After weeks of nonstop leaks, Nintendo finally decided Thursday morning that now was the time to officially announce the Switch 2. The trailer arrived with zero fanfare from the company itself, and mostly just involved a spinning model of the hardware, and close-ups of the new Joy-Con controllers, showcasing different ways in which they can be used compared to their predecessors. But one game was shown, and although we don’t yet know its title, the consensus is that we’ve had our first look at Mario Kart 9.
I’ll admit—the roughly 20 seconds of gameplay looks like it could be of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to the untrained eye. Much as I love racing games, it’s been a minute since I picked up MK8, and I never did try that Booster Course Pass that lifted the game’s total number of tracks to a whopping 96. But the Wild West-looking venue, seemingly called “Mario Bros. Circuit,” that appears in this snippet doesn’t match anything from MK8. It also has 24 grid spaces, which would be the highest number of simultaneous competitors in series history, and in this particular race, there are 14 karts on track.
What’s more, the character models are a little different. Credit Kotaku for highlighting this post on X, which shows how Mario and Donkey Kong’s models in this unnamed title are changed from those in MK8, and more like their appearances in Super Mario Bros. Wonder and 2023’s Super Mario Bros. Movie, respectively. If this was just an update to MK8, it’d be a pretty transformative one. Plus what would Nintendo even call the result? Mario Kart 8 Double Deluxe?
Not only does Donkey Kong have his new movie design in Mario Kart 9(???), Mario's slightly more cartoon-y Wonder proportions also seem to be the default now. pic.twitter.com/McJGad4KnM
— Rimea (@The_Rimea) January 16, 2025
We don’t exactly know what we’re looking at here, but my guess is MK9. After all, it’s been referenced many times in the past, across a variety of leaks from supposedly plugged-in individuals. And since we’re seeing it alongside the first glimpse Nintendo has shared of the Switch 2, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to peg it as a launch title.
At this point, I’m just curious how MK9 will differentiate itself from the previous entry. It certainly won’t attempt that through quantity of content, unless it’s carrying over all those old tracks. But those courses would presumably have to be widened to suit a possible 24 racers—far greater than eight in the earliest entries—which also calls into question whether retro tracks from the Super Nintendo and N64 days will make a return, without considerable modifications.
We’ll just have to wait and see. Nintendo has a Direct presentation planned for April 2, so expect to hear more then. The gaming world’s already waited years—what’s another two-and-a-half months?
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