1. One mechanic that I'd be interested in is adding a new way to get boosts of speed. I was wondering if there could be a sort of "Boo.st Meter" that you could fill up by collecting coins, doing tricks, etc. Once it is filled up, it can be activated for the same boost of speed as a Mushroom item. i figure this mechanic would not overcomplicate things, but add depth to those who want to focus on Time Trials. Not to mention making coins more useful. It's not a huge thing, but I thought this was a great way to improve depth without overcomplicating matters.
2. In general, i don't mind the MK8 lineup of racers too much. Still, seeing how another bump in the racer count is likely, some additions and returns would be welcome. From older installments I'm looking at Birdo, Dry Bones, Bowser Jr, Diddy Kong, and Wiggler in particular. New characters would ideally include some Mario RPG faces, but I'm not hopeful for Fawful. Though I would like to see Professor E Gadd of Luigi's Mansion and the Sprixies of Super Mario 3D World. I don't think we need cameos from other franchises.
And as for who I'd like to kick off the roster... well, Pink Gold Peach is not my #1 choice. I don't like her, but she doesn't offend me. Baby Rosaline does. I can deal with a few Baby characters, but Baby Rosalina doesn't make any sense even in the flexible context of the Mario universe. Rosalina has a proper backstory in which she used to have red hair and only became royalty after a childhood journey! **** Baby Rosalina! PGP and the Koopalings can stay if there's room, but not Baby Rosalina!
3. From my perspective, the ongoing struggle in Mario Kart items is figuring out how to empower those in the pack while providing the front few racers with incentive to still collect items. MK8 helped improve matters by introducing two items, the Piranha Plant and Super Horn, that have good defensive properties. Still, I'd like if the Lightning item were removed. We all complain about Blue Shells, and they ARE still overpwered, but at least it only aims for a single racer. There should still be powerful items that help those in the back, but even these need a possible counter. Maybe Lightning could just get nerfed, so it removes everybody's items without being a direct attack? Maybe the Fake Item Box can return, either with the ability to take hits or a more disguised appearence?
4. Although I like most of MK8's courses individually, I don't necessarily enjoy their theming. i can't say what idea if any was overdone. It just seemed like we were missing a forest, jungle, or beach-themed course. These were represented in the Retro courses, but still.
5. Retro Courses a problem in progress. Across the eight main entries, I think there have been approximately 140 new courses introduced, DLC included. Of these, about 70 have been remade, DLC included, with certain titles like MK64 and Double Dash having little left to offer. Unless Nintendo wants to begin mining their less favored courses of yore, something needs to change.
I propose that Nintendo adopts a new strategy with Retro courses. An existing Retro course can appear once again, but only after a long enough period. I'm thinking a gap of three iterations, or aboout 7 to 10 years, would suffice, as it would allow MK9 to revisit tracks used in MKDS and MKWii. There have been more than enough changes in mario Kart to justify another revisit, and this prevents the courses from becoming too familiar. Imagine Shy Guy Beach with aquatic shortcuts, Sky Garden with Gliding segments.
6. At this point, I think Battle Mode needs a fair amount of work. And although I agree most people can agree on that, I suspect my proposal is going to be heretical.
I think that MK8's use of race courses in place of arenas was not necessarily a terrible idea. If a game's mechanics are largely built on forward momentum and attacking/countering enemies in front of or behind you, a race course is a natural shape, especially for team-based battles. MK8's flaw was that it used the wrong courses to use here. Battle Mode should bring back the shortest tracks in series history, like Yoshi Falls, Baby Park, and the tracks from the SNES and GBA games. Regardless of time limits, this makes the action more frantic, and those in the spirit of the series. Speaking of which, time limits should either be eliminated or made longer. Preferably, Balloon Battle would be split into Timed matches in the style of MKWii and MK7 and Survival matches akin to the older games.
The goal would be to compromise between the inherent racing nature of Mario Kart and allowing inter-racer conflict to dominate the action.
Also, I want Coin Runners to return as a Battle Mode option. And I want Mission Mode back. It's a nice single player activity.
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