Mario Kart 8 (2014)

“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.” -Mario Andretti

Full disclosure, I’m not a fan of racing games. That’s why I hardly review ’em. Unless there’s some kind of gimmick, I avoid them for their perceived uniformity and blandness. So then why did I just impulse-buy Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, recently released on the Nintendo Switch? Because the game looked like it really delivers Nintendo’s favorite word: Fun. And it I can attest that it does. It is exhilarating, heart-pounding, joyous, innocent and unadulterated fun.

I cannot overstate how much that surprised me. Mario Kart is a 25-year-old Nintendo franchise and I checked out from it 20 years ago. The novelty of playing a racing game as my favorite Nintendo characters wasn’t enough to draw me into every new title they put out in the series, as with each new title that novelty wore thin. I loved the founding game on the SNES and Mario Kart 64, but most of the filler in between flew right past me.

And then comes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Here is a game I was never excited about back when it was merely an announcement for the Switch. I followed those announcements pretty closely and while Breath of the Wild, the Nindies, and the games by Square tickled my fancy, MK 8 Deluxe was on the same tier as Arms, that being the “I couldn’t care less” tier.

Then it launched. Then everyone was playing it. Then it started getting galactic reviews. Then I accidentally purchased it and I haven’t looked back since. I’ve been going too fast.

Touted as the best Mario Kart game, which is really saying something considering how many go-kart outings these characters have seen, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a port of the Wii U game Mario Kart 8. Nintendo apparently refined and balanced certain aspects of the original game while adding and expanding features for the re-release. This was undeniably a smart move on their part. With the Wii U having sold as poorly as it did, there aren’t a whole lot of people who played Mario Kart 8 and therefore this might as well be a totally brand new game. It was to me.

The goal of MK8D is the same as all racing games: complete a certain number of laps around a racetrack and reach the finish line in first place. There are generally twelve other racers on the track with you. Racetracks include underwater and anti-gravity sections testing the limits of your skills. You modify your personalized kart based on the body, the tires, and the glider. New kart parts are unlocked after collecting a certain amount of coins, 30 coins for each part until reaching 450 coins, after which the requirement changes to 50 before changing again at 1200 to 100. Coins are scattered across the racetracks.

During a race, you rely on speed, acceleration, weight, handling, and traction to succeed, as well as picking up items from item boxes to use against your opponents. Some examples of items take the form of banana peels, mushrooms that give you a burst of speed, invincibility stars, and homing red koopa shells. You can trip up your opponents with these to pull ahead, while keeping an eye out for obstacles, jumps, and boosts, braking when absolutely necessary. A mark of the series, you can make your kart take a little hop which can be used to drift around turns. Drifting longer triggers special boosts, which are essential. These core elements of items and trick turns make MK8D a very fast-paced and aggressive racing experience with tremendous placing mobility, meaning you can work your way back to first place easily most of the time or contrariwise you can find yourself in last place just as easily.

MK8D features four main modes of gameplay: single player, multiplayer, online play, and wireless play for multiple Switch users to race against each other. There are also four sub-modes: Grand Prix, Time Trials, VS Race, and Battle. Online play only features the VS Race and Battle modes.

Grand Prix is the single player go-to, essentially the campaign mode though a friend can join in on the action. Grand Prix puts you in a 4-race cup competition. There are 12 different cups and 4 unique racetracks in each cup, for a total of 48 racetracks in the game. Unfortunately, Deluxe does not introduce new racetracks for Grand Prix. Delightedly, though, some of them are returning tracks from previous Mario Kart games: the original Rainbow Road from the Super Nintendo and Toad’s Turnpike from the N64. For old fans of the series like me, this was that right touch of Nintendo nostalgia.

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.wordpress.com/2017/05/05/mario-kart-8-deluxe/

Of all the games to make me want a Switch, I never thought it would be Mario Kart 8. Why? Because I own, and already love Mario Kart 8. It is hands down the best Mario Kart to date (I'm sorry Mario Kart 64, even better than you). We have put countless hours into this game and every single one has been stupid levels of fun.

I didn't even buy a Switch for Breath of the Wild, so why would I buy a new system for a game I already own? Two words:

Battle Mode

I told myself I didn't care about Battle Mode when it turned out that Battle Mode in the original Mario Kart 8 was kind of lousy. I told myself I didn't care about Battle Mode when Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was announced for Switch. Well I lied to myself. I'll be damned if I don't want it now. I miss proper arena Battle Mode, and it really is enough to make me to want a Switch sooner rather than later.

Ok I lied again. I want Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Battle Mode, it's true. But there is another reason. And that reason's name is Dry Bones!

Ummm, it's a Mario Kart game! They are all fun! Great to see coins and gliders again! Hopefully they remain for the next outing (Mario Kart NX --- Hell Yes!!!!)

You've played this game before. Here are better graphics, new courses to play, and downloadable/unlockable content! It's still fun!

It will never get old! Have a few friends over and toss turtle shells at each other!

Edit:

This is the Switch review:

9.5/10

They improved everything with the Deluxe version. Coming from someone who owned the Wii U one but never bought the DLC, this was definitely worth the money. It's a ton of content out of the box, plus a pretty awesome battle mode. Most of the issues are improved, it's just a great game, and arguably the best Mario Kart ever (though Double Dash has a place in my heart). One of the best games of the year.

If I owned all of the DLC for Wii U I may have been a little more hesitant to buy this, but I probably still would have just to have games for my Switch.

My Switch rating should have been 10 if I followed what I said in my Wii U review, but sometimes I just get high on something and rate it higher than I should have. Maybe the Wii U version is a 9 and this a 9.5, but I think it would be more accurate for me to give this a 9.8 or 9.9 because it's not in my top-tier favourites, it's the tier right below which indicates a truly fantastic, legendary game, but it's just not in my Top 50 (or whatever). But I rate on a .5 system, anyway.

This is the original Wii U review I had:

9.5/10

It pretty much gives me exactly what I want from a Mario Kart, and it SHOULD be a 10 but the battle mode is ass and I hate how you have to unlock all the maps in single player in order to play them with a friend online... I also hate the lack of in-game chat and how you can't play against other real people if you're playing online with a friend. That seems like a lot to complain about but it's pretty minor really, because the rest of the game is wonderful.

The tracks are awesome and there's a lot of them, with a good mixture of new and old. There are a lot of different characters and vehicle customizations, and above all else, the core gameplay is still very Mario Kart -- which means its awesome. The anti-gravity adds to the experience, and some of the tracks are just ridiculously crazy.