Mario Kart 8 - Review thread

I think Nintendo Kart could work if they stuck to characters that fit the more cartoony vibe. Samus and Link just wouldn't work driving go-karts. Sorry, they wouldn't.

I could see it working if they kept it to more cartoony fanchises like Kirby, Donkey Kong and Pokemon.

My imaginary Nintendo Kart lineup, pulled directly from my ass: Kirby, King Dedede, Meta Knight, Donkey Kong, Diddy, Dixie, Cranky, Pikachu, Squirtle, Charmander, Bulbasaur (you wouldn't be able to include the other two starters without him), Captain Olimar (and maybe Alph, Brittany and Charlie), Wonder Red and Blue alongside Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Bowser, Toad and Wario.

You could use other franchises as inspiration for track designs. So a Rainbow Road style anti-grav track going around Sky Town, for instance, or a headspinning track that goes up the side of Xenoblade's Mechonis. It would keep the other franchises involved in the game, without having the ridiculous sight of certain characters stuck behind a go-kart wheel.

My two cent anyway. Back to the universal praise!
 
okay this game sounds great.

but what is with the lack of battle mode arenas?
They chose to focus more on the core aspects of racing. If they were strapped for time, then they made the right choice. This game is sounding like it has great tracks, improved driving mechanics, and better balancing overall.
 
The way I'd want Nintendo Kart personally is to just have DLC tracks based on other Nintendo franchises in MK8. Kind of like how the Sonic Lost World DLC is bsed on Nintendo properties.
 
This myth seems to be spreading like wildfire and seems to come from the thread of angry people in the "voice chat is friends only" thread.

If you head into a regular worldwide lobby, with random strangers, friends will see you in their list of games they can join. They can just hit A and be in that same lobby. Racing with friends, with random strangers filling the rest of the spots.

You can race with friends, and set up lobbies, but you can't invite them to your lobby. What that means is they have to stumble into your lobby by themselves, and you'll need to message your friend in some other way probably for them to realize you have a lobby waiting.

The tournaments seem like the best way to get people playing reliably if you have a decent group of friends, since you can set them to start at certain times on certain days. Agree a time with friends in advance and you'll know where to go. The lack of invites is a pain, but I feel like Mario Kart shouldn't take the blame for that as much as the Wii U OS as a whole.

A bit late on the reply but thanks for clearing this up. The IGN review just threw me off. I thought there had to be more to the story than that. Glad to hear it's not that big of an ordeal after all!
 
Still working my way through this thread so apologies if these have been answered before.

1. On Mario Kart Wii, when playing spitscreen online with a friend, they couldn't login with their own account or earn points towards their own VR. They were just a "clone" of the first player and couldn't even use a unique name or own Mii character. Is this still the case?

2. My wife and I love MK series. I'm excited that 2 player GP mode is back and we can both unlock stuff when we play together. If we are playing solo sometimes, is there any point in playing under different NNIDs? Or will it just slow down the unlocking of stuff in "my" game save? I guess time trials ghosts would be the only thing that makes it worth playing the game under our own NNIDs.

3. Are there multiple save file slots under the one NNID profile so my wife and I can each have our own single player game save and progress? Especially if there's little reason for her to sign in to play single player under her own NNID on the same console? Relates back to last question.
 
Welp, pre ordered, if only because for $60 I'm getting this and WWHD.

Now to decide whether I play as DK (my main man) or Rosalina (the up and comer)
 
I want Nintendo Kart just so I can get some Zelda themed courses. I want to race through Hyrule Field and race through dungeons. I like Mario Kart because the racing is fun, but I couldn't really care less about Mario. I think I would enjoy a Nintendo Kart significantly more, simply because it has stages and characters that I would care about.

I think Nintendo Kart could work if they stuck to characters that fit the more cartoony vibe. Samus and Link just wouldn't work driving go-karts. Sorry, they wouldn't.

...Wind Waker Link isn't cartoony? There's a Zelda game where trains play a pretty big part, if they could get a Link to look the part as a conductor, I don't think a kart would be too far fetched.

