A Mario Kart game for the Wii? It's only been a few years since Mario Kart DS came out, how could they possibly make this one-wait a minute, are they driving ***BIKES?!*** And performing tricks in the air? Count me in!
As for items this time around, there's the Mega Mushroom and POW Block. Now you can crush your opponents flat and spin them out of control at the same time! Catharsis Factor at its finest.
The game lets you customize your own kart in advance before the races - big tires a la Monster Trucks, gliders and other karts' parts are yours to command.
There's a Donkey Kong Country Returns-based track with Tikis, and even a DS-favorite Airship Fortress is back as a retro track!!
Waluigi Pinball is back, and it seems the original Blue Shell from Mario Kart 64 (as opposed to the much-hated flying version) is as well! And Lakitu is playable for the first time in a Mario spinoff game.
Metal Mario is in! The Fire Flower is in! The Super Leaf is in! And regarding the Blue Shell one, we now have proof!◊ Excellent!
And we finally get a retro Rainbow Road track here! Prepare yourselves for the return of the SNES's Rainbow Road!!
And last but not least, there's the most notable kart among the unlockable retro kart bodies, the Pipe Frame, marking the return of the classic kart that hasn't been seen since Mario Kart Super Circuit back in 2001. Hell. Yeah.
Come on, why must everyone insist on playing Maka Wuhu? That shortcut glitch is seriously getting anoyi — WHAT NINTENDO?! DID YOU JUST SAY YOU'RE GOING TO PATCH OUT THE GLITCH?!?! YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
Mario Kart 8 was confirmed. Oh great. It hasn't been that long since the last one, and they are already making a new one... Wait, are those cars hovering ? AND DRIVING ON WALLS AND UPSIDE DOWN?
After Waluigi's absence in Mario Kart 7, his fans greatly lamented his disappearence. Some even refused to buy the game because of it. Then, Mario Kart 8's trailer comes in, and guess who appears, just as mean as ever...◊
One of the most common grievances when racing was getting knocked off the course and waiting several seconds for Lakitu to put you back on the track, almost ensuring you'll be in last place. Now, if you fall off the track, Lakitu will immediately save you and put you back on the course in just a second. You also don't lose your item anymore.
Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road is a Retro Course. Let me repeat that. Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road is a Retro Course.
Much like the Super Mario Galaxygames and Super Mario 3D World, some of the music will be created with live instruments, making this the first Mario Kart game to do so. This includes some of the retro courses.
The fact that they're remaking all of the retro stages from the ground up is a breath of fresh air compared to the last three games' "just port the original version and maybe upgrade/downgrade the graphics" philosophy. A good example would be Moo Moo Meadows.
The new Super Horn item can cancel out Spiny Shells! THE NEW SUPER HORN ITEM CAN CANCEL OUT SPINY SHELLS!
What's that? Yoshi's Valley is a Retro Course in Mario Kart 8? Oh no, here comes the nightmare-guess what? THE COURSE CAN DETERMINE PLACEMENT NOW.
The good, old fashioned Pipe Frame returns once again. But this time, it sports a design closer to Super Mario Kart!
The awesome Slick Tires return from 7. Not only do they sport a sleeker design, there's also a purple alternative in the form of the Cyber Slick tires!
Came as a big surprise with the announcement of the feature that you can upload Mario Kart TV recordings to YouTube.
Alongside the Mercedes-Benz DLC, there will be features like the "Next Race" button will be placed above the "Watch Highlight Reel" button, online win-loss records, a total number of coins counter, saving kart customizations, editing other player's highlights, improved online stability, and a map display will appear on the TV as well!
The game has DLC packs in November 2014 and April 2015, each of which has 3 characters, 8 courses (some new, some retro), and 4 vehicles. These DLC packs include characters and tracks based on other Nintendo games. That's right- at long last, the Nintendoverse has invaded Mario Kart!
And there's a Zelda-inspired vehicle for Link, too! Enter the Master Cycle!◊ And to add to the awesomeness, in the German version it's even called TheEponator!
Some of the new courses include Wario's Mine, F-Zero, Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing courses, and an Excitebike course.
Hey look, Yoshi Circuit returns as a track!
That Excitebike course doesn't look very interesting, it doesn't even feature anti-gravity... What? The ramp and speed boost placements change every time you load the course? Intriguing...
