- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
Nintendo 2ds are $99 this week at best buy and target
u have until the 17th
u have until the 17th
Nintendo Thread: Nintendo Direct Mini 03/26/2020
- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
geez talk about the 90% off video game bin
seems like the only good selection is the batman lego
yeah but the main point is u get a 3ds XL for the low retail is $199
- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
Embargo on MARIO KART 8 is lifted
Reviews are pouring in
Will try to post one when I get to a computer
Reviews are pouring in
Will try to post one when I get to a computer
- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
MARIO KART 8 REVIEW
THE KING OF KART
→ MAY 15, 2014 Mario Kart 8 is a beautiful, fun kart racer that introduces sound new ideas to Nintendo’s 22-year old franchise. While it doesn't reach Double Dash-levels of risk and experimentation, Mario Kart 8 builds on the series' most essential aspects better than any of its predecessors. Twisting U-turns, a blistering sense of speed, skillful track designs, robust tournament and online features, and gorgeous graphics fall into lockstep all at once. The end result shouldn't come as a surprise: Mario Kart 8 is the king of the mascot kart circuit, and it gave me hours of enjoyment.
Right from the starting line, Nintendo’s emphasis on re-tuning Mario Kart 8 in a meaningful way is apparent, and everything moves at a faster pace. Characters and vehicle customization parts unlock quickly, Lakitu helps you recover faster, and new items like the Piranha Plant and Boomerang Flower make for useful additions without throwing off Mario Kart’s delicate balance. And finally, Blue Shell-haters rejoice: the new Super Horn stops the much-maligned comeback mechanic dead in its tracks, allowing skill to prevail more often than ever before.
The single best improvement in Mario Kart 8 are the subtle, yet ultimately satisfying antigravity transformations. They set up visually impressive moments while introducing a unique new mechanic to the
Mario Kart 8. Bumping nearby racers while in anti-grav can give your opponent a speed boost though, so you have to consider the best potential angle to slam into them so that you’re the only one who benefits. Nailing a perfect bump after a tricky S-curve delivered a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. It’s surprising to see such a potentially chaotic idea turned into a nuanced mechanic.
Mario Kart 8’s creative track designs carefully factor antigravity in without overusing it. Some tracks, like Wario Stadium, use it to great effect, but retro tracks like Donut Plains 3 rely on good old-fashioned kart racing skills. The careful layout of boost pads and item boxes provide plenty of opportunities to make comebacks without it feeling cheap or unearned. The deceptively simple shortcuts often felt risky, making me weigh my options mid-race depending on how I was doing rather than blindly jumping into the alternate routes ahead.
The roster tops off at 30 characters, and offers a wide selection of mascots to choose from, including the amazing Koopa kids. However, the overload of babies in this installment floods the roster with smaller racers that feel too similar to their big brother (or sister) counterparts. Overall, the list is great but more obscure characters like Dry Bones or Nabbit would’ve been welcome additions.
Mario Kart 8 offers a bunch of options to play. Single and two-player split-screen races unfolded at a stunning 60 frames-per-second without a hiccup. Three and four-player local competitive races halved the framerate to 30 fps, but it’s an acceptable loss when the racing looks and plays this well. Mario Kart 8's graphics are some of the best I've seen in a game made by Nintendo. Each racer, kart combination, and track showcased expert art direction right down to the tiny treads on the tires.
Online mode supports up to 12-players, and Nintendo gets a lot of mileage out of Mario Kart 8’s basic online features. It’s easy to join races, setup tournaments, and even upload highlight videos to YouTube, but once again, Nintendo’s den mother attitude rears its head: Chat is restricted to lobbies with friends only. There’s no option to invite friends into a game, and Mario Kart 8 also doesn't provide message notifications. This is seriously disappointing because you have to use outside means to coordinate friends-only races. These omissions often make Mario Kart 8 feel like a fancy import Ferrari with an old ham radio built into the dashboard.
