Mario Kart 8: Getting psyched?

[Rev1]

The problem with the items of some of the Mario kart titles (I'm looking at you Wii) is that it makes the game less about driving karts and more about item management. There is a fine line between having items that can help and hinder your driving and having the game seem almost random due to the overpowered items in it. Yes, a good MK player will learn how to work with the items to win consistently regardless, but at that point it isn't really about learning all the shortcuts and driving for the best time, it becomes a game that is all about holding out towards the middle of the pack until the end and then using the best item to win the race.

A lot of Nintendo's games around the NGC and Wii era (mostly Wii) have items that are too powerful and take away the whole competitive aspect of the game. For example, in Mario Tennis (NGC) all the characters have special powers that basically make it so you can save yourself from any shot. That takes away one of the main options an opponent has to score a shot. They could be setting up the miss for several turns only to have you miraculously saved because of your Power Shot. That is a big reason why the N64 game is better then the enhanced NGC/Wii game. 

Mario Kart Double Dash struck a pretty solid balance of items (and so have several others) but the Wii version made the items too strong. The criticisms are valid for Mario Kart Wii and from what I've heard (and will hopefully experience on 5/30/14) the items are much more balanced in MK8 which will hopefully make the game more about racing then item hording.

[Segatarious1]

I find it easy and fun to use items strategically in Mario Kart - If anything, Double Dash is the worst offender because you  swap drivers to pick up another item, and could not drag items, which means you had to often swap drivers to get a defensive item to throw backward to bust a shell coming. There was a whole nother layer to it all.

It is second nature to me. To me, it is like complaining about having to hold run to become proficient at Super Mario. It is THE central mechanic to the game, you have to multitask, drive, pick up items, use items, and position yourself, all at the same time. It is frantic, and makes the game fun. I see no consistency in media complaints, so I do not take them seriously. IGN recently published a boring, random, bloated 'top 100 games of last gen' list, (list journalism!!!) and number 19 was Wii Sports, and game they were unimpressed with at launch. Does 'tech demo' ring a bell? how many times did I read that one 'last gen', oh wow. It just depends on whatever narrative they are preaching at any given time.

[Atarifever1]

I disagree scotland17. How kids play a game is with whatever controller it comes with. Adults complain about control options. Remember being a kid? I do. I had a joystick with one button. Then I had a joypad and 4 buttons. Then I had a joypad and 8 buttons. Then a thumbstick. Then thumbsticks. And a keyboard and mouse. Etc. Now kids have touch screens and keyboards and motion control, etc. Kids play with what they are given. No kid won't play MK because of the tablet. You may not play because of that, but kids don't care.

[VideoGameCritic]

Picked up my copy of Mario Kart 8 at Target, but they were out of the free steering wheel I was supposed to get with it!

I'm fed up with Target - whenever they advertise a special promotion, it seems like they always run out very quickly.

Not a big loss though - I pulled out my original Wii steering wheel "shell" and it worked just fine (fits the motion plus controllers).

Tonight I'm going to a Mario Kart party hosted by the RPG Critic himself.  He claims to have Mario Kart games set up from many generations.  Good times.

[Atarifever1]

Man, Nintendo is incapable of dealing with being popular.  I'm trying to register Mario Kart with Club Nintendo and the site is completely nuts right now.  I assume, as is usual for them, Nintendo underestimated the amount of people who would love their product, buy it, then do something online.  

[Atarifever1]

Wow.  Just had my first race (and uploaded the highlights, and Miiversed it out).  Just beautiful.  If this is Nintendo on the ropes, I prefer them there.  What an amazingly beautiful game, and I watched my boring highlights (again, first race so nothing amazing happened) about a million times in slow motion.  Wow.  Just wow.  

[Rev1]

I'm getting this tomorrow... Super excited. Finally beat all the levels on Super Mario 3D World so I can finally get away from it.

[VideoGameCritic]

Well the Mario Kart party at RPG Critic's house was pretty crazy - people were coming out of the woodwork!  I think I got to play about 5 different versions of the game.  I actually put in a lot of time with Mario Kart 8.  People were falling over themselves fawning over the graphics.  Maybe it was the beer, but the upside-down tracks started giving me motion sickness after a while.  Had to take a break from it. 

[Segatarious1]

[QUOTE=videogamecritic]Well the Mario Kart party at RPG Critic's house was pretty crazy - people were coming out of the woodwork!  I think I got to play about 5 different versions of the game.  I actually put in a lot of time with Mario Kart 8.  People were falling over themselves fawning over the graphics.  Maybe it was the beer, but the upside-down tracks started giving me motion sickness after a while.  Had to take a break from it. [/QUOTE]

Lol.

"If you are gonna spew, spew in this."

[Rev1]

Man, this game is a lot of fun. Finished most of the original 6 of the 8 main cups on 50 CC so far and this game looks amazing. I love how Nintendo used old stages as inspiration but completely re-did them from the ground up. Still trying to figure out the courses and will spend time tomorrow trying to get setup for online play.