Mario Kart is one of the most popular franchises around, but there's always been a question that's plagued fans of the series for years. This question pertains to why Nintendo only puts Mario characters into the game as playable characters, and not popular characters from some of their other franchises. With Mario Kart 7 racing onto store shelves early next month, karting enthusiasts are obviously wondering if fan favorite characters from other Nintendo-owned properties may make a special guest appearance — Mario Kart producer Hideki Konno has swiftly drifted into view and slashed the tires on that dream.

During Konno's recent interview with Nintendo Power, the producer was asked if they had ever considered putting other characters from the Nintendo universe into a Mario Kart game. Konno-san then promptly stated that, “No, we’ve never seriously considered that.” While that may be a little disheartening to hear, some may immediately point out that R.O.B. (not to be confused with Game Rant editor-in-chief Rob Keyes) and Funky Kong have both appeared in previous installments.

This means that either Konno has forgotten that they actually included non-Mario characters in the series before, or he's just trying to bring down expectations to shock everyone with another special guest appearance in Mario Kart 7. It's safe to say that fans, myself included, are hoping it's the latter.

Hideki Konno was also questioned about whether or not there were plans to bring the franchise to the unreleased Nintendo Wii U. He did confirm that the game will be coming to the platform with some "unique functions," but other than that he refused to elaborate on anything else regarding the title and asked that fans be patient for the time being:

“I can’t get into the specifics, but I do want to create a new and enjoyable Mario Kart that uses the unique functions of the Wii U. Anything beyond that I have to keep secret. Please bear with me for now!”

Mario Kart Wii U seems like a blatant inevitability for Nintendo's new console, so this confirmation should surprise a grand total of zero people. Still, it's nice to know that Nintendo is already dreaming up some unique functions for the series' eventual installment on the Wii U. Obviously one feature will be gyroscopic controls courtesy of the tablet-esque controller, and maybe even a map on the controller's screen. It'll be interesting to see what the team behind the next Mario Kart dreams up, but don't expect any news on that project for quite some time.

Do you think other Nintendo characters should appear in Mario Kart? Which features do you think should be in Mario Kart Wii U?

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Source: Nintendo Everything