There’s a few other small disappointments in Mario Kart 8 as well. The GamePad always mirrors what’s on the television instead of splitting players into two separately rendered screens. Battle Mode probably suffers the most egregiously of all though. The arenas from previous versions are out, and the newly modified racetracks Nintendo replaced them with don’t feel differentiated enough from the standard tracks. It basically just adds three balloons to standard races. Ultimately, these changes have made what used to be a fun distraction into something completely forgettable.
For a racing game about constantly plowing forward to the finish line, I was surprised by how well Mario Kart 8 also nails the tiniest details. Mario Kart TV’s simple editing suite let me tweak highlight reels, and re-watch my most memorable performances. As I watched clips in slow motion, I was amazed by how much texture detail I had missed while I was tearing up the track.
THE VERDICT
Mario Kart 8 is the best kart racing game Nintendo has made in a long time. It strikes a careful balance between refining old ideas while introducing fresh new ones. Admittedly, its gorgeous graphics and jazzy orchestrated soundtrack bolster its presentation, but you’re getting a lot more than just looks with this one – although I spent an awful lot of time gawking at the details in slow-motion, the fast and furious pace of racing with friends both locally and online is what really kept me coming back.
Mario Kart 8 on Wii U
9.0
AMAZING
Mario Kart 8 is a fun kart racer that uses gravity-defying tracks and better item balance to build a better game. RT
+Great graphics and sound
+Creative race tracks
+Fun use of antigravity
+Better item balance
– Missing online features
THE KING OF KART
→ MAY 15, 2014 Mario Kart 8 is a beautiful, fun kart racer that introduces sound new ideas to Nintendo’s 22-year old franchise. While it doesn't reach Double Dash-levels of risk and experimentation, Mario Kart 8 builds on the series' most essential aspects better than any of its predecessors. Twisting U-turns, a blistering sense of speed, skillful track designs, robust tournament and online features, and gorgeous graphics fall into lockstep all at once. The end result shouldn't come as a surprise: Mario Kart 8 is the king of the mascot kart circuit, and it gave me hours of enjoyment.
Right from the starting line, Nintendo’s emphasis on re-tuning Mario Kart 8 in a meaningful way is apparent, and everything moves at a faster pace. Characters and vehicle customization parts unlock quickly, Lakitu helps you recover faster, and new items like the Piranha Plant and Boomerang Flower make for useful additions without throwing off Mario Kart’s delicate balance. And finally, Blue Shell-haters rejoice: the new Super Horn stops the much-maligned comeback mechanic dead in its tracks, allowing skill to prevail more often than ever before.
The single best improvement in Mario Kart 8 are the subtle, yet ultimately satisfying antigravity transformations. They set up visually impressive moments while introducing a unique new mechanic to the
Mario Kart 8. Bumping nearby racers while in anti-grav can give your opponent a speed boost though, so you have to consider the best potential angle to slam into them so that you’re the only one who benefits. Nailing a perfect bump after a tricky S-curve delivered a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. It’s surprising to see such a potentially chaotic idea turned into a nuanced mechanic.
Mario Kart 8’s creative track designs carefully factor antigravity in without overusing it. Some tracks, like Wario Stadium, use it to great effect, but retro tracks like Donut Plains 3 rely on good old-fashioned kart racing skills. The careful layout of boost pads and item boxes provide plenty of opportunities to make comebacks without it feeling cheap or unearned. The deceptively simple shortcuts often felt risky, making me weigh my options mid-race depending on how I was doing rather than blindly jumping into the alternate routes ahead.
The roster tops off at 30 characters, and offers a wide selection of mascots to choose from, including the amazing Koopa kids. However, the overload of babies in this installment floods the roster with smaller racers that feel too similar to their big brother (or sister) counterparts. Overall, the list is great but more obscure characters like Dry Bones or Nabbit would’ve been welcome additions.
Mario Kart 8 offers a bunch of options to play. Single and two-player split-screen races unfolded at a stunning 60 frames-per-second without a hiccup. Three and four-player local competitive races halved the framerate to 30 fps, but it’s an acceptable loss when the racing looks and plays this well. Mario Kart 8's graphics are some of the best I've seen in a game made by Nintendo. Each racer, kart combination, and track showcased expert art direction right down to the tiny treads on the tires.
