Mario Kart 9 teased during Switch 2 reveal – hints at 24-player races

Nintendo’s reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2 came with a big teaser for what will be easily the console’s biggest game: Mario Kart 9. And not just in terms of popularity, with hints that the game could support up to 24-player races!

Throughout the short video that showed off the Switch 2’s hybrid design and how it’s been changed compared to the original Nintendo Switch, a Mario Kart game was running on the console’s screen in handheld mode, and when docked. Check it out:

There’s plenty of tidbits to dig out of this, perhaps most notably that this was a never-before-seen Mario Kart game, featuring a brand new circuit: Mario Bros. Circuit.

Mario Bros. Circuit takes us to a desert location with a proper race track design to it, though a track that quickly veers off the tarmac and onto the baked dirt of the desert, and eventually careening onto a multi-lane highway with traffic on it, where a Yoshi branded motoway-side diner or filling station could be seen as the camera pulled out to show a huge landscape, by Mario Kart standards.

One other particular hint is that there’s 24 grid slots at the starting line, which could be hinting at a major increase in the number of racers that can play together. Indeed, as the camera view pulls out at the end of the trailer, you can count 18 racers before the video cuts away.

We spotted a bunch of returning characters, taken from the regular cast of playable characters:

• Mario
• Luigi
• Peach
• Daisy
• Rosalina
• Toad
• Toadette
• Donkey Kong
• Bowser
• Yoshi
• Wario
• Waluigi
• Baby Mario
• Pauline
• Koopa

These characters were driving a variety of different vehicles, including traditional kart/ATV styles, bikes, and a new tracked snowmobile for Rosalina. Donkey Kong looks to have been given a bit of a makeover to match the movie version of the character, as well, with a deep shadow surrounding his eyes.

Today’s Nintendo Switch 2 announcement was pretty abstract outside of Mario Kart 9, showing lots of points of comparison how the console has changed from the original Switch design. It shows the added USB-C port on the top of the console, the new kick stand design, the enlarged Joy-Con with new magnetic snap attachment mechanism. The console shares the same hybrid approach as the original Switch with detachable Joy-Con for docked or tabletop play.

Nintendo Switch 2 is coming out in 2025, with Nintendo reconfirming that it will have backward compatibility to Nintendo Switch games, both digital and cartridge. Outside of that, details remain sparse, but given how Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has continued to sell and sell and sell, Nintendo has put its strongest foot forward already.

A Nintendo Direct is planned for 2nd April 2025 which will no doubt showcase all of the launch games and give all the juicy launch details and pricing. In the meantime, we’ll have to go back to the rumour mill and speculation…

Tags: Mario Kart 9, Nintendo Switch 2