a character to drive a kart, and Nintendo has dozens of secondary characters that could easily be included.
Mario Kart 9 Should Have More Customization
To accompany a larger character roster, Mario Kart 9 should embrace the varied aesthetics available for each character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Each fighter in Smash Bros. has always had a variety of colors to choose from, and Ultimate ramped it up to an impressive eight color swaps per character. Not only would it add even more variety to the roster, but also solve some issues of split-screen confusion when two players pick the same character. This has never been a feature in Mario Kart, and seems to have been left out of newer Nintendo party games. Mario Golf: Super Rush used competitive ranked matches as gates for new Yoshi colors behind a certain rank, for instance.
Thankfully, MK8 already has a decent amount of customization - character color swaps notwithstanding. Players can choose from a range of different vehicles, wheels, and gliders for every race or Grand Prix. It would be nice to see these features expanded, and maybe even have the option to save preset configurations for those who have a favorite set up. Vehicles could likewise have color swaps, or at least more characters could bring unique karts and motorcycles to the game, like how the Master Cycle followed Link into MK8. The only problem with greatly expanding the kart options in MK9 is potentially creating an overtly dominant configuration, which could sour some of the game's competitive scene
Mario Kart 9 DLC Can Be Exciting Like Ultimate's
A final, major lesson Mario Kart 9 could learn from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is in regards to robust post-launch . MK8 has some free, Mercedes-Benz branded content and a couple paid DLC packs, but their releases weren't really noteworthy in comparison to the excitement generated by Smash Bros. Ultimate's DLC fighters. Granted, the large roster was practically the defining feature for Ultimate, so post-launch additions were equally as anticipated, but Nintendo's PR department is more than capable of generating excitement for additional Mario Kart content.
If MK9 does manage to follow in Ultimate's footsteps and get characters from non-Nintendo franchises, there's a huge amount of potential for what could be included in DLC packs. New racers, vehicles, tracks, and music could all come at once. Mario Kart doesn't really have a well-known developer attached like Smash Bros. does with Masahiro Sakurai, but a Mario Kart Direct for new MK9 announcements would be almost guaranteed to generate a lot of buzz. With MK9 coming so long after MK8's initial release on the Wii U, it would be nice to know Nintendo will the game with consistent post-launch content. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate already had the largest roster in series history, but still managed to build on it for three years.
Mario Kart 9 will undoubtedly sell millions of copies no matter what, especially since it is supposedly launching on the Nintendo Switch, which is more popular than ever. Nintendo could release only the slightest upgrade over MK8 and it wouldn't make much difference; after seven years there are plenty of people ready for a new entry in the racing series. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has set a new, very high bar for Nintendo party games and the amount of content they receive, though, and Mario Kart 9 could be equally as celebrated if it followed suit.