Online mode supports up to 12-players, and Nintendo gets a lot of mileage out of Mario Kart 8’s basic online features. It’s easy to join races, setup tournaments, and even upload highlight videos to YouTube, but once again, Nintendo’s den mother attitude rears its head: Chat is restricted to lobbies with friends only. There’s no option to invite friends into a game, and Mario Kart 8 also doesn't provide message notifications. This is seriously disappointing because you have to use outside means to coordinate friends-only races. These omissions often make Mario Kart 8 feel like a fancy import Ferrari with an old ham radio built into the dashboard.
There’s a few other small disappointments in Mario Kart 8 as well. The GamePad always mirrors what’s on the television instead of splitting players into two separately rendered screens. Battle Mode probably suffers the most egregiously of all though. The arenas from previous versions are out, and the newly modified racetracks Nintendo replaced them with don’t feel differentiated enough from the standard tracks. It basically just adds three balloons to standard races. Ultimately, these changes have made what used to be a fun distraction into something completely forgettable.
For a racing game about constantly plowing forward to the finish line, I was surprised by how well Mario Kart 8 also nails the tiniest details. Mario Kart TV’s simple editing suite let me tweak highlight reels, and re-watch my most memorable performances. As I watched clips in slow motion, I was amazed by how much texture detail I had missed while I was tearing up the track.
THE VERDICT
Mario Kart 8 is the best kart racing game Nintendo has made in a long time. It strikes a careful balance between refining old ideas while introducing fresh new ones. Admittedly, its gorgeous graphics and jazzy orchestrated soundtrack bolster its presentation, but you’re getting a lot more than just looks with this one – although I spent an awful lot of time gawking at the details in slow-motion, the fast and furious pace of racing with friends both locally and online is what really kept me coming back.
Mario Kart 8 on Wii U
9.0
AMAZING
Mario Kart 8 is a fun kart racer that uses gravity-defying tracks and better item balance to build a better game. RT
+Great graphics and sound
+Creative race tracks
+Fun use of antigravity
+Better item balance
– Missing online features
- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
Lapping the field.
by Tom Mc Shea on May 15, 2014
by Tom Mc Shea on May 15, 2014
What's your favorite Mario Kart item? It's a personality test that has revealed a person's inner thoughts ever since Super Mario Kart gave Koopa Troopa a license to drive. If, for instance, you're fond of the lightning bolt, my handy reference sheet says that you have "schadenfreude" tattooed on your lower back. Or maybe across your knuckles. Either way, you're a connoisseur of chaos. For anyone who adores banana peels, I know that you're a guarded individual, more concerned with protecting your backside than rocking the boat. Shocked at my uncanny insight? My love is poured upon the infinite mushroom. I would much rather take a shortcut than fight for success the old-fashioned way.
I made such hypotheses naturally in recent Mario Kart games. Items were so important, and so ubiquitous, that it was hard to think of anything but the red turtle shells streaming toward you. What else can you do after being struck for the umpteenth time other than contemplate your very existence? In Mario Kart 8, the circumstances that encouraged such philosophizing have changed. Success comes from your racing prowess now, so though you will still curse at the occasional usurper making your life hell on wheels, victory is in your hands. There are no excuses anymore; Mario Kart 8 focuses on its excellent racing, and the experience is stronger for it.
You feel the weight of your driver as you try to hang a tight left while centrifugal forces push you away. Slam into another racer, and you feel the impact; the heavier body cruises onward while the lighter competitor, battered and bruised, tries to regain his or her composure. Speed bursts are everywhere in Mario Kart 8. Turns beckon you to powerslide, ramps urge you to boost, and you're continually seeking new ways to keep your kart speeding along. Unlike in Mario Kart Wii, where you were compelled to drive up out-of-the-way ramps to get speed bursts, opportunities for a rush exist organically within the racing path. So you're continually gunning ahead, desperately motoring toward every ramp while exacting every drop of energy from turns to stave off the fierce competitors nipping at your tailpipe.
