Mario Kart 9 in active development, industry consultant says
And comes with a "new twist".
Mario Kart 9 is now in "active development" within Nintendo, according to Tokyo-based industry consultant Dr. Serkan Toto.
The continued sales success of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe had left many fans wondering if Nintendo was still planning an all-new Mario Kart for Nintendo Switch - or whether the platform would just be left with its hugely-popular Wii U port.
Writing on GamesIndustry.biz, Toto said Mario Kart 9 would include "a new twist" and could be ready to be shown this year.
Previous gimmicks in Mario Kart games have included dual racers (Double Dash!!), the introduction of motion controls (MK Wii), plus gliding (MK7) and anti-gravity sections (MK8).
Last year, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe officially overtook Mario Kart Wii to become the best-selling game in the series, with a whopping 38.74m copies shifted.
And then, it carried on selling. Over 2021's Black Friday weekend, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe was the best-selling boxed game in the UK, thanks to its inclusion in Nintendo Switch hardware bundles.
Even on a normal week, the racer is regularly included in the UK physical games chart top 10 - more than six years after its original version initially launched back on Wii U.
This continued sales success, coupled with the fact Nintendo has never released two mainline Mario Kart games on the same console generation before, has led some to question whether Mario Kart 9 may still be many years away.