Mario Kart 8: Round Table Discussion

How are you doing Cubist? Haven’t chatted video games with you in a while because I know you’ve been busting your ass on Nerd Bacon lately. Had any time recently to get in your Mario Kart fix?

Doing well, still kicking ass at collecting mounds of video gaming stuff I won’t get around to for months…or years?  Mario Kart Wii stays in heavy rotation around here, and Double Dash gets its fair share of play.

Glad to hear you’ve been doing good. You’re definitely the biggest Mario Kart fan I’ve ever seen. I know my nephew loves playing those games with you. Emily [my niece] beat my ass in Mario Kart Wii (Mario Kart 6) a few years ago. Literally made me look like a fool. My gaming credibility should be questioned after that 10 minute destruction fest. But anyway, I digress. Have you heard about the new Mario Kart 8 coming out for the Wii U this spring? It looks pretty damn AMAZING!

Emily uses Automatic Drift, don’t be fooled!  You know, I’ve actually had my eye on Super Mario 3D World, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, and Mario Party: Island Tour so much that I haven’t looked into it properly. On the retro front I’ve been devoting a tremendous amount of time and resources towards the Game Boy Advance and all of its associated equipment.  Not to mention I dropped a whopping $150 on 2 packs of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3-e cards for the e-Reader.  What kind of info have you dug up about the newest Mario Kart?

Well Emily is a little bastard and I resent letting a child beat me. But oh well. The Game Boy Advance was/is an interesting little machine man. You’ve got some great stuff on it.

Mario Kart 8 should definitely be something you and Tris have a good time with. From what I understand, it’s not just some surprise Mario Kart title that pops out of thin air. They’ve been putting some time and work into this bad boy and I’m hoping that it will pay huge dividends to those who buy it. I love the Mario Kart series so much that it might be enough to make me go out and get a Wii U.

(Read The Cubist’s article on why you should give the Wii U a chance right here).

We can finally welcome Mario Kart into the high definition world on the superb Wii U. From what I’ve seen, the graphical details are beyond any of its predecessors. But we all know graphics aren’t the only reason we play Mario Kart (because I still play Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart Double Dash!!). So what really gets me are the new gimmicky race karts.

No, there’s still no tandem kart riding like we saw in Double Dash, but the karts are now equipped with magnetic powers that give them the ability to drive on certain walls and stick to the road if the track begins to take a vertical approach. In addition, I noticed pictures of some karts that actually have what appears to be a hang-gliding sail on the top. Can these fly? Or do they just glide? Is this the same as Mario Kart 7?

We’ll have to wait and see, but it appears Nintendo is offering up some great gameplay that’s sure to please fans and newbies alike.

It’s an exciting time for video games all-in-all, but Mario Kart 8 looks pretty damn fun. Cubist, do you think it can be better than previous Mario Kart tiles? Or is it just another similar title in the series? I think this game is screaming your name.

Well we’ve seen things like underwater driving before although it seemed to be little more than just a change of scenery.  Mario Kart 7 introduced the hang glider to give the racer a little bit of added control over some very large jumps.  I’d be excited to see either or both of the ideas expanded on, perhaps even giving us a game where racing on land, sea, and in the air were possible all in one course.  Now that would up the ante considerably, if it were done well.

Vertical and otherwise 3D racing would be amazing as far as I’m concerned.  If we take a look at the craziness of Rainbow Road, that’s what I picture the future of Mario Kart playing out as.  I was extremely happy with Mario Kart Wii’s approach to the courses, giving us 16 fresh ones on top of 16 redone tracks from older titles, and I hope Mario Kart 8 will give us some classic courses as well.  Realistically, I expect that any such changes will be in the form of DLC, but something is better than nothing.

One thing that I’m looking for in a new Mario Kart is a way to keep me engaged beyond unlocking a handful of new tracks and racers.  Even with all the items available, racing is racing, and there’s only so long that driving in circles can keep me entertained.  Maybe an all new one-player mode?  Better computer AI?  I hope some of the minor annoyances from Mario Kart Wii will be addressed.

What can Mario Kart 8 do to meet your expectations of a perfect Mario Kart, NerdBerry?

I’m hoping to see a little more out of the hang gliding feature, perhaps in the vein of Diddy Kong Racing, with actually “flying”. That was one of my favorite moments in Diddy Kong Racing, but I don’t want it to be relied upon either. But I think the new addition of magnetized karts for driving on walls and inverted roads is a pretty cool concept. It makes me think of F-Zero X and driving upside down in tunnels and such.

I think you make a great point though. Nintendo needs to do something to make the replay value MUCH higher for single player mode. It’s always going to be fun to pick up the controller and have some wild races with a friend or three, but when you’re playing by yourself, and you’ve already beaten all of the tracks and won all of the Cups, what remains? Perhaps a more involved 2-player co-op mode??

Can Mario Kart 8 finally take the next step that Mario Kart fans have been waiting for all along? A true in-depth Mario Kart experience without the heavy use of mini-games (I hope there’s no crazy mini-games like Mario Kart soccer or Mario Kart golf or any of that crap) to sell the game. I’m hoping the game sells itself because of great reviews.