For the vast majority of Wii U owners, we suspect the 30th May release of Mario Kart 8 is a major event on their gaming calendars. It's a franchise that has consistently delivered success for Nintendo, with the most recent iterations uniting experienced gamers and enthusiastic newcomers in some chaotic racing.
Ahead of Mario Kart 8 will come Super NES original Super Mario Kart, confirmed for the Wii U Virtual Console on 27th March in Europe and 28th March in Australia; the download will also come with a discount deal on the eShop version of the new title; we're yet to see whether an equivalent deal and release of the 16-bit racer will come to North America.
In order to get gamers ready for the first dose of karting action this month, Nintendo UK has now released two new videos featuring both games. The first below shows Sami Cetin — a world record holder in Super Mario Kart — and his niece / world champion Leyla Hasso taking on the Wii U title. The second features Cetin giving some vital tips for budding record breakers on the Super NES original; what the videos certainly show is just how much the franchise has changed and evolved.
Check them out below and let us know what you think.
Comments 30
Awesome! May 30th can't come soon enough.
I really hope there is at least an option to just use the joystick to turn, from what I saw in the first video it looks to me that they were using the leaning of the controller. Other than that this is one of my most anticipated games of 2014.
@MuchoMochi I noticed that as well, it does look as if she's tilting the gamepad
Heyphypehyephype!!!!
Wow at his driving on the icy track with DK on the SNES version. Amaaaaaazing skills!
PS: can't wait for MK8 I hope for many many races and new bonuses .
Maybe they can even add some tracks later on with DLCs
How about a demo Nintendo pretty please
@MuchoMochi I remember watching an IGN video about this and the player switched from tilt to analog.
May 30th is too far away. I want an eShop demo
Watching the 2nd video really makes me want to have a serious attempt at time trialling.
I already have SMK on cart, and I'm getting the Limited Edition of MK8 so while VC deal is great it's pointless for me.
I see some people want a demo, has there ever been a MK demo? In the mean time I'm going into a coma until 30th May!
The worst thing about Mario Kart I find, is that the tracks get old faaairly quickly - I really hope, with their new venture into DLC, that they'll add more tracks later. That would have kept Mario Kart 7 fresh for me a lot longer
So.. this game is already finished with development in March.. Why the long delay of releasing??
Weird, how Nintendo UK goes the extra-mile with all these videos and promotions, and the Wii U just doesn't sell there. And NOA seems to do little and, well, sales aren't much better... but they could be with a more persistent effort at the level of the UK office.
But whatever, I'm no marketing guru. MK8 looks niiiiice.
@noctowl Thanks. That's good to hear
Gee, I really hope the graphics are good, they didn't say much about that
I can’t wait for Mario kart 8. Only been waiting since the day the tittle was announced last year. This will be my big game for summer.
anyone else not a lover of vertically split screens?
Hope gamepad vs TV is possible!
Oh pff, I don't need any tips! I'll rock everybody's socks solely with my own skill!
Looks great, can't wait. May have to call in sick that day.
I feel very strongly that this game holds the entirety of the Wii u's future in the palm of it's hand. It's equally capable of both sinking the wii u ship for good or powering It into relevance. Itll b just a couple months shy of the wii u's 2 year mark upon it's release, and Nintendo knows if Mario Kart doesn't sell this system, especially after both 2d and 3d mario didnt, nothing will.
I dont suspect theyll just announce wii u is dead, but i strongly believe they'll shift focus into the new system, likely a home console and handheld hybrid. Im not sure if things like X and ZeldaU will be shifted onto the new platform, but I suggeat itd be a twilight princess-esque acenario where it's available for both. People would be angry at Nintendo for giving up on what they spent hundreds of bucks for so theyd probably do it slickly like trying some "3rd pillar" mumbo jumbo.
People keep saying itd be very bad for ninty to give up and theyd lose consumer trust but this is a business and sometimes u just have to accept when a product isnt a hit n adjust. Especially intelligent people like the nintendo folk. They simply arent goijg to keep dumping money into what is becoming a bottomless pit of financial losses.
