A Nintendo community
by the fans!
∧  Forum main
 + 
Mario Kart 8 Discussion (Nintendo Wii U) [game]
 
  Stephen B  
Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U
9.14/10 from 37 user ratings

Welcome to the official discussion thread for Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U!

To start, please add this game to your log, add it to your collection (if applicable), and (when you are ready) rate it using the link above!

This May, one game will define MULTIPLAYER FUN on Wii U. That game, is Mario Kart 8!


Mario Kart has been a Nintendo staple since it's SNES debut over two decades ago. Only two Nintendo products neglected to have an entry and each entry that has existed is a charming title in someone's eyes. Entries like Double Dash on Gamecube helped push the boundaries of creativity and uniqueness, while more recent titles have continued to refine a core experience. Mario Kart 8 seeks to continue that trend with it's jaw-dropping HD visuals, Anti-gravity racing, and incredibly well-designed tracks.


With all the characters known, the deep customization possibilities to each individual racer, the classic 32-total track count... there's so much to discuss and share and debate. Reviews are just coming in now and while I'll post a few below but they're not all gushing with pride. User Stephen recently made a thread aiming to have a more comprehensive list of reviews available. So... Are you impressed with the Mario Kart TV feature, excited for the Super Horn, or bummed at how battle mode has changed? Share your thoughts on the game below, now, upon release, and well after! Below you'll find a list of Nintendo Network IDs as compiled by our own Mop It Up! Be sure your friends are added to your console!

Mop It Up's NNID List of Mario Kart 8 Players

(Negative World Username) - (NNID)
Abdooooo - Abdooooo
Anand - AnandX
anon_mastermind - Mastermind85
Brick - Brick20
Brook - Ice-Insignia
canonj - canonj
chrisbg99 - chrisbg99
chrisguy - chrisguy
Cooliocuneo - Cooliocuneo
Cryojin - Cryojin
Cubed777 - C77777
DeputyVanHalen - DeputyVanHalen
DrFinkelstein - a00link
Earendil - Ear3ndil
EagleC83 - EagleC83
gamewizard65 - gamewizard65
Guillaume - Pandareus
Hero_of_Hyrule - Deku_Scrub
Jargon - Hendrik
-JKR- - JKRiki
kgtennispro - kgtennispro
kriswright - kriswright
legendofalex - Alistair
ludist210 - Ludist210
Mop it up - Mop_it_up
Nate38 - VictorVonPlugman
Octorockin - NoseyTengu
ploot - Realploot
PogueSquadron - PogueSquadron
pokepal148 - pokepal148
Rebonack - rebonack
Scrawnton - Scrawnton
SeVeN CDN - SeVeNCDN
Smerd - Smerd20
Stratos - Chronocast
stephen - stephen087
Super_Conzo - Super_Conzo
thefly - LeaveLuck2Heaven
TheOldManFromZelda - OldManFromZelda
TK_Thunder - The_Trish
Tranquilo - Arponare
VofEscaflowne - VofEscaflowne



Reviews
Eurogamer - 10/10

Game Informer - 9.25/10
Destructoid - 9.0/10
IGN - 9.0/10
Joystiq - 4.5/5
Nintendo Life - 9/10
Polygon - 9.0/10

GameTrailers - 8.6/10
Gamespot - 8.0/10
Giant Bomb - 4/5

NintendoWorldReport.com - 7.5/10

URL to share (right click and copy)
05/16/14, 03:52    Edited: 06/28/14, 23:37
 
Why not sign up for a (free) account?
   
 
  Guillaume  
@Tranquilo

I'm sorry but there are several people I haven't been able to add. Full list.
07/03/14, 17:01   
  Tranquilo  
@Guillaume

How many people do they allow? 100?
07/03/14, 17:06   
  Guillaume  
Yeah, 100. You can also "follow" 1000 people, but that's for Miiverse posts only, not matches.

I'll see tonight if I can shuffle some people out. There are probably people I'll probably never play with on there.
07/03/14, 17:10   
  TriforceBun  
I've hit my limit too. Pretty tough to decide who to cut.
07/03/14, 17:23   
  ludist210  
I'm close to mine as well (I think I'm at 93). It's silly...I wish they'd expand that a little bit. 250 would be ideal.
07/03/14, 17:37   
Edited: 07/03/14, 17:41
  Tranquilo  
To be fair, last gen, the limit for Xbox Live and PSN was also 100 people I think, and for all intents and purposes this is Nintendo first serious foray into the online play arena. Then again, this doesn't do much to dispel the notion that Wii U is a generation behind in hardware (though this is more on the server side)

Hopefully for Nintendo's next console, they can include a limit for at least 2k people (while Xbox will probably be 5K...) In this day and age of information highway where people meet friends on the internet it is really easy to fill up a list of 100 people.
07/03/14, 21:31   
  Mop it up  
I think I still have around 20 or so slots left if anyone else wants to add me, but I certainly gained a lot more thanks to this game. When Smash Brothers rolls around, it may be the game to top me out. Hopefully, this is something Nintendo can/will raise in a system update.

@carlosrox It's too late to check the replays now, but yeah, everyone sees slightly different things thanks to lag. On my screen you probably cut in front of me towing the item. I have been hit by invisible items before so it's something that can happen, not exactly sure what might cause it.
07/03/14, 21:45   
  carlosrox  
@Mop it up
Ah I figured that was the case. Sounds really unfair. On my screen/replay I can see the impact when you're clearly several feet away.

