The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe File Size Speeds Into View

Never ceases to amaze me how efficient Nintendo is when it comes to file compression. Pretty much no one in the business compares to them.

(Shin'en is no slouch either though, if you look at Fast RMX)

Why doesn't this game support the Daisy amiibo?

I'll be there. Really loved MK8, but sorely missed the battle mode! I can't wait to play this on the Switch!

Nope will be buying the cart version. Still like to have physical copies of games.

Awesome, I'm going digital with all of my games this generation! It seems like it's becoming the standard now for everything; Movies, Albums/Songs, Games and ect.

Got 2 200gb micro SD Cards all ready!

@dethmart The digital version has faster loading times.

But still...Nintendo where are my Daisy and Boo amiibo suits? You added a Daisy amiibo suit for Miitopia recently...

@memoryman3 think the better question is why does any game support any amiibo? All it is, is locked game content behind a toy.

I'll wait until it's cheaper, too early in Switch's life cycle for slightly remastered Wii U games, should be Arms released next then Spla2oon and then this.
I'm sure it will be great for those that don't own a Wii U.
As a Wii U owner I'd like new games for my new console.
I'll go back to my Wii U and play my backlog.

Man I wish Nintendo had created a discount system for Wii U owners. I just can't pay full price again.

My Breath of the Wild Master Edition carrying case has slots to hold physical games that needs to get filled up.

Edit: Also. Going all digital on my Wii U with no discount coming for the new Mario Kart 8 has taught me something. I'm now stuck owning the inferior version of a game that I'd have to pay full price to upgrade.

Always physical!!

Might wait for the price to drop first. I already own the game on Wii U, so it will need to drop to at least £20 before I will consider buying.

It would be nice if Nintendo gave a loyalty discount on Switch download for those that went all digital with MK8 + dlc on Wii U, it's all connected through MyNintendo after all.

Remember this
free image uploading

Buy games for your switch and get gold points and platinum points to redeem discounts for Wii u and 3ds games.

What if you only have a switch?

Always physical. Nintendo have a (still ongoing) track record of being awful with digital. I'll stick with the physical game card over anything else.

I know it's got a new battle mode, but does that mean they've gotten rid of the original battle mode from MK8 on Wii U?

Tempted to get this one digitally but my physical collection is just Zelda and Bomberman so far. I've got the money on the eShop for it already... You can get a cool Boo mug as a pre-order gift from Nintendo.co.uk though. Torn.

I need more games.

Still hoping for Petey Piranha at some point. 🤞

@EternalDragonX that is why I own all the Breath of the Wild amiibos and the 3 treasure chest DLC. Couldn't shake the nagging feeling I didn't have the complete experience. 8 bit link and the smash bros zelda figures were luckily in my collection already. Resisting getting the rest of the zelda anniversary amiibo collection...for now.

I'll only need the space offered by my Switch cart slot.

Looking forward to this more than i expected, FAST RMX has reminded me how much fun racing games are on portables.

Really looking forward to my favorite Mario Kart on the go. Got it preordered, though I've been thinking about downloading it instead since I just love to play some spontaneous MK from time to time.

@Moon Ironic how they added King Boo and a Boo item, yet they completely forgot to add Boo amiibo support...

@EternalDragonX Agreed. I'm fine with paying for extra content (when it is worth it), but really don't want to fill my life with useless crapmiibos.

When I get a Switch, I'll be going digital-only. It's rare that I trade in a Nintendo game, and I suspect it's handy to have them all in one place when using the Switch while travelling. The only thing I see changing my position on that is if eshop prices are still a farce.

Always impressive how Nintendo can make such beautiful games with the small file sizes they do. Just amazing.

@dethmart Ditto.

@Mortenb @EternalDragonX For the most part, the additional content is nothing major, and is often cosmetic only. So it isn't like you are missing anything huge. It's just a nice little perk for the collectors. I would never buy an amiibo for the extra content, but that's just me - I see some others have. Which is exactly what Nintendo wants, so I guess mission accomplished.

@Matthew010

Mario Kart is one of those evergreen titles that always seems to command a high price so I think you'll be waiting quite a long time for the price to drop so much.

I also had it on Wii U but I never did buy any of the DLC so with all of that included this time and also the new Battle mode I feel it just about justifies a double dip (for me at least..... I realise everyone's circumstances are slightly different)

Managed to pre-order it a while back for £42

@UK-Nintendo these rewards were offered when the switch wasn't out yet...

@roadrunner343 That is good. Everyone's different. I guess it's nice to get that little bonus for those who do want all these little figures lying about.

@memoryman3 That is pretty strange. I think the amiibo support in this game isn't very compelling anyway. It seems like they might be trying to move away from Miis, though... I haven't seen them much on the Switch.

