Mario Kart Hot Takes

1. I think Nintendo should add some of the goofier enemy characters from mainline Mario rather than adding characters from the RPG, Wario Ware, and Luigi's Mansion games. Since the Mario Kart games are one of (if not the) best selling Nintendo series, it's probably safe to assume that the games are enjoyed by casual audiences. Now someone with a limited knowledge of Mario will probably be able to recognize some enemies like Spike, Goomba, Kamek, Biddybud, Hammer Bro, Boom Boom, Pom Pom, Piranha Plant, Monty Mole, etc., but probably have no clue with stuff like Goombette, Fawful, Jimmy T., the second to last boss of Luigi's Mansion 3 (can't remember her name), Prince Peasley etc.. Now I do not think the enemy characters should replace more important characters like Petey Piranha, King Boo, the other 4 main kongs (easily identifiable), The Koopalings, etc.. This would also remove the need for filler characters like the baby princesses or X character with Y power up. Tracks do not fall under this same curse though since 99.9% percent of tracks are based off nothing or a basic recurring biome from Mario games (Like Desert Hills is based off generic deserts but with some SMB3 motifs). Because of this, the references to other games aren't really questioned by people who don't get them. For example, Luigi owns giant F1-like race tracks, and a weather station, so why can't he own a giant haunted mansion. This isn't and actual track, but if Wario can own a shipwreck, ski resort, gold mine, and motocross stadium, why can't he own a giant castle full of money (like in Wario Land 2 and Wario World).

2. No we should not make Mario Kart a huge crossover series like Smash. One very obvious reason is that Nintendo would probably lose money over it. Mario is very Iconic and makes Nintendo double the money by slapping his name on whatever it is. Not only that, but someone who knows just a little bit about mario could probably name at least 10 major mario characters. Now I'd bet money that if you were to go and ask 10 random people at Wal-Mart, AT LEAST 8 (I say that cause there is the chance you run into some geek who has the song of time as their ring tone) of them can't name 10 major Zelda or Splatoon or Animal Crossing or Xenoblade or Fire Emblem or Kirby or Metroid characters. Would you rather buy a game with 40 characters you know, or 40 characters with maybe 10 you know and 30 you ain't even heard of. Some gamer whose interested in all that stuff may say #2, but some family with limited video game knowledge would definitely prefer #1. That's not to say crossover characters can't exist though. I think MK8DX did it PERFECTLY. It had only one row of characters -all easily recognizable from some of Nintendo's best selling series-, some mii costumes for those who have extra interest in the characters and have their amiibos, and having 2 of the base 48 tracks (with a splatoon battle map)