Nintendo Direct: Special Mario Kart 8 Direct Shows New Features, Racers And Items

Cannot wait

Hell to the yeah!

...Sucky roster though.

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow cant wait

MY BODY WAS NOT READY FOR THIS!!!

Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach...? Ugh...

Woah, what? My body was not ready for this. I feel compromised.

Pretty cool, but I miss the multi-game directs. Hopefully we'll get one before E3, although it seems unlikely now.

Wait?!?

Get Mario Kart before August.......
Choose another Wii U game?
Wind Waker HD?
Custom rules?
Editing suite?
Cheep Cheep Beach
VS. MODE?!?!!!?!?!

This British one is making me cringe.

So now I have to figure out if I want free Pikman, Mario U, or Wind Waker.......hmmmmm

Was this direct aimed at 3-5 year olds?

Well here it is guys. North American Mario Kart 8 Wii U bundle confirmed!

Bad news peeps. Mario just died.

RIP Bob Hoskins

What so sudden?

Christ, never thought I'd need a Mario Kart OST before, but that was fantastic!

@Nintenjoe64 :S R.I.P

This looks like it was made by youtubers. Oh well, it was entertaining.

Came completely out of the........ wait for it Blue shell !!!!

OMG THAT WAS AWESOME!!!! I seriously can't wait for the game and the Wii U bundle is a must! Now its time for me to buy one I like the part where you can upload clips to Youtube, and the best part was that the promotion there offering @ Club Nintendo, buy Mario Kart 8 and get either 4 full free games!! Now thats a offer I hope people will now buy Wii U. My body ready!!!!!!!!!!

Sold because of the N64 love.

@kereke12 For UK, the choice is from even more than 4 games, namely 10.

This Direct has put a huge amount of confidence in Nintendo's E3 plans, only slight disappointment is that DS Wario Stadium was confirmed instead of GCN Wario Colosseum, Wii DK's Snowboard Cross or GBA Bowser Castle 4.

Who cares about this game anyways ? It just blows any competitor in its genre right out of the water, sets the bar for overal production values higher and higher and takes a stab at the PS4s only new feature, video sharing / uploading.
All we want is 3rd party support, not crap like that ! Who needs excellent games anyways ?

Jokes aside, THAT is how i would define the term "Video Game". I can hardly wait any longer.

Bowser's minions? since when?

Wait, they did an unannounced ND? So no bad loading time slide show graphics? They just - BOOM! - advertised a game?

Good for them. Now excuse my while I go watch both. Glad its pouring out.

@Einherjar - Nice. And I like the new scary military icon avatar guy.

Awesome I'll watch this after work : ) .

Wow, so happy I procrastinated so much in getting Wind Waker!

Free game, bundle, amusing, ultra secret Direct. Cannot ask for anything else. Well, maybe that they advertise the hell out of this, specially that free game offer.

Has a NA bundle been confirmed? I need to start convincing friends to buy one if so. Word of mouth will sell more Wiius then a Direct. Thats fo sho.

IT'S THE VOICE FROM TOMADACHI!!! Not really but he does sound kind of like a robot

Pinch me!

The new characters are way too lame. What looks cool is the dev's guy gamepad!

Nintendo shouldn't have done this with me. Online tournaments with video sharing... Childhood wish now granted... And this live soundtrack... C'mon guys. I feel happiness with that Mario Kart theme with horns.

@shigulicious - Yes, and its in a pretty red box.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/04/north_american_wii_u_mario_kart_8_deluxe_set_bundle_races_into_view

Super excited about this. The addition of baby Rosalina will be gladly accepted at our house. Finally an item to take out the blue shell. Hopefully the blue shell rate drops as in Mario Kart Wii it isn't uncommon to see four in one race.

@chiptoon since the paternity test came negative. I still think Bowser rigged the whole thing to stop paying all that child care support.

Yes, Yes, Yes!!!!

I just started watching the NA Nintendo Direct and, OMG - DK Cereal @ 0:57!!

What the heck were they thinking with Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach?! If you're going to make alternate versions of characters, at least choose existing forms! But I guess they just want them to change weight class. Oh well. Yoshi is in there at least, so I'm happy for that~

Also is it me, or does the new Rainbow Road look.. kind of short? And kind of disappointing?

