Time to predict: who'd make it into base game for Mario Kart NS2 this time?

[MnSG]

That's a very solid roster and something I'd probably bank on. It's not stuffed to the brim with too many generic enemies and it has a nice mix of newcomers and returning characters.

Honey Queen seriously got shafted in terms of returning characters and her negative reception for in Mario Kart 7 isn't even her fault, it's because of the cut characters. She's otherwise a very solid, left field choice, a memorable character, from a very popular game that fills the role of a large, super heavyweight female character who is also a nice and gentle character as opposed to the rowdier super heavyweights.

I'd also support a Sprixie Princess being playable, and they have their alts being selectable costumes, though honestly, 3D World is kinda old as opposed to something like Odyssey so I'd want someone like Cappy being there first.

I'd also like Wiggler to return too, very unique and fun character to have around. The turning angry aesthetic gimmick is a neat thing to have.

To be honest, as much as I would like to see King K. Rool, I've had to lower my expectations, knowing that he hasn't been in a Mario spin-off title since Mario Super Sluggers.

Anyway, in terms of the details on some of my roster inputs...

The inclusion of Honey Queen and Pom Pom is so that we have some large-sized female heavyweights to use. Rosalina and Pauline are more considered to be large-sized middleweights (hence the presence of the Cruiser weight category), as they're nowhere near as bulky as the majority of the large-sized characters. Heck, even Waluigi would be considered a large-sized middleweight, especially since he was categorized as a middleweight character in MKDD!! and MKDS.

Sprixie Princess is primarily for 3D World representation, and to add to the amount of featherweights that are not baby characters. She could potentially be replaced by Cappy, but that would mean losing a 3D World representative if Cat Peach gets the boot.

As for Wiggler, it's definitely a peculiar character in that it's medium-sized, despite of its long body. But for balancing reasons, I've ended up putting it in the same weight category as Mario (Medium). Basically it's to avoid the same predicament that happened in MK7 and MK8DX; in MK7, Metal Mario had the same stats as Bowser, Wario, and Honey Queen, but his smaller body frame gave him an unfair advantage over all of them.

In terms of R.O.B., he does warrant another appearance, and would add to the amount of medium-sized heavyweights (he is among the heaviest characters in MKDS) without having to make another metallic version of a character.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

R.O.B. feels like a one shot wonder and I doubt he'll come back. During that era particularly, I think they got very nostalgic for him and brought him back for several games like in WarioWare: Smooth Moves and especially Super Smash Bros. Brawl but I think they're a bit past that now, focusing on memorializing the Virtual Boy.

 

[MnSG]

R.O.B. feels like a one shot wonder and I doubt he'll come back. During that era particularly, I think they got very nostalgic for him and brought him back for several games like in WarioWare: Smooth Moves and especially Super Smash Bros. Brawl but I think they're a bit past that now, focusing on memorializing the Virtual Boy.

Perhaps, but since R.O.B. is Nintendo's property, he could still be considered. The other possible option for a medium-sized heavyweight would be Silver Luigi (to go alongside Gold Mario), but some people would consider that to be lazy.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

Sprixie Princess is an addition I can't argue against inherently, but it is a recurring situation that most characters that debut in mainline platformers don't really make it past the first game they're in; even if they do, it can be a couple years for them to reappear. Rosalina for instance, while she is playable in Mario Kart Wii in the following year, she's not to be seen until a minor role in Galaxy 2 a couple years later. She wouldn't really establish herself until the pivotal appearance in Super Mario 3D World in 2013. She actually did have a point where people were really desperately wanting her to be in more playable roles, and now she's pretty much established as a mainstay, with Pauline probably going this trajectory.

I'd like to be surprised. I'd like to see a new face for once in the roster, alongside some weird iconic Mario enemies they like to introduce like Chargin' Chuck or Ninji. I'd like to finally see a character that was created, at earliest, a decade ago (2015!!) make it in these rosters, while Nintendo is prioritizing recognizable mainstays, but I'm not expecting Prince Florian or Cappy in another game at this point. Prince Florian still has a window open so there's still opportunity to try to be relevant, but Cappy and E Gadd's windows are mostly closed to me. It's never completely closed, see Pauline's status that used to be largely relegated to Donkey Kong GB and then the minor surprise appearances in the Mario vs Donkey Kong games, but they seem like exceptional cases now.

 

[Waluigi Time]

I'd be very surprised if Sprixie Princess was playable with how old the original 3D World is now. If they were going to do it, it would've been in the original Mario Kart 8 or one of the DLC packs for that game. These days it's much more likely that they pull something from Wonder, but I'd expect to see new drivers from Bowser's Fury or Odyssey before 3D World.