There are no excuses anymore; Mario Kart 8 focuses on its excellent racing, and the experience is stronger for it.
All of your hard work is rewarded in Mario Kart 8. Once you leave your competitors in the dust, you can stay in first place. It's a strange feeling driving all alone, without anyone else nearby. In most other Mario Kart games, staying in front of the pack would have been impossible. The computer was never far behind, often passing you even when you were performing flawlessly. Or else you would be pelted by so many items that you wouldn't even know in which direction you were supposed to travel. That constant fight was maddening for me, so I welcome the loneliness of Mario Kart 8. If I stay in top form, I don't have to worry that four blue shells are going to end my fun in a hurry, or that Donkey Kong is going to breeze past me even though he should have been half a lap behind. My skill is all that matters. And I was more than happy to stay in first while everyone else battled for second place.
Hope that ink doesn't stink.
That's not to say that items aren't a part of the action. There are still blue shells--although they appeared so seldom that they rarely affected my positioning--and there were times when I was hit by three items in rapid succession and invented a curse that would have brought tears to my mother's eyes. But those are the exceptions rather than the rule. Items are just a complement to your racing now. Use a piranha plant to clear out hazards in your path, or fling a boomerang to bring your competitor to a stop. It's all in good fun. If you're a skilled-enough driver, being slammed by a shell is no more than a slight speed bump. So think up some horrific obscenity for when your shining moment is ripped away from you at the last second, and don't forget it; it may be a while before you can use it.
I was more than happy to stay in first while everyone else battled for second place.
Racing skill determines who wins and who loses. That's true if you're competing with a group of friends (local splitscreen supports up to four players, and you can play against 11 people in the game's smooth online races) or striving for gold medals against the computer (50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and Mirror Mode are all here). And by having the importance of weapons significantly reduced, it's now much harder to make up ground once you're stuck in the middle of the pack. There's no instant-win item to come in and save you, so you have to climb back slowly and surely by maximizing your speed and finding the best racing lines while hoping those in the lead make a mistake. Defense has become more important than in previous games. With the introduction of the super horn, you can repel any item flung at you, and simply keeping a shell or banana trailing behind your kart blocks almost any attack mounted against you. Even the star has been toned down. It still grants you invulnerability, but you're no longer infused with super speedy gasoline, which lessens the impact it has. It's fascinating just how different Mario Kart 8 is from, say, its Wii counterpart. It's so much less chaotic and so much more focused that their similarities are largely cosmetic.
Little known fact: Ludwig is named after the lead singer of U2.
It's easy to rave about Mario Kart 8 because its core racing is so well executed. But there are a few head-scratching features that stand out like thumbs on a goomba. Why, for instance, isn't there a clock in Grand Prix? I love knowing exactly how much I won (or lost) by, so I cannot understand what is gained by stripping that away. Also, you earn parts to modify your vehicles by collecting coins, though all that tinkering just distracts from the action. Just give me a smart balance of weight, acceleration, and handling, and cut out the unnecessary collectibles. Then there's the default option after a race. For some reason, your cursor starts on View Highlight Reel instead of Next Race, which is just silly. Oh, how many times I mistakenly viewed highlight because I was anxious to race again. Trust me, this will annoy you, too. Plus, the character roster is quite lame. Yeah, there are 30 drivers, but two of them are palette swaps, five are babies, and seven are koopa kids. That's a boring selection.
One last complaint before I move on: Battle mode was intense in Super Mario Kart, was ridiculous in Mario Kart 64, and has slowly lost relevance ever since those high-water marks. Instead of reinventing Battle mode for the better in Mario Kart 8, Nintendo has reduced it to a lifeless husk of what it once was. There are no arenas built specifically for battling. Rather, you choose one of eight tracks and drive around aimlessly looking for people (either friends, the computer, or a mix) to toss shells at. That is the exact opposite of fun, no matter how many people you're playing against or how you've tweaked the item assortment. Because the tracks were designed for racing, there's no choke points to force people to fight, so you spend more time searching than attacking. Nintendo needed to go back to the drawing board for Battle mode and this tweak only made things worse.
