Nintendo has officially revealed the Switch 2, seemingly showing off one of its games in the process.
It finally happened. Nintendo caved and revealed the first official details about its next console, the appropriately named Nintendo Switch 2. What it didn’t reveal is what exactly it has cooking for the Switch 2 in terms of new games, although it does appear to have shown off what will presumably be its big launch title.
Most of the two-and-a-half-minute trailer was dedicated to demonstrating how the console itself will differ from the existing Switch. Quite a lot bigger, different Joy-Con, and a mostly black color scheme. However, once the Switch 2 was turned on, Nintendo opted to go with Mario Kart footage, and the improved visuals strongly suggest it was a first look at the next game in the series rather than more from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
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Nintendo fans have already been combing through the trailer with a fine-tooth comb and some initial discoveries have further cemented the belief that the Mario Kart footage is from the next game in the series rather than the last one. The biggest giveaway is Donkey Kong, who can be seen briefly in the background at around the 1:52 mark in the trailer below, whose design is very different from the one currently being used in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
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That Looks A Lot Like A New Mario Kart Game
The biggest giveaway that this is a new Mario Kart game and not shots from 8 Deluxe, however, is an aerial shot of the track. It’s brief, but for a moment, you can see that there are 15 racers on the track at the same time. The maximum number of racers you can have in any given race in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is 12, thus confirming this is, at the very least, a first look at a beefed up version of the game, but more likely an entirely new installment.
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Also worth noting that there are 24 positions shown on the starting grid. Make of that what you will.
What isn’t clear, and might not be for a while, is what this new Mario Kart game will be called and how different it will be from the current version of the game. It could simply be Mario Kart 9, starting over on a new console and building in the same way as Mario Kart 8 has done for the last decade.
If Nintendo wants to make the next Mario Kart feel truly special, and it should if it’s going to be a Switch 2 launch title, then it will need to do something more. A Smash Bros-style approach, perhaps, where more characters from outside the Mushroom Kingdom are invited to race. Or, you know, they could just call it Mario Kart 8 Ultimate and give us more of the same. That seems unlikely, though.
For now, the wait for more news on the Switch 2 and its games might be a longer one than you were expecting following its long-awaited reveal. The trailer ends with confirmation that the Switch 2 won’t be getting a full direct until April 2, 2025. On the bright side, the reveal did confirm both physical and digital Switch games will be backwards compatible with the Switch 2.
