Mario Kart 9 rumoured for 2020 release on Switch - here's what we know

A new rumour regarding everybody’s favourite kart racing game has got the internet buzzing. The latest addition in the relentlessly popular Mario Kart series will be arriving some time in 2020, according to recent gossip. While nothing has been confirmed as of yet, that hasn’t stopped fans from weaving all kinds of intricate theories. Here’s everything we know so far. Where did the rumour come from? Botw2 taking longer than anticipated back during e3 2019, so it doesn’t seem to be this year’s holiday release, which adds more credence to the major title I was referencing on a tweet the other day. Neither are set in stone yet so take some salt. The more likely one has.. tires — Sabi (@New_WabiSabi) January 31, 2020 Twitter user Sabi tweeted that a major Nintendo title which “has tires” would be this year’s big holiday release, which many have assumed refers to Mario Kart. It was expected that the follow-up to Breath of the Wild would fill that slot, after being announced at last year’s E3 conference. However, Sabi claims that the game is taking longer to complete than was expected and so it could be swapped out for the cartoony racer. Sabi has established a reputation for himself as a highly effective purveyor of inside information in the videogame realm. His previous “through the grapevine” tweets have largely proven to be pretty on point, meaning this new info is likely enough to be legitimate. How likely is it? Sabi’s track record is pretty good so it’s unlikely that the story is completely made up, however, he even warns fans to take it with a pinch of salt as neither the Breath of the Wild date nor that of the unnamed other title are “set in stone”. However, it would make a lot of sense. The Mario Kart series usually spaces its titles so that a new one arrives every three to four years. Mario Kart 8 first arrived on the WiiU back in 2014 before being moved onto the Switch in Deluxe form in 2017, so the timing seems about right for a new game. On the other hand, Deluxe continues to be one of the console’s top-selling games so it could be argued that releasing a new version right now would be unnecessary. Mario Kart 8 added hovercraft, who knows what 9 will bring? Picture: Nintendo What other rumours are there? The wildest rumour is that the new game won’t be Mario Kart, but a Super Smash Bros-style racer in which characters from all of Nintendo’s big titles will go head-to-head. There is nothing really to substantiate this idea, it’s just something that fans have wanted for a long time. However, it would make sense to merge the two series given the continued success of both of them. With the inclusion of characters and tracks from a couple of other titles (like Link from Zelda) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe paved the way for this kind of cross-over, so it’s perhaps not such a pipe dream after all. On a less kart-based note, the same source also predicted the arrival of a new entry in the Paper Mario series. While more of a cult classic than the plumber’s racing games, this series has a devoted fan-base of its own that would love to see a new chapter arriving on the Switch. This article originally appeared on our sister site, The i.