 

[Miles Tails Prower]

I'd be surprised if any other Nintendo franchise characters such as Link or the Splatoon characters make it into next Mario Kart because I think that was just intended to be a special one-time thing.

 

[Pixellated Princess]

I'd be surprised if any other Nintendo franchise characters such as Link or the Splatoon characters make it into next Mario Kart because I think that was just intended to be a special one-time thing.

It happened at least one other time if you consider the inclusion of ROB in Mario Kart DS. There are also the Namco crossover characters in the arcade GP series, but those games are for a platform that has a much smaller audience.

Personally I would probably slightly prefer for Mario Kart to take a break from crossovers for at least one game, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker if crossover characters are included. Keeping it focused on the Mario Franchise makes the game feel cohesive.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

I'm **very** tired of crossover content in general. There's a mass oversaturation of them in media as a whole and it's gotten very old at this point, whether it's Fortnite, Multiversus, Funko Fusion, whatever Disney sharts out, Super Smash Bros. and yes, even Mario Kart. I wouldn't mind if Link and the Animal Crossing characters return (Splatoon content imo shouldn't even be in Mario Kart at all, despite me liking the vehicles) and I think Sonic would be a great addition to the game to tie into his upcoming racing game, but please keep the crossover content to a minimum. At least the Booster Course pass didn't have any crossover content, neither did Mario Kart Tour, so hopefully Nintendo is pivoting away from it?

 

[Fawfulthegreat64]

Nintendo treats those series as completely separate IPs

They do the same thing for Donkey Kong, but it's had a handful of reps over the years in Mario Kart and similar roster-based spinoffs. It is true that Nintendo as of late has leaned more conservative than they did in the 2000s (when we got Sluggers, which even had King K. Rool playable). But that doesn't mean that characters that fall outside the bounds of what modern Nintendo feels likely to do based on the precedent of the last decade should be excluded for the conversation or deemed irreversibly hopeless. They HAVE started dipping their toes back into subseries characters as of late. Adding Dixie Kong and even Poochy to Mario Kart Tour. It's not unreasonable to consider how this pipeline could lead to them giving Wario's crew and some RPG characters a chance to be acknowledged in a game like this.

The idea of keeping the Marioverse segregated and keeping the contributions of certain subseries out of all other material is frankly just stupid to me. There's a point where being particular about your brand hinders its potential, and I think this segregation does exactly that. I don't think letting these rosters have something for every kind of Mario fan, at least for currently relevant spinoff series, would hurt the brand in the slightest. That's just irrational paranoia on Nintendo's part.

This doesn't mean I'm actually expecting these kinds of additions and will be disappointed if they don't happen. Well, disappointed in a sense of having primarily negative emotions towards the game when it releases, I'll always have a perpetual sense of disappointment for as long as this brand segregation continues to exist. But the game itself won't be a letdown if it doesn't end up being THE ONE that changes things. I just think it's important to keep this in the conversation because I want this change to happen someday, and the difference between low chances and no chances is how much demand Nintendo sees for it (yes, I believe the fanbase discourse is not lost on them. While I don't think any one push convinced them to do a TTYD remake, I don't think a remake would've happened without its cult following, that game breaks every convention Nintendo adheres to in this era). I think sadly the number of people who want this is far greater than the number of people actively pushing for it, and thus Nintendo sees low priority for it.

Anyways, my pipe dream picks are of course topped by Fawful, but Vivian, Geno, Mallow, Dimentio, Antasma, Connie, Extension Corps are also up there. Also a pipe dream even among RPG characters thanks to spoilers is

Spoiler: Brothership spoilers

Reclusa

My slightly more realistic but still fairly unlikely pick is Toadsworth. He did debut in a mainline game, but Nintendo has been avoiding him like the plague over the past decade, only using him when it's a remake of a game he was originally in. I hope that there's light at the end of the tunnel for him, he's easily my favorite mainline Toad. I also think E. Gadd is long overdue, I think he's more likely than Toadsworth but he still has the hurdle of being treated as a Luigi's Mansion exclusive character for the past decade. But the fact that he used to be used outside the series, plus the fact that he's generally considered a more likely contender by most fans even now, lends some question to the idea of this IP segregation thing, given Luigi's Mansion also gets treated as a separate IP most of the time. But it still gets referenced from time to time, probably because it got its foot in the door early when they were more lax, and King Boo is a mainstay in these games now (albeit with a much lamer design).

