Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@FishyS ohhhh shoot I forgot about home circuit! You’re right, neither one feels like a proper MK9, but they’ll probably decide to count one and only one as it because Mario Kart X just sounds so darn cool 😅

Or they’ll just not number it and call it something else, as they did with the first 6 Mario Karts. Skipping 9 and going straight to 10 (or X) always seemed like a bit of a douchey thing to do. They have until at least 2026 to figure out a cool name, as the next console isn’t out until then.

The number 9 is considered unlucky in Japan apparently - when it's spoken, its pronounced similar to the words for 'suffering' or 'torture'. Wouldn't surprise me if Nintendo named the next one rather than numbered it.

@Rambler I mostly just see Laputa called "Castle in the Sky", probably for that reason. I recall recently one of our clients at work having to hastily use an alternative name for their project as it translated to 'slave' in Norwegian.

@Croctopus I'm not sure its actually a 'thing' to be honest. Like you say, there are plenty of examples of both 4 or 9 in the title - even PlayStation 4.

The most high profile cases of companies skipping '9' are probably MS with Windows and Apple with the iPhone. Both are US companies so I doubt it was anything to do with Japanese pronunciations. In Windows case it was because Win8 (and 8.1) was so badly received they 'rebooted' with 10. For the iPhone it was because it was the tenth anniversary, so the skipped 9 and went to 'X'.

Each Mario Kart except 7 says something about the system it's on or the main gameplay mechanic:

• Super Mario Kart - SNES
• Mario Kart 64 - N64
• Mario Kart Super Circuit - GBA is pretty much a handheld SNES
• Mario Kart Double Dash - 2 characters per kart
• Mario Kart DS - DS
• Mario Kart Wii - Wii
• Mario Kart 8/8 Deluxe - Antigravity would be required for a vehicle to travel around a Mobius strip without falling off
• Mario Kart Tour - The real life courses act as a tour around the world, also tour can refer to the rotating selection of cups which happens every fortnight
• Mario Kart Arcade GP 1/2/DX/VR - Arcade machines, Arcade GP VR is played on a hybrid Arcade/VR system
• Mario Kart Live Home Circuit - You create the tracks in real life of which the home is a common place to be playing

So the next entry would most likely be connected to the main mechanic.

On a slightly different note, I'm excited for the MAR10 Day sales. I only have two Mario titles (Mario Party Superstars and Super Mario RPG) still on my list, and I'd love to cross them off.

@dmcc0
Numbers superstition is not really affecting on certain peoples..
There is an apartment that literally showing number 13 and 4 for the floor and nothing bad happened.
Peoples just scared too much in number superstition.
I have ever got number 13 for student's number when I was grade 12 and nothing bad happened (also thinking about other students who get number 13 as well).
I got very lucky situation where I started to play original games in year 2013. Again, number 13.
I have my signature design of number 13 that also looks like letter B.
My class parallel number when I was grade 10 was number 4 and nothing bad happened to me. Instead, I got highlighted for being outstanding in lesson for the first time.
Number 9 is my pretty number that I associated with Pink color while number 4 is Red color. Number 13 is metallic green.

@Anti-Matter yeah, 13 seems to be the one that's mentioned most in the west, but I don't think it's taken that seriously by many people. I'm not even sure of the origins of it - probably something to do with religion, it's always religion 😂

In terms of probability, I think Mario Kart: Name → Mario Kart 9 → Mario Kart 10/X seems most likely. Outright skipping 9 seemed a bit dumb when Apple and Microsoft did it, and I’m not sure it established an absolute precedent. As @Grumblevolcano points out though, there is precedent for entries in the series having non-numbered titles, albeit one broken by the last two releases.

If it were called 9, the game would almost certainly be pronounced as ‘Mario Kart Nine/ナイン’ in Japan (rather than kyū/キュウ or ku/ク) so I don’t think negative connotations of the pronunciation would pose a massive issue, but… well, looking at the history of the series, the majority of the titles have had non-numerical branding so I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case again here.

Both 7 and 8 were tenuously tied to a mechanic or feature (the Lucky Seven power up and Möbius strip respectively) so it made sense to build the brand about them. It remains to be seen if the number 9 will have any direct connection to the gameplay. It’s difficult to imagine, but you never know.

9 in Latin word is associated with Irae, the Judgement Day.
Plot twist, 9 is the evil twin of number 6.

Ngl, a Mario-themed direct this week is starting to look plausible.

@Maxz The pattern has been that they've switched naming schemes every 2 entries. Super and 64 both took after the consoles they were on (though the former may have also been named that because it predated Mario spinoffs usually dropping the Super). Super Circuit and Double Dash both had unique subtitles. DS and Wii returned to console names, while 7 and 8 are, of course, numerical. Things get dicey after this, but I think it's reasonable to say Tour is not a spinoff because it so heavily relies on content from past Mario Kart games despite all its mechanical differences, and Home Circuit is because it is a wholly different experience. So I think the next game will have a unique title - same as you - but afterwards, they'll probably return to a console naming scheme or take some other approach. If they do return to numbers, it'll probably be Mario Kart 11/12

@chapuH is my translate working right or are we getting a demo for showtime?

I don't even need a demo, I'm already sold on that game. Demos are nice though for undecided people.

@Croctopus Yeah and look how Mario Party 9 turned out! XD

@OctolingKing13 Yeah Pyoro's tweet there is talking about a Peach demo but I think @chapuH 's suggesting that with the abundance of Mario news seemingly on the horizon, a direct could be possible.

I think for the time being they'll just pull a 2020 and trickle out news via Twitter until the next big direct in June. If this Switch 2 delay takes shape then it might be the case that we're in for a slow few months while Nintendo organises themselves. Depends how recently the decision to release in 2025 was made.
If that's true of course. There's still a little part of me hoping to see launch in 2024 but hey if it needs more time in the oven that's completely fine!

@OctolingKing13 If your translation engine says something like, “I wonder if there’ll be a demo…” then it’s probably on point!

Of course, it’s phrased as an innocent musing rather than an explicit statement, but there’s no doubt as to what it’s hinting at.

@Nintoz true but that game definitely needed a demo in my opinion. I still believe in my theory above and I think they would include Lego Mario news. Also Lego Mario said they would do something…more. A Lego Mario video game incoming?

3 Marioverse games we know a lot about already plus a random spinoff? Would be a weird mini direct but I suppose vaguely possible. I'm guessing just Twitter announcements. Or a short video talking about the history of Mario.

The concept of just shadow dropping a few trailers on a Sunday seems really odd. So if the info is actually coming on Sunday, a Mario Direct would seem the most likely method of doing it given something similar has happened before (Direct style presentation on a Sunday) because of staying rigid to a specific date:

I think they may just spread the info out over the week though (e.g. Princess Peach Showtime on Wednesday, LM2 on Thursday, TTYD on Friday) as the Mario Day celebrations have already begun with stuff like the sale.

Lol I did not intend to spark such an in depth analysis of Mario Kart's naming scheme. I just think X sounds cool and could technically fit since there have been games with the Mario Kart name post 8, but obviously there's zero evidence they'll actually call it that or anything for that matter.