Is Mario Kart 9 a 24-player open world battle royale? Or is it just a new Mario Kart?

24-player Mario Kart?

As the Mario Kart footage begins in the announcement trailer we’re given a quick shot of the starting grid, and there are lines on the ground to accommodate 24 racers. This doesn’t seem like the kind of aesthetic change that the developers would make for no reason, and strongly hints that the full game will enjoy 24-player online battles and races.

Different track routes

Another thing we can see immediately as the gameplay footage starts is that our players are on a track where the tarmac bends to the left, but our racers turn right onto a dirt track after passing the starting line. This could be that tracks have different routes for each lap, as we have seen before in the series, or maybe different courses will bend through familiar areas, as we’ve seen in some open world racing games? 

New karts and brands

Well, you would hope so, wouldn’t you? Yes, it seems that every racer here is in a brand new kart, and now you can clearly see branding on each kart component. Previous Mario Kart games allowed you to choose your kart, wheels, and glider separately, and MK9 might be taking the concept one step further.

Environmental karts

Take a close look at some of the karts in the trailer, and you’ll notice Daisy riding what appears to be a speedboat, while Rosalina’s ride has the vibe of a snowmobile. Now, hear me out: what if these different body and wheel types actually make a difference depending on the terrain? Snow tyres for snowy areas, a literal boat to get across water quickly? We’ve seen karts glide through the air, drive underwater, and defy gravity, but what if you needed to appropriately kit out your karts for dangerous terrain across an open Mario Kart world? A man can dream.

Bouncier models and animations

The camera pans around to show Mario and the gang racing, and just as the Nintendo Switch 2 gets slapped into its dock, we see Mario hit a bump in the road, showing off a shocked new expression on his face. The art style feels more reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. Wonder than anything we’ve previously seen in Mario Kart, and after a decade of looking at Mario Kart 8, this already feels like a refreshing tweak.

Donkey Kong’s makeover

The Super Mario Bros. Movie introduced a new look for DK with a more pronounced brow ridge and softer overall features, and it seems this aesthetic has been taken one step further for his new appearance in Mario Kart. It’s hard to tell what all of the details are as the gorilla is mostly a background racer in this new footage, but he’s definitely different. What did they do to you, DK?

Massive racetracks?

The final shot of gameplay footage we get from the trailer overlooks what appears to be a Yoshi-branded drive-thru restaurant with an unknown gold power up, next to an incredibly long desert road with no obvious bends. This is a much longer stretch of nothingness than we usually see in a Mario Kart track. It’s very wide – possibly to accommodate those 24 aforementioned players – but it’s so long that it seems almost nonsensical unless you’ll be driving at high speeds.

Wonder Flower transformations

It’s been pointed out to me that the final gold power up just might be a Wonder Flower from Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and if that’s the case, it’s a much more exciting development than you might realize. In Wonder, picking up a Wonder Flower will transform the nature of the stage you’re playing, adding optional hazards and new things to interact with. This long stretch of road might look empty now, but it’s possible that grabbing the Wonder Flower would change the track drastically.

It’s Mario Kart

Yeah, it’s Mario Kart. While there are definitely some fun things to speculate on from this trailer, it’s Mario Kart, and until we get some longer footage that shows off more things happening – maybe the activation of a single power up – that’s all we can really say. Mario Kart 9 has quickly become one of my most anticipated games for 2025 from less than 40 seconds of footage, and I’m eager to see much more.