People who've been around here a decade ago (holy shit) know how I feel about the crossover characters. I dislike them, and while i do understand that Mario Kart is easy exposure for other games I think that exposure is better used on Mario side series like those Nintendo has historically kept separate. Get them onto more people's radar, we have Smash Bros. to do that with actual separate IPs.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

They do the same thing for Donkey Kong, but it's had a handful of reps over the years in Mario Kart and similar roster-based spinoffs. It is true that Nintendo as of late has leaned more conservative than they did in the 2000s (when we got Sluggers, which even had King K. Rool playable). But that doesn't mean that characters that fall outside the bounds of what modern Nintendo feels likely to do based on the precedent of the last decade should be excluded for the conversation or deemed irreversibly hopeless. They HAVE started dipping their toes back into subseries characters as of late. Adding Dixie Kong and even Poochy to Mario Kart Tour. It's not unreasonable to consider how this pipeline could lead to them giving Wario's crew and some RPG characters a chance to be acknowledged in a game like this.

Donkey Kong has always been a bit intertwined with Mario in the first place. Even in the Donkey Kong Country days where Rare is handling the Donkey Kong series, Mario himself has cameoed and Donkey Kong was referenced by Cranky Kong. The franchise already has some sort of precedent with being tied together thanks to Mario and Donkey Kong's shared roots and I think that's incomprobable to something like Mario Party or the Mario Sports games, which are always treated as separate IPs from each other and barely reference each other at all (we don't see Mario Kart vehicles in Mario Party, even, they still opt to use generic karts in the minigames despite having the karts right there). I'd also disagree they had been just "dipping their toes" as opposed to the 2000's: Mario Kart has seen its first explicit DKC-themed track in 8, Dixie has made her playable debut in Tour, Mario + Rabbids has gotten a DK-themed DLC, Super Mario Odyssey had DK street names, and then there's the entire movie which has even returned Chunky Kong, who has practically skipped the entire 2000's decade. I'd say the portrayal of DK in Mario games have been consistent: one of the reasons that it may look like there isn't as much Donkey Kong content in Mario games simply because there weren't Mario Tennis/Mario Golf/Mario Baseball games around either.

I just think it's important to keep this in the conversation because I want this change to happen someday, and the difference between low chances and no chances is how much demand Nintendo sees for it (yes, I believe the fanbase discourse is not lost on them. While I don't think any one push convinced them to do a TTYD remake, I don't think a remake would've happened without its cult following, that game breaks every convention Nintendo adheres to in this era).

Nostalgia is also the reason Advance Wars Reboot Camp 1+2 got made and honestly, I'm a bit more cynical: I think they remade TTYD mostly to cheaply cash in on nostalgia than any actual deep consideration that they'll actually open up the floodgates for Mario RPG content outside their niche. After all, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Minions + Bowser's Jr.'s Journey remakes were made primarily because Alpha Dream was operating in a deficit, and those two games did little to change the overall franchise direction on the portrayal of RPG content outside the niche.

The idea of keeping the Marioverse segregated and keeping the contributions of certain subseries out of all other material is frankly just stupid to me. There's a point where being particular about your brand hinders its potential, and I think this segregation does exactly that. I don't think letting these rosters have something for every kind of Mario fan, at least for currently relevant spinoff series, would hurt the brand in the slightest. That's just irrational paranoia on Nintendo's part.

By the way, my views on this whole IP separate thing was taken from this Reddit comment regarding why World of Nintendo has been very stingy to make some characters. To quote it:

this isnt even a theory. we know from former posters who worked there like blueshell or toysoldierz that nintendo licensing is weird and would deny things like oot ganondorf or zora tunic link for being too obscure or was worried things like villager from wild worlds would make other companies think they were licensing out smash without their involvement and might think they will use their ips for merch profit too. or why we didnt get daisy and rosalina for so long was because nintendo considered them "mario party" characters and not mario characters and were a separate IP license

This is all speculation but if true, I honestly think it's insane that someone like Rosalina would be considered a "Mario Party" character (funny way to say "Mario spinoff" character) and be entirely different to license out than say a Goomba. Kinda opened my eyes on how Nintendo treats their properties and it makes perfect sense to why games like WarioWare, despite having Wario in it, just do their own thing rather than cross roads with each other. It's a shame, really, I like it when Mario Kart references other games in its franchise, we had a Yoshi's Island track and Diamond City which were fairly inventive.

 

[Fawfulthegreat64]

Jesus Christ that Reddit comment about WoN was downright depressing. As if I needed any further reason to think Nintendo has their head up their ass.

But this still inspires me to be louder rather than just give up. Actually that insight might actually inspire me to make a video. That's exactly the sort of Nintendo thing I've dedicated myself to criticizing and drawing awareness about.

 

[Camwoodstock]

Calling it now: Nabbit is going to be in the roster as an unlockable character. So is Kamek.