Ok so the character roster is painful to me (looking forward to racing with miis), and I can't stand the concept of the crazy 8 item, but dat bundle looks amazing! Looks like nintendo might have just sold me

Full faith temporarily restored into Nintendo.

Now they need to drop teh megatonz at E3.

Not buying the Wii U seems like a poor choice now, doesn't it?. Zelda or W101 for me! Oh that is great news!!!

@rjejr Well, thanks Its Xiahou Dun from Dynasty Warriors 8 in one of the more fancy DLC outfits

@sinalefa - "Wow, so happy I procrastinated so much in getting Wind Waker!"

I swear I was thinking the exact same thing. Then I was thinking, well this is only for digital downloads but I buy everything retail so not for me. Then I saw the other thread. And now I'm all like "I must be dreaming, Nintendo is getting serious about selling the Wii U and games and advertising."

I was waiting for May 1st to start the Wii U turnaround (in my head), guess a day early won't hurt.

What am I watching? I am scared for life!

Now I must decide whether to sell one of my physical copies of the free games, or hang on to them and sell the digital download code instead....decisions, decisions.....

I cant wait until this and Smash are out, just so we can start talking about some different games for a change!

Hype, Hype And Hype, Enough Said!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh.my.god! This is going to be the wiius best game and nintendo really are pulling out all the stops to ensure the wii u gets noticed with this. And a free game if you buy the game? Good grief. Amazing!

The only bitter sweet moment was realising Sir Bob Hoskins died while I was watching this. R.i.p Sir Hoskins

I am so glad I didn't buy every single first party release before MK8

Nintendo have pulled out all the stops on this one.

They really needed half an hour to explain the mechanics of a Mario Kart title?

Not watching...

Is there battle modes confirmed?

I just wet myself.

My only criticism would be that the two English narrators were horribly wooden and almost sounded like a voice-type program speaking!

Great direct different funny not taking itself too seriously, showed a lot

First that awesome Mega64 Nintendo E3 video yesterday and then a secret unannounced Mario Kart 8 Direct the next day?! My mind…the surprises…so much good news…keep it up Nintendo i dont care about the press conference just listen and communicate to ur fans and im a happy camper!

@TheClockworkB endless body jokes are endless

I think I just wet myself! 😂😢

Okay, framing this as a cheesy, pre-paid advertisement/infomercial was stupid and very annoying to sit through, but that doesn't change the fact that this game is going to be incredible.

Just show us footage and talk about it normally. All this other fluff really wasn't necessary.

I can't watch this til lunch. I feel I will be heartbroken at the lack of King Boo, but that's life.

An awesome DLC would be to add any missing characters that have ever appeared in a MK title. One can dream!

I liked the Haikus in the UK version and I wish I could get Monster Hunter or Sonic Lost World in that deal but over all the US presentation is funnier and better presented.

Loved it!. The only problem I had... was when they started talking about the new items. The new items are awesome, it was just how the two "narrators" were talking about it... speaking as if we were 3-4 year old children... so cringey and it annoyed me a little. It was only during that section that I felt they did this, so I don't understand why? (talking about the UK video)

Haven't watched it yet, but freaking Baby Rosalina? And I thought Baby Daisy was bad enough... Stop throwing Baby characters at us and give us stuff small/light characters which are unique that we actually want like E. Gadd. I'd take Kirby as a cross-over character over any Baby other than Mario, Luigi and Peach.

Looking at this roster made me realize that from the first Mario Kart I'v always played only with Yoshi... I love you, Yoshi!

Just watched the NA video - ok I FF thru the music part - and I'm really impressed. Nintendo finally made a game worthy of being on my 52" tv and listening to on my surround system. (Pikimin 3 and W101 were good, but not nearly this good after 4 years of PS3 games.) The Wii U is obviously very capable of some incredible looking graphics. (I hope Link and Zelda get the same treatment and not Skyward Sword impressionism or WW cell shading.)

They really put a lot into this game, everybody worth a dam working in Nintendo software must have had a hand in it, somewhat explains the lack of other Wii U software. Graphics, animations, track updates, items, characters- it's obvious they really put a lot into this and wanted it to be their flagship. Peach blowing a kiss while she's driving a prancing horse carriage? I'm not sure she even looks that animated in SSB.

Sweet revenge must taste like Peaches.

This was already Day 1, but now I'm actually excited.

Nice surprise,can't wait until its here!

