Updated Mario Kart 8 Wii U Hardware Bundle in North America Includes Both DLC Packs

What a great deal, easily one of the greatest console bundles on the shelves. I gotta Wii U in the original NA Mario Kart 8 bundle!

I don't see why the wheel matters. I'd rather have the "full" game for the usual Wii U bundle price rather than have a base Mario Kart 8 that comes with some grip for motion control usage when motion control in MK8 is meh.

I thought that there would have been a Smash Bros Bundle with an exclusive Amiibo figure. That would have been a nice bundle to help sell the Wii U during the holidays. Hopefully, they make some good Black Friday deals on the Wii U and give it a bump up in sales, or else it will be the console that is left on the shelves again...especially since there is talk about Sony lowering the PS4 price for the holidays, which means Microsoft will try to compete with that too. Hopefully nintendo can come back and win...even having a really good New 3DS bundle for the holidays too, since my New 3DS already broke (game cartridge slot broke, can't put in any games anymore).

Maybe there will be more DLC coming... MK8 is the best one ever so far!!!

The previous bundle in the US was a better deal. It retailed for $30 more, but it also included a Mario Wii Remote Plus with red wii wheel, plus a disc copy of the game. The free game promotion was also running at the time, so a bonus game was also part of an already great deal.

For the price, the console should come with more then just Mario kart and the dlc, should come with nintendoland and super Mario 3d world to make the price sorta reasonable.

Been saying for awhile now that Nitneod should release MK8 "Complete" for $60 in a new box w/ a cover similar to this box, w/ a big emphasis on the amiibo, so this is a close second. When this game originally released amiibo weren't out yet so there may be people who aren't even aware of amiibo support in the game, as limited as it is it's still another amiibo compatible title. And I know Nitneod never does "complete" editions, but they never used to do free-to-start or DLC either. Instead of the Select or Players Choice line, since they seem so keen on keeping everything at full price, maybe they could start a "Complete" line w/ MK8, Pikmin 3 and HW. I know Hyrule Warriors isn't their game but maybe it makes sense to have a "complete" edition before the 3DS version. SSBU will never be complete, there will always be another 25c hat to sell.

"though this is decent value, considering the Wii U's need to win over on-the-fence consumers"

$300 last Christmas may have been decent, Wii U needs to be $250 before the holidays . There are no fence-sitters at $300, they could have bought one for $300 3 years ago. All the $300 fence sitters have moved on. They really really really should have lowered it to $249 on 9/11 if they had any interest whatsoever in ever selling the Wii U. $300 is insane, in a bad way.

Man, I guess that might mean no more DLC. It was fun while it lasted.

It's interesting that the newer bundles now aren't including physical discs and, in this case, are including download codes for software or DLC. It brings me back to the patent filed for a disc-drive-less box a while ago - maybe Nintendo is slowly training consumers to be comfortable with the idea of a download-only home console. I like having discs, but I'm an old man whose used to cartridges and such. Back in my day...

@rjejr Hyrule Warriors won't be complete until after the 3DS version anyway, Toon Link has been confirmed to be playable and transfer.

huh. A buddy of mine called it. I was certain they wouldn't do this. Hmm I wish they would do a dual pack with a game that doesn't sell as well. Like a smash/bayonetta bundle.

That first MK 8 bundle was killer. Getting the WiiMote and game and wheel.

@rjejr "$300 is insane" by whose standards? Nintendo only started making a profit on the Wii U a year or so after it released, I'll guarantee you the price of parts hasn't gone to $250. A price drop would only lose money, as lets face it, the Wii U will never be a big seller unless every 3rd party starts making VERY well done ports of every big game on PS4/X1. Don't even try to bring up the 3ds, because A)The price drop happened very early in its life and B)it was the only 8th gen handheld until the vita (which flopped) came out.

@rjejr Oof. Here's hoping you are forever wrong about Nintendo doing "complete" versions of games. How would you like to see "complete" version of Smash Bros on the eShop right next to the $40-$50 of DLC you bought over the previous year.
I would stop buying Nintendo games on release date if that ever happened. Anti-consumer practices at their worst.

