Even though Nintendo has yet to confirm the game’s existence,Mario Kart 9rumors are abundant. According to leakers, an upcomingMario Kartgame could feature anything from reworked item boxes to a long list of Nintendo crossover characters.Mario Kart 9likely isn’t coming out anytime soon, sinceMario Kart 8 Deluxewill be received DLC well into 2023 thanks to the Booster Course Pass, but it’s still exciting to hear that an experimentalMario Kartgame could come to Switch in the future. If Nintendo really is trying lots of new things in the next game, then it should consider adding a course creator.
TheMario Kartfranchise has always offered a rich roster of courses, both new ones andretro courses pulled from pastMario Kartgames. Nevertheless, it’s hard to match the kind of variety that can be generated when players can make their own courses.Mario Kartis simple enough to enable course creation, as long as Nintendo supplies fans with plenty of parts to do so. Nintendo has gained lots of experience in player-driven game design in recent years, too, so it has the right kind of knowledge to make aMario Kartcourse editor work. It’s just a matter of taking the leap.
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Imagining a Mario Kart Course Editor
Assembling aMario Kartcourse editor would certainly be a little more complicated than Nintendo’s previous experiments, since it’s in 3D, but the groundwork would be fairly simple. Nintendo could provide players withSuperMario Maker-esque lists of partsto choose from, including road segments, obstacles, ramps, and special terrain to assemble as they choose. If players can chooseSuper Mario-inspired course themes, edges of the track, Item Box locations, and so on as they assemble the road itself, aMario Kartcourse maker could be pretty simple.
Custom levels would really help diversify the localMario Kartexperience, but the value of adding aMario Kartcourse editor would go well beyond playing at home. If players can upload and download each other’s levels, leave ratings, and compete online on custom courses, thenMario Kart 9could generate a lot of hypefor the franchise through player creativity.Mario Kartfans would undoubtedly start creating highly challenging racecourses for each other withMario Kart 9’s help, encouraging players of all kinds to keep playing, improve their skills, and try out all the hardest custom courses available. Custom courses seem like they could improve all sides ofMario Kart.
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Nintendo’s Level Editor Skills
A theoreticalMario Kart 9level editor is bound to succeed thanks to Nintendo’s own level editing expertise.TheSuper Mario Makergameswere both smash hits that resulted in all kinds of clever fan creations;Super Mario Maker 2’s improvements on its predecessor show how Nintendo has learned to optimize the level editing experience too. These are far from Nintendo’s only level making games either.Super Smash Bros. Ultimatebrought back a stage creator, andGame Builder Garageallows the wholesale creation of video games. Nintendo has developed some serious skills in designing level editors, and that shouldn’t go to waste.
Odds ofMario Kart 9actually featuring a level editor are low, unfortunately, since theMario Kartfranchise is generally averse to such drastic changes. What’s more, if the new game really does feature so many Nintendo crossover character, Nintendo will probably put its energy into getting those characters and their courses right. If those rumors aren’t true, though, a course editor seems like the perfect way to setMario Kart 9apart from previous games. HopefullyNintendo is willing to take some riskswhen it’s settling on core features to build into the nextMario Kartgame.