Losing drivers get skinned, their pelts used as hang gliders for the victor.
Even though Mario Kart 8 does have a few problems, they're small enough that they don't detract much from the racing excellence. The greatest achievement of Mario Kart 8 is that it's as warm and welcoming as we expect, but doesn't cater to those who demand a helping hand. Instead, it strikes a balance, offering accessibility while demanding skill. It's easy enough for anyone to take a spin around Moo Moo Meadows, but the most determined drivers should come out on top. And, as someone who was annoyed by previous attempts to even the playing field, I really appreciate this change.
There's also a great assortment of tracks to hone your abilities on. The 16 new ones are as preposterous and demanding as you would expect, with a race down the snowy Mount Wario being the highlight, and the 16 retro tracks have been smartly remade to fit within this world. The gophers from Donut Planes 3 (originally in Super Mario Kart) create dirt tunnels that you can boost off, and there's an underwater portion when a bridge fails to reach the other shore. Certain courses let you race along the wall, giving you a new perspective on the beautiful worlds. Such a shift doesn't change the feel of racing, but it does add another layer of strategy. Should you ride on the wall in Toad's Turnpike? Or take the shorter route on the ground? And if you're particularly happy with your run, you can cut up a highlight reel of your efforts and upload it for everyone to see.
Nintendo has done an admirable job of keeping Mario Kart relevant. How many franchises can you think of that have remained in top form for more than two decades? Not too many. I do admit that my first impression of Mario Kart 8 was pretty close to a yawn. Mario Kart is one of my favorite franchises, but it's hard to get excited for the same old thing. But the more I played, the more I appreciated the many small changes, and grew to love my time in the Mushroom Kingdom. And now that yawn has changed to a shout of joy. It's more Mario Kart! I'm happy Nintendo still understands what makes this series so darn fun.
Mario Kart 8 / Wii U
THE GOOD
Karts feel satisfying beneath your fingers
Courses provide plenty of opportunities for smart speed bursts
Wide assortment of interesting tracks
Emphasis on driving rather than fighting rewards skill
Challenging without feeling cheap
Karts feel satisfying beneath your fingers
Courses provide plenty of opportunities for smart speed bursts
Wide assortment of interesting tracks
Emphasis on driving rather than fighting rewards skill
Challenging without feeling cheap
THE BAD
Battle mode is downright boring
Weak selection of characters
8
GREAT
Battle mode is downright boring
Weak selection of characters
8
GREAT
- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
→ MAY 15, 2014 Mario Kart 8 is a beautiful, fun kart racer that introduces sound new ideas to Nintendo’s 22-year old franchise. While it doesn't reach Double Dash-levels of risk and experimentation, Mario Kart 8 builds on the series' most essential aspects better than any of its predecessors. Twisting U-turns, a blistering sense of speed, skillful track designs, robust tournament and online features, and gorgeous graphics fall into lockstep all at once. The end result shouldn't come as a surprise: Mario Kart 8 is the king of the mascot kart circuit, and it gave me hours of enjoyment.
Right from the starting line, Nintendo’s emphasis on re-tuning Mario Kart 8 in a meaningful way is apparent, and everything moves at a faster pace. Characters and vehicle customization parts unlock quickly, Lakitu helps you recover faster, and new items like the Piranha Plant and Boomerang Flower make for useful additions without throwing off Mario Kart’s delicate balance. And finally, Blue Shell-haters rejoice: the new Super Horn stops the much-maligned comeback mechanic dead in its tracks, allowing skill to prevail more often than ever before.
The single best improvement in Mario Kart 8 are the subtle, yet ultimately satisfying antigravity transformations. They set up visually impressive moments while introducing a unique new mechanic to the
Mario Kart 8. Bumping nearby racers while in anti-grav can give your opponent a speed boost though, so you have to consider the best potential angle to slam into them so that you’re the only one who benefits. Nailing a perfect bump after a tricky S-curve delivered a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. It’s surprising to see such a potentially chaotic idea turned into a nuanced mechanic.