I reckon since you're getting the DLC, they decided to forgo the wheel, which in my opinion is a better option. The wheel is redundant in that you can steer with the gyro controls of the Gamepad anyways. It also sends the wrong message. If Nintendo is trying to market the Wii U, I've longed believed if you're going to bundle it with a controller, the Pro Controller is the way to go.

@rjejr I see your point, however so as long as Nintendo is making profit on software sales, I don't see them dropping the price anytime soon, though I've been wrong before I hate to bring it up, but I personally don't see another price drop until close to NX launch or at the very least sometime in the time frame of the official unveiling.

@Ryu_Niiyama woah that's a stark contrast tone. Lol. Though I get what you mean, I'd imagine if they wanted to do a bundle like that, they could go with Smash/TW101

@Grumblevolcano Do you have to pay for Toon Link? Companies can continue to add free stuff as long as they like, as long as you don't have to pay any more I'd still be ok w/ "complete" on the package, as in "complete purchase". Splatoon has had a ton of stuff added - almost all already on the disc and unlocked but that's a story for another time - but as long as it's free I don't think they need to start selling "Splatoon Complete" b/c the price hasn't changed.

Though I see your point and I could easily argue it as well, I'm just trying to get Wii U some shelf space in retail stores and the marketing publicity that a new line of old games would bring. PS4 has been selling almost compeltley on the marketing of PS3 games as "remasters".

@mereel "Oof. Here's hoping you are forever wrong about Nintendo doing "complete" versions of games. How would you like to see "complete" version of Smash Bros on the eShop right next to the $40-$50 of DLC you bought over the previous year.
I would stop buying Nintendo games on release date if that ever happened. Anti-consumer practices at their worst."

The thing is, you're marketing to different consumers. I'm fine with all the money I've spent on Smash because it's an excellent game and I feel I got my money worth. That's the price you pay for being an early adopter. Getting a complete edition or GOTY is no different than waiting for the price to drop to buy a system. And it usually happens when games have already hit their sales peak. Besides it's not like complete editions are foreign to Nintendo. They have one with the NSMBU+Luigi and now MK8, albeit in a system bundle. How long will it be before they offer that one in a complete package?

Thinking about showing this to my dad who lives far away. Any sign of Nintendo Land in this bundle? DLC is extrememly nice but the more games the merrier. Also curious if the Mario Maker bundle has NL. Thanks.

@rjejr Of course you will. To me Tetra, Toon Link and King of Red Lions are essentially the equivalent of Mewtwo in Smash. Buy both versions and you have them free but will have to buy if you only own the Wii U version.

@Monado_III ""$300 is insane" by whose standards?"

By the standards of anyone who has purchased a videogame console over the past 10 years or so. I doubt you can find any other console that launched at $299 Basic and 3 years later is still selling for that same low price, $299 Deluxe. Yes, you get more, but for consumers who just look at the lowest price that low price hasn't changed in the US. I know the EU sells consoles at different prices but in the US consoles are sold MSRP.

Here's a list of price changes for all consoles, a significant cut usually takes place after 2 years.

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Price_cuts

@mereel There are probably a lot of people who said they would stop buying Nitneod games if they ever did DLC, or put a game on smartphones or tablets, or made a free-to-start game. Nintneod did all those things anyway. I'm not sure if a "complete" edition is inevitable, but I'd bet it's more likely to happen than not. Maybe they are just saving all the complete editions for NX versions of Wii U Games.

@Patriplexity Same here, with NX on the horizon I would imagine it's unlikely that we'll get any more DLC for MK8. Hopefully if this is the case then Mario Kart is in full production for the NX and it releases before too long on the new console(s).

@ningeek185

No console bundle-exclusive amiibo please. We already have a stock and scalper problem as it is.

@Grumblevolcano So buy both versions and they are free, buy just 1 and you have to pay? Well that does make sense. And even if they excluded the 3DS stuff from the Wii U version I'm sitll ok w/ a "complete" edition for $60. They wouldn't call it "Complete" though, they could call it "Hyrule Warriors: Hero of Hyrule" Bundle. That's what they call the $19.99 DLC on Amazon. I think they could still market it alongside a "Nintendo Complete" line though.