I dont like that this is how Nintendo came to their senses but the truth is that this is the best thing that could happen. Wii u success wouldve convinced nintendo its a good idea to keep wasting the final years of me miyamotos talent on casual. Wii fit ish type stuff. The wii u failure is going to cause the big n to go to shiggy and say "alright man. Apparently the casual stuff is old news. We need u to go back to the snes shiggy n just create a whole bunch of new stuff to lead us into the new gen.
Itll start by being releases on wii u and the new system until wii u is phased out. Trust me guys, its better this way. Do u want a fully focused nintendo pumping out gems or tue current "ok we think casual stuff sells now so lets spend the firat 3 years making people happy and pumping that out. Once it sells u can go make a metroid or something for those core guys". Im so happy that things are gonna go hack to the old Nintendo way. Im gery confident about this!
Thoughts?
Hi guys, just watched our interviews on there. As mentioned, the game was in early demo stages at this point, so there will probably be lots of surprises.
@ledreppe If you are keen on Time Trialing for Super Mario Kart SNES please let me know. Always solid on original consoles; we have a Time Trial World Rankings website plus Official World Championships held annually in France. So the original game is widely active
@SMEXIZELDAMAN in the first video they complimented the graphics several times, noting how crisp everything was.
I rather use the control stick to turn... I'm sure there's gonna be a option for that
@MuchoMochi Yeah, you can use the stick. There's a button on the gamepad to swap between motion and traditional.
@LetsGoRetro Your points are sound and valid mate. However,dumping 100's of pounds/dollars on a product which is then noted by its developers to not be supported anymore would be suicide for nintendo. They simply HAVE to support the wiiu for a further 2 years at least or they will lose trust. And trust,despite how you made it sound,is vital in business. Wiiu isnt selling BECAUSE of that lack of trust or faith from fans and critics alike.so if nintendo turned round and admitted failiure.more trust and faith and thus sales would be lost.
All ninty can do is ride the storm and come back fighting with a more aggressive price point,further reveals of new AND long unused franchises and much much better marketing
@LetsGoRetro I'm not sure if that's where Nintendo are heading at all, regardless of the wiiu's success or failure. Their most recent investor briefings suggested they plan on going down the 'gamification' route with their new Quality of Life platform. There was a pretty interesting article on Nintendo enthusiast about it a while back.
SNES Super Mario Kart will always be my favorite. I love the controls and physics and its straight-ahead, pure racing approach, which has never been recaptured since, IMO.
To this day, I still play the GBA version on the go! (...and by "on the go" I mean: on the loo.)
@marshi,
I don't think it'd be completely dumped, but more of a phase out period, likely releasing a "3rd pillar" type system and releasing a lot of things for both. I think just dumping it woukd he suicide, but I also think the same about dumping 3 more years of expensive, top quality titles into it. I feel there'd need to be another outlet for them that the consumer was excited about.
@luke88,
Admitedly, I didnt read up too much on that, but I know they emphasized it as a strong point for the future. That honestly kind of scares me. "Quality of Life" is a term used for often in the health field. Is this what it's referring to? More of a wii fit type road? If so, Nintendo as we've known them is in big trouble. Please inform me a little more, as "video games" and "quality of life" do not mesh in my head...
@LetsGoRetro I managed to find the original article I was telling you about. Don't get me wrong: I am not in the least bit excited for this QOL platform from an actual consumer standpoint but I am curious to see more and perhaps Nintendo will surprise us all and we'll love it. If it does well though and turns good profits it could help Nintendo continue to make great games.
http://nintendoenthusiast.com/article/qol-platform-nintendos-important-announcement-decades/
@Luke88,
I honestly don't know if I understand it more or less after that article. So they're gamifying everyday tasks. That not only sounds incredibly lame, it seems to suggest an even worse version of what wii did. .
@LetsGoRetro haha, yeah I know what you mean, it doesn't sound at all like my cup of tea either. The article is obviously pretty speculative though so I wouldn't draw any conclusions from it at this stage.
At the end of the day I want Nintendo to make big profits in order for them to stay in the game as they are, i.e making great software and great hardware for gamers. If they branch out into other areas I don't see a problem as long as it doesn't detract from the products they make that I am interested in.
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