So a whole ton of info just came out for Mario Kart 8, including a new trailer and a bunch
of gameplay videos from outlets such as ourselves.
Okay, so you know where this is going--but this time, our analysis is going to be a little
bit different--and well, a lot shorter than usual.
Because there are SO many courses, it would take me forever to cover them all.
So in this analysis , we're going to focus mostly on the bigger, gameplay related features
that you might not have noticed--but don't worry, we'll be following this up with an
individual videos breaking down each of the new courses over the coming weeks, pointing
out shortcuts, alternate routes, and smaller details you might have missed for each of
them
Oh, and please make sure to check out our brand new preview if you haven't already,
as we've already covered a lot of the new stuff there
Alright, let's kick-start that analysis machine and see what it finds!
Okay, so during our recent play-time with the game, we were able to try out three new
items, being Coins, which gives you two coins, a potted Piranha Plant that violently snaps
at anyone that gets close while giving you a speed-boost in the process, and a Boomerang
you can toss 3-times to take our far away enemies, even on its return trip!
Now both the Piranha Plant and Boomerang items also introduce a new feature: a meter in the
item box.
In the case of the Boomerang, it shows exactly how many throws you have left, whereas the
Piranha Plant's is based on time--but watch out, because each time it lunges out, it takes
a bite out of the amount of time time remaining!
Oh, and did you notice the Pirhana Plant even has little wheels on his pot?
You know, despite being a despite being a vicious man-eating monster, it's pretty adorable--
Now although those three are the only new items Nintendo's officially unveiled, it seems
they won't be the only new ones.
Because if we slow down the item reel in this scene, we can see a couple more.
This first one's a bit mysterious, because though it resembles a box from Super Mario
3D World which in that game, your character would wear on their head.
But this one seems to be a brand new variant, with what might be a speaker or some kind
of launcher on the front of it.
What could that be about?
We can only guess--maybe it'll send out a shockwave, knocking nearby opponents away?
Or maybe it'll shoot some kind of projectile?
I'm really just spit-balling, and speaking of which, I do have one more idea...that "speaker"-like
thing on the block does kind of resemble the star-cursor in Mario Galaxy that you'd use
to blow bubbles around with--what if you can actually blow things around with that block,
such as track hazards that lie ahead.
Or maybe it'll work in reverse and actually suck things up--perhaps letting you collecting
an opponent's item, making it your own instead.
Who knows, but it certainly looks pretty different from anything we've had before
Now thankfully, we think we have a much better grasp on this second item, being a number
8.
Because Mario Kart 7 had a very similar item, being the Lucky 7, which gave you a collection
of 7 different items that orbited your kart--only this time, we're guessing it's going to be
8 instead.
And based on its appearance in Mario Kart 7, we'd guess it'll appear for racers in 5th
place or lower
And while we're here, did you notice the cool distortion-effect as the items scroll by the
glass window.
That's pretty cool
Now besides the items, we also learned about a host of returning Retro tracks, like Cheep
Cheep Beach, Donut Plains 3, Moo Moo Meadows, Royal Raceway, and Toad's Turnpike.
But as it turns out, we may know about even more of those too.
For that, let's take a look at some new footage from our favorite spoiler-filled course, Sunshine
Airport.
As you may recall, the airline signboards here had previously revealed quite a few upcoming
courses before they were unannounced.
And it looks like Sunshine Airport came through once again, revealing two more
So if we zoom in here, we can see two destinations that you might recognize: Yoshi Valley and
Sherbert Land, both which first appeared in Mario Kart 64.
Now since we already know about the first 8 Retro courses, this means both of them will
have to appear in either the Leaf or Lightning Retro Cups.
But really, I just can't wait to see what anti-gravity mechanics Yoshi Valley might
have in store.
Okay, now we've long known that Stunts would be back--and as you may have noticed, each
character has an assortment of them, where they'll either strike a pose, or flip the
car around.
But did you know these aren't random?
Instead, you can choose what kind of stunt you'd like to do simply by holding the control
stick in a particular direction while doing it.
So left or right will have the kart spin in that direction, while forward or back will
have it perform a somersault in that direction .
It doesn't have any practical gameplay effect, but it is a nice touch.
And speaking of little touches, let's take a look at this Metal Mario clip.
Now listen closely as Metal Mario passes the finish line--that's weird-- he just said "Mia-Mama"
instead of Mario's usual Mama-Mia.
It looks like they're even giving Metal Mario a little more personality this time around
than
Finally, if we take a look at Mario Kart Stadium, we can see a banner advertising a Golden Wheel.
And this is actually actually a reference to Mario Kart Wii, where you could get a Golden
Wheel icon above your character's head by playing with just the Wii Remote for the majority
of the racers.
And this could mean that a similar mechanic might be returning here as well, though we'd
guess they'd extend it to the GamePad's optional motion controls too.
Alright and that wraps it up for our Mario kart 8 analysis--yeah, I told you it'd be
a bit shorter--by our standards at least.
But remember, we'll be covering a lot more about each of the tracks very soon and there's
quite a few hidden details there, so make sure to stay-tuned for those!
Thanks for watching and make sure to keep an eye on GameXplain.com for more on Mario
Kart 8 and other things gaming too.