Mario Kart 8 (Wii-U)

[Lady Soniko]

Doesn't matter if things are a series staple or not, because Nintendo don't care about it any more, they've thrown Multiplayer battle out of the window, that was a series staple so I'm honestly not surprised about the fake item blocks.

 

After cooling off about the hacked up battle mode, I'm still extremely hyped to be playing this, Single Player races look incredible, the only down side being MK8 Rainbow Road, but like MK said, if I play through it in order, Rainbow Road 64 will be the magnum opus of the game, and I'm completely fine with my favourite track in the series being the finale of possibly the best looking Mario Kart experience, multiplayer aside.

[Candescence]

You know what would be kinda interesting for an original track idea?

 

One big straight road. No turns, no loops, just one long road.

 

Yes, I'm serious. Have it take place on a highway out in the countryside, and have the main obstacles be random crap littered all over the place. It would be something of an interesting change of pace, I think.

[Chaos Warp]

 

You know what would be kinda interesting for an original track idea?

 

One big straight road. No turns, no loops, just one long road.

 

Yes, I'm serious. Have it take place on a highway out in the countryside, and have the main obstacles be random crap littered all over the place. It would be something of an interesting change of pace, I think.

 

 

Make the highway wide enough so that you can drift around the random crap to get boosts and I would be open to it. 

[jords]

Honestly, That would be boring. If anything, just remake another type a baby park. Small,simple and chaotic.

Well I can't say it'll be boring, but the idea of it would be kinda lazy compared to the other crazy tracks they had.

 

I wish N64 rainbow road wasn't one loop, just have 2 laps and thats it. 

[Willsy]

Why not have a track where you're just gliding from a plane at a really high altitude? That would be absolutely crazy, maybe with a few areas where you can (optionally) land on the way down. Now I really want this to happen.

[DarkRula]

In other words a longer version of what Maka Wuhu did.

Um... no.

That section was just impossible, and not just for the fact that there is a massive no entry [unlandable?] section as you start the jump. If they made it so Lakitu could rescue you and still have the glider active, then it would work. Even if there were platforms to land on, Lakitu would take you to the previous one you passed. And even with MK8's quicker respawn, it still wouldn't happen. The idea of respawning with glider active would make that level workable, but then you'd have the fact that you essentially respawn from a standstill. In other words, auto-down gradient so you pick up speed.

 

If, however, you make it like the original DS version of Mario and Sonic's Dream Long Jump - then it would be fun.

[Willsy]

It's kind of difficult to explain....the sky would be the actual track, and it would kind of look as though you're diving at 135 degree angle, though really it's just normal gliding mechanics. While gliding down, there are little floating pieces of road that you can land on, and then take off again. The finish would be a large floating checkered hoop that would be impossible to miss.

By the way, any word on how the gliders handle in this?

[Doctor MK]

By the way, any word on how the gliders handle in this?

 

Exactly the same as they did in Mario Kart 7.

 

Personally I'm not really one for non-gimmicky stages, because racing in just a straight line would be... well, it's not very Mario Kart, is it? Unless there was loads of obstacles in the way to swerve around and avoid, it would basically boil down to a straight speed challenge which is more akin to a more realistic racer than the wackiness we come to expect from Mario and chums. As already stated, tracks like the Wuhu Island ones that were just one long stretch of pretty much nothingness were rather forgettable and I'd never go back to them through personal choice.

 

The reason Baby Park worked so well though is because it was small, it was confined, and with items bouncing everywhere across both sides of the track it somehow managed to transform one of the most boring looking courses into one of the most memorable and chaotic. 

[Candescence]

Exactly the same as they did in Mario Kart 7.

 

Personally I'm not really one for non-gimmicky stages, because racing in just a straight line would be... well, it's not very Mario Kart, is it? Unless there was loads of obstacles in the way to swerve around and avoid, it would basically boil down to a straight speed challenge which is more akin to a more realistic racer than the wackiness we come to expect from Mario and chums. As already stated, tracks like the Wuhu Island ones that were just one long stretch of pretty much nothingness were rather forgettable and I'd never go back to them through personal choice.

 

Someone missed the part where I mentioned the track being littered with a ton of random crap for the racers to avoid

[azoo]

Battle Mode doesn't look so hot. At least I never played it though, so I won't be directly affected.

[Doctor MK]

Someone missed the part where I mentioned the track being littered with a ton of random crap for the racers to avoid

 

I didn't necessarily mean your suggestion, just non-gimmicky tracks in general. The most memorable Mario Kart stages are the ones with the craziest designs or with the potential to cause the most havoc on, so a barebones layout has to have something extra to compensate for it.

 

On the one hand you have the fantastic Baby Park, which had a painfully simple design but the genius notion that items would ricochet off the walls and affect players on both sides of the track, and then on the other hand you have the dull Wuhu Island stages that were pretty much just long empty roads around a generic location that had...  what, a few jumps, at best?

 

Any track design has the potential to work if done right, but obviously with a more simplistic layout that doesn't naturally lend itself as much to craziness, it's a bit more difficult to pull off.

