Support NeoGAF

[Nothing1016]

Blue Shell can be gone if you want it to be.... hopefully. Unless for some inane reason it affects the balance.

Mario Kart 8 Introduces Expanded Item Customization

The limited amount of item customization seen in Mario Kart 7 will be expanded in the upcoming Wii U sequel, Mario Kart 8, according to director Kosuke Yabuki.

"There was some item customization in Mario Kart 7, in that you could choose to have a mushroom-only race or shell-only race. We're going to have that plus a little bit more, actually, in Mario Kart 8," Yabuki said during a roundtable interview at GDC last month.

"I think we're going to be able to answer that feeling of, 'I don't want to race with items.' Well, OK, then no items. Or, 'I only want to have bananas.' Well, OK. I think we're going to be able to provide a system to answer that desire this time around."

Mario Kart 8 producer Hideki Konno reiterated what Yabuki said without sharing any specifics, stating, "We're going to have some rule customization for folks who want to be able to go in and set that up for themselves." But he also stressed that a lot of thought goes into what items are available to players by default.

"Game balance is a really important element of Mario Kart that we look very, very closely at and place a lot of value on," Konno explained. "I think that item balance, from the time we start working on development, a thousand times, maybe even tens of thousands of times, we adjust that balance while we're playing. At the end, we come up with what we hope or feel is a really good balance. It's our strong hope that folks would want to play with the items as we have balanced them."

Lock if posted.

 

[Salsa]

Blue Shell can be gone if you want it to be.

the day has arrived

 

[Papercuts]

Took long enough, but thank god.

 

[themagicalkitsune]

Does that mean "I only want to have Blue Shells" is possible?

 

[ryushe]

I was already excited for this game, but now I'm over the legal levels with that bit of news.

 

[neoanarch]

Why would I want to do that?

Does that mean "I only want to have Blue Shells" is possible?

You and me are now friends.

 

[Salsa]

mh, wait, where does it say there can be no blue shell BUT with every other item available?

he only mentions racing with NO items or with ONE specific item

this is just an assumption

the dream is over

 

[StickSoldier]

Good to hear man. Was tired of that bullshit ass blue shell.

 

[PotionBleue]

"I think we're going to be able to answer that feeling of, 'I don't want to race with items.' Well, OK, then no items. Or, 'I only want to have bananas.' Well, OK. I think we're going to be able to provide a system to answer that desire this time around."

OK Mr. Yabuki, but that was already present in Mario Kart 7, so I don't know what you're talking about. Give specifics.

 

[monome]

fuck you blue shells

 

[RagnarokX]

the day has arrived

And that day was the day Mario Kart 7 came out?

 

[SuperAndroid17]

would this work online? Im assuming this is only for local play?

 

[Yoshi]

I hope you can switch off items in single player, too. Because that is where items like the blue shell do not belong.

 

[m0t0k1]

blue shell only races are going to be soooo awesome 20 min to finish a race :lol

 

[ZeroGravity]

The amount of hate the blue shell gets is excessive, but whatever, if this finally shuts people up, I'm all for it.

 

[Cipherr]

I don't mind the blue shell. But yeah like someone above said, for those who like options this is a good thing. Options are never bad.

mh, wait, where does it say there can be no blue shell BUT with every other item available?

he only mentions racing with NO items or with ONE specific item

this is just an assumption

the dream is over

"There was some item customization in Mario Kart 7, in that you could choose to have a mushroom-only race or shell-only race. We're going to have that plus a little bit more, actually, in Mario Kart 8,"

Im not sure what you could mean Salsa, the bolded clearly means there will be options besides all of one item or nothing.

 

[SegaShack]

Took them forever to put this option in, but glad it is there.

 

[Tomohawk]

Cool change hope to see more options.

 

[Zeyphersan]

How have they not just come out and said "You know total item control like in Smash Bros? Yeah we have that" if that's the case. And if it's NOT the case, I don't see why not. I can't think of a single excuse now not to have total control over what you want your race to include.

And a track creator, c'mon Nintendo ;_;

 

[Salsa]

Im not sure what you could mean Salsa, the bolded clearly means there will be options besides all of one item or nothing.

still an assumption man

we're talking about nintendo here. trust no one <-

 

[Jackano]

- It's amazingly stupid to allow no items. It's like taking away a good part of Mario Kart's DNA. We'll got the same BS than Smash Bros :/

- Anyway, it takes too long. I always think of Perfect Dark's customization as an exemple. Only Smash Bros come close. And it's pathetic how they talk of it like it's the next big thing.

