Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Producer On The Game's Popularity And Accessibility

They’ve done too much to make the game accessible. I don’t know. I liked how In some of the games you could dodge red shells by just drifting.

Adding more tracks to Mario Kart 8 was definitely a good choice, instead of creating a sequel. I still think it's one of the best MK experiences you can get. The only thing I'd love to see added is more racers, but perhaps Nintendo can do a Nintendo All Star Racers instead, with a roster similar to Smash Ultimate at some point.

Yeah I would have much preferred a sequel to be honest, or another racing game like Donkey Kong Racing or F-Zero, if they wanted to go this route at least give us a new game in those franchises!

Mario Kart deluxe is an awesome game with so many tracks and more on the way, and the DLC is better as a sequel would need to be on newer hardware, a slight shake up to the tried and tested formula for Mario kart on Switch 2 please.

A Mario themed hub world would be awesome.

I love Iwata so much. It helps me rest easy knowing Nintendo still tries to embody his lessons. I highly recommend everyone pick up the "Iwata Asks" book--even if you aren't an avid reader. It's a quick read and has several wonderful nuggets of wisdom from Iwata about how to ethically manage a company. I'm being completely unironic when I say that I laughed and cried while reading it.

That said, the new track selections unfortunately do feel a bit "cheap" compared to the base game, despite this developer insisting otherwise. I hope they take time to add a little extra polish to the subsequent courses, and maybe touch up the first batch in an update later on.

I'm perhaps jumping the gun, and I know this would probably upset a lot of people, but at this point, I'd love to see Mario Kart 8 get a second Booster Course Pass, lol. Really make this the Smash Ultimate of Mario Kart: "Everywhere is here!" Even if the courses don't quite love up to my expectations, it's still awesome to have so many fan-favorites in one singular game.

"The Game Boy Advance track ‘Sky Garden’ (released in 2001) was originally a flat plain, but we added some verticality to the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe version."

And cut 50% of the track...

unless i've missed it, i don't understand why you can't select any 4 tracks you want (or more / less) for local multiplayer races, instead of being stuck to the pre-defined cups. I want to be able to race all my favourite tracks in multiplayer, not have to sit through a couple of annoying tracks to get to a great one!

it's great we're getting all these DLC tracks, but a shame i can't , for e.g. recreate a cup of just N64 tracks.

@Dimey you should select versus race instead of grandprix, then you can select what you want..

Us WiiU owners did the beta release. Battle mode was played on the same tracks as the races if you can believe it, lol

Just wish the item balancing was better. As it currently is, you have one person way ahead of the pack using a meta build of heavy character + tiny wheels + wiggler car, then the rest of the pack gets nothing but endless mushrooms/stars/bullet bills. But the pack just ends up hitting each other constantly with this stuff, and the top 2 or 3 players just never drop in placement. And this is because the game gives out items based on a player's physical distance from 1st place, not your actual numerical placement. It's just super bland getting 99% mushrooms and stars, with any shells or actual interesting items just hitting others in the cluster, meaning nobody from that cluster ever gets the chance to move ahead of the pack while 1st has it super easy. Its such a dumb system, and helps nobody to actually benefit very much in a race.

Also bring back the good drifting... this style of "hold it for X time to get blue/orange/purple spark" isn't interesting at all and needs very little effort to achieve. DS and older style of wiggling the stick/dpad back and forth is so much better. Maybe have a hybrid of the two in future.

@Not_Soos I read Iwata’s book a couple of months ago, and completely agree with you. His warmth and passion for both video games and his co-workers really shone through, and his tips for being an ethical and compassionate leader should be in any Management 101 course.

@NinChocolate Yeah, most of them didn't really fit as multiplayer-levels, but one of my kids who has played both games actually misses the Yoshi-level in multiplayer from the Wii U version, that was cut in MK Deluxe. I think he may be right with that one.

I am so glad they went with the extra cups both now and back when this was a wiiu game. It’s at this point the closest thing to perfect Mario Kart. I could honestly see this carrying the next switch if the add courses again and MK tour is a nice source since not everyone will have played it.

Booster Character Pass next, with Mario characters (none of this Nintendo all stars bollix thanks).
Pauline
Wiggler
Hammer Bro
Dixie Kong
Professor E Gadd
Toadsworth
Boom-boom
Pow-pow
Kamek
Captain Toad
Monty Mole
Chargin Chuck

My bet is MK9 will launch with the next console Nintendo releases (2024 at the earliest).

@Alaninho Birdo?

It is as perfect a Mario Kart experience as you can hope for.

Honestly the only other addition I want is the Automatic drift brought back. While I drift manually, I always found automatic mode essential when introducing someone new to the series, so they can focus on driving and items. Drifting has always required more practice and isn't "pick up and play" like Mario Kart should be.

All I want is Zelda as a playable character

"Competitive communication tool." I love this. Nintendo really get how multiplayer games are a social activity where what goes on off screen matters as much as the game itself. I love Mario Kart and Mario Party for exactly that reason.

And yes, more characters would be great. Pauline's a must, and when are we going to be able to race as a Goomba?

