Mario is Nintendo’s mascot and one of the most iconic characters in all of gaming. He’s done it all, from his debut as a platforming master to playing sports, racing, fighting, and partying. Without a doubt, one of Mario’s greatest accomplishments is the ability to bring people together. Local multiplayer games are some of the best that Mario stars in, especially Mario Kart. The series is fun for all ages and has had some stellar entries, but has yet to hit its peak. As a result, the best Mario game is right there for Nintendo to make, and yet, the studio hasn’t done it and may never do it.
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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is one of the best games in the series, and easily one of the most enjoyable multiplayer games. But how could Nintendo top it? The studio has deviated from the classic Mario Kart formula with Mario Kart: Double Dash, and even added in characters from other series like The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon. Heck, there is so much content in the game with over 40 characters, 96 courses, and a boatload of vehicles and vehicle parts. How does Nintendo make a better Mario Kart?
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The answer is simple: Mario Kart Maker. Imagine the ability and freedom to create courses using environments from the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond. With numerous Mario games, the possibilities are endless and Nintendo fans have shown their creativity in the past. Launching Mario Kart Maker on the Nintendo Switch 2 would solidify Nintendo as a champion of multiplayer games forever.
But Nintendo hasn’t made this leap yet, and the question is why? ModNation Racers on the PlayStation 3 proved it was possible to create a kart racer with player-led customization. ModNation Racers was praised for its ability to let players create their dream tracks but was held back by longer-than-average loading times and AI difficulty. But its multiplayer aspect with other players was where the game shined, especially when combined with its track creation feature.
ModNation Racers sadly never broke out to compete with the likes of Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7, both of which released around the same time, and its servers went offline in 2018. Fans pushed back against the announcement of the servers being taken down, delaying the inevitable a few short months. But in the end, Sony took ModNation Racers down, and aside from a lackluster PS Vita sequel, the series remains in the dark.
With Nintendo’s pedigree, Mario Kart Maker could utilize the formula of ModNation Racers and knock it out of the track. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is easily one of the best kart racers of all time, and Nintendo could easily use that game’s structure to give players content creation abilities. The concept has been proven to work in ModNation Racers, and Nintendo’s own Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker 2 show the studio has the right ideas when giving players these creation tools.
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Even Super Smash Bros. Ultimate received the stage builder, allowing players to create custom stages to battle on with their favorite Nintendo characters. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake also featured the ability to create dungeons, showing another step in Nintendo giving players more creation freedom. Aside from Super Mario Maker 2, Nintendo’s foray into giving players more control of creating their own content has been done with baby steps, but they’ve increasingly shown a willingness to do so.
This is why the time is right for Mario Kart Maker. Taking advantage of the Nintendo Switch 2’s increased hardware and implementing better online features would Mario Kart Maker the ultimate launch title for the Switch’s sequel.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and the rest of the series have so many tracks and characters, Nintendo could give players one of the most content-packed games in the series. Allowing players to use a track editor to further increase the content, by sharing custom tracks with others and playing them online, would bring new life to the series. Mario Kart Maker practically prints money and would help push the launch of a new console.
That said, implementing a track editor into Mario Kart would be an impressive undertaking. Comparing the 2D tilesets of Super Mario Maker 2 with the 3D tracks and environments of a single Mario Kart course, the level of detail is completely different. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe features 96 courses, each with a unique identity and assets. Even trying to recreate a fraction of these and let players design their courses would be incredibly difficult.
ModNation Racers handled this by releasing various track themes, and then supplying props and decorations based on selected themes. Players could then draw their track’s path and implement AI pathing. Once the track had been constructed, or during this phase, players could place props, alter heights, include ramps, and more. These tracks could then be uploaded and downloaded, allowing players across the world to enjoy them.
A similar system could work for Mario Kart Maker. Nintendo could include a handful of themes at launch, likely covering the most standard themes such as grassland, desert, arctic, jungle, metropolitan, and space, as this would give players access to designs many of the official tracks use. Within these themes, there could be subcategories, such as metropolitan, which could have different settings to create tracks like Toad Harbor, Neo Bowser City, or any of the Mario Kart Tour tracks that were later added to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
By including a handful of themes at launch, Nintendo would give players a base variety to use when designing tracks. These could be expanded through DLC, adding new themes and props. Nintendo showed DLC works with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Booster Course Pass, and something similar would work in Mario Mart Maker. Nintendo could even incentivize DLC by adding tracks and then allowing players to take the themes of those tracks to make their own content.
Nintendo could incorporate a single-player mode similar to that of Super Mario Maker 2 with tracks the studio created along with a charming story. This would introduce players to the game and its mechanics, while still allowing Nintendo to showcase its own creativity and track design. Pairing a strong single-player with robust creation features would make Mario Kart Maker stand out against any other kart racer.
But will Nintendo do it and finally create Mario Kart Maker? No one knows, but the likely answer is probably not. Nintendo has been reluctant to give players too much freedom within its games, to the point where fans have believed that Nintendo wants to control how they have fun. Unleashing Mario Kart Maker would give fans unprecedented control of kart racing in the Mario universe and would be harder to regulate.
Nintendo is quick to take down content they don’t agree with, including fan-made games and even levels in Super Mario Maker 2 that infringe on Nintendo’s guidelines. There is no doubt players would make inappropriate tracks in Mario Kart Maker, which could be one reason Nintendo has been hesitant to create such a game.
The Mario Kart series has had its spin-offs, including the mobile title Mario Kart Tour and the VR game Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. Even arcade versions of Mario Kart have appeared, showing Nintendo isn’t afraid to experiment with the series. Other spin-offs and titles have been canceled though, including the likes of VB Mario Kart, Mario Kart XXL, and Mario Motors.
Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sit among the best-selling video games of all time, despite only being available on the Wii U and Nintendo Switch, proving how much fans love the racing franchise. There is no doubt releasing Mario Kart Maker would smash these records. If Nintendo goes through with Mario Kart Maker and includes both single-player and multiplayer, it has the potential to be the best game ever made featuring Mario.
Mario Kart Maker would be a dream come true for fans and Nintendo would be smart to consider creating it. But it does leave another question: If Nintendo makes Mario Kart Maker, where does it go from there? It’s not impossible to have both Mario Kart Maker and Mario Kart 9, similar to how Nintendo has Super Mario Maker 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but the fanbase may be divided forever between fan-made content and Nintendo-made content.
Ultimately, there is no telling what the Nintendo Switch 2 holds for the future. Porting Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to the Nintendo Switch certainly brought joy to many players and showed how wonderful the game is, but it may have stopped any chance of a new entry on the Nintendo Switch. With luck, the newly revealed Mario Kart 9 won’t prevent a Mario Kart Maker from also being possible on Switch 2.
