Topic: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

@Haru17
Actually, the dock is supposed to be like that. It widens as the slot goes down, to ensure the screen doesn't make contact, and so that the rubber stops which protrude at the bottom are about equal distance from the back as the top is. IGN noted this first. It's why it doesn't work so well sideways layed down.

But ya, that screen protector is a must. I had no issues for the week I wasn't using one, but I don't wanna risk it. Not just with the dock, but general use too. I scratched my Vita screen which is also plastic, and ended up buying an entire new one because it bothered me so much. Glass feels so good to the touch, and it's great because the internal screen won't shatter being plastic, but you still get the protection and fingerprint resistant coating and smooth touch of glass.

@JaxonH Really? That makes for an odd form factor, but I guess it fits well enough. Thanks for the info — that makes things simpler!

I didn't specifically time it, but I only got about 90 minutes of Mario Kart 8D before the battery was at 1%, from a 100% charge. That's not happened playing Zelda, so I need to try Zelda again and see how it does now.

The good news is, on my second outing in online racing, I got lots of 1st and 2nd places, so either I just got lucky with my lobby, or the pool has been suitably diluted with newcomers.

@gcunit
Wow - that seems incredibly bad (the battery time). Is 8D really that much more demanding than Zelda (roughly twice)??

Were all of your Switch settings the same? Screen brightness, sound, etc.?

@rallydefault Don't remember knowingly changing anything, settings-wise.

What I want to put it down to at the moment is the rumble - there's loads of it in MK8D, whereas in Zelda most of the time you're just trotting around without any rumble going on. Bit concerning though that no-one else seems to be experiencing similar.

@gcunit i am actually, just did not say anything here before because at the moment i'm not "feeling" anything particular from the vibration. I want to wait for other games that utilize it to understand it better since i did not try, and certainly will NOT buy, 1-2 Switch

@gcunit The HD rumble in Mario Kart is awesome. I think the only reason people aren't talking about it is because the HD Rumble feels so good to the point where it feels really natural therefore you don't really take much notice of it.

@Eric258 I've been saying the rumble feels so satisfying!

Are we really surprised this game uses more of the battery? Like was said, online, hd rumble, and the fact that the game has to constantly keep up with everything going on on-screen. Not to mention that the controllers may be charging while in handheld mode as well but I'm not sure if they charge off the battery.

@Spoony_Tech As I noted in another thread, an early Switch news post states:

"To fully charge the Joy-Con controllers, simply attach them to the console while it's charging. They'll still charge if you attach them while the console isn't charging, but they'll stop partway to avoid draining your console's battery too much."

Perhaps I ought to actually try HD rumble... I've never really seen the appeal of rumble features so I always have them turned off. Anyway, I guess rumble wouldn't come into play in those battery tests where they just leave the game running, so maybe with rumble on this game does use more power than BotW in practice.

@FGPackers @Eric258 But do either of you suspect it's eating the battery faster, or are you playing docked?

@gcunit docked. I played undocked only a couple long sessions and battery went good. I think more than 2 hrs

I don't think the battery is being drained more in handheld mode by the Joy Con. They have a separate battery in each so wouldn't that mean they don't drain the console's battery?

@JamestheLol Sorry, but you repeatedly asking about this everywhere is annoying people and it's tantamount to spam now. Please stop.

@JamestheLol Yeah, as @Zyrac said above, the Joy-Con will charge when attached to the Switch - even if it isn't plugged in, if the Switch has good battery it'll charge the Joy-Con a bit if they need it

This. It seems pretty obvious to me, but I could be wrong. I don't think HD Rumble (or rumble of any kind) would drain the console's battery faster because, well, it has nothing to do with the console and everything to do with the controller.

Now, my ignorance lies in the fact that I didn't think the Joycon actively pull power from the console itself to charge themselves constantly. I mean - that just doesn't make sense to me. Why would you design a system that puts a double drain on itself (tripe drain, technically) all the time? I thought the Joycon just kind of did their own thing for 20 hours-ish before needing a charge.

So... plot twist...

Knowing I'd switched off at 1% battery last night, I've plugged in a power lead this evening for some more MK8D special time, and my Switch has woken up with a battery gauge of 90%.

So I've played for 90 minutes and gone from 100% to 1%, then put it away in its case and 20hrs later it's gone back up to 90%...?

I know others have reported funny goings-on with the battery gauge, but this is the first time I've knowingly encountered anything. So now I'm playing MK8D unplugged from the same 90% and seeing how long it lasts. It dropped 10% across about 2 races/10 minutes.

This is the story when I play Mario Kart 8:

That ending is Mario Kart in a (blue and red) nutshell.

^ Yeah I saw that one yesterday. One of the final shots where this Mii is coming down with his legs in the air is pure gold.

I still playing 8 on the Wii U so may make the jump to 9 when it comes out for the Switch.

@easygoingthief don't expect MK9 on Switch. There are good chances no other MK will come on the system