Mario Kart 8’s creative track designs carefully factor antigravity in without overusing it. Some tracks, like Wario Stadium, use it to great effect, but retro tracks like Donut Plains 3 rely on good old-fashioned kart racing skills. The careful layout of boost pads and item boxes provide plenty of opportunities to make comebacks without it feeling cheap or unearned. The deceptively simple shortcuts often felt risky, making me weigh my options mid-race depending on how I was doing rather than blindly jumping into the alternate routes ahead.
The roster tops off at 30 characters, and offers a wide selection of mascots to choose from, including the amazing Koopa kids. However, the overload of babies in this installment floods the roster with smaller racers that feel too similar to their big brother (or sister) counterparts. Overall, the list is great but more obscure characters like Dry Bones or Nabbit would’ve been welcome additions.
Mario Kart 8 offers a bunch of options to play. Single and two-player split-screen races unfolded at a stunning 60 frames-per-second without a hiccup. Three and four-player local competitive races halved the framerate to 30 fps, but it’s an acceptable loss when the racing looks and plays this well. Mario Kart 8's graphics are some of the best I've seen in a game made by Nintendo. Each racer, kart combination, and track showcased expert art direction right down to the tiny treads on the tires.
Online mode supports up to 12-players, and Nintendo gets a lot of mileage out of Mario Kart 8’s basic online features. It’s easy to join races, setup tournaments, and even upload highlight videos to YouTube, but once again, Nintendo’s den mother attitude rears its head: Chat is restricted to lobbies with friends only. There’s no option to invite friends into a game, and Mario Kart 8 also doesn't provide message notifications. This is seriously disappointing because you have to use outside means to coordinate friends-only races. These omissions often make Mario Kart 8 feel like a fancy import Ferrari with an old ham radio built into the dashboard.
There’s a few other small disappointments in Mario Kart 8 as well. The GamePad always mirrors what’s on the television instead of splitting players into two separately rendered screens. Battle Mode probably suffers the most egregiously of all though. The arenas from previous versions are out, and the newly modified racetracks Nintendo replaced them with don’t feel differentiated enough from the standard tracks. It basically just adds three balloons to standard races. Ultimately, these changes have made what used to be a fun distraction into something completely forgettable.
For a racing game about constantly plowing forward to the finish line, I was surprised by how well Mario Kart 8 also nails the tiniest details. Mario Kart TV’s simple editing suite let me tweak highlight reels, and re-watch my most memorable performances. As I watched clips in slow motion, I was amazed by how much texture detail I had missed while I was tearing up the track.
THE VERDICT
Mario Kart 8 is the best kart racing game Nintendo has made in a long time. It strikes a careful balance between refining old ideas while introducing fresh new ones. Admittedly, its gorgeous graphics and jazzy orchestrated soundtrack bolster its presentation, but you’re getting a lot more than just looks with this one – although I spent an awful lot of time gawking at the details in slow-motion, the fast and furious pace of racing with friends both locally and online is what really kept me coming back.
Mario Kart 8 on Wii U
9.0
AMAZING
Mario Kart 8 is a fun kart racer that uses gravity-defying tracks and better item balance to build a better game. RT
+Great graphics and sound
+Creative race tracks
+Fun use of antigravity
+Better item balance
– Missing online features
Right from the starting line, Nintendo’s emphasis on re-tuning Mario Kart 8 in a meaningful way is apparent, and everything moves at a faster pace. Characters and vehicle customization parts unlock quickly, Lakitu helps you recover faster, and new items like the Piranha Plant and Boomerang Flower make for useful additions without throwing off Mario Kart’s delicate balance. And finally, Blue Shell-haters rejoice: the new Super Horn stops the much-maligned comeback mechanic dead in its tracks, allowing skill to prevail more often than ever before.
