Nintendo UK possibly outed new Mario Kart 8 DLC. It shows some interesting stuff, some possibly Amiibo-related. Excitebike? F-Zero? Animal Crossing? Link? I like what I see! How about you?



Nintendo of America said:

Link, Isabelle and Animal Crossing Villager All Get Ready to Race

REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 26, 2014 – Two new downloadable content packs will take the world of Mario Kart 8 in directions the franchise has never seen before, while significantly expanding game-play options. The packs, which launch this fall and in spring of 2015, and are available for advance purchase starting Aug. 27 at $7.99 each (or $11.99 for both), deliver a ton of new content, including first-time crossover characters like Link from The Legend of Zelda franchise and both Isabelle and the Villager from the Animal Crossing series.

In addition to these two new downloadable content packs, a previously announced game update goes live Aug. 27 that adds a variety of new features, including three free Mercedes-Benz cars that players can race: the modern Mercedes-Benz GLA, the 300 SL Roadster from the 1950s and the legendary Silver Arrow of the 1930s. Go to http://ninten.do/6181WR6B to view a video of the in-game karts in action.

“More than 1 million Wii U owners in the United States alone are already enjoying the fun of Mario Kart 8,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Mario Kart 8 already includes the largest number of characters, karts and options of any Mario Kart game to date, and these amazing expansion packs give players even more choices.”

Each pack will contain two new cups, each with four courses, which, in total, increases the number of currently available courses by 50 percent. The DLC packs include classic courses like Wario’s Gold Mine from Mario Kart Wii, as well as new courses, some taking place in the worlds of The Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing. New vehicles will also arrive with each pack, including the Blue Falcon kart representing the F-Zero franchise in the first DLC pack.

Mario Kart 8 owners who purchase both packs starting Aug. 27 will get access to eight new colors of Yoshi and eight new colors of Shy Guy to race with immediately. To purchase the packs in advance, users with a broadband Internet connection can click the new “Shop” icon in the game or visit the Nintendo eShop on Wii U.

The DLC packs are scheduled to include the following:

Pack 1: The Legend of Zelda X Mario Kart 8 (Release Date: November 2014) - $7.99

3 Characters: Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach, Link
4 Vehicles
8 Courses

Pack 2: Animal Crossing X Mario Kart 8 (Release Date: May 2015) - $7.99

3 Characters: Villager, Isabelle, Dry Bowser
4 Vehicles
8 Courses

Pack 1 + Pack 2 Bundle - $11.99

6 Characters: Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach, Link, Villager, Isabelle and Dry Bowser
8 Vehicles
16 Courses
As a bonus for purchasing both packs bundled or individually, buyers receive eight new colors for Yoshi and Shy Guy. Those who advance purchase both packs can begin using the Yoshi and Shy Guy characters immediately.

For more information about Mario Kart 8, visit http://mariokart8.nintendo.com.

Remember that Wii U features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U™ and Wii™ home consoles, and Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ families of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.2 billion video games and more than 670 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™, Nintendo GameCube™ and Wii systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company’s website at http://www.nintendo.com.

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@Abdooooo

I'm not in love with it, but honestly other Nintendo characters were already in Mario Kart at this point via Miis, so might as well embrace it.

Posted by

Jargon

on: 08/27/14, 01:16

Wow. Link / Animal Crossing is Mario Kart...? wooooowww. Didn't see that coming at all. In all the confusion / hype over new characters (also possible Excitebike course AND the BLUE FALCON?!?!), i didn't even notice we were getting a bunch of new tracks! I'm all excited to jump back into Mario Kart after not playing for a while.

Also, between this, Pokken and the Smash leaks, i feel like we we're supposed to get a Nintendo Direct this week but something went wrong.

Posted by

vinniebrock

on: 08/27/14, 01:19

Edited:

08/27/14, 01:35

Doing this as DLC is a great way to test the waters and see if it's fun. If people love Smash Kart then the next game could have other franchise items as well, and really embrace the idea.