@rjejr

Yeah, because great minds think alike

Thankfully, since the promo goes through Club Nintendo, it includes both physical and digital. With the difference that digital is immediately registered, while I can hoard the CN physical games codes.

Somehow I knew that they would add Baby Rosalina, but my kart baby hating self tried to think otherwise.

5 minutes through and my biggest fear has officially been confirmed: The camera turns with you when you go on a wall or ceiling, thus, completely nullifying the fact that you're even doing it. I have been saying this for months, and no one has agreed with me, and I can't figure out why I'm the only one who feels this way. Between the 3 and 5 minute marks they explain that they did the camera this way "for the most comfortable playing expert experience" and that "but if you watch on replay, you will see you were ACTUALLY on a wall or ceiling".

Am I the only one that thinks that's kind of lame? If you're on a wall or ceiling, it'll just look like you're on the floor like normal, until you watch the replay THEN you can zee what actually happened. Then what's the POINT? Camera view, gameplay, NOTHING changes. You can't even barely tell.

I'm not saying it won't be a fun or good game, I'm just disappointed that it's hook is nullified pretty much. It would be like if it Double Dash they said "You're only going to see a single car when you race, but on the replay you'll see someone was actually with you in another compartment, they were just invisible!!"

Cannot take the narrator series in this video he's awful lol

I'm quite certain I heard Miss Audrey Drake as the reporter about 23 minutes in.

Absolutely loved the little section on the music. Maybe they'll even release the soundtrack... not in the US, of course.

@Letsgoretro I hear what you're saying, but I think it turned out to be too disorienting when flipped upside-down. Right would be left and vice versa. That makes it very confusing to most people. I can even imagine a veteran gamer (and karter) like myself getting hung up on that EVERY TIME. The complaints would be far louder than yours if they did it that way. I thought it was a waste, too, until they decided to include full film editing options. Now, I think it's kinda cool.

One other thing to think about: Not all gravity parts go upside-down. How would you handle the ones that turn on a wall? Or the Mario Circuit one that goes UP a wall? Either it won't make a difference or it will totally screw up the camera angle. And imagine the programming it would take to make each gravity part unique to its track??

so why does the UK get to pick from 10 games and US only gets 4.... what kinda bs is that not that i care only game that i don't have and pops out to me is "pikmin 3" but i might have to think more if i could pick "game and wario" too o well been wanting to buy "pikmin 3" since it came out just so many games to play that and the 350+ hours of "monster hunter 3" didn't help lol

I'm beyond HYPE. Baby Rosaline : check, EPIC Bowsers Castle: check, Wario's Stadium returning: check, INCREDIBLE visuals and sound: double check, Infinite amounts of charm and fun: triple check.

How is this possible? How can they make such an appealing Mario Kart game? I don't understand...its...so...beautiful...

I wouldn't even care if we would only got this and smash this year...I played Melee and Double Dash/Wii so much.

Is this a dream? Someone please pinch me.

@sinalefa - "but my kart baby hating self tried to think otherwise."

In MKWii I only ever play as Mario if I need to get a feel for the course or as my Mii so I have to say whether there or 5 or 25 playable characters and who they are doesn't really effect me. I do think my kids will be happy to see Rosalina though.

If they ever get around to making a new Mario Super Sluggers game then I'll care. That game needs a wider selection like Smash Bros.

Well just like the recent Smash Bros Direct, this was a very good Mario Kart 8 Direct.

One thing saddens/frustrates/worries me though; a few of the new features seem like they'd be perfectly and indeed more suited to a new F-Zero game than Mario Kart, like the anti-grav racing and the bashing into enemies for a speed boost, yet we still haven't heard a single word on a new F-Zero game and with stuff like this appearing in Mario Kart 8 I'm starting to dispair that we simply aren't going to get a new game in that franchise

Why no love for F-Zero too?

At least Mario Kart 8 looks very good and I suppose with these new elements it could at least offer a little bit of that F-Zero fix.

@sinalefa Lol I'm glad I procrastinated in getting Pikmin 3!

Love the free game, but unfortunately the two I would've wanted the most (in NA) I already own (NSMBU and WWHD). I'm not a huge Pikmin fan either, but not sure if I want to spend my free game download on a generic party game that looks "okay" at best. Why can't we get Sonic Lost World or Monster Hunter like the UK???