In the U.S., each pack is priced at $7.99, or bundled together for $11.99. That's 12 dollars all together to add an additional 16 tracks, half the track count of the original release. Compared to other content expansion packs for other games, it's an incredible value, as people were expecting to pay more for just new tracks.
It's a crying shame that both of the DLC packs are such a long way from being released. Why would they let us preorder them so far in advance? Wait, we get to use all of the Yoshi and Shy Guy colors as soon as we pay for both of them? Sold.
Alongside the second DLC pack comes a new update. 200cc baby! Oh, and it's been moved up to April 23rd!
Mega Man, Sonic, and Pac-Man have racing suits in the second round of amiibo support. Mega Man's suit in particular got much rejoicing, as it shows Nintendo still cares about him.
Among the tracks included in the second DLC pack 2 are... Baby Park?! and Big Blue?!
Finally, Nintendo brings back more Super Circuit tracks: Ribbon Road and Cheese Land!
One of the new vehicles is a white race car called the P-Wing.
Fans of the F-Zero games got a big kick when the announcer from X was heard at the final section of Big Blue. "YEAH, THE FINAL LAP!".
An Updated Re-release known as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been announced for the Nintendo Switch. Alright, what's it got besides all the DLC? WHOA, they fixed the Battle Mode so that it's more like how it used to be? SNES Battle Course 1 and GCN Luigi’s Mansion return as Battle Courses? The Cape Feather and Boo are back as items?! King Boo, Bowser Jr. and Dry Bones are playable characters?! How do you top all that? By throwing in THE INKLINGS ANDURCHIN UNDERPASS, THAT'S HOW! That said, Gold Mario being the only unlockable character wasn't as well-received.
In addition to that, the double item boxes from Double Dash have made a return!
Hope you weren't waiting for the next installment, because Nintendo still isn't done with Mario Kart 8. Throughout 2022 and 2023, they will release 48 new tracks, many of which are remastered from other games in the series (including Mario Kart Tour).
For Wave 4, not only are we getting a brand new track based on Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, but Birdo is back as a playable character!
Even better, there will be more playable characters in upcoming waves. Mario Kart 8's skimpy character selection is actually getting an overhaul at last.
Funky Kong's back, as is Diddy Kong. Needless to say, many fans of the Kongs who were disappointed in their absence from the game for so long were very happy to see them return.
While the widely divisive Koopalings and Babies are part of the base roster, Pink Gold Peach, a character who is universally hated, was initially replaced with Peachette, a character who gained a lot of publicity after her reveal and is also an actual canonically-established character in contrast to Pink Gold Peach. Pink Gold Peach would eventually appear in the Holiday Tour, but even then her presence doesn't distract from the hype surrounding Peachette.
Diddy Kong, after having been absent from the series since Wii, finally makes his playable return after 11 years. His mere seconds of screentime in the reveal trailer made his fans really happy.
After years of waiting for Pauline to be made playable, with her only playable appearance prior being a DLC character for Mario Tennis Aces, she's finally playable in one of the staple spin-offs of the series and also part of the main game to boot!
For the Halloween Tour, the game finally added the oddly-omitted Luigi and Waluigi to the permanent Gacha, as well as Baby Luigi and King Boo. It also added in two new Spotlight Character Alts, one of them being Rosalina in a witch costume. The other? King Boo in his beloved Luigi's Mansion design!
With most of the tracks being from Mario Kart 7, many hoped that version’s Rainbow Road, widely considered to be one of the best tracks in the entire series, would eventually be included. And come the Holiday Tour, it finally was. Not only that, but it’s back in its full three-section glory, as opposed to all the other tracks which were shortened to two laps.
The Holiday Tour didn't just gave us Pauline in her glamorous costume and Yoshi as a reindeer as the spotlights, but also brought back Birdo!
After being scrapped from Wii, Hammer Bro finally makes his debut in the series. Even his boomerang, fire and ice cousins joins the fun.
After being denied in Mario Kart 64 (back when the game was called Super Mario Kart R) and Mario Kart 8, Kamek finally gets his kart driver's license, debuting in his self-named Kamek Tour!
Miis make their grand return for the Mii Tour! Alongside a wave of Mii racing suits from Mario Kart 8, and each suit have their own special items. Also in the Mii Tour introduces fan-favorite Mushroom Gorge.
After 19 years, Petey Piranha is FINALLY back in the race!!
You can even drive UNDERWATER?! Nintendo, you have outdone yourself again!