@vinniebrock, yes it does seem like we are going to get a Nintendo Direct soon that will now have 95% less megaton juice. Oh well. It's still exciting to see a leak once in a while. Unusual, but exciting.

Posted by

Infinitywave

on: 08/27/14, 01:22

These are really exciting to me! I want more tracks, I'd take more carts, and I'd like more characters. Link is neat to me, and the animal crossing characters actually fit in quite well. I like it, this is some cool DLC!

Posted by

Cubed777

on: 08/27/14, 01:24

@Mop it up

Why are you bummed about this? I kinda feel like the series should go this route now (or even make a separate entry in the series). This is pretty fantastic news for me!

@TriforceBun

This could certainly pave the way for Mario Kart 9 to be Smash Kart. I wouldn't mind as long as they kept the right amount of Mario in it. (I used to be so against this idea too. Glad I changed before Nintendo decided to go and do it.)

@Mop it up

Good call.. I have $10 bucks in free credit. Could love using it on this!

@Ludist210

You should have the ability to upload images to Negative World right? I think it's really important people realize that this is a function of the site so that these images stay intact for a long time to come. Not that images losing their link is very common but I it's still best to host things ourselves. I'm going to host the images on my username and edit the page which is why you'll see an edit in a moment. I'll make it so the image on our site still links to the full size image elsewhere.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 08/27/14, 01:28

Edited:

08/27/14, 01:41

Yeah, Link is a little out of place, but I'm still calling this a total win!

Posted by

cooliocuneo

on: 08/27/14, 01:29

@Jargon

Yeah, it doesn't bug me that much. I'm happy to see more than just the Benz DLC. This gives me hope for battle mode.

Posted by

Abdooooo

on: 08/27/14, 01:30

I'm surprised they are making this jump in to other franchises with DLC. I would have thought they'd have saved that to make a splash with the inevitable successor. Great news regardless though. It might seem weird seeing other characters in MK at first but this opens up a whole new world of characters, locations, and items to be pulled from any one of Nintendo's big franchises. I think that this is possibly the best thing they can do to revitalize the series without drastically changing the gameplay.

Also IGN has some details I haven't seen mentioned:

IGN said:

The first pack, releasing in November, will include Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach, and Link, four new vehicles, and eight courses. One of those new vehicles will be the Blue Falcon from F-Zero. he second pack, coming in May, includes Villager, Isabelle, and Dry Bowser, plus four vehicles and eight courses. Purchasing both, either as a bundle or separately, will also net you eight differently colored Yoshis and Shy Guys.

I'm all for longterm support but this is stretching it out a bit too much for my liking. The second DLC pack will be out a whole year after the initial game launched.

Posted by

Stephen

on: 08/27/14, 01:35

Edited:

08/27/14, 01:40

@Stephen

Yeah, how about new packs every 2 - 3 months for a year? I'd dig that.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 08/27/14, 01:42

@Mop it up
Geeze you just hate everything Nintendo has done this gen don't you?

anon_mastermind said:

This is great news. Characters, cups, everything. Better than I ever could have imagined.

Fucking truth.



Aw. Second pack in MAY? Bit of a heart breaker. That's pretty damn long. They coulda released the THIRD and fourth packs in May.
Thank God the first pack is the one with the really awesome characters and karts.

Wario Mine level is AWESOME. That's one of the few MKWii tracks I really wanted to see return. It was such an imaginative stage and looked visually appealing even though MKWii as a whole was kinda gross looking. MK8 will do it proper justice.

Posted by

carlosrox

on: 08/27/14, 01:46

Edited:

08/27/14, 01:52

I am REALLY hyped for this. All of it!

@Stephen

Yeah, depending on how well the first pack does, they should be looking into doing even more within that timeframe. Lame.