That being said,they could always drop "Kart" from the name and make it "Nintendo Racing". Make it play and feel like a kart racer, the karts just don't necessarily have to be the only form of transportation. We're already headed down this road anyway with planes and motorcycles. Link could ride Epona, a Loftwing, etc

It's not like they need to go this far:

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I think "Nintendo Kart" would be a bad move. It works so well for Smash Bros. because Smash Bros. is all about the characters.

If Smash Bros. is a celebration of the characters of Nintendo, then Nintendo Racing could be a celebration of the levels and worlds of Nintendo.
 
The Kong has awakened.

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Chris Hoffman ‏@ChrisTheHoff 17s
Why does Nintendo keep letting gorillas drive? Such the road hazard. pic.twitter.com/tUwCz8csW0

BTW, when is the OT for Mario Kart 8 coming out?
 

High praise...

Regardless of the Wii U's troubles Nintendo remains one of (if not the) greatest developers on the planet in terms of making games that are a pure joy to play, and Mario Kart 8 is one of its finest. The question with Mario Kart 8 was never really "is this going to be good", because with Nintendo that much can be taken for granted. The question is whether it's the best yet. And, among one hell of a field, it takes first place.
 
If Smash Bros. is a celebration of the characters of Nintendo, then Nintendo Racing could be a celebration of the levels and worlds of Nintendo.

I really don't think there's much to be gained by naming a few levels after Zelda or Kirby or whomever. Even if they add in a few motifs and imagery, it's not much different than taking a large mountain downhill race and just slapping Wario's emblem all over it. The series already pays little to no attention to any of Mario's lore or world, I don't think that'd change if other series got added into the mix.

You could've made some changes like Moo Moo Meadows to Lon Lon Ranch or Neo Bowser City to Crateria if you really wanted but at the end of the day it's just a grassy farm or future city.
 
Reviews on the Run - video review

Two reviewers, one 9/10 and a 9.5/10.

Great scores though one of the reviewers seems to think that this is first online Mario Kart despite there now being just as many online as offline.
 
I really don't think there's much to be gained by naming a few levels after Zelda or Kirby or whomever. Even if they add in a few motifs and imagery, it's not much different than taking a large mountain downhill race and just slapping Wario's emblem all over it. The series already pays little to no attention to any of Mario's lore or world, I don't think that'd change if other series got added into the mix.

You could've made some changes like Moo Moo Meadows to Lon Lon Ranch or Neo Bowser City to Crateria if you really wanted but at the end of the day it's just a grassy farm or future city.

I don't know man, I think the same can be said about Smash Bros. There's plenty of characters who could just be summarized as "person with sword" or "person with gun" (especially the more obscure stuff, like Fire Emblem characters). Since the series doesn't pay much attention to whatever lore Mario has, I see no harm in broadening it and bringing in other series' stuff.

They did the same with Mario Party recently and replaced the series with Wii U Party (as far as I'm aware anyway).
 
I don't know man, I think the same can be said about Smash Bros. There's plenty of characters who could just be summarized as "person with sword" or "person with gun" (especially the more obscure stuff, like Fire Emblem characters). Since the series doesn't pay much attention to whatever lore Mario has, I see no harm in broadening it and bringing in other series' stuff.

They did the same with Mario Party recently and replaced the series with Wii U Party (as far as I'm aware anyway).

Smash Bros. makes a point of including a lot more of the series lore and references than Mario Kart currently does, though. Mario's stages in Smash Bros. often feature enemies from the games or the iconic question mark blocks (which function like they do in the platformers), Zelda has a few stages with elements and locations taken directly from their respective games, etc. Everything comes from some corner of Nintendo's stable. It's a lot different from Mario Kart where they just flat-out make up elements and locations, and then slap a characters name onto it. Smash Bros. adheres to Nintendo tradition, Mario Kart's detached enough from everything that they get to make up whatever they want.

Mario Party isn't replaced by Wii Party either. The two series are developed by the same teams, they just alternate. A Mario Party was released last year, even.
 
