Mario Kart 8 (Wii-U)

[JezMM]

Yeah I do agree.  Honestly Wario Summit could easily be reworked so at the finish line you just go through a big teleporter wall and it transfers you to the top.  If it let you set lap numbers per track, like the item switch menu in Smash, that'd be good too.

[Jolt_TH]

I think Wii had one, don't know about 7 though

[JezMM]

7 didn't even have a custom race option which was ridiculous and is still ridiculous that they didn't patch one in.

[Willsy]

So, I've been playing for a few hours now, and I have to say that I absolutely love it. It's a very solid kart racer with lovely visuals and 60fps, with some great bells and whistles to go along with it. My only real complaint would be the bizarre item balancing. Other than that, everything's awesome.

Mario Kart TV is a great feature, I'm planning on showing some friends some of my highlight reels.

[SuperLink]

Some tracks are too short yeah. And is there really no option to change laps? That sucks because I love Rainbow Road 64 and it NEEDS to be longer :'V I'd love to make it at least 2 laps sigh.

[Cola]

God damn, I'm really enjoying this game.

 

I kinda wish there was more stuff to do, though. The tracks are awesome, but I want more. I think I'd also enjoy more robust editing options in Mario Kart TV. The highlight reels feature is cool, but take it a step further. Allow people to upload replays of their races - full replays. Give them more editing tools: slowmotion, different camera angles, rewinding, etc. Keep what we have now, too - as a sort of Quick Edit mode.

 

A Smash-esque item selection for multiplayer VS Races would also be very welcome. Also, the ability to choose one or two races on single player VS Race, to emulate the Single Race option. Sure, you could go one race and then quit, but it'd still be nice.

 

 

4 more DLC cups would also be nice.

[Jolt_TH]

Am I the only one who wants "rainbow cups" and they can make a Grand Prix with just Rainbow Roads

[JezMM]

Am I the only one who wants "rainbow cups" and they can make a Grand Prix with just Rainbow Roads

 

Nope, a friend of mine was talking about how they wanted this too lol.  Personally I like my aesthetic variety though.

[Jolt_TH]

Oh me too, I'm just very partial to rainbow road, I love the crazy twisty ones most. Really I just want RRDS and RRWii remade

Well that and the original Wario Stadium, the DS one isn't as crazy!

[SilentDoom]

You know, after playing it a load in Time Trials I actually really really like the new Rainbow Road and would actually rank it as one of my favourite tracks.  Despite not quite offering the spectacle of the N64 Rainbow Road, it's a lot more challenging and engaging.  Not to say the N64 Rainbow Road is bad, of course, and I love the fact that both tracks are almost entirely anti-gravity as it creates a very different dynamic in how you race on them.  New Rainbow Road in particular, you have to take into account the fact that the path is pretty narrow, so aggressive play acts as a double edged sword.  Whilst you could end up moving a lot faster, you could easily risk falling off the edge fishing for those anti-grav boosts. 

[SuperLink]

You know, after playing it a load in Time Trials I actually really really like the new Rainbow Road and would actually rank it as one of my favourite tracks.  Despite not quite offering the spectacle of the N64 Rainbow Road, it's a lot more challenging and engaging.  Not to say the N64 Rainbow Road is bad, of course, and I love the fact that both tracks are almost entirely anti-gravity as it creates a very different dynamic in how you race on them.  New Rainbow Road in particular, you have to take into account the fact that the path is pretty narrow, so aggressive play acts as a double edged sword.  Whilst you could end up moving a lot faster, you could easily risk falling off the edge fishing for those anti-grav boosts. 

Same completely, I actually love the new Rainbow Road as a track on its own merits, I think just "as a rainbow road" I was expecting something more extraordinary and special.

 

As a track, it's easily one of the most fun tracks in the game

[jords]

So anyone have favorite track that you really seem to good on?

Well, I'm pretty beast at most tracks, but the ones I seem to mess up on are Bones dry dunes, Rainbow Road and Wario stadium.

[SuperLink]

So anyone have favorite track that you really seem to good on?

New Rainbow Road actually and Mario Kart Stadium, Thwomp Ruins, Toad Harbour, Electrodrome. Those are the new ones I'm really good at, but I also really like Cloudtop Cruise and Bowser's Castle and hope to get better at those soon too.

[-Robin-]

I'm finding myself going to Piranha Plant Slide and Music Park a lot and doing fairly well on them. Which is ironic, since I never played MK7.