I'm not married to "Complete" BTW, it's just what popped into my head. "DLC included in the box at no extra charge" seems a bit wordy though. I'm open too sugestions, but I think a budget line is overdue at this point, so if they aren't doing a budget line at least do a full budget line w/ added-value and amiibo support. No amiibo support in Pikmin 3 excludes that as a naming possibility though.

@rjejr Sad but true, I would assume that there is a minority who put such limitations on themselves. I know a few who had bad experiences at Best Buy or Walmart and because of that refuse to buy anything there again (even on a good sale). I know there are things that you shouldn't compromise your standards on, but then there are just ridiculous and absurd things to be offended from. Nintendo has largely done DLC the right way, with maybe exception of the DLC costumes in Smash of course. I know I would prefer Nintendo to stay off of mobile devices, but then again the experiences offered there would likely be to draw more casual gamers into the Nintendo family. Nintendo's had some missteps but I think the company as a whole listens to it's consumer base while trying to innovate and offer new experiences at the same time. This usually means we don't get every game we want on every console (Metroid, F-Zero, Star Fox) but we do get surprising and unique experiences. In my opinion DLC has played a big part in keeping the Wii U user base up (Mario Kart, Smash, Splatoon).

Nintendo released a Wii Sports Club bundle in Japan when only Tennis and Bowling were available, so it isn't completely out of the question for them to continue making DLC for Mario Kart 8.

The content available at the moment is sufficient and I wouldn't care if we don't see any new content until Mario Kart 9. My only gripe is that I want 5 player multiplayer via the Gamepad, but my hopes of that happening have been long extinguished.

@JLPick @DarthNocturnal : The Skylanders Dark Edition exclusive amiibo are bad enough without angering fans further by making console-exclusive amiibo.

@rjejr I realized something over the weekend that makes the price cut a little less likely. I found an article about food prices here in the US. In 2003 a family of four could manage a lost-cost food plan (balanced nutritionally, using coupons, buying in season) at $139 a week. Just ten years later we were spending $191 a week. And from my understanding that has only continued to rise.

All that to say, I don't know if it is possible for Nintendo to reduce the price like they have in the past. Our dollars simply do not go as far as they once did thanks to bad fiscal policy by our elected officials. So i would say the $299 pricepoint is the $250 or even $199 of yesteryear. It's sad. I know it is effecting my family as more income has to go to just putting food on the table, and I have no doubt that I am the only one feeling this.

Of course if you want the pricecut now, you can get a refurbished Wii U for somewhere between $200 and $235 depending on what is bundled with it.

@rjejr If marketed on any other console it would be called the "Game of the Year Edition", but I would be fine if Nintendo introduced a complete disc based version and I would likely buy it myself. Part of me doesn't want it to happen though because I'm holding out hope that one more DLC pack might release.

But as far as naming, Nintendo could just call it the "30th Anniversary Edition" to commemorate 30 years of Mario.

@Sir_JBizzle That's why I was thinking Smash (game that sells well ) Bayonetta (awesome games that need more sales)...however I just thought about the rating disparity... so that might not happen (even though most of the sony and ms bundles are M rated games.)

Granted, with your suggestion, the more people that play W101 the better the world will be.

I like the Wii Wheel for Mario kart, but I don't use it often.

@sillygostly It's possible for five players with the Gamepad, but it would involve two Wii U's and two games. Ultimately Sonic Racing Transformed was the only game to get that feature right on the Wii U.

@Darknyht Food, taxes and insurance always go up, we can't replace those w/ something else unless we learn how to eat dirt and rocks. Those are the necessities. Phones, tvs, game consoles - liesure goods - always go down as the technology becomes obsolete. I bought my 52" tv a few years ago for $1200. Now a 55" tv can be had for $500. Wii U has to go down b/c Wii, PS3, Xbox360 are cheaper, and Xbox One and PS4 offer you more for almost the same price.

There's no value in 3 year old technology that costs the same now as it did 3 years ago.

People who buy technology fall into different groups - the early adopters who want it NOW and pay any price, "when it's on sale" people who only buy stuff on sale, and the "last years technology" people who are always a generation behind b/c its good enough and much cheaper.