Either way, can't really complain much. It's free, and it was unexpected.

EDIT: Third option I suppose would be to get a free copy of NSMBU and trade in the old copy to make my copy of MK8 effectively $35. I could find something with that $25 of credit I'm sure. Actually, Power Trade would net an extra 40% if I went ahead and preordered MK8, so I could get MK8 and get my copy of NSMBU back for probably $30 or less. I may just go that route.

So... haven't watched this yet, and I want to, BUT I don't want to see a bunch of new courses and surprises. Do they reveal everything the game has, or do they intentionally hold back a full circuit, or not show off every single retro course? 'Cause I want to be surprised come launch day and it's oh-so close now. Is this another Super Mario 3D World SpoilerCast, is what I'm asking?

yay free games that most wii u owners probably already have! good thing i have two consoles!

@Miss_Dark Haha. Don't get me wrong, I love Nintendo as much as anyone, but humour? Creativity? Did we watch the same thing? I'm talking about the British one, with the narrator that constantly placed unwarranted emphasis everywhere. I thought it was unbelievably cheesy and full of clichés: what was creative about it? Is that the one you watched? I haven't seen the American one but I hope the guy- and gal for a short stint- that narrated the British one are never involved in a Nintendo direct again: Shibata for life.

Still crazy excited for the game though, obviously. : )

Wow wow wow. That Mario space station! I hope the world buys this game!

I'm definitely gonna download Wind Waker!

Can't decide. WW HD (even though I have the GC version), or Wii Party U...or maybe I should wait until Mario Part 10..?

Yes yes yes! So much hype, but so much cool stuff!

Now I must decide...Windwaker HD or Pikmin3 for my free game!
My HDD is not ready!

@thedefalcos

Wrll, how I originally picture it was: When on walls yyou'd move the joystick up and down, which is pretty simple and easy to adjust to, I would think.

When upside down, the controls would really be the same, the model (sprite? Character?) Would be upside down. So if you push left, he goea to your left. Right, to your right. He juat is upside down.

My fear is focusing on children scared them off from doing it(I dont want hear that a game with baby pink peach and baby characters giggling and squeaking isnt focused on kids. It's not ONLY for kids. Im gonna play the heck out of it and im 30, but it is FOCUSED on kids.

I just wished the antigravity added actual gameplay elements.

I like how they showed the musicians playing the instruments in the video I how they pass that in the game

Wow, that race at the end with the announcer was hilarious!

"It's not over til the fat koopa sings! I'm looking at you, Wendy."

"For once in his life, Luigi is actually in first place!"

Genius.

By the way, it's good to see Nintendo embracing new technologies and features and experimenting more.

It's been slow and still needs more work, but they seem to have learned some lessons from the poor Wii U launch. I'm sure the usual haters will scream that Nintendo has learned nothing and everything is terrible, but you can't change the entire direction of a large gaming corporation and it's flagship console instantly, and certainly not just a year or two after launch without some turbulence.

Here we have big hype, a great game with all the features people were asking for, and some amazing deals and incentives. I am so hyped to play MK8 after watching this...and the video was kind of funny too.

About the free game promotion: What about people in, say, Scandinavia? We dont have Club Nintendo AT ALL! One of the reasons that Nintendo is still far behind the times, they only do these promotions in specific regions.

Seriously though 329.99 for the bundle is still a lot... should have been 299.99...
Everytime I think Nintendo is about to do something right they screw it up in the end... at least you get two games...

I've already pre-ordered it since it was possible to do so but I've been blown away by this direct. It was way even better than the smash bros direct. I gotta say this will be a system seller especially if those doubting the wii u would watch this.

Man, that direct was all over the place... what a mess. And especially that item showcase was annoying (shut up, Jenny!), but the music recording was really cool! Seems like they got the SM3DW big band together for this - at least it sounded very familiar!

What does make me worry is the apparently short tracks. Many seemed way too compact in the presentation, but that could be because of the weird wrapping of the antigravity parts...

@thedefalcos

As far as the programming, if they can program somethingbas large and complexbas a Zelda world, this shouldn't be nearly as hard. And they've had a LOT of time on this game, which is why it is so polished and gorgeous. As @rjejr suggested, this game is likely why there's been such a game shortage. A huge team has probably been working on this, many of them really learning hd programming and specifics of the wii u architecture on this game.