@mariomaster96 What? No, they didn't, all they did was smooth out some of the sharper turns for Tour. The staff ghosts are 1:44:000 in the DS version (with layout equivalent to the original) and 1:42:267 on MK8D.

@Bret "No, they didn't, all they did was smooth out some of the sharper turns for Tour."
That's what I meant...
I'm not talking about the length of the track per se but the amount of curves. Just compare the minimap from the original to that one from MK8DX, that just isn't Sky Garden anymore

Yeah very much respect the 5-95 philosophy. I think it's very easy to get caught up in vocal contingent of gamers between late teens to 40s who dominate discussion but don't represent the full range of players.

Who if listened to would probably have given everyone RPSI from DS-style snaking drift/turbos.

@AlexanderDaniels Definitely Birdo, silly me for assuming they’d included Birdo ahead of Lesser-Spotted Baby Rubberised Green Tungsten Peach and Quokka Mario.

@Rosalinho I guess there’s nothing to stop Goomba driving with his feet… the winged version might have more chance though!

I mean 8 is really good maybe the best or close to the best (although my childhood favorite is still Wii) but I honestly would’ve liked a new sequel I’ll get the dlc for 8 eventually but not right now

@Pillowpants - I do not think they'll ever go down that way. The guest characters they have now are all NPD. Meaning Nintendo directly controls them. Not to mention Mario isolated ain't even tapped out of roster options.

Much easier to walk across a hallway and tell EPD 8 that they want to add Isabelle, as opposed to running the red tape gauntlet for two different games, expanding development of major tentpole franchises to 7 year-minimum development cycles cause we gotta "Smashify" every party game in the future.

@Paraka I didn't exactly mean characters outside of Nintendo owned IPs, hence I named it Nintendo All Star Racing. It's just one of my wishes, I don't see it becoming a reality either, but a fanboy can dream.

@mariomaster96 There's 3 other retro courses in Tour that do something similar (GBA Cheep Cheep Island, GBA Sunset Wilds and SNES Vanilla Lake 2).

@Paraka Kirby, Sonic, Mega Man, and Pac-Man all have Mii racing suits. Maybe amiibo licensing agreements made that easier to realize, though

@mariomaster96 To add insult to injury, in another section of the interview, Yabuki talked about how they were going to keep the tracks faithful to their original versions

@PikaPhantom - Depends what was written about the amiibo contracts. Amiibo deals are also not definitive as a work around, as other amiibo don't have Mii costumes.

It's more of a lucky relic from the Wii U that Nintendo thought to reinvest in to sell more amiibo.

@quinnyboy58 sequel by now and these tracks should have been released years ago

@LUIGITORNADO
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (and specifically Deluxe) has definitely done way too much for accessibility to the point where skill isn't that much needed when Smart Steering is involved. It would've been much better had they implemented the Automatic steering mode from Mario Kart Wii, because at least you can still learn how to drive properly. Smart Steering is the sole reason why I lost against some friends in MK8DX and I will never forget that moment.

@ModdedInkling You lost to someone using smart steering? That's odd. Smart steering doesn't really help you win, it's designed to keep small children from driving off the track and smashing into the walls the entire time. It doesn't take the most efficient routes, doesn't steer perfectly, and it prevents you from taking shortcuts. It isn't good at drafting/passing, and doesn't drift corners for you, which is a huge part of building/maintaining speed.

It is very easy to beat people using smart steering if you have even the slightest clue what you're doing. You just have to learn a few shortcuts and drive good racing lines. I've literally LOST a race or two because I didn't realize smart steering was turned on until it was too late.

@ModdedInkling The only time I can think of where smart steering actually gives you something close to an advantage compared to normal steering is 200cc Rainbow Road. That first big turn is a tricky one.

If you are losing against someone using smart steering, you should check your combo choices and look into improving your driving skills.

With Smart Steering you can’t take shortcuts, do purple sparks, ride super tight bends with two wheels off track or use no mushroom shortcuts, so with a balanced combo with your favorite skills and good driving and use of shortcuts and items, you should be on first with no problem.

What combo are you using? And your Smart steering rival?

Interesting argument that they needed to “add verticality” to Sky Garden. They could have done that, and, I don’t know, kept the really cool shortcuts that force you to time your hops, which made the track one of my favorites in DS?

I wish they would make it so that the most popular track voted for in a lobby is the one that gets selected. 11 people picking a DLC track only for the roulette to land on the one dolt who picked Toad’s Turnpike is a joke

@mariomaster96 I don't remember that happening.

@AlliMeadow
Woah, I think you're the one who needs to calm down, throwing insults like that. I'm just a bit irked that such feature exists by default, which I guess sort of makes sense to an extent, but like I said, it doesn't teach that skill set like Automatic steering does in Mario Kart Wii.

@BAN
I suppose there's that problem of Smart Steering being a detriment to skilled players... I'm just a bit annoyed that it doesn't do as well of a job teaching players how to play the game as something like Mario Kart Wii did.

@Paddle1
My friend is terrible at steering without that smart Steering. I find it to be a bit broken if it doesn't punish failed drifts.

@ModdedInkling Yeah well, I'm of the opinion that the best/only way to learn those skills is to play without any assistance and practice until you're proficient. No automatic aids are going to help you as much as just knowing the basics will.