The Wii U isn't appealing to any of those right now.

@rjejr
I do think $250 would be appropriate, but not until the holidays. Let them milk a little more time at the $300 mark first. It's not like it's gonna make a drastic difference until the holidays anyways.

I think the fact they launched at $350 which was already lower than the $400 and $500 consoles of the competition, then dropped another $50 within the first year... I think that's why the price hasn't dropped further yet. Because it's already low. It is an active system less than 3 years into it's lifespan after all. A price drop is due soon, without a doubt, just... not quite yet.

EDIT: And not everyone is in it for the "tech". Some people- and I truly believe this is who Nintendo has always marketed to- some people just care about playing good games. I don't think price is the issue at all actually. Plenty of people ARE aware of the Wii U, but they're not aware of how fun the games are. You have to SHOW people gameplay that peaks their interest. And like the Wii, which everyone knew about, very few knew about all the great games on the system. And those that did, they weren't shown anything to make them believe THEY would actually enjoy them.

This is why marketing is so important. Because there are so many great games out there, but most people glance over them, relegating them to "not interested" category in their mind without ever truly considering how much fun they could be. Like me and MGSV. I ignored it. Everyone was saying how great it was, but none of that mattered. Because I had already decided it wasn't for me, before ever really actually looking into it. It wasn't until my brother SHOWED me the game that I realized what I was missing.

People would gladly pay full price for Wii U, IF the masses knew what they were missing. And that's something Nintendo needs to figure out how to solve. People's ignorance of Wii's great library left a bad taste in thir mouth, and that bad taste is affecting their judgement now.

@Patriplexity Same. I read that and my eyes lit up. I was really excited, then I read the full title and got brought back to reality.

$299? I was actually considering this but maybe if it was more around the ball park of $200.

@JaxonH I understand Nintendo's thinking and justification, I just think a price cut is already a year overdue. I'm sure they'll milk SMM as long as they can, but the problem of waiting until the holidays is what happens if PS4 and X1 strike first? PS4 is selling all they can make at this point but I wouldn't be surprised it if hit $350 this holiday, maybe $300 for X1, why look reactionary when you can look in command? And neither Yoshi Wooly's World nor Star Fox will get the general mass market audience that SMM will get, might as well make the holiday push start now and sell the thing.

And the earlier people buy the system the more money they'll have for games for the holidays. Wait until the holidays to drop the price then people will buy the system for Christmas and maybe 1 or 2 games. And w/ Lego Dimensions coming out people will need a LOT of money for that. Did the math on Amazon last week, $625 (or $675 I forget) for the currently announced game and 3 types of packs. Thats a lot of money. Summer is over, people are making their wish lists and budgeting for the holidays, have to make them think Wii U is the way to go before it's too late.

They will probably wait for Yoshi mid Oct and get what sales they can on the back of SMM at $300, I just think that's too late. They announced WW HD and the price adjustment in Sept 2013. How is SMM not the ideal time?

Some good news - Target last night had the kiosk all SMM decked out AND a playable demo. Kind of surprised NL didn't cover it, demo's are a big deal in my book, especially when Nintendo does 1. Target also has a $30 GC offer for Wii U, I think it's the SM3DW bundle. And a free rubik's cube w/ game purcahse. Considered canceling my Amazon order but that $10 Prime savings is tough for me to give up, not sure that cube is worth $10.

The ad is the top of page 14, can't grab it. Just think how much better it would look w/ a $50 price drop though.

http://weeklyad.target.com/site/#/brooklyn-ny-11210/page/Target-150906

While I do understand the price point from Nintendo's stand point of profitability, but as a consumer - one that more than likely knows that the Wii U is coming to a rapid close - $300 is way too much to spend if I were "on the fence". More than likely, parents and kids do not know about the NX, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone remotely "in the know" who doesn't. I think a $250 or even $200 price point would do wonders to move systems off shelves and out of warehouses that would otherwise sit unsold at all.

@DarthNocturnal Since when did I say anything about amiibo?

@HawkeyeWii $200 for a Wii U with Mario Kart 8 and two DLC packs? The New 3DS is out now with no games and no charger for $200.

