Mario Kart 8's almost here, but that didn't stop Nintendo from inviting us to their San
Francisco office for one last go at the game before it's released.
And we saw a lot in our almost 1-hour with the game, including new characters, such as
Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach, confirmation that you can race as your Mii too, new items
like the Super Horn and Crazy 8, a round of Battle mode, and the chance to race on 8 new
tracks including 5 that have never been shown before--and we even learned new details about
how Mario Kart TV and online tournaments will work.
Yeah, there's a lot to talk about.
So first up: Battle Mode is back baby.
And I don't mean the lame version from recent Mario Kart games--I'm talking the classic
"Last man standing" style that made the Balloon Battles of Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart
64 so darn fun.
So in case you don't know what I'm talking about, each player has three balloons--which
represents your health--and your goal is to pop everyone else's before they pop yours
by launching all kinds of items there way.
Once all your balloons are popped, it's Game Over.
Actually, that's not entirely true, because you now actually come back as a ghost.
One that can still do everything you could before, besides win of course.
Which means if you want to get revenge on the person who took you out, you totally can!
Yeah, even though you can't win, depriving someone else of that chance can be almost
as satisfying.
Now although this does largely mark a return-to-form for Battle Mode, there are a couple of key
differences.
One is that there is a time-limit, although you can adjust the duration--but we're not
sure if you can turn it off entirely.
In fact, there are several options for you to tinker with such as enabling teams, item
sets, like bananas, shells, etc, CPU difficulty and what vehicles they use, how many rounds,
and what courses they'll play on.
And it's actually those very courses which might be the biggest change.
Because all of the courses that we saw available here weren't actually specifically created
for Battle Mode--instead, they're all based on actual racetracks from the game, though
modified a bit to better fit this mode.
And in the case of the track we played on, Moo Moo Meadows, this meant some re-positioned
hazards and item boxes, with the track itself otherwise appearing identical to before.
And it seemed to work fine for out single match--in fact, the entire thing was quite
a bit of fun.
But I am concerned that, if every track is ultimately just a loop as they are during
the races, that this could ultimately end up making every track feel very similar.
But that aside, the core gameplay is the most seemingly promising battle mode I've played
in Mario Kart in years, and I'm eager to try more.
Now before I talk about the new tracks, I just wanted to touch on 2 brand new items
real quick, being the Crazy 8 and Super Horn.
And the Crazy 8 works exactly like the Lucky 7 from Mario Kart 7, except with 8 circling
power-ups instead of 7.
Needless to say, this is a pretty potent item, as it gives you a lot of offensive and defensive
options, but watch out as players can steal your goods, like Stars simply by running into
them.
Now the Super Horn is something that's completely new, as it creates a spherical shockwave around
your kart taking out anything in its path, including bananas, shells, other racers, and
even Blue Shells--that's right, you can destroy Blue Shells with it.
But the catch is that it shows up extremely rarely.
In fact, between 4-players and 8-races, we saw it appear exactly once.
Moving on, I was also able to race through 8 new tracks in both the Star Cup and the
Retro Leaf Cup, all as part of Grand Prix with 3-other players.
That's right, for the first-time ever, you and 3-of your friends can do a full-on 12-player
Grand Prix using split-screen.
So the Star Cup consists of Sunshine Airport, Dolphin Shoals, Electrodome, and Mount Wario.
And as we've come to expect at this point, they all make inventive use of Mario Kart
8's mechanics to offer an experience that feels very distinct from the other tracks.
Take Dolphin Shoals, for example a primarily-underwater track where you race alongside dolphins.
At one point, you'll enter an underwater cavern filled with water-expelling pipes and one
giant eel.
Well, you can actually ride the current coming from those pipes to land on top of the eel--and
if you can manage to hang on, you'll snag yourself some extra coins.
And then there's Mount Wario, a single-lap course in which you race down an entire mountainside,
where you'll encounter a forest, an ice cave, and you'll even launch off a Ski Jump.
There's just a ton of variety in this track alone.
And that even extends to the new Retro tracks from the Leaf cup that I got to play, which
included Wario Stadium DS, Sherbet Land GCN, Music Park 3DS, and Yoshi Valley N64.
And I've stated before, most of these tracks have been updated so heavily, they're barely
recognizable--both visually and gameplay-wise.
And that's a very good thing.
Take Wario Stadium DS, for example.
Yeah, it still takes place in a stadium, but the core track has seen a lot of changes,
such as one segment where you drive up an anti-gravity pathway perpendicular to the
ground, just before diving into a pool of water--yeah those weren't there originally.
Then there's Sherbet Land GCN, which is a race that takes place on a frozen lake--and
this one's really interesting, because while the main track is largely identical to before,
if you happen to fall into the ice water, you'll find yourself in what's essentially
half of a brand brand new track that's been layered underneath the existing one, as you
race through new underwater caverns, complete with their own anti-gravity section.
It really takes what was a relatively unremarkable track and spices it up a lot.
And then we have what might be my favorite of the bunch, if only because the original
was also one of my favorites, Yoshi Valley N64.
And this one too has seen some massive upgrades, such as the fact that it now actually looks
like a valley, with some bulked up mountains and water that runs through it.
Now what made this track so memorable originally was the fact it had numerous branching paths,
which basically made it impossible to see everything the track has to offer in a single
run-through.
And that's still the case this time too, but the developers have taken the opportunity
to make those different paths feel even more distinct, such as by adding bridges, tunnels,
and even a Barrel-Cannon that'll launch you half-way across the map.
Really, the sole disappointment here is Music Park 3DS, as it plays nearly identically to
the Mario Kart 7 version.
But that track really does seem to be the exception, as I've consistently been impressed
by the imaginative changes on display.
Now outside the core gameplay, we finally learned more details about how Mario Kart
TV's going to work.
And it's a surprisingly robust feature, allowing you to create automated highlight reels according
to parameters that you set, such as what players for it to focus on, what kinds of actions
to highlight, such as drifting, or big hits, as well as how long you want the video to
be, with the options of 30, 45, or 60-seconds as well as the entire thing.
Now the cool thing is that you don't have to decide to create these videos right away,
as the game retains your most recent 12 races, from which you can create a highlight reel
at any point.
And once you have, you can then publish it to either Miiverse or --get this--even your
very own YouTube channel.
Now there is one slight catch for the YouTube option and that's the fact that you can post
a highlights reel of any length....except for the full-race one, which is a slight bummer.
And that's not the only cool online thing Mario Kart is doing.
Besides allowing 1 or 2--players to race online from the same Wii U, it also supports online
tournament creation.
Essentially, anyone can create a custom tournament that runs for a pre-determined amount of time,
and the rules are entirely customizable, such as items, track selection, how many races,
whether it's public or private, and you can even bar entry to only those of a certain
play level.
So after you've named and given your tournament a custom greeting, it's then given an ID number
which you can share with whomever you like, or people can find it by searching too.
So that about covers it for the game itself...but on top of it all
And on top of it all, Nintendo has just announced a new Wii U bundle for the US that comes with
a Deluxe Wii U, Mario Kart 8, a Wii Remote+, and a red Wii Wheel--all for $329.99.
And if that's not a good enough deal, if you register any copy of Mario Kart 8 through
Club Nintendo before July 31st, whether bought as part of a bundle or a stand-alone copy,
you'll be able to download a copy of either Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD, Wii Party U, or New
Super Mario bros.
U, completely free.
So yes, that's two games for the price of one.
Alright, and that wraps it up for our preview of Mario Kart 8.
Thanks for watching and make sure to stay-tuned to GameXplain.com for tons more on Mario Kart
8 and other things gaming too.