The Future of Mario Kart series has so far looked at what
retro tracks I’d like to see return, new and returning features, as well as
reworking the Grand Prix mode. Now, I’m here to discuss characters, as all
mascot kart racers aren’t complete without them.
With the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, I have a label for
a group of characters called the Heroes Majority, which basically groups all
those characters that appeared in Sonic Heroes as one group of characters who
are more than likely to appear in any game. With Mario Kart, the same rule can
apply – but the group name becomes the Double Dashers.
The eight original characters of Super Mario Kart of
Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, Koopa Troopa, Yoshi, and technically Donkey
Kong have appeared in every single game [except for Koopa Troopa who got
replaced by Wario for 64 and Super Circuit]. Double Dash then introduced Baby
Mario, Baby Luigi, Waluigi, Bowser Jr., Diddy Kong, Toadette, Daisy, Birdo, and
King Boo who have become series staples or show up on occasion. Paratroopa and
Petey Piranha are the only two from Double Dash who haven’t returned in any
future Kart game. The name of Double Dashers can still apply though,
considering Cream and Big of the Heroes Majority hardly show up in Sonic games.
So all the Double Dashers I call to the roster list. As
for those from games after Double Dash, there are a few characters I would
bring in. Rosalina has become a popular character, so it makes sense to add her
to the roster. Dry Boswer and Funky Kong are also fan requested characters.
When both were not included in Mario Kart 8 – especially as they were shelved
to include all seven Koopalings – people were saying they’d much rather those
two have been included instead. Same goes for Dry Bones.
As for who isn’t making the cut, clone characters I can
understand being in the game, but when they’re power-up skins, that’s when it
goes a bit too far. As such, Metal Mario and Pink Gold Peach are not being
added to the roster. I also think the amount of baby characters has become a
bit too much. However, that is easily fixed. Mario Kart 8 started to allow
skins for characters such as Shy Guy and Yoshi, then when the DLC came out the
same happened for Villager.
Now, I’m not suggesting skins in the sense of Smash Bros.
or other fighting games, but more along the lines of folders – where grouped
characters get put into the same icon. After all, if we have more than thirty
characters for the next game, the character select screen is going to be very
full. This allows for the Koopalings to have one icon present on the screen,
with the baby characters all sharing one as well. Koopa Troopa, Paratroopa, and
Dry Bones would collapse to one icon, with Bowser and Dry Bowser sharing one as
well. For me, it isn’t so much the characters themselves that bother me, it’s
the amount of spaces they take up.
For now, the roster looks like this:
Light – Baby Mario / Baby Luigi / Koopa Troopa /
Paratroopa / Diddy Kong / Bowser Jr./ Toad / Toadette / Dry Bones / Baby Peach
/ Baby Daisy / Baby Rosalina / Wendy / Lemmy / Larry
Medium – Mario / Luigi / Peach / Daisy / Yoshi / Birdo / Ludwig
/ Iggy
Heavy – Donkey Kong / Bowser / Wario / Waluigi / Petey
Piranha / King Boo / Rosalina / Dry Bowser / Funky Kong / Roy / Morton
As you can see, the light characters dominate the other
two classes, with 15 characters. Heavy class has 11, with medium class only
having 8. To be fair, I would swap Baby Rosalina with Shy Guy, but that doesn’t
affect the overall totals. And since a kart racer is easier to balance for than
a fighter, adding more characters for variety is always a plus. As it stands
with those numbers, I wouldn’t want to be adding any more to the light class,
but then it’s just a case of adding characters that people know or would want.
And before anyone asks, I don’t think characters from the RPGs are gonna make
the cut, so I won’t pull any from them.
Pauline from Odyssey would be making the cut as one of
the latest representatives of the Mario-verse [even though she’s technically
one of the oldest], and Nabbit from the New Super Mario Bros. series. Since his
introduction in the WiiU game, he’s shown up around various spin-offs, so now
would be his time to shine in Mario Kart. However, putting him in the medium
class is stretching it a bit, considering he’s a rabbit. As I said before
though, this is going to be as even as possible with all three classes. A third
medium character I’d add is E. Gadd from the Luigi’s Mansion series.
That leaves eight characters to find – four for each
class. Since I covered a few mediums, I’ll move to heavies for a bit, and one
that springs to mind is a character many have been asking for to appear in Smash
Bros. That character being King K. Rool. Bowser’s here as the main Mario
antagonist, so K. Rool makes sense for the Donkey Kong side of the franchise.
The Galaxy series already has a representative in Rosalina, but one thing I’ve
always found odd is why she is a heavy class. She doesn’t look much different
to either Peach or Daisy, with the only main difference being her style of
clothes. Rosalina I request moves down to medium while Lubba takes her place as
a heavy. After all, he was the main guide of Mario in Galaxy 2.
And now we reach that thing I mentioned earlier. Power-ups
taking up roster space. Metal Mario and Pink Gold Peach provide heavy
alternatives for Mario and Peach, but there isn’t a need to do so just to have
the mains represented in all three classes. The more obvious reason for their
inclusion is that unless you dive deeper into the enemy and spin-off bases,
there just aren’t enough memorable characters left. However, if the power-ups
really are going to be a part of the roster, don’t just keep it at metal forms.
There’s various power-ups to form as, such as Tanooki, Cat, Penguin, Bee, Ice,
Cloud – and all can fit in one of the three classes. However, I don’t think
having them as power-ups works when you can just have certain of the animal
allies be represented.
And if that’s the case, the four final spaces in my list
are filled with Mother Penguin and Chargin’ Chuck for the heavy class, with Kamek
and Spike for the medium class. The newly added list of characters now looks
like this.
Light – Baby Mario / Baby Luigi / Koopa Troopa /
Paratroopa / Diddy Kong / Bowser Jr. / Toad / Toadette / Dry Bones / Baby Peach
/ Baby Daisy / Shy Guy / Wendy / Lemmy / Larry
Medium – Mario / Luigi / Peach / Daisy / Yoshi / Birdo /
Ludwig / Iggy / Rosalina / E. Gadd / Pauline / Nabbit / Kamek / Spike
Heavy – Donkey Kong / Bowser / Wario / Waluigi / Petey
Piranha / King Boo / Dry Boswer / Funky Kong / Roy / Morton / King K. Rool /
Lubba / Mother Penguin / Chargin’ Chuck
Now, if you count them, you’ll find I’ve left both heavy
and medium classes at fourteen, and the reason for that will become clear when
I talk about crossover material next month.
Future of Mario Kart Series
Retro
Tracks Next in Line / Refresh
of the Grand Prix / Refreshing
Additions of the Feature Base / Characters
Come Together for Chaotic Crashes / Crossing
Over for Crossovers / Casting
in the Wilds for New Locations