Gaming There Will Be Blue Shells: Mario Kart (8 Deluxe)

They are also coming out with a Mario Kart version for the 3DS. Should definitely be interesting.

Here's the article below:

Mario Kart 3DS preview.

 

I just posted in the Nintendo thread that the collector's edition is coming to the US, but you can only pre-order / buy it from the Nintendo World Store in NYC. WTH?

 

Thankfully I have friends in NYC. They are going there tomorrow to pre-order it for me. [crosses fingers it's still available]

 

My friends missed out on the pre-order event. It sold out in 3 days according to Twitter. Nintendo World Store claims that they will have some available for walk-ins at the launch event in NYC on the 29th of May. I will post my friends' success (or lack there of) sometime later. In the meantime, I will be buying the regular copy from Gamestop I guess.

Speaking of Gamestop, on May 17-18 select stores will have the game for "test drive" purposes. I will call my local store to confirm before going.

 

My GameStop (Bloomsburg) is running a bracketed Mario Kart 8 tournament this Saturday starting at Noon. $25 GC to winner. Call to your local GameStop to sign up.

 

Sorry, buddy.

I called today and spoke to the district manager at my local GameStop. She said Nintendo hasn't released any details on what they are sending to the store. I'm GUESSING it's going to be the same demo that went around the country last year during E3 that was exclusive to BestBuy. It would make sense as the demo is three stages with 2 laps each and each head-to-head match would take 8 minutes (based on YouTube videos at BestBuy and at E3 via IGN).

 

We had a dozen people show up at my local GameStop for the tournament. It was single elimination to start where four people raced at once and the top 2 went on and the bottom two were eliminated. Unfortunately I was in the bottom two.

I usually play with Yoshi and someone else already picked him so that stunk. I ended up using DK. (The demo had all 30 players, so that was cool.)

There were 8 stages available in the demo version and each one was only 2 laps (like the demo from E3 last year). I needed that third lap to make my comeback after falling off the course! I was pretty much doomed.

I remember getting the piranha plant and the horn during my race. The plant was cool, but I wasn't sure if I needed to hit B to chomp or if it chomped on its own. The horn didn't help me when I was in 5th place. Also, if you get the banana or green shell and you hold it on the back of your cart for safe keeping and you come upon an item box, you do NOT get a new item. You have to release your "protection" to get something new.

The coin is back as an item. Whoopie-do!

After the tournament was finished (only took an hour) I got to try the new players like the koopalings and some of the other stages. The game is beautiful and a lot of fun. There was no doubt that I was buying it, but this definitely cemented it.

There was a level where you get shot into the sky into an anti-gravity area. You end up racing through a giant gray cloud, where there are lightning strikes coming from above and hitting the course in what appeared to be the same spots where the speed boost areas were, disabling them temporary. The anti-gravity elements really make things interesting and mix up the action a bit.

Drafting still exists to give you that much needed boost if you're stuck behind your opponent. Also, I shot a red shell as someone was gliding and it hit them down where Lakitu had to come pick them up, so that was pretty cool. I'm really psyched now.

 

Mario Kart 8 to be honest looks too much like Mario Kart 7 (which I owned and played). I think Mario Kart Wii (6) had a better character roster than the upcoming Mario Kart 8. I wish Dry Bones and Shy Guy had been included in the roster.

 

While I do agree that (6) had a great roster, it didn't really matter to me, because I just used my Mii. The real reason I enjoyed (6) over 7 is because I like and prefer playing my Mario Kart on a television screen, so I welcome 8 with open arms.

 

I think maybe Nintendo Executives should consider taking Mario Kart further in the future. It is great that we have hang gliders and underwater submarine transformations of the kart. However, there has to be something more that can be to innovate the franchise. I love the Mario Kart games, but lately the sequels have felt redundant with just expansion pack worthy upgrades. Mario Kart: Double Dash was a major risk Nintendo took, but it changed up how you played the game enough to make it more interesting. I am not advocating a radical change, but something that would make you buy Wii U would be nice.

 

That is quite a compelling idea The2ndQuest. To have the track even just change between other tracks periodically would throw as racers off and level the playing field. You should consider pitching the idea to Nintendo.

 

Here is a nice article about the History of Mario Kart:

http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/28/the-complete-history-of-mario-kart/

 

I forgot about this thread and was going to post this over in the Wii U thread.

Looks like Mario Kart 8 will support DLC and sponsorships.