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Nintendo and Mario Kart are kind of two sides of the same coin. Precisely, Mario Kart is one of the most recognized franchises of Nintendo Switch consoles. Considering this, the increasing curiosity of the Nintendo Switch gamers regarding Mario Kart 9 is very understandable. The game is already being discussed as the launch title of the next-gen console, so you get the hype, right? But the biggest question that still remains: Will it be the launch title? Only Nintendo knows the actual truth.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is the most anticipated next-gen console players have been waiting for a long time. When it comes to handheld consoles, there’s no competition to the Nintendo Switch. So, the excitement about the upcoming Switch 2 is predictable. Fortunately, the long wait came to an end on January 16, when Nintendo officially announced the upcoming console with a showcase trailer.
The entire teaser focused on the Switch 2 hardware. It showed all the angles and sides of the new console, with only a little glimpse of the new Mario Kart game. The game teaser lasted for seconds, but that was enough for the Mario fans. They have already started deducing reasons behind why only this was shown in the teaser and not other games.
Interestingly, in those few seconds, Nintendo has shown almost all the familiar faces, including the main character, Mario, and his companions, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Waluigi, Wario, and others. The most attractive part is that the trailer even featured Donkey Kong with a new look; a similar one to the Super Mario Bros. movie.
Now, with all these already being teased to players, they are kind of sure that a new Mario Kart game is coming, and that too with Nintendo Switch 2.
Mario Kart is integrally related to Nintendo Switch, but it’s not limited there. These games are available on mobile devices as well. Given that the community has Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS and Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U, it is natural to predict that if a new game has been teased, then it will be Mario Kart 9. Even in the mobile version as well, there’s no sign of Mario Kart 9 as of now.
Now the confusion may happen because after Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart Tour was released. Therefore, a lot of players have been considering it the ninth game. Anyway, that’s for the mobile, so it doesn’t count among the console games. Considering this data, it is not wrong to call the upcoming game Mario Kart 9.
It’s one of the fastest rumors circulating in the Nintendo community currently. Since the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct date was finalized, speculation about Mario Kart being the first game to come on has been going wild. Speculations inclined as leakers joined and started hinting at the history of Mario Kart with Nintendo Switch.
That’s indeed a vital point to consider. Even if the comments from the leakers shouldn’t be taken seriously, the game's history with Switch consoles has always been great. For instance, when the Nintendo Switch was released in 2017, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was released almost at the same time, just a month later. Not only that, this game was announced together with the Switch console in 2016.
Coming back to the announcement of Switch 2, it seems history is repeating itself. In that case, Mario Kart 9 being the launch title on Nintendo Switch 2 doesn’t seem unlikely. At least, it would be foolish to eliminate the possibility of it. Even if the game doesn’t release in April along with the console, it will probably come sometime sooner for sure.