I like Iwata's tie.

Well that direct was cool to wake up to. Still a little bummed to not see anything new on the gamepad/split-screen possibility. I'm guessing, if it's in the game, I'm pretty sure they would have talked about it here.

Brilliant collection of new info, really nice to see more gameplay.

However the writing and direction of the voiceover artists in the UK version was truly awful, some of the worst I have ever seen. I felt patronised just watching it.

I also like the Japanese take on Celtic music.

uk was just cringe but NA one was very good. anyway i can't wait to buy this game.

@Frapp Lol abit extreme but i agree it was awful, terrible stuff, terrible terrible stuff...

Just terrible....

With the free game codes, you still get coins from surveys in Club Nintendo...right? ...Riiight?

Near the end of the direct, that Desert track with falling pillars--could it be? Is Dry Dry Ruins from Mario Kart Wii returning?

Yeah I couldn't make it through the end of that. I'll just read up on the highlights.

I can't help but groan at Metal Mario, Baby Rosalina, Baby Daisy and Pink Gold Peach (Seriously that one takes ALL the cakes) when they have so many more diverse and interesting Mario characters they could use.

Professor E. Gadd? Fawful? Pauline? Cackletta? Paper Mario? King Boo? Hello?

I could go on....

It's not really the kind of thing that screams "you must buy me!". Everything else looks great, the roster is just a major downer for me.

Meh, I'll watch it, but I think I'm done with the series.

I am so ready to play this it just looks and sounds amazing and the track designs seem like the best in the series.

Reminds me of those VHS promotional videos they used to mail out. IIRC the first was balance of informative and silly, but then skewed sillier and sillier over time.

Not sure about the roster. Fine with Baby Rosalina, but Pink Gold Peach? Really? I would rather have the pinatas from Sunshine.

@Dizzard Fawful and Cackletta are RPG characters. I don't mind any of your stated characters except Pink Gold Peach.

@smikey Baby Bowser is bowser when he is a kid. Bowser Jr. is Bowser's son. Two different characters. Sucks that they didn't bring Bowser Jr or any of the others back.

Now if they bring them back with DLC..^^

@DragonbornRito Get Wii Part U it is AWESOME

Nintendo, this is how you do the directsnfrom now on!

CAN'T WAIT!!!

"Kids, tell your parents, and parents, tell your kids." Wow! How can they get away with that?

His lifelong dream was to find out whats fastest in MK8 of bikes and cars, he's under 2-3 years old?

All hill King Bowser!

For once Luigi is first New Super Luigi U, Nes remix 2, Luigis mansion, Luigis mansion 2, Mario is missing and Super Mario bros the lost levels wants a word with this guy

I'm So ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!now i just gotta find a job smh...

@memoryman3 True hehe

@Dizzard
I reeeeeally hope this is just the starting available racers. I personally think there's a good chance they're leaving 8-10 more racers unlockable. Think about it, the Mario Kart series has had unlockable characters dating back to Double Dash. I do have to agree, of all the characters, Pink Gold Peach is like the weirdest direction of a new racer I've ever seen.

I can't believe they removed all the Donkey Kong characters and fan favorites like Bowser Jr. and Dry Bones for ANOTHER baby and metal character.

Whoever picks these rosters does a horrible job.

DLC, please.

@Yorumi Well, MK7 had a bad roster, too, and that didn't have any DLC. I don't think Nintendo is intentionally gimping the roster for DLC, I think they're just bad at making rosters for Mario Kart. That said, I agree that intentionally gimping a roster to sell DLC is a bad move, I just don't think Nintendo is being deceptive. Doesn't make the roster any better, though.

I mean, how are Diddy Kong and Bowser Jr. not in this game? Who would want more metal or baby characters over them?

BABY ROSALINA!!!

Questionnable new character additions aside, Mario Kart 8 is pretty much shaping to be the greatest Mario Kart game ever conceived.

Also, getting a free Wii U retail game from a game that we're going to be buying anyway is definitely welcome!

Did I hear this right?

NINTENDO ACTUALLY ADDED TEXT AND VOICE CHAT FOR THE LOBBIES?!!

Woah...

Yeah...far too many babies. Not sure what that's all about. The only baby Nintendo characters that should exist should be from Yoshi's Island. And @yorumi, you better not be right about that whole DLC for common characters thing. That is a very dark path if Nintendo is choosing to do so.

