Poll: Would you like to see Mario Kart Include Non-Mario Characters?

I wouldn't mind seeing other Nintendo characters but the series has to remain in the Mario universe and still be called Mario Kart. 

Well to be fair Donkey Kong isn't really a Mario character anymore.
When was the last time he played a significant role in a Mario game (or vice versa)?

The arcade game (which unfortunately was kinda lame) featured Pac-man, which I thought was a nice non-Mario entrant. 

( Edited 28.05.2014 14:10 by Cheesing it up )

Cheesing it up said:
Well to be fair Donkey Kong isn't really a Mario character anymore.
When was the last time he played a significant role in a Mario game (or vice versa)?

This could be interesting. I think it could open up a lot of cool track ideas from other Nintendo franchises, but they could also do that without putting those characters on the roster.

I mean... would you really NOT want a Hyrule or Metriod themed track?

Actually, thinking about it now, it would be better if the roster stayed Mario characters, but they used other worlds in their track creation. Imagining Samus driving a kart kind of put me off to the idea. 

I think it would be worth a shot - possibly to fill the gap - so each console could potentially have a "Mario Kart" and a "Nintendo Kart" per generation.

I'm split on the idea. Part of my wants to race as Link or Samus but at the same time, it would seem a bit tacky which I can't really put an explanation to. I like how the "Mario" titled games stick to their own universe. Donkey is part of the same universe but to see link in there would be odd.

RudyC3 said:

Cheesing it up said:
Well to be fair Donkey Kong isn't really a Mario character anymore.
When was the last time he played a significant role in a Mario game (or vice versa)?

Errrr... the shitload of Mario vs Donkey kong games that still do get released to this day?

But they do stand alone more often than not.  They're completely different game series now, Mario vs DK is almost like a cross over, or a reminder that the two are actually connected. 

^ A reminder that DK and Mario are very much in the same universe, perhaps? :p

I get what you're saying, but DK has and always will be a part of the Marioverse in the broad sense of things. Arcade Donkey Kong started it, Donkey Kong Jr. continued it, and then of course DK Jr. appeared in the original Super Mario Kart a good couple of years before Donkey Kong Country kicked off DK's own proper series. Continuing to have DK and his pals in Mario Karts, Mario Parties, Mario Baseball, Football, etc, among others, is reaffirming they're all in the same universe.

Yoshi has also branched off into his own series and style of gameplay different to Mario, but he's still very much in the Marioverse. You don't just stop becoming a Mario character.

Link, Samus, Fox etc, didn't start their lives in the Mario world. So for me, these characters don't belong in MK, and I don't think I'd be down with a 'Nintendo Kart' tbh. I wouldn't say no and refuse it or anything - I'm sure it would be great if Nintendo gave it the quality. Just look at Sonic All-Stars Transformed - really good racer bringing a mix of series' characters together successfully. A Nintendo Kart could be a great one-off, but it'd be difficult to then go back to just being an MK. I think it's better to stick to the Marioverse for MK, because seriously, they have a huge range of characters they can pull from already - just look at Mario Baseball. Just a damn shame they didn't pull from that more to give us better characters in MK8.

Clearly this poll is showing more people would like a 'Nintendo Kart', however!

^I completely agree with all of this. I wouldn't really like the idea of a Nintendo cart, especially as the attributes of the specific characters aren't really important in Mario Kart.

Azuardo said:
^ A reminder that DK and Mario are very much in the same universe, perhaps? :p

I get what you're saying, but DK has and always will be a part of the Marioverse in the broad sense of things. Arcade Donkey Kong started it, Donkey Kong Jr. continued it

So technically Mario is part of the DK Universe, not the other way around. :p

I think we'd only be debating semantics now but... It's the same universe, so technically, you can't really say who it 'belongs' to, I guess. I mean, Arcade DK and DK Jr. (the games) both featured Mario, so do you take it based on the titles of the games, or who was the first playable character? But I think that was up to Nintendo to decide, and they went with making it the 'Mario universe' based on the Mario Karts, Parties, Baseball etc. I think once Mario established his popularity, there was only one path. No harm in looking at it as DK's universe if you like, but I think all the Mario Karts, Parties etc make it more generally accepted as the 'Marioverse'.

One thing's for sure, they're definitely all a part of the same universe :p Same can't be said for Link, Samus etc.

Ahh, it's nice to discuss the most pointless stuff in games sometimes :p

Ahh, it's nice to discuss the most pointless stuff in games sometimes :p

Yes, my comment was made in jest, I wasn't expecting a serious debate on semantics!

It's serious stuff, man.