Greetings Source Gaming fans, and welcome to another Dream Roster article. If you missed out on our previous entries, be sure to check out the articles looking at Nintendo Kart, as well as MvC4, Kellogg’s vs. Capcom, Fire Emblem Warriors and Konami-Smash.
Nintendo has never produced a cross-company themed Kart racing game before, but they have progressively taken the Mario Kart franchise away from being entirely Mario-centric. The Mario Kart 8 DLC contained characters and stages based on other Nintendo IPs such as The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, Excite Bike and F–Zero. Mario and co’ have also met Namco characters such as Pac-Man, Mametchi and Don-chan on the track in the Mario Kart Arcade GP games.
Mario and Mickey are two of the biggest pop culture icons of all time, and while they have never met under any official circumstances yet, Disney are enthusiastic about the idea of it happening sooner rather than later. So what better setting than a Kart racing game for these characters to finally shake hands? After all, they both have a history of appearing in racing games. Mickey’s first racing appearance was in Rare Ltd’s underrated Nintendo 64 game: Mickey’s Speedway USA. He has also gone on to star in Mickey’s Racing Adventure for the Game Boy Colour. Other notable Disney racing games include Disney Infinity 3.0, and Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour.
As you’ve probably guessed by now, this Dream Roster article will be focusing on Disney X Mario Kart.
If you’d like to see the reasoning behind some of the character choices, be sure to read below!
The new character additions focused on two main criteria. Firstly by fleshing out the side-series Mario Kart has thus far touched upon in varying degrees. Yoshi series staple Kamek finally makes his appearance in a Kart game after being previously omitted at least 2 separate times. Ashley, the WarioWare Witch who has become a very popular character in her own right, would be a rather interesting addition to add diversity to the cast. We also have Dixie Kong, who has thus far only made a handful of appearances in the Mario spin-off games. She is perhaps more overdue than anybody.
friend Toad (this time as Captain Toad), original rival Donkey Kong, with his sidekick Diddy, the 3 Princesses as well as of course Bowser and his son.
Fans have long-been clamouring for Nintendo to dig a little deeper with their Mario Kart rosters, which lead me to feel that fleshing out the heavyweight class with notable (albeit forgotten) villains from Mario’s past was a good idea. This includes Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2, and Count Bleck from Super Paper Mario, who simultaneously adds that Paper Mario flavour.
Characters were generally chosen based on relevance or historical significance, while trying to represent every era of Disney’s extensive history. Unfortunately some characters such as those with traditional animal proportions such as Scar, or small characters such as Chip ’N’ Dale were not included due to incompatibility with the Karts. Characters like Olaf, Judy and Wreck It Ralph represent the latest string of Disney’s successful cinema hits. WreckIt Ralph is also no stranger to racing games, having previously appeared in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Cruella De Vil, filled the role of being a notable Disney villain, I also loved the idea of her trademark vehicle being converted into a Kart inside the game. The Mad Hatter from Alice In Wonderland, as well as The Beast from Beauty and the Beast are notable classic Disney characters who have had, or will have their films remade in live action.
Mickey’s gang consists of the usual suspects, including Donald, Goofy and Minnie, as well as Donald’s love interest; Daisy Duck, Mickey’s ‘Bowser’; Pete, and his (until recently) long forgotten half-brother; Oswald The Lucky Rabbit.
Snow White, the original Disney princess from Walt Disney’s first feature length; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a no brainer, holding unparalleled historical significance above practically any other Disney princess. The other, very notable classic Disney character Pinocchio joins her. While Moana, the most recent addition to the lineup of Disney princesses bookmarked her
inclusion perfectly.
Rounding off the roster, we have the ever popular Winnie The Pooh, one of few Disney characters to see consistent new content produced spanning several decades. As well as Stitch, who has been a part of numerous movies, a TV show and a Japanese anime!
Would you like to see a Disney x Mario Kart? Which characters would you like to see focused? Let us know in the comments section!
Why no love for Clairabelle, Scrooge, or Horace Horsecollar.
Because it is X Disney and not X Mickey Mouse. He didn’t want to rely to heavily on Mickey Mouse and friends.
No Scrooge McDuck? I am very disappoint. Though props for including Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
I wanted to include Scrooge, but after Daisy and Donald it was too many ducks.
Only one Disney princess? Using obscure villains and spin-off characters in an unprecedented crossover? Neither Disney nor Nintendo would approve this. I want a do-over.
There are two Disney Princesses.
Why would you replace Toad with Captain Toad? 30 years of legacy replaced for a flavour of the month?
Also more subjective, but I think Fawful would be better choice than Count Bleck since he wasn’t a one-off like him and flat Paper Mario design would stand out and not in a good way.
Wart’s a cool choice. I also noticed you gave Dixie her outfit from the animated series, heh.
I feel the Mario side is mostly OK, though (despite liking Super Paper Mario) I too think Fawful would be a more popular and relevant choice than Bleck. Wart is also kind of an odd choice, though I definitely get your reasoning.