The only DLC characters I'll accept are ones that are truly new to the scene. And like you just said - should probably come with tracks or something.

For the time being, though, I'm going to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt and throw it out there that there's still unlockable characters in this game they're not going to tell us about. I mean, really, to me that was a good amount of the fun with these games - i.e. beat Star Cup on 150cc and unlock a new racer.

Whaaat!!! You can upload highlight reels directly to Youtube?!!! The PS4 can't even do that!

Good grief they're blowin' the lid off on this one...

Okay, first of all, I liked the framing for this Nintendo Direct, the TV theme was pretty amusing. Glad to see Nintendo stepping things up with their marketing.

But man, this game just looks better and better the more we find out about it. The online features are much better than any other Nintendo game I've seen, especially Mario Kart TV which enhances the social aspect of the online (it reminds me of PS4's share function). The items seem a lot more balanced this time (I cheered when they revealed that the Super Horn can defend against Blue Shells, that is a much needed balancing measure). The only thing I'm not really liking that much is the character list, aside from the usual mainstays, there's too many clone characters and otherwise similar characters (babies, the Koopalings, and metal characters).

I'm still left wondering whether or not there's going to be new cups, the course selection screen seems like it has room for about 2 or 4 more cups and it'd be nice to have more courses (especially more retro courses). I'm thinking either they're going to try and surprise us with unlockable new cups or with DLC cups.

But yeah, this looks like a system seller for sure, gives me a lot more confidence that Nintendo knows what they're doing. I think I will be buying that U.S. Wii U bundle, but I'm not particularly interested in the free games, even in spite of the fact that they're free.

@Bolt_Strike

Idk if you ever played Zelda Windwaker back on the Cube, but you really can't go wrong with that one. NSMBU is a very solid game too if you like 2D platformers. It's the best in the New series for sure. But personally, I'd recommend Pikmin 3 over both of those games. Pikmin 3 is just so different than anything else out there. It was a real treat to play. It's so much more fun and addicting than it seems. As for Wii Party U, well, can't say I recommend that one. Unless you have some females over or something- then it's fun.

The game looks very exciting, and the new information was great, but that UK Direct was a disaster! My God, it was awful! I really don't care for forced excitement and would much preferred it if they'd have gotten actual people excited about the game to present it, and none of this amateur acting crap.

@JasonH
Or unless you're in my case where I've got the other 3, so Wii Party U it is! lol

34:10 US, DK pulls a MJ. lol

@JaxonH What do you think about WW HD even if I already played it on the Gamecube? I'm deciding between that and NSMB U. For WW HD, I just don't really like how you switch between easy and hard mode. I'd rather prefer the mode you choose to be locked.

@JaxonH Also, if I want a family party game, I should just wait until Mario Party 10, right?

Glad the voice chat is kept to the lobby. I don't fancy getting kicked off the nintendo network for inventing swear words at strangers.

I like what I hear about the online features. It mentioned ranking events in the Tournaments, but are the rankings separate from normal online vs. with the vr score?

EDIT I looked at the video again, and my question seems to have been answered.

This is looking like one of the best MK to date!

@Funny_Moblin

So here's my opinion on that. As for Windwaker HD, I think that options are never bad. If you prefer hard mode to be locked, that means you want to play it on easy. So play it on easy and pretend the hard mode doesn't exist. OR (this is what I would do), pretend you already unlocked it from when you played it on the Gamecube

But if you haven't played NSMBU, I really recommend you do so, especially if you like 2D platformers (which I assume you do judging by DKC). It's without a doubt one of the funner platformers I've ever played. Solid mechanics and crisp HD visuals. Can't go wrong with Mario.

As for Wii Party U, well, it's a good party game, I just don't really play party games. So I might not be the best one to ask. I mean, like I said before it's fun if you have some girls over (but then again, so is Wii Sports Club or virtually ANY Wii sports game like Mario Tennis), but not so much by yourself. Idk, I'd pass on this one because you can get it WITH a Wiimote for $40. While all the other games are $50 and include ZERO Wiimotes. Best to pick one of the others, and then buy this physically. Besides, you want the physical version not only for included Wiimote, but also the stand for your gamepad to play tabletop games.

If you haven't played Pikmin 3 though, I recommend that one in full force.

