Well, folks, it's been a couple of months since the reveal of Athens Dash & its first two routes.

And it's been a couple of days since the big reveal of Wave 5 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass, starring the new track: Sqeuaky Clean Sprint, and 3 new racers: Petey Pirahna, Wiggler, and Kamek.

But we've now have our first look at our next setting for a nighttime city course in Mario Kart Tour: Rome, Italy.

The image you see above starring Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong is, as always, a teaser for this new track in Rome.

Now we have the videos for this track as well..

Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBLwmAMlmM

Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lQBtbEmegs

According to sources, the track in Roman, which will be called "Rome Avanti" (Avanti meaning "move forward" in Italian), will have its first 2 routes debut in Mario Kart Tour along with Wii Moonview Highway, in the appropriately named "Night Tour".

In addition, after showcasing the Fish Bone and Light Green Mii Racing Suits, the 2nd linked video has also teased the Wiggler Mii Suit, basically ensuring that Wiggler, especially since Wiggler was recently announced to be an upcoming racer in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe via Wave 5 of the Booster Course Pass, will be also coming in the Tour after the Night Tour.

Needless to say, I have some ups and downs to say about Rome Avanti being the next real-life city track.

First, I'll start with the downs.

This reveal for Rome, Italy being the next setting for a nighttime city track for Mario Kart Tour does hurt the chances of a track in South America, Africa, or any area of our planet Earth having Mario Kart representation in the form of a race course, especially since this reveal means we get another Mario Kart city track taking place in another country in Europe.

Plus, I was REALLY hoping that the next city track would take place in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, South America (especially because of Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games; my fondess for the Rio franchise by Blue Sky Studios; the Brazilian marketing for The Super Mario Bros. Movie; etc.).

In fact, with the season now being Summer, you'd think that Rio would have a chance of having a city track because it would perfectly fit summertime. It would've been perfect for Mario Kart Tour to have a Summer Tour of 2023, debuting the first two routes of the Rio course.

Most of all, I somehow feel that Rome, Italy would share a lot of similarities to Athens, Greece's track, Athens Dash, since their ancient monuments are quite similar.

HOWEVER, the downs end there, and now we get to the ups.

For one, in all forms of Mario media (not just the Mario games), the Super Mario Brothers are well-known for their heritage & culture in Italy, among many of their other traits. So a Mario Kart track in Italy would fit Mario Kart quite nicely.

Also, Donkey Kong is shown to be getting his very first Mario Kart Tour character alt., in the form of Ancient Roman gladiator gear.

And as mentioned earlier, this city track will be taking place at night, which is a nice change because it's been a long time since Singapore Speedway that we got a Mario Kart city course taking place at night.

And as also mentioned earlier, the Retro course: Wii Moonview Highway, will be debuting in Mario Kart Tour in the Night Tour along with the first two routes of Rome Avanti

Still, I really hope we do finally get City Tracks in South America (ESPECIALLY Rio de Janeiro), Africa (Ex: Madagascar, Tanzania; Zimbabwe; etc.), and other areas of the Earth (ex: Mexico; Central / Latin America; Carribean Islands; Hawaii;  the Bahamas; etc.).

That way, all the continents & other areas of the Earth (or at least all populated ones & excluding Antarctica, as Antarctica would be too similar to Mario Kart's snow & ice tracks, particularly Ice Ice Outpost) have Mario Kart representation in the form of courses and tracks.

But for that to happen, Mario Kart Tour would have to continue getting more new even after the end of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Booster Course Pass AND beyon dthe end of 2023...

...AND Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would have to get more DLC after the Booster Course Pass.

That alone is a longshot, but it could happen. After all, people, especially social media users such as YouTubers, have been discussing the possibility on such topics; AND, we have had games with more than 1 DLC pack before (Ex: the original Mario Kart 8 for Wii U; Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS; and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate).

Until then, let's look forward to what's to come for Mario Kart, especially Wave 5 of the Booster Course Pass.

And stay tuned for another update where I discuss a theory involving the Pipe Frame & how I use it to think about what characters could come to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. That update will come either before or after Wave 5 is released.

That's all for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in.

And a little comedic / just-for-fun word of advice: NEVER try to cook a pizza, a lasagna, a bowl of pasta (Spaghet, spaghetti, or so on), or any form of Italian food on your engine (even Garfield the Cat wouldn't try something as silly yet reckless as that). You've been warned...