The Disney side feels odder, though given the company’s large quantity of properties and the limited space available I don’t think it’d be possible to please everybody.
I agree on not including extra properties as most of them still have a very separate identity (honestly, Marvel and I guess Star Wars could fill a roster by themselves). I’m less sure about Pixar’s exclusion; I think it’s connected enough with Disney to warrant at least one character (likely Woody, as the main character from Pixar’s first movie and its longest running series) and maybe some Cars-inspired karts (because cars, obviously).
Yes to Oswald due to his historical relevance. Yes to Snow White, Pinocchio, Pooh and I guess the Genie, though I’m less sure about the Mad Hatter and Beast. (Why’d you choose Scar over Simba, though? To have more villains?)
Yes to not including Horace, Clarabelle and other side characters: they’d be prime choices if only core properties were included but not in such an expansive project. Huey/Dewey/Louie would be interesting, but they’d be problematic to handle (see the Koopalings). (I guess Donald’s 313 would be available.) One important character I feel is missing though is Scrooge: while not part of the historical core group, I think DuckTales (and its well-received NES/GameBoy game) and Carl Bark’s immense contributions would warrant at least something (maybe even a cameo by Gyro Gearloose as a mechanic?).
I’m not sure about Stitch, but I guess he could be more popular than I think. I’m also not sure about Judy and Moana, I feel they’re way too recent (Moana could work as promotion like stuff like Greninja and Roy/Corrin in Smash, though). I definitely agree on Frozen’s inclusion, though: I feel Elsa is way more popular than Olaf, but she might be considered sort of redundant with the Mario princesses (insert Rosalina joke here), which I suppose would also hurt the chances for the more classic-looking Disney princessess like Cinderella, Belle, Aurora or (human, for obvious reasons) Ariel.
Speaking of Aurora, I feel Maleficient is way more relevant as a Disney villain than Cruella – consider her role in the Kingdom Hearts series, for example. She even starred in a live-action movie, since you mentioned those.
Finally, yes to Ralph: he might not be immensely relevant, but as a fictional video game character as well as being basically a bootleg Donkey Kong from a movie which included Nintendo characters he kind of has to be here.
That’s The Beast, not Scar.
I think this kind of crossover makes a lot of sense. I can’t say for sure but I don’t think Disney would approve of a fighting game like Nintendo VS Disney. A racing game featuring Nintendo and Disney characters I think has a more friendly competition vibe that Disney would approve of.
The Mario side of the roster works well. I do question the inclusion of Count Bleck considering he’s a 2D being and that may not translate well into 3D. Also, he hasn’t had a comeback and (even though he’s considered dead) Fawful as an RPG rep makes more sense since he’s featured in 3 RPG games. But it is an interesting choice. I do think Toad is more likely than Captain Toad but it’s not a bad choice at all and I know the creator wanted him in Mario Kart 8. I love the idea of bringing back Wart! He goes well with Oswald as a forgotten rep!
The Disney side is solid, too. Nothing needs to be said about the regulars like Mickey and Goofy. Love the inclusion of Oswald as I’m a big Epic Mickey fan! All the other inclusions make sense for the sake of historical significance and promotion that Disney would likely do in a case like this. I lament that Scrooge McDuck isn’t here and think with his significance and that a new DuckTales show is coming this year, that was a missed opportunity. But I understand that there’re other characters worthy of a spot. Maleficent would be more iconic as a villain but the more I think about her in a kart… It just doesn’t gel for me personally. Maybe she could be the big baddie of a game like this who challenges these characters to a tournament? Cruella, in my opinion, was a brilliant choice considering she has a car and is very distinct amongst Disney characters. Plus, 101 Dalmatians has significance to be the first Disney movie to use the Xerox process for animation. She’s getting her own movie, too, so there’s that.
This isn’t a criticism but another character getting a sequel to a live-action remake in the coming years is Baloo from The Jungle Book. The guy got a Disney Infinity figure rather than Mowgli and he’s a mainstay of Disney parks and other merch. Plus, The Jungle Book (1967) was Walt Disney’s last animated film that he personally worked on giving the film some historical significance. Another character worth considering are Captain Hook (since Peter Pan is an iconic Disney property).
On a side note, the potential for Disney race tracks just makes me so happy. Pleasure Island, Beast’s Castle, The Pride Lands, Zootopia, I could go on!
Funnily, the three main characters you suggested here (Scrooge, Hook and Baloo) were all neck-and-neck with other characters. I chose Cruella over Hook mainly because of her vehicle, I omitted Scrooge because I already had 2 Ducks, and there just wasn’t enough room to add Baloo!
Hypothetically, they could be DLC. 😛
How come you made this Mario Kart X Disney rather than Nintendo and Disney Kart? Just curious.
The more I stare at this the more I want it to be real…
so whats next…..nintendo x cartoon network?……
Are you asking us to do a Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion 2 roster? 😛
maybe…..im not sure
Too late, you asked for it!
A Smashing Review at the very least. 🙂