[StaticMania]

I wonder about that, when I first saw it I thought "holy shit a staff ghost making a ridiculous jump like that?" and when I made the jump myself it felt like a glitch. I almost couldn't believe this was something the developers "intended" to implement, it does actually feel like a reference to the infamous Rainbow Road jump because I can't think of many other instances in the series where jumping from one part of the track to another is an acceptable shortcut

You can't do that in any other Mario Kart besides 64, from Double Dash they made it so that the moment you fell off of the track you'd be out of bounds no matter what.

 

You can apparently do it in Yoshi's valley too, but its even harder shortcut to make. Technically in DS Rainbow Road...but its only because the automated loop forces you into the air if you go directly towards the wall. Its not short cut though.

[jords]

Plant slide and music park we're my favs in 7 and they are one of my favs in this game of the retro tracks. I Also really like tick tock clock grumble volcano, dry dry desert....fuck I love them all.

I need to approve bones dry dunes, Wario stadium and rainbow road.

Rainbow seems to be slippery. I fall off at least once and usually that one kills my first place.

Bones dry dunes sand is super slippery, I go off course for days

The details and the music makes me like every course, they really done great. This is the first Mario kart were o like all tracks. Rai bow road was disappointing bit I'll live its alright though.

[Mystwalker]

My favourites are the new Rainbow Road, Thwomp Ruins, Dolphin Shoals (even though it's a bad track for non-Grip combos), GCN Sherbet Land and Cloudtop Cruise. Electrodrome, Mt. Wario and Rainbow Road 64 are close runner ups. Most tracks are fairly enjoyable actually except for N64 Toad's Turnpike: somehow it feels a lot more boring to play on than the original, dunno why.

[8ther]

What is the best kart combination for Bowser?

[JezMM]

My fave tracks (and totally coincidentally the ones I'm usually good at) would be Mario Kart Stadium, Toad Harbour, Sunshine Airport and Mount Wario.

 

 

The only new one I really really don't care for would be Sweet Sweet Canyon and Bone-Dry Ruins which I'm just no good at for some reason.  I think Bone-Dry is the hardest track in the game for me, I'm yet to do a clean lap with no mistakes of it on any session.

[SchemingMinor]

I have been playing this game like crazy, and equally the MKTV. Slow-mo, backwards, god, those glorious shots and details makes a person like me sing.

 

I crave DLC for this more so than EA craves money. More vehicles, more tracks, actual battle arenas, characters and new stuff up the wazoo.

 

I would kill for them to bring the Wario Bike back.

[azoo]

Azoo's verdict after the past two days:

 

This game is effing amazing.

 

+ the visuals are i n c r e d i b l e

+ the framerate is super smooth as butter and I love it

+ gameplay feels so right like seriously it's awesome, antigrav is flippin' sweet btw

+ music is amazing, thank God Nintendo's doing the big band sound for Mario again (keep doing that Ninty)

+ the course choices for the retro tracks are SO GOOD like seriously YES

+ the tracks originally made for this game are nothing short of jaw-dropping and creative

+ online gameplay is top quality

+ MKTV is more fun than I thought it could've been

 

? difficulty curve is pretty high (specifically in 150cc) so your mileage may vary 

 

- the character roster is really lacking (but that's seriously okay)

- the item balance is really off-kilter and can make a fun time somewhat frustrating

- Battle Mode is underwhelming (not bad, just underwhelming. I never played it much anyways)

 

I haven't properly played too many Mario Kart games in my time, but I've played Mario Kart 64 the most, as well as dabbled into Double Dash and DS a little bit. And, man, I love 64. I've played that game for ages and adore every aspect of it. Mario Kart 8 is a bit more focused on powerup usage and the like than being a mostly-racing experience like 64, but 8 delivers the first game that I think reaches that amount of quality and love put into it since. Besides it's really minor downsides, Mario Kart 8 is incredible. If there wasn't a definite reason to get a Wii U for before, this (combined with the option for a free game) is your reason now.

 

I give it

8 Shigeru Miyamotos / 5 Iwatas

 

(and to the SSMB people I did horrible at racing against, your days in the limelight will be over SOON HUWHUWEHUAHUHWUA)

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Honestly, I think the Battle mode mechanics are great, they just really need arenas to truly shine

[Toby]

I'm really glad online races add to the overall coin total in your game!

[Conando]

Speaking of Music Park, I find myself kind of disappointed in that. They didn't really change it at all. Piranha Plant Slide got a total rehaul of the underwater area at least.

[jords]

Good thing music park was good on its own.