Nintendo Mario Kart 8 Wii U

Awesome game, kids really enjoyed it. I must say wii u has the best games for kids as compared to sony or xbox. Mario is evergreen

First time giving a review here. I started playing the Mario Kart series since Mario Kart 64. I played a little bit of the SNES Mario Kart and I never played Mario Kart Wii, however, I played Mario Kart 64 and Double Dash extensively. Now onto the review. Graphic wise, the game is absolutely gorgeous. It's kinda hard to tell when you're racing because you can only see soo much when you're focusing on the road in front of you but before you start a race, it shows a preview of the race and you can even watch the highlight reel after the race as you can watch yourself race through the beautiful track. A fun tool to see any WTF, LOL, or any epic moments. I really liked the track choices, my favorite is the n64 Rainbow Road and Twisted Mansion. There are a lot of tracks I flat out hated but that's very subjective, some people might like those tracks and some might hate the tracks I really like. One thing to note is a lot of the remake courses, some do not utilize the anti-gravity mechanics introduced which was odd to me. It could be because Nintendo didn't want to change them too dramatically that they're not noticeable. I wouldn't mind seeing Yoshi Valley have anti gravity but it felt new and nostalgic at the same time so I still enjoyed the non anti-gravity courses. To me, they fixed a lot of the problems fans complained about the previous Mario Kart, which is the Wii ver. In the Mario Kart Wii, the blue shell was WAY too common which affected the skill vs luck aspect of the game. In this game, the probability of the blue shell appearing has decreased dramatically. I could go for an entire cup and maybe I will encounter 1 blue shell or sometimes none at all. However, I played the game extensively and sometimes I will encounter the blue shell maybe once every 2 races. Very rarely there will be more than one blue shell in a single track race, however, it is based on chance and from my experience, it's very rare to encounter more than one blue shell per race which to me, it decreases the luck aspect of the game and it allows for more skill since you don't have to worry about getting hit and be dead last. With that being said, in the game, they introduced a new item which is the Super Horn. This is a very rare item but it also helps combat the blue shell problem as, it is the only item that counters the blue shell. Whenever the blue shell gets near you, you use the Super Horn and it blasts the blue shell away. So if you're usually in first place and you get the Super Horn, hold on to it for dear life. Lol. Biggest change they made is the fact that you can't use more than one item. When you have a green shell, you can't hold the item button to put it behind you and get another item. You can put the green shell behind you to protect you but as long as you have that item, you can't get another one. So one item at a time folks. When in first place, the items you will most likely get is coins, banana or green shells. You can still get other crazy items but the probability is low. This can be viewed negatively but to me, it could be viewed as a positive since the blue shell has been basically nerfed, red shells is the next threatening item so by having bananas or green shells, it encourages using more defensive strategies by holding them behind you instead of mindlessly hoard items and trow them behind you. Next subject is where people have different opinions which is the existence of coins. Coins have existed in the SNES Mario Kart and Mario Kart 7 in the 3DS if I'm correct. Personally, I dislike the fact that coins is now an item you can get when you run through an item box, especially when you can easily get coins in the tracks. In a competitive race, when you're running through an item box, out of all the potential items you could use to attack or defense yourself, you can get a coin which can be useless. However, coins do play a role in the game. Coins actually increased your top speed, the most you can carry is 10, this could make a difference in a very close race but sometimes it doesn't matter at all because we're hardly in that position since other items exist like a mushroom or shells which make a bigger impact in a race compared to coins. If the AI has a red shell behind me and all I have is coins and I'm maxxed out on coins, the shell easily changes the tide. Another thing coins do, is something long term which is, unlocking vehicle parts. I currently have 2,700 coins, so I unlocked many vehicle parts but I still have many more left to unlock. I'm trying to unlock the Gold Kart. There is a lot of replay value if you wish to 100% the game. This can be very repetitive but I really like the game so I don't mind. However, if you wish to just race and not 100% the game, then coins are useless since coins make the smallest amount of impact in a race. Another thing which fans have mixed feelings about is the battle mode. Honestly, Nintendo dropped the ball on this, there is no track/arena dedicated for Battle Mode. All your battles take place in a regular track used for racing. The tracks are exactly alike the ones used for racing, there is no difference but to hunt down your enemies and take down their balloons. It felt more like a race than an actual battle. Tracks are pretty big so you can ride aimlessly looking for enemies to attack, thankfully, we have a gamepad which tells us where everyone is. Another thing to help make things easier is there is a new control was introduced dedicated specifically for battle mode which is tight turns. Basically you drift and you let go of the gas button while holding down the drift button and your character will make a quick turn which is very useful when you're hunting down AI's in opposing teams. I honestly had fun in battle mode, mostly because I played split-screen with my girlfriend so we hunted down AI's for funzies but I feel like the battle mode experience would be better if we had actual tracks dedicated for battle, not race tracks. Lastly, things I did not like about the game. I did not like the roster that much. They did introduced a lot of new characters, like the Koopalings but besides that, we have the generic characters and their baby version. I'm fine with baby mario but to have baby luigi, baby peach, baby daisy, baby rosalina. What's next? Baby Wario, Baby Waluigi? This is very notable since there is so many baby characters, it adds more to the light class of characters. There is 11 light weight characters, 7 medium and 9 heavy. To me, it feels unbalanced. I'm tired of Baby characters, I wish they would bring in new characters or bring in returning characters. It feels very weird to not have Diddy Kong or Birdo or any other classic character that was popular after Double Dash's release. Mario Kart Wii has a better roster. Nintendo can easily redeem themselves by releasing DLC including more characters which I would be sold. Another thing I did not like is the vehicle parts. Like I said earlier, I collected 2,700 coins so I unlocked a lot of vehicle parts but the more you look around and compare, a lot of the vehicle parts make no big difference, in fact, some do the exact same thing as others. I think there are like 3-4 motorcycles which have the exact same stats but I had to collect over 5k of coins to collect. Doesn't feel very rewarding to me. They look different if that matters but stat wise, they're desame. Another thing is short cuts. Some tracks have no shortcuts, a lot of tracks have a lot of shortcuts but they felt useless because it requires you to get off course which slows you down a lot. So you take a shortcut but you're slow at doing so because it's off track. The best way to fully utilize shortcuts is to have mushrooms which to me, someone who is usually in 1-5th place, mushrooms are VERY rare. Not all shortcuts require mushrooms so you can use them but they can be hard to use because you can easily slip off and fall. So it is more of a risk vs reward type of deal which I like. In conclusion, I REALLY like the game, I actually recommend getting this game at full price if you're a fan of racing games, if you like Mario Kart, even if you like LBP Karting. If you have a Wii U, there are some games you just have to have because they're good exclusives and Mario Kart has been replicated in other games like LBP Karting and even Modnation for the PS3 but to me, Mario Kart 8 triumphs them all despite its own flaws. If you're planning on getting the game soon, I highly suggest now since you can get a free game if you register the game on Club Nintendo. So for 60 bucks, you get 2 games but the offer is only available until the end of July. Other than that, hope you understand and enjoyed my first review. :)