The Nintendo Kart idea strikes me as something that, if Nintendo were to do, would have people wondering why it took so long, and Nintendo would never look back. I'd love a Hyrule field track, for example. The possibilities go on and on.
 
These reviews have elevated my excitement even higher. Resulted in me having a dream that I was at the store picking up my copy... I then woke up to realise that it's still over 13 days away v_v. Why are dreams so cruel?
 
Curious about question 1 as well.

Still working my way through this thread so apologies if these have been answered before.

1. On Mario Kart Wii, when playing spitscreen online with a friend, they couldn't login with their own account or earn points towards their own VR. They were just a "clone" of the first player and couldn't even use a unique name or own Mii character. Is this still the case?

2. My wife and I love MK series. I'm excited that 2 player GP mode is back and we can both unlock stuff when we play together. If we are playing solo sometimes, is there any point in playing under different NNIDs? Or will it just slow down the unlocking of stuff in "my" game save? I guess time trials ghosts would be the only thing that makes it worth playing the game under our own NNIDs.

3. Are there multiple save file slots under the one NNID profile so my wife and I can each have our own single player game save and progress? Especially if there's little reason for her to sign in to play single player under her own NNID on the same console? Relates back to last question.
 
I'm not sure why anyone has the urge to see Link or Samus driving a vehicle. Keep the Nintendo ensemble to Smash Bros. I think someone mentioned a Nintendo RPG. That idea combined with NFC would be amazing. I'm thinking a beefed up, improved Subspace Emissary.
 
I think they've always had their priorities straight in that regard.

Look at F-Zero X.

They chose a simple looking game in favor of a blistering framerate.
And then we got F-Zero GX which both looked good and was incredibly smooth.

Framerate is always more important but I don't think many people would say no to both.
 
I'm not sure why anyone has the urge to see Link or Samus driving a vehicle. Keep the Nintendo ensemble to Smash Bros. I think someone mentioned a Nintendo RPG. That idea combined with NFC would be amazing. I'm thinking a beefed up, improved Subspace Emissary.
True why would we want better characters than baby Mario, baby luigi, baby daisy, baby peach, and toadette? Including remixed songs from the Metroid series, Zelda, etc would be too drastic a change.
 
I'm not sure why anyone has the urge to see Link or Samus driving a vehicle. Keep the Nintendo ensemble to Smash Bros. I think someone mentioned a Nintendo RPG. That idea combined with NFC would be amazing. I'm thinking a beefed up, improved Subspace Emissary.

For me its more that I would like to race in Ganondorfs Castle or Lanayru Mining Facility.

Also this.

True why would we want better characters than baby Mario, baby luigi, baby daisy, baby peach, and toadette? Including remixed songs from the Metroid series, Zelda, etc would be too drastic a change.
 
I'm not sure why anyone has the urge to see Link or Samus driving a vehicle. Keep the Nintendo ensemble to Smash Bros. I think someone mentioned a Nintendo RPG. That idea combined with NFC would be amazing. I'm thinking a beefed up, improved Subspace Emissary.

Only if I can play as Baby Samus.
 
I feel like a Nintendo Kart would be great, but I feel like there are so many wonderful Nintendo characters and things they still haven't explored. And I worry that making a Kart game about all Nintendo franchises would prevent them from doing that.

For instance, I'd really like to see Paper Mario areas and locations.
 
I'm not sure why anyone has the urge to see Link or Samus driving a vehicle.

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True why would we want better characters than baby Mario, baby luigi, baby daisy, baby peach, and toadette? Including remixed songs from the Metroid series, Zelda, etc would be too drastic a change.

Exactly how I feel. Look at Peach. Not only do we have normal Peach, but we also have Baby Peach AND Pink Gold Peach. When we have 3 different iterations of essentially the same character, it seems like they're really grasping for straws. I'd prefer 1 peach, and replace the other 2 characters with 2 completely different ones.

