During today's E3 Nintendo Direct broadcast, Satoru Iwata confirmed Mario Kart 8, the Wii U debut of the karting series. It picks up various ideas from its Wii and 3DS predecessors, yet surprisingly won't be available this year — it's been given a release window of Spring 2014.
The footage shown was certainly impressive, showcasing a variety of Nintendo favourites rushing around tracks and taking each other on. It'll feature Cars and Bikes, while the trailers also showed off the stunts that were introduced in the Wii iteration. In terms of new ideas, the big change looks set to be in track design and vehicle transformations. As well as vehicles being able to glide and drive underwater, they also shift shape to enable anti-gravity abilities, allowing for 3D track designs not previously seen in the series. Satoru Iwata also promised extended online options and Miiverse integration.
The footage certainly looked impressive, with the only downside being the 2014 release, so it won't make the vital Holiday period. Let us know what you thought of the reveal in the comments below.
Comments 59
this game looks beast mode
good lord 2014! I am very upset
I was hoping for 2013 for this game. Fail that the most anounced new games are for 2014, looks like Nintendo started to late with developing games for the Wii U for 2013.
Bikes again... why?
I was pretty underwhelmed, but hopefully it'll win me over before launch.
Told you so. When Iwata told the shareholders that it'd be out by the end of the fiscal year, that means April 2014. This website misunderstood that, and said it'd be out by the end of this year, getting a lot of people's hopes up.
I LOVED bikes. Can't wait!
Looks great, shame about the 2014 date but i understand they don't want to compete with Super Mario 3D World
2014 WTF????
This and Bayonetta 2 were probably the highlights for me, but 2014, and Bayonetta 2 could even be late 2014 for all we know, Donkey Kong Wii U was a nice surprise as well, but, even that's late this year.
Gutted to be honest, was hoping for more (& much sooner!).
This is a system seller for me.
And people say the Wii U isn't a next gen console because of the graphics THAT LOOKED AMAZING COME ON GUYS STOP JOKING.
After watching the entire direct..Any trolls that continue to say the Wii U isn't next gen is completely full of crap. The texture work on ALL of the new games are way way beyond anything we have seen on PS360. AND to boot, It looked like ALL of the first party Nintendo titles were 60 fps... Can you guys name me some Sony or Microsoft first party games that weren't 30fps?!?!? I can't think of a single one.
this was one of the only things i liked during the direct. but the title sucks. it does. MarioKart8? that is just lame. show some creativity!
According to you guys, the game sounds GREAT! I wouldn't doubt its success, but I am still hyped for this! The previous Mario Kart games were pretty dag on good, so this is certainly exciting. Those graphics did look amazing, @CrabGats.
The stream didn't work at all for me on any device or network. E3 ran fine for me last night on other websites. All in all, there isn't an announcement on the list I've seen that gets me excited. Maybe I'm just getting too old for video games now.
It's MKWii + MK7. Nothing new. Not worth buying a €300 system for.
Looks nice, but I hope it plays better than Wii. Wasn't a fan of the bikes.
This looks so incredible! Not only is it beautiful but I love the anti-gravity aspect. Can't wait!
looks good but didnt make me go wow unlike mario kart 7 and mario kart wii
Looks like we won't have a real Wii U Zelda game (not a remake) or a new Metroid game until the end of 2014 or into 2015 unless there is some extremely secret stuff happening somewhere.
Looks like they got bored of putting the name of the system in the game so they switched to numbers
The trailer looked pretty amazing I'll admit, especially with how large the maps looked.
Okay another for the list, should be good fun and by then I'll have had my fill of Excite Bots on my Japanese Wii.
This looks fun ... can't wait wish it was for this fall.... looks like HD Mario Kart meets Sonic Allstar Racing Transformed : )
Nothing has changed for me at all. Still got a Wii U that I won't be touching for almost a year. Really poor planning from Nintendo. Mario Kart only one I'm interested in. Smash Bros has never been a deep or interesting game for me. Wonderful 101 = not so wonderful Japanese nonsense!! Donkey Kong .... Yawn!!! These dullish games Combined with late release dates and almost zero third party interest .... Its all looking a tad grim from my perspective!!
Gutted, was sure they would have it ready for 2013.
Don't like the name( numbers are for handhelds!), no 'double dash' functions, anti-gravity sounds like it would interrupt the fluidity of a race(possible corner cutting) but it's too soon to judge that. I thought Mk7 was gimmicky and would rather have a diddy Kong racing approach to vehicles! See how it turns out before I say any more, rant over, optimism returning.....
Well, at least it is not going to be rushed.
The AntiGravity is huge - it brings Mario Kart into the 3D realm like Super Mario 64 did!
@Yasume You forgot to mention +F-Zero as well.
at 1:17 it reminded me of Lego City Undercover; Cherry Tree Hills... I think this game will be awesome!!!
@Ernest_The_Crab That's what I though "When did Mario Kart go full F-Zero?"
Super Mario Kart meets F Zero X. I love the concept, shame about the wait
I will so buy this one. Finally a mario kart looking good and polished again.
