Topic: Mario Kart: How to Improve?

This has been my thought for a long time now. If not exactly that, than some sort of comparable single player adventure mode.

I'm just worried nothing like this will happen because no one would want to bother with the basic Grand Prix mode, and I'm not sure how they'd implement 50 - 150 (200?) CC outside of that context. Which is still untrue, there are too many people who play Mario Kart for a mode to be ignored, but people would still notice the massive gap between what parts of single player people bother with.

Personally I'd like to see the game incorporate more skill and less "you've had a terrible race, can barely control your kart but - hey - you rolled a 6 instant win" in Mario Kart. But I think that aspect of the game is intimately tied to the universal appeal of the game. Take that away and many of the (millions and millions) who love the series would be turned away (not on this website but in the world at large).

Personally the idea of an adventure mode isn't something that moves me any more.

I did - however - greatly prefer the DKR system of weapon power ups. It was much more skill based rather than luck based. An (optional) mode in Mario Kart that made the weapon system resemble that of DKR would be very welcome.

"Silver coin" races and other novelty challenges that force you approach single player races in different ways are also things that Nintendo should put into Mario Kart (not necessarily in an adventure mode - just give us them in a separate menu to access at our leisure).

No, I don't think that is universally appealing. People generally like competitions to be fair- the winner is the most skilled person. If the winner is just by dumb luck, it discourages people from investing more time in the game because it doesn't matter, the game just randomly decides who's going to win. Having instant win mechanics isn't the way to raise the self-esteem of less skilled players, there are better ways of doing that such as practice modes. Maybe this would be a good reason to bring back missions from DS/Tour, they can have tutorials to help you practice.

More tracks, a hub world, a campaign like in any racing game, and some creative power-ups.

I don't want any more characters, we have Smash for that. If we get Sephiroth as a racer it defeats the whole purpose of Mario Kart. The Link, Inkling cameos were fine but it should end there.

A larger emphasis on racing itself, so mini-sector times, a speed meter, telemetry, and in a campaign some car upgrades.

I would just love an Ultimate Mario Kart.

1) All tracks from all games.

Start the game with just the Mushroom Cup unlocked for each games worlds. Once you win each cup you unlock the next cup. Can also play all-cup Tour for whichever Tour you choose and modify how many laps (you can play SNES courses at 5-laps for instance, just like the original game)

2) All characters from all the games

But streamlined so the different alias/skins’ fit into one character

3) Special items per character

Giant banana for DK, triple green shells for Koopa Troopa, Fireballs for Mario, bombs for Wario, giant bowser shell for Bowser etc.

4) Double Dash mode.

Double Items only allowed in this mode.

5) Design Your Own Cups.

With all the tracks in the game it would be awesome if you could create your own cups and upload it to servers so others could play. I’d love to create a 16-track GP Cup consisting of various SNES, n64, GameCube tracks and upload so I can play vs my friends for instance.

6) Karts specs locked to characters.

Not a fan of changing all the different kart parts per characters. Lock the parts for each character to make them unique. Only chance to edit the kart parts is when you create your own Mii-character for Story/Career Mode..

7) Story Mode.

Create a Mii character. Win races, collect coins to upgrade your kart etc as you go up against the Mario Kart universe. Take your Mii character online and race against others.

8) Seperate Online Leaderboards

Seperate online leaderboards for each speed class (50cc, 100cc, 150cc and if applicable 200cc). Personally I think 200cc is broken for Mario Kart, as tracks are not designed for it, so I would play 150cc, but at least the option is there for people that want to play 200cc.

9) Item Distribution Editor

Only available offline or against friends. Edit the item distribution. Want to take blue shells out? You can. Want to make each item have the same random chance of appearing no matter what position you are in? You can. Online ranked races will still use Nintendo’s default distribution for obvious reasons.

I've never understood the clamor for even more tracks, or an "ultimate" Mario Kart that contains all the previous tracks... In my experience, there comes a point in racing games where a game has too many tracks to properly enjoy all of them. 32 to 40 tracks is usually the perfect amount in my eyes. Fewer and the game feels like it's lacking in content, more than 40 and I feel overwhelmed; futhermore, too many tracks and they all start to blend together. Why have 80 tracks when they barely feel distinct?

My pipe dream, personally, would be changing the advanced mechanics of the games (Mini-Turbos and the like) so that they take more skill to master... but I understand that also goes against Nintendo's vision for the games and will never happen in practice. I thought Mario Kart 8's fire hopping, for example, was perfectly acceptable, but it seems the majority of the fanbase did not. Over time I've grown fonder of Crash Team Racing and Sonic Racing Transformed for their complex, yet very satisfying boost systems. I guess having more variety in the genre isn't a bad thing.

Other than that, my only wish is that Nintendo keeps innovating by introducing new mechanics, and improving on the strong points of Mario Kart 8, as in the stunning details in the tracks' graphics.

Curious, I'm seeing a few people talk about Mario Kart as a racing and are talking about improving it in terms of as a racing game but I always have seen it as a fun party game.

@jump for sure. I’d prefer an F-Zero Switch game for pure racing madness.

@TestudoVilis I’d love all tracks just for nostalgia purposes and the ability to play them online and remastered.

Seriously, if they just released an ultimate Mario kart and then DLC of 16 new tracks every couple of years I’d be set.

@jump Obviously the same game can have different groups of players that enjoy it for different reasons. Smash appeals to both casual fans who routinely play with items and mostly care about the new characters and the hyper, and to more competitive players who focus on 1v1 without items, look into the game with greater detail, take it much more seriously in general. It's either an elaborate party game or a fighting game, depending on who you ask. Mario Kart is much the same thing. It also has its fair share of players who seek to improve at races, or time trials beyond the pre-set Nintendo times.

@Oswinner My question is, don't you think many of the tracks across the various games are so unremarkable and samey, that they would essentially bloat the game without providing any variety? How many of the tracks are unique enough in their design that they are worth keeping? Many of the first circuit tracks across the games, for example, are all basic tracks themed after one character with similar graphics, and similar turns — you played one, you played all. I think a limited number of tracks, but with good variety, as Nintendo has been doing in the last few games, takes way less time to develop while also providing more or less the same entertainment to most players.