@Monado_III Um... no, they can drop the price by $50+ and still be making money. It costs them only a little more than $200 to make the Wii U and that is going from an estimation from almost last year. It is probably even cheaper now which is why Nintendo is easily making profits off it and a price cut is long overdue. A Price cut needs to happen if Nintendo expects to move more units moderately.

@rjejr
Oh, fun target deal! My new job allows for me to be there early in the morning, too, so I'll be in line. Bought a preorder card way back and now I'm wondering if I can get the 8-bit Mario amiibo with it. :/ The rubik's cube is kinda nice, actually. Not sure I quite get the connection.

I'm with you on price cut. I have been for awhile now. That MK8 bundle is a good deal and any bundle will be nice, but I think the price tag makes a big difference for the gamers who are looking at Wii U as that second console. When that Splatoon bundle at Best Buy was on, I almost bit because I was actually contemplating a second Wii U! If it wasn't for my lapse in employment...

I mean, I see @JaxonH on my other shoulder. It's all very reasonable, but then I see that Target ad and they are hinging on Mario Maker as a System seller and adding that extra $30 promotion. They see it a bit clearer than Nintendo, I think.

People get excited about stuff like this (make my own Super Mario stages!), and while they'll spend extra for their primary console and entertainment device we are well past that for Wii U and most people that get excited about consoles. Right now, they want that game and it costs $360. The previous investment in another console just makes it hurt more.

The MM bundle speaks to this, but still... $300 game.

I'd honestly like to see Nintendo be at $200 for Wii U by now. For one consumer, I'd own two. :/

@rjejr I agree with that, but at the same time if you start by selling at a loss it takes a while for technology to become affordable. If we look at the latest price drop on the Wii U Splatoon Edition as an indicator, then the get it out of the store without loss price is $275. That means Nintendo would have to go back to taking a loss for the console again.

But I agree, they need to do something because Apple TV is just around the corner with $150 competition that just might swallow up the low end of the gaming market.

EDIT: plus they have to deal with things like "Get a 1TB Xbox One Halo bundle plus a $100 gift card for $399.99"

@ningeek185

Whoops! My bad. Page must've jumped when I clicked reply. I was responding to @JLPick

They should do one more update with some proper battle mode arenas, reissue the physical copies with everything on the disc and change the title to 'Super Mario Kart 8.'

@ningeek185 When you consider the price of some amazing bundles for PS4 and XboxOne that have like 3-4 games and then this which only has 1 game with it..... so yeah yeah around or a little over $200 for this bundles seems completely reasonable.

When you think about, its not that good of a deal.

I'd rather get the Mario Kart 8 Bundle that comes with Nintendoland.

I have the original bundle and honestly, the wheel is lame. I think I used it once. I don't bother with the motion controls in Mario Kart 8. Much prefer to use my pro-controller.

Now the Wiimote on the other hand was a great bonus.

@HawkeyeWii Since when did the PS4 have a bundle with multiple games? Even if it did, it would still be twice as much as a $200 Wii U.

As for Xbox One, the Master Chief Collection is the only bundle so far that features multiple games; however, all of them are older and some outdated so they're not worth as much.

pretty confident there's gonna be more DLC for MK8. and i'll buy indeed like the sheep I am

Jeez when the hell will they consider a price reduction for wii u?? We all know it's not flying off the store shelves! Even 25 bucks!

@doomgc I don't know about that.. It seems to me that they would have already announced more DLC by now if it was going to happen. I have a suspicion that even though the DLC obviously sold very well, they don't wanna put out anymore because they don't want to further fragment the online community with more courses. Then again, I would suspect nearly everyone who regularly races online has both packs and would purchase any additional packs...

Also, it's possible the team is working on the next entry in the series now.

No-brainer deal. A few of the DLC tracks (Hyrule Circuit, Big Blue, Wild Wood) are the best tracks in the game, so it's awesome that the whole set is included

Splatburst you are my hero.

Splatburst you are my hero.

Had the pre-installed game of Mario Kart 8 came with the DLC ALSO pre-installed, I would've considering buying this bundle...