[jords]

It would be nice to have like smaller race tracks that focus on some type of gimmick or feature in the game.

You can probably see it as a mini stage, A track that focuses only flying, underwater, a highway filled with speed boosters, driving up cliff in anti gravity to reach the top, anything they can come up with.

 

This is never going to happen, but its something they can do with the features they have in this game.

Imagine a track were your on two conveyor belts and one of them is in reverse and the other is going forward. To make it harder, the conveyor belts would change up switching, which would force players to move to the next side, it's been done before in some parts of a race track like Toad's factory, but imagine if it was like that the whole race!?

 

I was kinda hoping they had some type of new mode, Not counting MKTV. Something like a survivor mode? Last person to cross the lap is eliminated and keep going and going until you are the last one. How cool would that be for Mario kart? I love those type of races. They even had it at Sonic and Sega all-stars racing, but they did it differently, it was time based and each time the reaches zero, the last place racer is gone.

 

Edit: Shit, forget about doing 12 laps, a timer would be better, Forgot how long that'll be, 12 laps? No, it would be worse if your knocked out first. 

[Dantemustdie00]

Sweet, Track menu icons

 

The First time in Mario Kart for me that I actually like ALL the stages, theirs not a single one I despise unlike past games.

[Arcade Racer CC14]

Ha! Yoshi Valley being a wild Yoshi sanctuary is pretty cute.

[Mr Useful]

Sweet, Track menu icons

-snip-

 

The First time in Mario Kart for me that I actually like ALL the stages, theirs not a single one I despise unlike past games.

I think that the stages are good too, especially with how gorgeous the classic tracks are. The only disappointing thing for me is the lack of a Waluigi or  new DK stage. Those stages were usually my favorite.

[Lady Soniko]

Just noticed, they've took a huge chunk of Retro tracks from N64, there's literally a course in every Retro cup, that's kinda awesome.

[jords]

Oh wow, I did not realized that we got many N64 tracks! Usually it'll be the last two mario kart games that gets 4 retro tracks.

[LimeTH]

No Luigi themed track? Wow, the Year of Luigi truly IS over.

[StaticMania]

Well its also usually atleast One game that has 4 tracks...

 

So I guess its N64 this time. DS and 3DS both have 3, Wii and GCN have 2, and GBA has 1 because its just that.

[Mr Useful]

No Luigi themed track? Wow, the Year of Luigi truly IS over.

This game broke a number of "traditions" that previous games usually had so it isn't much of a suprise, but then again, nearly every game had a Luigi stage. I think the only one that didn't was Super Mario Kart on SNES. Strange, isn't it?

[jords]

Well its also usually atleast One game that has 4 tracks...

 

So I guess its N64 this time. DS and 3DS both have 3, Wii and GCN have 2, and GBA has 1 because its just that.

 

Nah its at least the last two games that gets four tracks.

 

DS - GCN4, GBA4, N64 4, SNES 4

Wii - DS 4, GCN 4, GBA 2, N64 4, SNES 2

3DS - Wii 4, DS 4, GCN 2, GBA 1, N64 3, SNES 2

Wii U - 3DS 3, Wii 2, DS 3, GCN 2, GBA 1, N64 4, SNES 1

 

Wow, Not even realizing that N64 has the most returning tracks! What kind of fuckery!?!? lol I could of sworn we got 4 3DS tracks. It's a good thing they choose the best N64 tracks. This is the perfect game to bring in the N64 graphics in HD. Boy they done it good.

 

 

Unfortunately, Wii doesn't get 4 tracks, only 2! And none of them are Toads factory! (But I'm still excited about Moo moo meadows and grumble volcano.)

 

I guess they didn't want it to be half of 3ds and wii courses.

 

Wii U and DS ticko tock clock comparison.

 

http://youtu.be/QaHfulKddhg

 

Wow, i forgot the track was suppose to look like the stage in Super Mario 64, clock tower level. Didn't even recognize it in this MK8. That's a good thing though. I also forgot how empty the place was in MK DS. 

 

Sherbet land GCN Direct feed.

 

http://youtu.be/B2Q5LoL6yec

 

My god this track looks so damn good. I'm guessing the second icy part you would want to avoid falling in the water, it's probably a slower path down there.

 

Everytime they use the super horn, it's like I can feel it. Especially when my volume is up.

[StaticMania]

There are also more games to choose tracks from...so they're going to have to limit the retro tracks from each game as they go on. Maybe they just wanted more from 64...there's only one more track to choose from that game. 

[Doctor MK]

Mario Kart 8 website and/or app for smart devices is on the way

 

At a press conference following today's financial year report, Satoru Iwata reportedly stated that a web-based service is on the way that will allow users to track data such as rankings in Mario Kart 8. It's unclear, until full translations or Satoru Iwata's financial briefing is published by Nintendo, whether this will be a dedicated app for iOS and Android or, like the Miiverse equivalent, a browser-based service that will work on multiple devices.

[Dejimon11]

Gamexplains setting up an online match

[Doctor MK]

History of Mario Kart video from Nintendo:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr_iC_DeNGs