@Akropolon the reason many of nintendo's games are so small is because they barely use any textures lol

One BIG Question about Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was.....
.....
.....
The "?" Icon on the Bottom Right.
It shown during Demo.
What was that actually ?
A Random Option ?
Or probably Mii since it didn't show any Mii using during Demo ?

@memoryman3 They left Daisy out because she's the worst character in the Mario universe. But yeah, Boo should have a costume; Waluigi too.

@Moon
I saw "?" Icon during Character Select Demo. I still have no idea if it was a Random Option OR it will be replaced with Mii Icon in the future...

@Marios-love-child
I bought the DLC, but I really like the look of the new battle mode. Maybe I'll wait fpr it to drop to £30. They might do a christmas sale?

@manu0 You say "barely use any textures", I say "smart and efficient use of assets."

Nintendo might use "less" textures, but their unparallelled application of them makes for some timeless lookers (Paper Mario: TTYD, The Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, Skyward Sword, etc.).

@Deeko yeah I'm in the same boat purchased on wii digitally with the dlc was hoping we would hear some news. if I remember right at the reveal of the switch reggie said they were listening to fans who buy digital games. looks like that was a lie

as much as I'm thirsty for Mario content n the switch if this don't get discounted I won't be buying it any time soon at the current price.

@roadrunner343 I don't care if its a new Title Screen, it's still content that was cut from the game to sell you another way.

Hope for portable digital libraries resurface...

Amazing really how so small it is and how beautiful it looks.

@Akropolon
Nintendo uses a lot of Cartoonish looking rather than Ultra Realistic style for their games. Nintendo Cartoonish games will never looks like FF XV. That Cartoonish looking is the Selling Point.

@EternalDragonX You mean content that wouldn't be there in the first place if it weren't for the amiibo? I'm pretty sure Nintendo's design philosophy goes more like "what can we add for amiibo usage", not "we have this game idea ready, what can we take away from players and lock them behind these plastic toys". I personally own 30 or so amiibos but not because I want to use them in games. I like to look at them on my shelf. I don't think the content they unlock is ever anything special. It's not something I'd complain about. I can do without it. I haven't used mine in any game other than Smash Bros. when it came out.

@EternalDragonX I won't completely disagree. Some may say that it was added specifically for the amiibo. I don't have a problem with the cosmetic stuff amiibo typically add. I have a bigger problem with other companies day 1 DLC. That irks me.

@Late I'm with you there - I have the complete SSB collection (Then I called it quits) because I think the figures look awesome. I think I only scanned a handful into Super Mario Maker, but otherwise, I never use them for anything. The content they add typically isn't even worth my time finding the amiibo, scanning it, and putting it back. But maybe that's a testament to my laziness, and not the quality of content =D

@Late You don't think they cut some outfits from BOTW for amiibo? That's pretty naive if you ask me, I mean no offense. You realize how many quests and treasure chest have junk gems or 50 rupees that could of had the content that was in amiibo? I could argue that amiibo ruined BOTW for me. I stopped doing quests and hunting for chests because of that alone. It's disgraceful and I reviewed the game I would have eviscerated it for it.

Still buying physically.

@Anti-Matter And also more timeless, if you ask me. Most Nintendo titles hold up really well, even years later. Once you go for a 'realistic' art direction, technological limitations just show way earlier.

Went digital with PS3,PS4,3ds,Wii u.i mind as well do the same with the switch since I've already started

Over 5 GB is a no go for me. I will buy it physical so it will retains its value. Full price content deserves a cartridge.

Physical for me; I just prefer the boxes and the disc/cartridges.

Amazing, a full game plus all DLC packs and a bit of new content, and it's still smaller than the average PS4 game PATCH.

Hate to miss the Prime discount, but I may just go with digital on this one as it's a game I'm likely to pick up and play a round randomly through the life of the console... But I lament for my missing box art.

You can't share digital games with your friends. And you cannot resell them if you get tired of them. I prefer physical for those reasons. If SD cards load more quickly than Switch cards, that's because Nintendo is using cheaper, slower storage on purpose which is a shame.

With my Amazon Prime discount, I'm getting Mario Kart for $47. That savings, plus the fact that I can probably get $15-20 for it a year from now if I decide to sell or trade it in makes it worth buying the physical release. (MK8 for Wii-U, a game released three years ago, nets $15 at GameStop.)

I do consider MK8, if purely for the local multiplayer fun so far (still got a lot to catch up with in MK7). And I'm all the more convinced that I'll get by on internal memory until summer (fancying a 128 Gb card after all, so that will likely take July's meatier payday to get there).