 

[TreIII]

I hope you can switch off items in single player, too. Because that is where items like the blue shell do not belong.

This.

I really don't have an issue with the Blue Shell otherwise. But the AI always cheats.

 

[cyberheater]

Can you change the terrible rubber banding A.I?

 

[Freezie KO]

"Game balance is a really important element of Mario Kart that we look very, very closely at and place a lot of value on," Konno explained. "I think that item balance, from the time we start working on development, a thousand times, maybe even tens of thousands of times, we adjust that balance while we're playing. At the end, we come up with what we hope or feel is a really good balance. It's our strong hope that folks would want to play with the items as we have balanced them."

I'm glad they emphasized balancing items. I like playing with them.

And I expect everyone to come crawling back to the blue shell.

Anyway, Mario Kart for MLG now.

 

[nikos]

Can Mario Kart be a competitive racing game without items? I'd really enjoy that. Kart racing is fun in Gran Turismo.

 

[theprodigy]

I'm glad they emphasized balancing items. I like playing with them.

And I expect everyone to come crawling back to the blue shell.

Anyway, Mario Kart to return to Evo now.

fixed

 

[Freezie KO]

fixed

I was actually going to post that, but isn't Evo only fighting games?

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

No Blue Shell if I want? Day 1.

 

[Boney]

Does that mean "I only want to have Blue Shells" is possible?

I like the cut of your jib

 

[Ambitious]

- It's amazingly stupid to allow no items. It's like taking away a good part of Mario Kart's DNA. We'll got the same BS than Smash Bros :/

Allowing players to play the way they want is stupid?

 

[shink]

A level editor would be nice too

 

[Nothing1016]

A level editor would be nice too

They say "No" because reasons.

 

[Coolwhip]

Great to hear.

 

[Tempy]

All-Mushroom race would be neat; also neat if you can increase the number of usages. Tuuurboooo mode.

 

[Citizen_Insane]

Does that mean "I only want to have Blue Shells" is possible?

I would get a Wii U just to play this mode with friends. It would be so painful.

 

[Crayolan]

Blue Shell can be gone if you want it to be

Megaton! I'm still not buying it (for now), but I'll find a way to convince my friends to.

 

[PotionBleue]

All-Mushroom race would be neat; also neat if you can increase the number of usages. Tuuurboooo mode.

That was already in Mario Kart 7.

 

[theprodigy]

I was actually going to post that, but isn't Evo only fighting games?

Mario Kart DS was actually one of the games in Evo 2006.

 

[Recall]

This customisation is just in quick race / online races and not in the Grand Prix modes, right?

 

[The Broken Ska Record]

Damn. This thread gave me a case of blue shells.

 

[Zeyphersan]

They say "No" because reasons.

Too difficult? Then how do other studios manage it?

 

[Dryk]

The amount of hate the blue shell gets is excessive, but whatever, if this finally shuts people up, I'm all for it.

It's designed so it doesn't give the person who uses it an advantage because you get it when you're near last place. It exists solely to troll whoever's winning and as far as I'm concerned that's not a good design choice.

They say "No" because reasons.

Listening to Nintendo developers talk about how challenging things that other people nailed down over a decade ago (like item toggles) never fails to amuse and sadden me.

 

[timetokill]

I just want a "classic items" mode or something. Or just a toggle switch for each item like in smash bros. Turn off Blue Shell alone and that's 95% better already.

 

[Jerkapotamus]

Blue shell only races will be the best.

 

[EloquentM]

Can you change the terrible rubber banding A.I?

If you play well enough you never have to experience rubber banding because AI will be too far away to catch up. Stop sucking cyber.

 

[Frodo]

Blue shell only races will be the best.

My body is ready! Haters gonna hate!

Seriously though, about time! Much welcomed feature that should have been default since long ago!

 

[flc]

I for one am glad that they've added the ability for people to remove items like blue shells, because the one sure way to convince someone of how necessary something is, is to take it away from them.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Can you change the terrible rubber banding A.I?

Get good

 

[Freezie KO]

Mario Kart DS was actually one of the games in Evo 2006.

Oh wow. Learn something new every day.

 

[ninjarr]

It looks a lot like they're trying to solve the problem of WHY people hate these items in addition to this added customization. Getting hit, spinning out, falling off edges -- recovery looks insanely fast across the board.