Posted by

ploot

on: 08/27/14, 02:04

Edited:

08/27/14, 02:04

@DrFinkelstein The novelty of Nintendo worlds colliding has already worn off for me with the Smash Brothers series. I'm fine with it continuing with Smash but I don't want it to trickle into other series because I just don't find it to be an interesting concept anymore. Instead, I'd rather Mario Kart continue to focus on Mario Kart; Mario is such a robust universe that I feel there are still plenty more locations, characters, items and more than can be explored in Mario Kart and other spinoffs, and there's no need to mix them in with other franchises. Realistically, the more other franchises appear in Mario Kart then the less Mario would be in the game, which means less/no more obscure characters and locations.

I'd actually like to see there be franchises-specific versions of Smash Brothers simply because there are a lot of characters and locations that I want in the game from various franchises, but I know they have no chance of being in the regular Smash game since it has to encompass everything.

If they make a separate "Nintendo Kart" then I would be fine with that existing as long as Mario Kart was still around.

@carlosrox Nah, "hate" is such a strong word. I don't hate anything or anyone. I was worried I might be gaining a reputation as a hater, which is unfortunate since it's far from the truth. It is true that I've been disappointed with Nintendo's general direction that's been building over the past few years (if not a bit longer), but I still enjoy their games and I still prefer their systems over the other options. And, I still hope for them to improve rather than writing them off as failing at everything and can do no good. Plus it's just videogames, so I don't take it seriously, just like to talk about them. The problem is that for whatever reason, it's tough for me to articulate the things I like rather than the things I don't, and usually if I don't mention or talk much about something then it probably means I like it. But I guess if I don't want a reputation as a hater then it's on me to change it.

I think it's good news that there is going to be DLC, and hopefully there will be some more packs released too that will be more to my fancy.

Posted by

Mop it up

on: 08/27/14, 02:13

@Mop it up
I would have loved to see some Subcon and Sarasaland levels, personally. I think those are long overdue. Wart and Tatanga as new characters. Wouldn't that be awesome! Also: Pauline.

Posted by

r_hjort

on: 08/27/14, 02:18

Edited:

08/27/14, 02:20

DLC packs are a no brainer with this game... this is exactly what I wanted. Keep us coming back with 8 new tracks every 6 months for a fair price? Sold.

As for merging other Nintendo series into Kart? Sure, why not. I would have preferred a whole new Super Smash Kart series with some different gameplay elements, but I won't complain about this.

Posted by

Hinph

on: 08/27/14, 02:24

Edited:

08/27/14, 02:32

Out with the old green, in with the new.

Sorry Luigi, Link's about to become my main man.

Posted by

Shadowlink

on: 08/27/14, 02:35

Guys, guys.

Any chance this means the occasional newcomer to Smash?? That would be awesome, especially if it meant getting some of those Brawl cuts back...and more...

(then again, that Character Select screen is already looking a little cramped, and I'm not sure if Saks is gonna wanna work on DLC)

Posted by

TriforceBun

on: 08/27/14, 02:35

Fantastic news! It always weirds me out that people actually care who's driving the kart, but seeing Link at the wheel is pretty novel. I'm most excited about the track boost. I wonder how many will be new. I wonder how fast the F-Zero track will be.

And I wonder if they'll FINALLY add a 500cc mode!! C'mon, dudes, the engine is rock-solid! Push the pedal to the metal!

@TriforceBun
Depending on how flexible (each version of) Smash is for updating, adding characters seems like a balancing nightmare. Sakurai has already said that adding each character is multiplicative, in terms of effort. Multiplicative!! Adding stages should be easy enough, though.

Posted by

Anand

on: 08/27/14, 02:45

@TriforceBun

He could always make another page...!!! (maybe let you customize the main screen)

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 08/27/14, 02:49

You know what they should do? Put in the F-Zero X version of N64 Rainbow Road so we finally get a good N64 Rainbow Road.

YEAH I SAID IT.

Posted by

Zero

on: 08/27/14, 02:58

@Zero

Hey now! I was as disappointed at MK64's RR as anyone, but MK8 did a solid job reinventing a dull track!

Posted by

TriforceBun

on: 08/27/14, 03:01