On a less related note, yes, I finally got a Switch last weekend.

@UK-Nintendo you'll have to wait for the teased Switch rewards. But IIRC gold points last a year now, and the rewards should come sooner than that.

@nhSnork I hope so

@memoryman3 : It's an odd oversight that none of the later Super Mario series amiibo are supported in this game (and that could have given them some much needed added value for those disinterested in Star Rush). You'd think that they would have updated Mario Party 10 to support them considering how barebones the Amiibo Party mode is (and MP10 is one of the best selling games on Wii U, so it may have been worth their while to continue to support the game). I can't imagine them being particularly big sellers though as Waluigi and Daisy are just roster fillers, and have never added anything significant to any Mario franchise game. Maybe they can be spun off into their own self-deprecating "Rejection Army" IP filled with neglected Super Mario extras and palette swapped characters. =P

I hope that the various Splatoon amiibo each unlock different costumes rather than just a single generic Splatoon-themed outfit (the orange one in the trailers is quite ugly). The Squid Sisters and recolour amiibo are among the most useless amiibo available so far, so it would be nice if they unlock unique costumes in MK8D.

Nintendo are getting lazier and lazier with amiibo implementation these days. None of the Zelda amiibo offer anything substantial to any Zelda game, apart from making valuable ammo easier to obtain in BotW and Hyrule Warriors. Yes, they're pretty, and it's nice that some of them unlock amiibo-exclusive items/costumes, but that alone doesn't make them worth the high cost of entry, particularly as they demand a higher price than regular amiibo.

@EternalDragonX I'm not even aware of what you can get with amiibo in BotW since I'm avoiding spoilers. I'm still playing the game and enjoying my time. That said, if it's some costumes like the DLC Switch shirt then I don't care.

@dethmart it becomes less compelling when you're on a train and your realise you left Mario Kart at home because the missus was playing 12S the night before.

Own 2 Switches so will always buy physical plus physical is way cheaper.

I own MK8 for Wii U and I will not hesitate buying it for the Switch.

I'm waiting on Nintendo to come out with a flood of news in hopes that they will offer an incentive for those that have MK8 already. Probably unlikely, but if they do I'd buy it for Switch, otherwise I can live without it

@Akropolon It's 850 times as big as Mario 64

Day one buy for me, but I'm going with a physical copy rather than digital.

Going to get the physical release rather than download only for the fact that I have both 7 and 8 in physical form and to stay with the trend.

7 is an awesome game but 8 is the best kart so needless to say I'm super excited for deluxe!!

See you on the track on the 28th!!

As if Nintendo gamers download their games anyways.

Seriously Nintendolife run a poll and ask these guys if they buy physical or if they download their games.

Not like Nintendo themselves has given any confidence or incentives for downloading vs. physical, mind you.

As for MK8D, I can see the comments now after the hype dies and the game is out. "Man, love me some MK8D but I wish there was a little more to it. Already played all of this on my Wii U"

Already have mine preordered. Sold the Wii U version of the game and put it toward this, so I only ended up paying around $30 for it.

So hyped for portable Mario Kart 8!

"USK 0"
Approved newborns, you say?

@UK-Nintendo My Nintendo is really awful. I miss Club Nintendo, it wasn't as badly.

Digital as I always wished MK 7 was digital launch so I wouldn't need to carry around carts

Preordered the cartridge, but that size is super reasonable.

@123akis that wouldn't help anything. The reason digital games are the price they are is so that they are not competing with retailers on price. If Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft started pricing digital cheap right out of the gate, people would be more inclined to buy digital vs physical and hurt physical sales, which will make retailers not want to carry games. They still need that physic presence in stores, so they are not going to do something that upsets retailers. It's not about retailers being left out.

@chiptoon Sell your Wii U copy. I got £28 for mine, and between £25-30 for other titles (Smash, LEGO City etc) that are coming to Switch.

I'll be impressed if they patch in the Deluxe Battle Mode in the Wii U version; don't have a Switch yet.

That's great. I'm going to purchase a 32GB SD Card. I mainly buy retail games (physical), and digital-only games are smaller and cheaper, so... I never used more than 30GB on my WiiU and I had almost 40 digital games (100gb of the HDD were never used).

I already pre-ordered the cartridge version from GameStop back when I pre-ordered the Switch, so that's the way it's gonna be, although seeing the digital download size does make it tempting for MicroSD storage.

MK8D will probably get A LOT of air time on my Switch. So much so, I probably won't even be worried about changing out a cart or selling the cart, so I may just download it and have it forever. Either way, I'm glad it's a respectable download size.