The single best improvement in Mario Kart 8 are the subtle, yet ultimately satisfying antigravity transformations. They set up visually impressive moments while introducing a unique new mechanic to the
Mario Kart 8. Bumping nearby racers while in anti-grav can give your opponent a speed boost though, so you have to consider the best potential angle to slam into them so that you’re the only one who benefits. Nailing a perfect bump after a tricky S-curve delivered a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. It’s surprising to see such a potentially chaotic idea turned into a nuanced mechanic.
Mario Kart 8’s creative track designs carefully factor antigravity in without overusing it. Some tracks, like Wario Stadium, use it to great effect, but retro tracks like Donut Plains 3 rely on good old-fashioned kart racing skills. The careful layout of boost pads and item boxes provide plenty of opportunities to make comebacks without it feeling cheap or unearned. The deceptively simple shortcuts often felt risky, making me weigh my options mid-race depending on how I was doing rather than blindly jumping into the alternate routes ahead.
The roster tops off at 30 characters, and offers a wide selection of mascots to choose from, including the amazing Koopa kids. However, the overload of babies in this installment floods the roster with smaller racers that feel too similar to their big brother (or sister) counterparts. Overall, the list is great but more obscure characters like Dry Bones or Nabbit would’ve been welcome additions.
Mario Kart 8 offers a bunch of options to play. Single and two-player split-screen races unfolded at a stunning 60 frames-per-second without a hiccup. Three and four-player local competitive races halved the framerate to 30 fps, but it’s an acceptable loss when the racing looks and plays this well. Mario Kart 8's graphics are some of the best I've seen in a game made by Nintendo. Each racer, kart combination, and track showcased expert art direction right down to the tiny treads on the tires.
Online mode supports up to 12-players, and Nintendo gets a lot of mileage out of Mario Kart 8’s basic online features. It’s easy to join races, setup tournaments, and even upload highlight videos to YouTube, but once again, Nintendo’s den mother attitude rears its head: Chat is restricted to lobbies with friends only. There’s no option to invite friends into a game, and Mario Kart 8 also doesn't provide message notifications. This is seriously disappointing because you have to use outside means to coordinate friends-only races. These omissions often make Mario Kart 8 feel like a fancy import Ferrari with an old ham radio built into the dashboard.
There’s a few other small disappointments in Mario Kart 8 as well. The GamePad always mirrors what’s on the television instead of splitting players into two separately rendered screens. Battle Mode probably suffers the most egregiously of all though. The arenas from previous versions are out, and the newly modified racetracks Nintendo replaced them with don’t feel differentiated enough from the standard tracks. It basically just adds three balloons to standard races. Ultimately, these changes have made what used to be a fun distraction into something completely forgettable.
For a racing game about constantly plowing forward to the finish line, I was surprised by how well Mario Kart 8 also nails the tiniest details. Mario Kart TV’s simple editing suite let me tweak highlight reels, and re-watch my most memorable performances. As I watched clips in slow motion, I was amazed by how much texture detail I had missed while I was tearing up the track.
THE VERDICT
Mario Kart 8 is the best kart racing game Nintendo has made in a long time. It strikes a careful balance between refining old ideas while introducing fresh new ones. Admittedly, its gorgeous graphics and jazzy orchestrated soundtrack bolster its presentation, but you’re getting a lot more than just looks with this one – although I spent an awful lot of time gawking at the details in slow-motion, the fast and furious pace of racing with friends both locally and online is what really kept me coming back.
Mario Kart 8 on Wii U
9.0
AMAZING
Mario Kart 8 is a fun kart racer that uses gravity-defying tracks and better item balance to build a better game. RT
+Great graphics and sound
+Creative race tracks
+Fun use of antigravity
+Better item balance
– Missing online features
Last edited:
- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
POSSIBLE NEW ZELDA IMAGE
some say fake
idk what to think
some say fake
idk what to think
- Jul 20, 2012
- 2,482
- 598
I'm soooo close to taking the plunge and getting a Wii U. I hope a grand 3D Mario gets unveiled at E3; I literally buy one that second.
- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
they JUST released a GREAT 3d mario game like 6 months ago its too soon for another mario game to be revealed
u should play it its really dope
Ricky D
formerly centex hogg
- Mar 3, 2013
- 19,449
- 14,219
He probably meant something along the lines of SM64, Sunshine and Galaxy 1 and 2. I know that's the Mario game I'm looking for
- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
idk i thought 3d world was like those except with 4 playersHe probably meant something along the lines of SM64, Sunshine and Galaxy 1 and 2. I know that's the Mario game I'm looking for
but i wouldnt mind another mario 64
but now i NEED 4 player gameplay
cant go back to it being ONLY single player
- Jul 20, 2012
- 2,482
- 598
That game looks amazing and is on my radar but what I meant was a game with bigger scope, akin to 64, Sunshine and Galaxy.
I'm a hardcore Nintendo fan and will only buy the Nintendo developed games and there's only 3at the moment : Pikmin 3, Super Mario 3D World and Mario Kart. I just need a few more games before I pull the trigger.
- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
yeah true
Ricky D
formerly centex hogg
- Mar 3, 2013
- 19,449
- 14,219
I'm the opposite. I prefer the single player experience. I tried playing 3D world with my son and wife and I get pissed because they just want to beat the level, I want all them stars dammit
What I really want is a new Super Mario RPG for the Wii U with Nobuo Uematsu as composer
- Dec 5, 2006
- 816
- 218
- May 23, 2005
- 63,609
- 50,740
bruuuuh i know the feelingI'm the opposite. I prefer the single player experience. I tried playing 3D world with my son and wife and I get pissed because they just want to beat the level, I want all them stars dammit
What I really want is a new Super Mario RPG for the Wii U with Nobuo Uematsu as composer
i made my son start another file
he beat the main game in like 2 days now he going back to get all the stars he missed
im only on world 4 but have all the stars
i play maybe an hour or 2 every couple days
u do that extra lives trick in world 1-2?????
- May 23, 2005
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yeah unreal engine i believe
- Dec 5, 2006
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Ya so sic
- May 23, 2005
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TEST DRIVE MARIO KART THIS WEEKEND ONLY AT GAMESTOP
check link for locations that will have it in ur area
http://www.gamestop.com/gs/landing/events/Mario_Kart_8_TestDrive/
check link for locations that will have it in ur area
http://www.gamestop.com/gs/landing/events/Mario_Kart_8_TestDrive/
- Mar 12, 2005
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offwhitewhite
There are a lot more exclusive games outside of Pikmin 3, Super Mario 3D World, and Mario Kart 8 that should appeal to you. All are out now or will be out this year.
Wonderful 101
Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze
Smash Bros
Rayman Legends
NintendoLand
Bayonetta 2
Windwaker HD
Not to mention the indie games and Virtual Console joints that allow for off screen play.
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- Mar 12, 2005
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While pretty, I hope Zelda never tries to go for this ultra realistic aesthetic. I like the more stylized art style Nintendo goes with, it's timeless. It also allows for more freedom for the developers to create a more cohesive world to get lost in.
- Jul 20, 2012
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Agreed, that looked extremely generic to me.
antidope
Supporter
- Jan 2, 2012
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I NEED the Zelda to look that way.
I see what you guys are saying, but thats how I felt about Wind Waker and the cartoony cell shading look they went with when I first saw trailer stuff. Then it ended up being great. Nintendo can and would make it work, nothing would change about how great the enviroment would feel.
Still holding out hope for this
I see what you guys are saying, but thats how I felt about Wind Waker and the cartoony cell shading look they went with when I first saw trailer stuff. Then it ended up being great. Nintendo can and would make it work, nothing would change about how great the enviroment would feel.
Still holding out hope for this
- Jul 20, 2012
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I'm not sure what you're saying. This is completely different than the other video. This actually has art direction and style that's based on Nintendo's art.
- Mar 12, 2005
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Look how dated Zelda looks in the Spaceworld 2000 Demo
Compared to this... Still looks good today
Keep in mind this game came out 12 years ago.
Compared to this... Still looks good today
Keep in mind this game came out 12 years ago.
