If there's one game in Nintendo's current lineup that is practically begging to receive DLC, whether it's free or paid, then it's Mario Kart World. However, since everything is now part of an open world, this won't be as trivial as adding waves of new courses, which is probably why it's taking so long for Nintendo to announce something.
But it's easy to get ideas nevertheless, where mine will be split into two parts. First, there will be a set of free updates, which are aiming to enhance the current world of Mario Kart World in different ways. Second, there will be an Expansion Pass, which is going to add new islands with courses all around the existing world.
Free Updates
These should accompany the paid DLC and make more out of what's already in the existing game. And you don't have to be a creative genius to come up with something here, because the gaps are more or less obvious.
- 200cc mode
- Reverse courses
- Custom Knockout Tours
- New Battle Mode types
- More drivers and outfits
- More music
The biggest omission right now is easily 200cc, where it feels like most of the game was made with it in mind. Well, that's likely due to how the total number of racers has doubled to 24, making it necessary to widen all the courses, and due to all the long intermissions, where you never really have to take sharp turns. But it will feel like a natural addition nevertheless.
What's already possible is driving certain courses backwards, since they had to be built this way for the open world. And you can actively play races on some of them by picking the right intermissions in VS mode. Now, Nintendo could make more out of this by adding course variants (like Dino Dino Jungle R), so you can also play a three-lap race on them.
And the Knockout Tour really could use an equivalent to the VS mode, where you will vote for six connected courses one after another, which then will lead to a custom rally through the world. This seems simple enough, but will add infinitely more value to this mode than just having the same eight routes.
Battle Mode on the other hand is so bare bones that it needs some solid additions. Bob-omb Blast and Shine Thief should return from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and 8 Deluxe as additional types. And they should really add some more courses dedicated to this mode, where they could fill some open spaces in the world with them, e.g. adding the traditional Block Fort on some field near Mario Circuit. Others could be added via new lands in the paid DLC, but we'll get to that...
When it comes to new drivers, there is also a lot already in the game which could be repurposed for the Kamek transformations. And there is a particular group of characters which hasn't returned from Mario Kart 8 for some reason, so here is a first list:
- Lemmy, Larry, Wendy, Ludwig, Iggy, Roy & Morton
- Dry Bowser
- Fire, Ice and Boomerang Bro
- Fire, Frost and Bone Piranha Plant
- Snow Pokey
- Bully, Spiny & Skeeter
- Kamek
The Koopalings and Dry Bowser could be rewards for scoring 1st place in each of the 200cc Knockout Tour rallies. Most of the other additions are just regional variants of the existing monster drivers, e.g. the Hammer Bro, but there could also be some new ones, like the Spiny. Finally, once you have unlocked all transformations, Kamek himself should become playable.
As for new outfits, there is so much stuff still left from Mario Kart Tour (see the Mario Wiki), it's offending. Even if they said that they wanted to match certain themes, there still would be a lot of open stuff, e.g. Daisy's Farmer and Yukata outfits. They could make a whole "Booster Outfit Pass" out of this, just to port this all over, but it would be a scam if you had to pay for outfits that other characters already have as part of the base game.
It would also be a chance of bringing some other characters back from Mario Kart 8 if we were to include all the power-up transformations, like Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach, or Penguin Luigi. There is a lot that they could do with those alone.
Some characters didn't really get much to begin with, where Pauline and Donkey Kong only have one outfit each so far. But this could tie in to the paid DLC, where we might get a wave focused on Donkey Kong and with it new outfits for the existing characters as an appetizer. And this already leads us to the next part...
Expansion Pack
Of course, if we are talking about DLC for a Mario Kart game, then new cups and courses will have to be the main topic. But with the game's open world nature this isn't exactly trivial, because every addition with have to fit into that. And there are theoretically only two ways of making this happen: either they offer a second world, or they gradually try to expand the current world.
Neither is really ideal. With a second world Nintendo would have complete freedom, but they also would have to release it all at once, so you wouldn't have the typical DLC waves that keep the players engaged and excited over a longer period of time. It would also create a rift, which effectively splits the game in half.
As for expanding the current world, the best way to do that would be adding individual islands with the new contents all around it. This way they could be released in multiple waves, where each wave adds one or more larger pieces of land onto the map, which are home to the new courses. Since this feels more organic overall, let's run with this approach for the rest of this post.
With these new islands being their own thing, they could set themselves apart thematically from the rest and maybe even dive back into crossovers, like how they were established with the original DLC for Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U. But they wouldn't have to go this far, since the franchises directly linked to Super Mario are already quite excellent choices with lots of potential:
- DK Island
- Yoshi's Island
- Kitchen Island (Wario Land)
- Haunted Island (Luigi's Mansion)
They could bring back a good number of retro courses with this one, like DK Mountain, DK Jungle, Banshee Boardwalk, Luigi's Mansion, or even the new Yoshi's Island from the Booster Course Pass. And then mix them with new inclusions, like courses based on Wario Land, Luigi's Mansion 3, Donkey Kong Bananza or the upcoming Yoshi game, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book.
The same goes for the characters and vehicles. They could bring back Diddy, Dixie and Funky Kong, while introducing Young Pauline, Void Kong or King K. Rool. They could bring back Poochy, while introducing Captain Syrup or E. Gadd. And rest assured that we should finally be getting that Rambi Rider back.
If we were to go intro full crossover territories, there would be even more possibilities for all sorts of crazy things. Potentially, one island could focus on multiple franchises at once, where here are some examples for such an approach:
- Wuhu Island (Wii Sports, Pilotwings, Wave Race 64)
- Dreaming Island (Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing)
- Future Island (F-Zero, Metroid, Splatoon)
Again, they could bring back some of the established courses from Mario Kart 7 and 8, while combining it with some new stuff. And the same goes for drivers and vehicles. Since this website is supposed to be a Zelda blog, let's just go through that particular franchises as an example:
- Courses: Hyrule Circuit, Death Mountain Driftway
- Drivers: Link, Zelda, Octorok
- Vehicles: Master Cycle, Master Cycle Zero, Zonai Cart
Link would have this Champion's Tunic as an outfit, potentially also the archaic tunic from Tears of the Kingdom. The same goes for Zelda, who could have appearances based on Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild and/or Tears of the Kingdom. And maybe there could also be new playable characters coming from additional Kamek transformations, e.g. your classic Octorok. Though, they also could just repurpose the Swoops and Piranha Plants to pose as Keese and Dekuranhas in this case.
There are two problems with this island approach overall, which can't be dismissed. One is that this could potentially create a bigger emphasis on water roads, especially if they also want to connect the new courses to the old ones on the edge of the map. And that's not exactly exciting, though I love the idea of getting lots of Wave Race 64 tributes with the new wave riding mechanic.
And the other problem is that there would be too many volcanoes in the end. I'm not kidding here: the main land already has one for Bowser's Castle, but DK Island, Yoshi's Island and Wuhu Island all have their own volcanoes as well. And if there's some island themed around Hyrule, it will likely feature Death Mountain... So, that may look a bit silly, but these were all just some basic ideas, where Nintendo could and certainly will get a lot more creative.
Now all that remains is to wait and see what they are cooking. Maybe the obligatory February Nintendo Direct will already give us an idea...
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