Super Mario Kart Deluxe Locks in a Christmas Day Release After Years in the Garage

Ambitious Super Mario Kart overhaul SMKDX sets a December 25, 2026 launch date, introducing eight new racers, custom cups, boss missions, and real SNES hardware compatibility.

One of the most ambitious Super Mario Kart ROM hacks finally has a finish line. Super Mario Kart Deluxe, or SMKDX, is now scheduled for release on December 25, 2026 after years of development by a team including MrL314 and ScouBsmk. Calling this a few extra tracks would be like describing Bowser as slightly irritable. The hack adds eight racers — Wario, Daisy, Bowser Jr., Kamek, Waluigi, Birdo, Dixie Kong and Toadette — alongside six additional cups with their own podium scenes, new items, music and sound effects. There is also a mission mode featuring custom bosses, mirror versions of tracks and six speed classes ranging from sensible 50cc to frankly irresponsible 300cc.

Multiplayer gets Shine Thief, Gate Battle, Battle Race and other new modes, while the previously demonstrated Endurance mode turns consistency into the enemy by continually challenging players to beat a moving lap-time limit. Most impressively for hardware purists, the project is intended to remain compatible with real SNES hardware as well as emulators, with the developers considering separate PAL and NTSC versions.

Nintendo's 1992 original essentially invented console kart racing as we know it. Thirty-four years later, fans are apparently still finding unused boot space.