A lot of people kept their job over this game which has taken wii u media by storm for all the right reasons. Drift, drive under water, use piranha plants as a weapon of mass destruction, race playback with rewind and fast forward functions to laugh with your pals or kids over some beautiful tracks and a solid online connection or use multilayer to keep it simple fun. Driving on walls and paragliding will turn the game inside out and show you how much work went into the long hours of preparation. While nintendo has had a tendency of cheaping out on resolutions in the distant past, MK8 proves why they are the dream works of games all over again. They still have the "drive", drive by bike or quad, pink low rider and even a freaking catipillar. I'll leave the rest for you to discover, because there are tons of strange upgrades to smile over. Grab which ever compatible controller you wish to and experience it for yourself.

It arrived in perfect shape. I enjoy playing couch games, and this is hands down one of the best to spend time with wife and friends. It has 8 cups and you can buy another 2. I didn't like much that you can also buy racers, though it has a good 16 of them included, most of them are baby versions of the others. Regardles the tracks are superb and you will spend days trying to master the vehicles, speeds, and tracks. Llego en perfecto estado, me gustan mucho los juegos locales, no hay nada como un juego local sin lag, sin dificultad de conexiones y además divertido, este cumple con todo, gran variedad de pistas, de corredores y de dificultades o velocidades. Incluso puedes comprar mas pistas y corredores si eso no es suficiente. Tiene mucha diversion y rejugabilidad. Altamente recomendado.

Uno de los mejores juegos para la consola, definitivamente. Es uno de los juegos que definitivamente tienes que tener. No puede faltar. Los gráficos son bellos y las pistas muy divertidas, además de que incluye las mejores pistas de otras plataformas. Muy buen juego para jugar con más personas.