You must be mad to buy a digital Nintendo game, how many times have we paid for downloaded games only for Nintendo to make us pay again on a different console? I'm really hoping they're moving on "Mario kart 8 Deluxe" doesn't really bode well does it?

I want a physical cart no matter what. They're cheaper, you can resell them, and you never have to worry about using it in the future. Digital has ruined movie rentals ($3-4 to rent an old movie?), and I'm not looking forward to the digital-only future in gaming.

@Dakt Nearly all Battle Mode assets are brand new.

@sillygostly All Splatoon Series amiibo only unlock the orange costume. It's easy to code a game to allow amiibo based on a series like Animal Crossing or Splatoon. Just one line will do

Animal Crossing is Series5

Splatoon is Series8

Meanwhile, the Super Mario amiibo are split between two series (Smash and Super Mario), so individual character ID's have to be used.

For Daisy, it's 0x0013.

For Waluigi, it's 0x0014.

For Boo, it's 0x0017 (after Goomba and Shy Guy).

Also, they would obviously need 3 different suits. Funnily enough, Miitopia, a game coming soon, supports Daisy but not the other two.

I'm going physical for most games, but MK8 and the inevitable Super Smash Bros. are my two notable exceptions, just for convenience and frequency of use.

I'm going 100% digital, so this is good to hear.

Always amazes me how well physical copies of Nintendo games hold there price.
Another reason I'll be buying cartridges

Still will be buying retail because I like cases and games, they just feel cool. Also you can trade or sell them later if you want, or just treasure them forever

Battle Mode and the few new characters/items being just 500MB is pretty good.

MARIO KART 8 IS LIKE WATCHING MY FAVORITE KIND OF MOVIES, WHICH IS THE INDIAN COLORFUL MOVIES.
THE COLORS ARE SO SWEET, YOU JUST CAN'T STOP WATCHING IT. CHEERS!!!

I'm not totally decided on how I want to roll with the switch. I really like having the cartridges as I like to collect and the physical cartridges are nice to have. The portable nature of the console makes having a large digital library a nice thing. I may have to get the carts for at the very least the first party games. I picked up a 200GB SD card with my console so I figure I'll have plenty of room to store quite a decent library on my console.

Luigi death stare best be back!

They could re-release this 20 times and if I get more Luigi death stare I will buy it every time. lol

@VR32F1END My thoughts exactly. I have the same Zelda Switch case which has a lot of game card slots to fill. I kinda like the idea of going physical despite the fact I have a 200GB sd card in my Switch. The hard lesson I learned last gen was going all digital with my 3DS. It was cool having 70 or so games on board at all times, but there were about 7 full priced, large file games I didn't end up liking and wish I could sell somehow but I'm stuck with them. And that sucks.
I'm thinking I'll buy major releases physically and let VC and eshop exclusive titles live on the sd card. Doing that, 200GB should last the entire Switch's lifespan.

Will there be a small discount if you already purchased the digital Wii U version?

@BigKing @Akropolon It's absolutely incredible (in comparison) to think that Mario 64 was around 8 Megabytes. 8!!!! The entire groundbreaking world/game is the size of a single decent modern camera photo. Wow.

Meanwhile, I'm seriously looking forward to this game being portable - I hope there will be a few additional announcements/secrets that haven't been spoken of yet however. Probably not, but fingers crossed.

Meanwhile Meanwhile - WAVE RACE SWITCH please Nintendo. Don't argue with me Reggie.. just do it... Do It.

I wonder if YouTube uploads will be back in the Switch version. Frankly, I found its implementation in Wii U highly disappointing as it needs to be uploaded in the software itself. I would rather have the rendered file on the micro SD card so I can upload it at my own pace.

@gatorboi352 I always download all of my games. The incentive is the convenience of always having the game there, not having to look for it and get up and put the game in, and then take it out when I want to play something else.

@Deanster101 It's not like you can play your physical games from the previous gen on the Switch either.

I'm torn between physical and digital with the Switch.

I normally like physical but I actually find swapping the carts is a bit of a pain. It's so nice to start up Graceful Explosion at the press of a button.

Then again, I am worried with how Nintendo deals with my digital library...will I have access to my titles in the future? And no resell value of course.

Decisions, decisions....

Day 1 for me. I'm not that interested in Battle Mode but I've never played Mario Kart 8 before. So this is an obvious one for me. I'm going digital with this one and future releases. Since I always forget to bring 1-2 Switch cart with me everytime I take my Switch out. I realize I'll be better going digital only.

Already pre-ordered it. I did get the DLC on the Wii U version, but the Battle Mode, portability, and general improvements pretty much makes it a day 1 buy. The sale on Amazon makes things even better.

not only going physical...but buying at Costco. This way, if i don't like it a month down the road i can return it..