I don't see how anyone could consider turning Mario Kart into Nintendo Racing and opening up the roster for more variety in characters and levels could be considered a bad thing. The core game play would be there, we would just have more variety.
 
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Exactly how I feel. Look at Peach. Not only do we have normal Peach, but we also have Baby Peach AND Pink Gold Peach. When we have 3 different iterations of essentially the same character, it seems like they're really grasping for straws. I'd prefer 1 peach, and replace the other 2 characters with 2 completely different ones.

I don't see how anyone could consider turning Mario Kart into Nintendo Racing and opening up the roster for more variety in characters and levels could be considered a bad thing. The core game play would be there, we would just have more variety.
We also have 5 versions of Mario.

Mario
His green palette swap Luigi
Wario
Baby Mario
Metal Mario
 
Exactly how I feel. Look at Peach. Not only do we have normal Peach, but we also have Baby Peach AND Pink Gold Peach. When we have 3 different iterations of essentially the same character, it seems like they're really grasping for straws. I'd prefer 1 peach, and replace the other 2 characters with 2 completely different ones.

I don't see how anyone could consider turning Mario Kart into Nintendo Racing and opening up the roster for more variety in characters and levels could be considered a bad thing. The core game play would be there, we would just have more variety.

MK8's lack of character variety seems to be forced by a deadline while acclimating to and creating assets for HD development rather than choice. Even MK7 featured more varied and unique characters and that's a game we can tell was rushed. They might be grasping for straws with Pink Gold Peach, but it's an easy character to make when you can just copy Peach's model over add a shiny texture to it.

If they're making the games the same way, turning it into Nintendo Kart won't automatically turn the roster into 30 unique and distinctly varied characters - if anything it'd limit the roster further with a release date looming and their console floundering.
 
MK8's lack of character variety seems to be forced by a deadline while acclimating to and creating assets for HD development rather than choice. Even MK7 featured more varied and unique characters and that's a game we can tell was rushed. They might be grasping for straws with Pink Gold Peach, but it's an easy character to make when you can just copy Peach's model over add a shiny texture to it.

If they're making the games the same way, turning it into Nintendo Kart won't automatically turn the roster into 30 unique and distinctly varied characters - if anything it'd limit the roster further with a release date looming and their console floundering.

I never said Nintendo Racing had to be released this gen. We get 1 Mario Kart game every generation. Instead of Mario Kart 9 on the next console iteration (when they would be redoing everything from scratch again anyway), we would get Nintendo Racing. I would hope that by the next console iteration, the various Nintendo teams have gotten used to HD development and can start pushing stuff out a little quicker (or take their time and include more things).

I feel like we're kind of going in circles here (fitting for a thread about a racing game!). You don't see it working, I do. I don't really see what else there is to say.
 
MK8's lack of character variety seems to be forced by a deadline while acclimating to and creating assets for HD development rather than choice. Even MK7 featured more varied and unique characters and that's a game we can tell was rushed. They might be grasping for straws with Pink Gold Peach, but it's an easy character to make when you can just copy Peach's model over add a shiny texture to it.

If they're making the games the same way, turning it into Nintendo Kart won't automatically turn the roster into 30 unique and distinctly varied characters - if anything it'd limit the roster further with a release date looming and their console floundering.

This is what I see the reason as too. There are so, so many Mario characters that haven't been included in a Mario Kart game, or haven't returned for Mario Kart 8. Even more if you count Donkey Kong Country as part of the Mario franchise, or the M+L RPGs, or Paper Mario. Also, "Nintendo Kart" would leave very little space for exciting, unexpected characters once the obvious choices from every franchise is included.

Looking at the character roster and battle mode, it seems fairly obvious Nintendo wanted this out sooner rather than later, which is understandable looking at the Wii U's library, but a shame nonetheless. Hopefully DLC can expand the battle mode and roster to more exciting levels.
 
Nintendo Kart doesn't make much sense. Characters from different franchises make sense in a crossover fighting game like Smash because the characters can all have their own unique fighting styles. It doesn't work like that in a racing game. How would Samus drive a cart differently than Peach?
 
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