@JaxonH Haha, about WW HD, it's exactly the opposite. I want hard mode to be locked because I want to play only on hard, and I don't like to see easy mode available for me. I also wouldn't mind playing easy mode in order to unlock hard mode. I just wanted a fixed hard mode. So I guess that's a no to that, but I suppose it would be stupid to put the game off because of that reason.

I'm not too sure about NSMB U because I found SUper Luigi U sort of dull (got it at retail), but I'm thinking the actual game will be funner.

I already have Pikmin 3, one of the best games I've ever played.

Already pre-ordered but I like the bonus (though don't know what to do with it exactly as I own the 4 games).

The highlight for me was the music. Those musicians were pretty awesome and it just sounded great. That soundtrack better be for sale eventually.

I like the approach to the video for the most part, but it maybe felt a little too homegrown. I don't think room reverb and cheap mics are really helping. Still, I'm liking the attempt to approach the Nintendo Direct a bit more inventively. Seriously, though, on the green screen compositing? So soft and cheap looking. Hopefully whatever group is working on this gets better with time.

How many levels of awesome was that ? I wish I didnt have a wiiu already so I can buy one more hahahaha. It was full of content I cant breathe on excitement.

Yay! Yey! Yay! Yey! Yay! Yey! Yay! Yey!
What a surprise!! ^^
Well, only ""1"" Month left, o well, 30 days!! XD

See you in the tracks! XD

Ugh, and another 30 days to go......
Would it kill them to bump up the release date just a little bit, like the 16th or something.

Now about the new characters: I'm fine with Baby Rosalina, but not Pink Gold Peach. That's just a lazy reskin, just like Metal Mario.

I saw the UK presentation and for me NOA wins this round. A lot more inventive and funny. It even smuggles an extra joke at the very end.

I feel like they need one more item or something. The roaster is in the mario kart realm over all still seems too plain in a sense ? Nice demonstration on how the karts and bikes are faster depending on the level. Love the option to host your own lobby tourney and they got another Mario Kart Channel for replays and upload to youtube man they did it proper this time. What was that voice chat stuff in the lobby with friends too bad thats the only time you can talk i guess ? Either way im on it day one , NL i know your gonna host a lobby as well this time ill be looking out !

The lady talking about the customization made me very uncomfortable. ._.

@yorumi

Fair enough, I was juat remembering either miyamoto or aonuma talking about how it took a while to get used to certain thinga

Finally got to sit down and watch it. I am trying to keep my hype levels low as I will be travelling on the release date! Overall a well done direct, and the music part was very cool. Why on earth would Nintendo do a press conference when they can do this...

My only disappointment is the roster, and even then it is minor. I think my problem is that the koopalings (whomever their father may be...) seem to "feel" like a single racer, and not the individuals they are. I will hold out hope for a racer DLC (something I think Nintendo would be foolish NOT to do). Finally I have an icon, to show my support for King Boo!

@Nico07 i heard that the horn is pretty uncommon and or rare to get, so Im guessing the blue shell will also be drop ..... percentage wise also

OMG! I'm so glad I own a Wii U!

I freaking love you Nintendo!!!!

FINALLY got finished with watching the Direct, after spending forever pausing over and over again to let the video buffer (whyyy internet). REALLY impressed with the game mechanics in pretty much every way, though admittedly I'm very disappointed in the character roster... particularly the lack of Diddy But hey, I still have Shy Guy, Luigi, and DK to play as I suppose, so I should be alright.

Sounds to me like all those people complaining about the Direct style need to lighten up a bit... I honestly kind of liked it myself. Perhaps a bit too much fluff over real info, but the direct style reminds me a lot of the Billy Nye show from my childhood, and I kind of liked the silliness of it

@PinkSpider

I don't think they were trying to be serious

I think we will get DLC they will just not announce it

loved everything I'm ready to play

@SavoirFaire I want King Boo from Super Mario Sunshine!

Toads in space!!! I almost fainted from joy.

What's with the guy doing a bad Jeremy Clarksob impression in the UK Direct?

@SparkOfSpirit 3DS wasn't even capable of DLC.....

"Regimendation"? "A deal no one can hate on"?

Yes, new Reggie-isms!

Baby Rosalina… Pink Gold Peach… They're trolling. They get away with it because the game is still awesome.

I really don't like the look of that character select screen, though. I was thinking that that was just a placeholder, but I guess not.