Topic: Mario Kart 8 - OT

I think Wii's Dry Dry Ruins was the best desert track. Did Mario Kart 7 have a desert track?

50 cc and 100 cc were cake.

150 cc seems a much tougher nut to crack.

When you play online it's generally 100 cc right?

Yeah, it was Kamoari Desert. My favorite desert track of all time with Dry Dry Ruins.

No, you're exactly right. It saves a race as a favorite so you can go back and edit it later or just show friends when they come over. You don't have to do this to edit a clip in MKTV, but after a while, recent races will be cut in favor of newer ones, so this ensures you'll still have the clip for later.

Disagreed entirely. While the Leaf and Star cups are still my favorites, the Special cup was never a slouch for me, and honestly, the new Rainbow Road has really grown on me. It may not be the greatest RR ever, heck it coups easily be the worst, not counting SMK's RR, but it's still a very pretty track and easily the most over-hated one in the game, if not the while series.

Beyond that, I absolutely adore the new Bowser Castle. It's easily in the top 3 new tracks for me. Even Bone Dry Dunes can be pretty fun.

For the record, Banana and Flower Cups are easily my least favorite.

@Wonkers Hearing you say Bowser Castle is bad is like say gold is trash.

Let's compare MK8's content and MKDS' content.

Mario Kart 8:
Has 30 characters (14 unlockable), 32 courses (16 new and 16 old), easy to 3 star a cup, 90 stamps to collect, and has multi-player (there is also co-op for Grand Prix)
Grand Prix: 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, Mirror.
Time Trials: Can race against ghosts.
VS Mode: Can customize stuff.
Battle Mode: No arenas, and only Balloon Battle.
Online Mode: You can race with friends, regional, worldwide, and race in tournaments.
MKTV: Can look at replays.
Other Modes: None. Not even an "Options" menu or a place to view your records.

Mario Kart DS:
Has 16 characters (4 unlockable), 32 tracks (16 new 16 and old), more challenging to 3 star a cup, and has mult-player (no co-op for Grand Prix).
Grand Prix: 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, Mirror.
Time Trials: Can race against ghosts.
VS Mode: Can customize stuff.
Battle Mode: Has arenas, includes Balloon Battle and Shine Runners.
Online Mode: Dead.
Mission Mode: Includes 63 missions.
Other Modes: Options and a place to view your records in Time Trials and Grand Prix.

Which game do you think has more replay-value?

There does seem to be a lack of Wii tracks. I noticed each Mario Kart has four tracks from the past two games. Mario Kart 7 had four tracks each from Wii and DS. Mario Kart Wii had four tracks each from DS and Double Dash. I think Dry Dry Ruins would've been a pretty good choice but I would've rather seen Toad's Factory. Didn't really like Shy Guy Bazaar. The Mushroom Cup in MK7 wasn't that great. All the other cups I enjoyed though.

I'd say eight pretty much because it has online.

"Skip it and go to 150cc as 3 starring that counts for 100cc and 50cc"

Hmm, I didn't know that.

As for the controls: They feel pretty fine. The bad point is that bikes feel very similar to karts this time, but the good point is that the karts don't feel bad like they did in Mariokart Wii! Hint for the next Mariokart: Make the bikes as unstable as they where in Mariokart Wii (with wheelies)! I liked that! You could make very sharp turns!

As for my character to go: I used Waluigi for a time, and Larry Koopa, but now I just use my Mii character since he seems to be much quicker!

I have found having 10 coins for the speed boost is very important. When I don't get 10 coins early in the race I lose.

I have a quick question: I linked my MK8 Wii U bundle on Club Nintendo and didn't receive any Club Nintendo coins for it. I did get the free game download code, but I assumed you got the 160 coins from registering a Wii U as well. Is that false? Thanks

It takes a little while to get the survey for the coins for the system.

Couple things that have recently begun to irritate me:

Renegade green shells bouncing around erratically (that were clearly not aimed) are suspiciously talented at ricocheting into isolated karts after several bounces. This can be extremely frustrating, especially when you get hit when you're already immobilized and can't do anything about it. I expect a certain amount of that in a Mario Kart game, but like I said, its frequency is suspicious.

Also, in this game it seems significantly more difficult to catch up to the rest of the pack if you get pummeled and sent to the back. This isn't a rare occurrence, it happens very frequently. Even if I drive flawlessly and get a star or several mushrooms, I'll still be far behind the front four or five racers. Obviously you can chalk most of this up to quality racing from the top drivers (and I'm merely an average Mario Karter myself) but it's something I've been constantly noticing, and it bugs me a bit.

I also consistently get terrible items when I'm lagging behind. A green shell or a banana peel or a single mushroom isn't going to do jack for me. Obviously there's some RNG involved from player to player so some of you will probably have had different experiences, but that's been mine.

But a couple of things I'm really digging:

I love that Nintendo's made it (more) possible to dodge red shells with driving skills. I can take a corner more tightly than I usually would or hug a wall or swerve around a banana peel to stop it, and that's just awesome. Whenever I can pull it off I feel like I tricked a couple of guided missiles into slamming into an obstacle, and it's pretty sweet.

Blue shells are less frequent, which is great, and the new horn is awesome, though I think it's a little bit too rare.

It's nice that Nintendo's made the game a little more fair for players in first (if I can get a decent lead I almost always finish in 1st, or at least the top 3) and reward great driving, but they also made the game more frustrating for people in the middle of the pack. I feel like they could achieve a much better balance here.

Edit: I also hate how an increasingly small pool of tracks is being offered as the 3 choices in online mode.

I got the game! It's lived up to the hype, I'm loving it! The new tracks are amazing. I really have to apologize to the new RR too. I see a lot of people standing by their hate, but I really enjoyed my first race on it. The graphics are amazing and I'm having sooo much fun. Can't wait to race you guys.
Jokers shall be fooled.
And Queens will be dethroned! _{ok not really Emmy don't kill me D:}

I played online for the first time today.... I experienced some races with people all across the world...
Its a really fun and addicting and fustrating experience.
One second you're doing really good and the next second... BAM! You're doing bad.
One second you're doing really bad and the next second.. BAM! You're doing good.

Getting hit by random items can cause a guy to rage. Hahah

I luved it though. So addicting. Even when I lost... I still wanted to play more.

Hahah yeah. Green shells are a double edged sword.

Hopefully we'll see DLC at E3.

I was having so much fun I completely forgot about the free game promotion. I should go do that now.

Hey everyone, I helped put together a review on Mario Kart 8 and you can find the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9ZFAO5zfQk. I am working with The Grid Gaming Network and we're just getting started and we'll be having big giveaways including consoles, games, etc. In order to enter into these giveaways you have to subscribe to https://www.youtube.com/user/GridGamingNetwork by Friday! Come check us out!

Man, is anyone else having problems online? It seems like it just keeps getting worse. The first day I played online it worked great, the next day I had a couple of communication errors, then the next day I had quite a few communication errors, and today I tried playing with a friend but got connection errors out the wazoo and didn't even get to race each other once before we gave up. I hope it's not my internet...