No wonder people experiencr such bs in this game sometimes. Maybe I was lagging last night. I know the item roulette wasn't working at all...that really changes the game up.
07/03/14, 23:17   
  Mr_Mustache  
TriforceBun said:
I've hit my limit too. Pretty tough to decide who to cut.

I actually cruised over to Gui's profile to see what he did as I've also been at 100 SOLIDLY for quite some time. Someone new wants to add me (from here), and I figure out who to dump. Looks like Gui does a Follow + Add type of thing. I do the Follow when I Unfriend somebody, but you also lose any messages you had between the two of you, which stinks.

NW takes precedence over my Madden buddies, usually, and then I look at stuff like "how active are they?" If someone has been away for more than a month..I'm keeping this person on my list why? If there isn't a clear decision, I go down the list and look at all the people I play with on a regular basis. I sometimes get to a point where I don't think I've ever played anything with a person, and it kinda does the work for you.

Easiest decision though? Someone else deciding they don't want to be buds with you anymore. Phantom spot, wow!
07/04/14, 00:12   
  TheOldManFromZelda  
Tonight, I made a tough decision.

I switched my main online character to a heavy.

I'm tired of being bullied around and not being fast enough to win races.

I'm sorry ShyGuy. If I ever play offline again, I'll come back to you. But for now, it's DK all the way.

The results have been immediate. I've finished in the top 4 every race (10 so far!) tonight. Why didn't I make this switch sooner?!

I think Nintendo has some serious tweeking to do if they're ever going to release a patch for this game that addresses the balance.
07/05/14, 05:49   
  pokepal148  
Like I've said before, there's no reason to have stats in mario kart.
07/05/14, 07:28   
  Tranquilo  
@pokepal148

I don't think they are outright stats tough. The way I see it, if your character looks light, it probably is, and it makes sense for you to be brushed aside by the likes of Bowser or Donkey Kong.

What I don't get is whether the tires make a difference. I have noticed that they interact differently depending on the surface of the track and the tire material so there must be a correlation. I think this follows Nintendo's tradition of allowing everyone to jump in but still allowing some nuances that other people won't get if gamers really want to get more serious about it... but not too serious because for some reason they don't want people to associate them with eSports.

@TheOldManFromZelda

Personally, I think this is the most balanced the game series has ever been. I don't even get mad when a blue shell hits me every now and again.
07/06/14, 20:48   
  carlosrox  
@Tranquilo
Play online more and you'll realize that at the end of the day it actually isn't all that balanced.

I've seen some shit, and apparently get nearly lapped by certain people. I'm sure some people out there know some exploits or something others don't know. I've seen people who are impossibly fast and get leads out of nowhere. I saw this guy with a 8000 rank who absolutely never left 1st place for even a second. That's not even POSSIBLE in this game. He always had the banana or horn when it 1st and it was very fishy to say the least. 4 people right behind him and a mini boost and a coin later and he somehow left everyone in the dust.

Something's up.
07/06/14, 22:18   
  Zero  
I've played a ton online, and I think it is the most balanced online yet. It has some issues but it's not like a complete random item fest like the old games were. When you go back and forth between finishing 1st in one race and 12th in the next with the very same group of people, which happened to me in the old games ALL THE TIME, that kind of says something about how much skill mixes into the balance. Yeah yeah I know, some people were pretty consistently good at that game... still doesn't change the fact that getting the same group of people playing over and over led to wildly different results.

With 8 when I get with a group of people and play a bunch with the same people... I tend to get the same general results. Over time.
07/07/14, 00:18   
  r_hjort  
@Tranquilo
Nintendo is actually sponsoring Evo 2014. And they did have that Smash Bros. Invitational at E3, so I don't think they have a problem with e-sports. Not anymore, anyway.
07/07/14, 00:58   
Edited: 07/07/14, 00:59
  TheOldManFromZelda  
@Zero

I just have to disagree. The game's balance is just not as good as you think. Switch your character's weight class and tell me otherwise.

I finished 1st 3 times tonight, and in the top 4-5 numerous times. All thanks to high speed and high weight (Donkey Kong). I couldn't be pushed around, and I was tough to catch.

As ShyGuy, I would've never gotten a sniff of first place.

I was using the same cart and tires for both characters as well.

The game isn't broken, but it certainly isn't balanced.
07/07/14, 06:25   
  TriforceBun  
I have issues with the game balance as well, but I don't know if it's related to weight (then again, I haven't really tried heavies all that intensively yet, since I feel super-punished already when smacked with an item, even with zippy 4.0 accel). The items still feel funkified to me, and I dislike how it's nigh-hopeless to catch up if you're in 6th or below. You have to race quite well and play defensively to even stay in that position amidst the weaponry.
07/07/14, 06:34   
  Zero  
@TheOldManFromZelda I'm talking more about the item balance. I think the kart balance is always kind of an issue in MK games, and I rarely get to use, but that's sort of neither here nor there at the end of the day. As long as I KNOW what the best karts (or bikes?) are, then I can live with that.
07/07/14, 06:42   
  TheOldManFromZelda  
@Zero

Fair enough. I actually have just a little issue with item balance. Like TBun said, 6th or lower, you have no shot of winning. So that's still an issue.

I wish the characters were more balanced fairly. I have no incentive to play as ShyGuy anymore, even though he's one of my favorite characters.
07/07/14, 06:46   
  carlosrox  
@Zero
When you play the higher ranked players the game magically turns, fucking, impossible.

Trust me.

And sometimes, you just CAN'T win, doesn't even matter what the FUCK you do.
07/07/14, 06:46   
∧  Forum main
 +