It reminds me of Microsoft:
Windows 7 - Windows 8
Windows Phone 7 - Windows Phone 8
Mario Kart 7 - Mario Kart 8
What's with the 7s and 8s??? There never was a Mario Kart 6 or Windows 6, so why 7???????? Hmm...
Something about these visuals and graphics is indeed unique... the best I've ever seen. It's a shame they couldn't make this to the holidays (could have pushed Wii Party U or Donkey Kong ahead instead). This really moves consoles.
I actually like the 8. Can't go wrong w/ a mobius loop. (probably spelled that wrong.) A kart game based on escher designs should be awesome. kudos for keeping up w/ Sonic and adding a twist to the game (pun obviously intentional)
That said, this game would have looked great in 2007 had the Wii been HD. Since then the world has seen MNR, LBP Karting and Sonic Transformed. None of them played as well as Mario, but the graphics aren't blowing anybody away when the other new systems have DriveCLub and Forza. Not kart games I know, but the same people who say WiiU IS MOST CERTAINLY NEXT GEN are always the same people who say graphics don't matter. And they don't matter for gameplay, Mario kart is always better, but graphics still matter, they just matter less.
Even if they said this would be out in 2013, would it? Pikmin 3, Wii Fit, Wii Party U, W101. How many games are coming out after we thought they would, or Nintendo said they would?
The only thing you should believe about a Nintendo date is that there's a good chance it will be delayed.
@WaveBoy Really??? In my opinion they cannot compete with the visuals of some of the PS3 gems (The Last of Us, Beyond etc.). But the stream was horrible on my computer. Maybe I will change my mind when I watch the direct on the wii u later again... The bits I saw from the monolith game looked promising though.
I know a lot of people feel cheated that this won't be out by Xmas and that Nintendo have missed an opportunity to sell systems this holiday season, but is three months longer that much to wait? If parents are buying systems for Xmas, they'll still need to pick up a Wii U this holiday season in order to play Mario Kart 8. I doubt very much they'll wait a further 8 months until Xmas 2014 to play it.
@MeddlingIdiot - sure, I hope you right, but you know, there is no release date yet and something things get pushed. If this is out by April 2014 then you are correct, and yet still, why not push Zelda WW HD to April. Why not make an extra effort for this. 3 months seems so trivial.
@dumedum They promised the share holders it'd be out be the end of the fiscal year (April 2014) so I expect them to release it in March or they may get into trouble. It's not quite as simple as saying why didn't they focus their efforts on MK8 and push Zelda WW HD back, it's different teams working on these games, they can't just drop what they're doing and learn how to make another franchise that they've never worked on before. You can bet the Zelda team is working on WW HD, LttP 2 and Zelda U simultaneously so I'm pretty sure they're flat out at the moment anyway. Nintendo probably pushed MK8 until next year so that they have a steady flow of 'must have' games coming out throught-out the year rather than just the Xmas season.
This game doesn't excite me that much. I will buy the game, but... There isn't really anything new... I'm a little disappointed.
Looks fantastic. Coins for speed are crucial and we haven't had that on a home console since... the original.
Magnetic hovering makes for some awesome tracks.
This could easily be the best yet.
probs my fave video in the direct
@KongFu You're KIDDING me, this looked better than the Last of Us, I'm sorry, and that's saying a LOT, because that game looks gorgeous.
@rjejr Why are you even complaining? The game does not look bad at all, I don't understand. It may not be revolutionary visually but it's beautiful no matter what way you look at it. I honestly want to say it looks better than Sonic Racing Transformed.
This game looks so sexy. If I don't have a Wii U before this releases, I definitely will buy a one for MK8
Would also be nice to have some dlc in Mario kart 7.
@CrabGats - "Why are you even complaining?"
It's what I do? Actually, this is the internet, it's what everybody does.
No, I liked it, I think I was so disappointed that Mario looked like a 3DS game that some of that negativity carried over to this which was next. Nintendo is so talented on their own hardware I was really expecting something...better. So many racing games on the PS3 over the past few years looked close to photorealistic - and Mario Galaxy looked so good on the SD Wii hardware - I was really expecting to be blown away. Super Mario Sunshine blew me away when it debuted on the Gamecube. Compare it to Mario 64 (graphically, not play wise). This looks like Mario Kart Wii in HD.
On the bright side - choppy 240 streaming trailer, I'm expecting this to look awesome actually playing on the WiiU.
Please tell me this is in game graphics
if so this is awesome
This game looks absolutely gorgeous.
I'm actually kind of glad that it isn't coming until 2014, which means that there is less of a chance that it will feel rushed.
Besides, we get Super Mario 3D World in December, and that game will most likely change the course of the Wii U...DRASTICALLY.
Oh no! Not another "release window."
Graphics looks amazing
I wonder if there will be any new power ups. Thwomp would be nice, it could crush other players and stop them momentarily.
This screams epic win
AMAZING!!!!
I'm really glad they brought back the bikes
Can't wait!!!
How come Wario keeps switching between that super deep voice and that funny voice we've all come to love throughout the years?
This looks fun! Good to see that Nintendo is taking inspiration from Sonic and Allstars Racing Transformed
screw all-stars racing
this is worth the wait!
They better not keep switching the viewpoint like in that trailer during the actual gameplay. That would get extremely annoying very fast.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...