Mario Kart 8 (Wii-U)

[jords]

Some things to point out, after you watching a bunch of gameplay.

-Getting bombed, getting hit by bullet bill and falling off course will not take away your power up.

-The blue shell and bob-omb will only cause you yo spin out instead of flipping twice or flying up in the air (happens in Wii version)

-Your instantly pick back up after falling off course. So it takes like 2-4 seconds to get back on course. It seems falling in water takes a second longer but not much.

-you can only carry one item now. Like you can't have the triple shells circling around you and have another item waiting to be used.

-Bullet bill is still slow.

-During the highlight reel, you can fast forward, rewind and go slomo. I think you can change camera too.

-I saw another new item, its the cannon box from super Mario 3D world. I saw it during the item selection but I forgot which video it was from.

I think that's it.

But don't worry, mando below me has most of the info.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

new info dump, and interview both from Gonintendo

http://www.gonintendo.com/s/225464-mario-kart-8-devs-on-lack-of-track-editor-potential-for-3-riders-in-the-future-customization-and-blue-shell-use

 

Mario Kart 8 devs on lack of track editor, potential for 3 riders in the future, customization and blue shell use

Apr 03, 2014 by RawmeatCowboy

 

The following information comes from producer Hideki Konno and director Kosuke Yabuki...

On the idea of the series featuring a track editor/creator

- Konno has been interested in providing gamers with a course creation tool for a long time
- course creation is key to the series
- Konno says making courses is "really tough"

"This is the eighth game in the series and when we work on a Mario Kart title, we work on courses and we create them and then we work on them again, and again, and again, and we revise until we come up with something that we think is going to be fun for everyone to play over and over again. So we have a lot of confidence in our ability to do so, but we understand what a tough challenge it is to create those courses.

"I just don't know that at this point we're able to do that at a level that would satisfy anyone, myself included, or the customer. Someday, if we can come up with a solution and implement in a way that makes everyone happy, or we think will make everyone happy, we'll come back to that issue and maybe re-address it. We're always optimistic and thinking about what we're going to do in the future."

On bringing back dual racers as in Double Dash, and why it hasn't happened since

"It wasn't just a simple case of, 'Hey, we're not going to do that again.' We really think the two racers together in one kart of Double Dash was really unique, and we thought it worked really well. We've got that in our pocket, so if we come up with any new, cool ideas that utilize having two players racing together, we will definitely grab that and possibly bring it back out.

Having two players racing together, it does have a pretty high cost in terms of processing power, so that is an obstacle. That being said, if we could come up with some ways around that processing cost, we may have two players, maybe even three players, racing together. If we could come up with some cool ideas, we'll definitely use them."


On race customization and blue shell randomness

"There was some item customization in Mario Kart 7, in that you could choose to have a mushroom-only race or shell-only race. We're going to have that plus a little bit more, actually, in Mario Kart 8. I think we're going to be able to answer that feeling of, 'I don't want to race with items.' Well, OK, then no items. Or, 'I only want to have bananas.' Well, OK. I think we're going to be able to provide a system to answer that desire this time around." - Yabuki
"We're going to have some rule customization for folks who want to be able to go in and set that up for themselves. Game balance is a really important element of Mario Kart that we look very, very closely at and place a lot of value on. I think that item balance, from the time we start working on development, a thousand times, maybe even tens of thousands of times, we adjust that balance while we're playing. At the end, we come up with what we hope or feel is a really good balance. It's our strong hope that folks would want to play with the items as we have balanced them.

That feature (the blue shell) is not random. It just doesn't happen. There is a lot of adjustment, and there is a lot of thought and effort put into that system and developing it in a way that actually promotes game balance. So I would hope people would understand that as well.

One of the things we actually hope for is that if you're just playing on an off day, and you've lost a race or two. We hope that you step away going, 'Oh well, I just didn't feel it today. My luck wasn't with me. Whatever the cause, it just wasn't my day, but I'm going to come back and play again.' And that's sort of what we're aiming for. We want people to feel that way when they step away, that they want to come back." - Konno

 

 

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=225462

 

Mario Kart 8 - ultimate info round-up (TONS of details)

by robometal cowboy » 03 Apr 2014 04:12

Mario Kart 8 - ultimate info round-up (TONS of details)
Click Here to View Story

- ShyGuy, Lakitu and Metal Mario confirmed as playable characters
- Piranha Plant and Boomerang revealed as new items
- customization remains the same as it was in Mario Kart 7
- Mario Kart Stadium is the first track
- this track will take you upside-down halfway through
- ShyGuy Falls has you racing up/down waterfalls and flying across a chasm
- bumping characters when in anti-grav mode gives you a spin speed boost
- Thwomp Ruins lets you drive up the walls or remain on the ground
- Twhomp Ruins also has a section with 3 different ways you can go, one with a hang glider short cut
- You can also drive on the walls or through a watery portion in this same section
- Toad's Turnpike from Mario Kart 64 returns
- this track now lets you drive up walls
- you can also find a car on the turnpike that has a ramp, which lets you launch off and open your hang glider
- Moo Moo Meadows returns and now takes place during sunrise
- Dry Dry Desert also returns, with fallen pillars and tracks in the sand made by your tires
- this level also has a watery oasis you can drive through
- boomerang is a long-range weapon that takes out anything in its path both when first thrown and on the way back
- you can throw the boomerang 3 times
- Piranha Plant item grabs at racers/coins on the track
- each time it grabs out, you get pulled forward with a speed boost
- coin item returns, giving you two coins when you use it
- you can no longer collect an item to keep in reserve
- when you have any item in your possession, it takes up your item slot and blocks you from picking up any other item
- GamePad screen has map of course, other racer positions and the items they hold
- map is only available in a zoomed-out view
- three touch-screen icons: one for off-TV play, one for horn and an option to turn on motion controls
- motion controls don't force you into first-person mode, which seems to be gone completely
- rear view mirror option
- wiimote by itself, Wiimote/Nunchuk and Wii U Pro Controller options available
- DK Jungle returns
- power-sliding returns as well
- framerate is locked at 60 fps, even in two-player split-screen mode
- 32 courses in the final game
- no hands-on time for press with Battle Mode or Coin Runners
- when using anti-grav, the game uses an angled camera angle
- Water Park has underwater sections and an amusement park-themed gauntlet
- Cheep Cheep Beach returns, doesn't feature anti-grav, but has boost pads and ramps
- Mario Circuit 4 has an elevated anti-gravity U-turn in one corner
- Donut Plains 3 has rain-soaked roads
- cannot use the GamePad screen as a separate screen for multiplayer races
- 4-player local multiplayer
- Twelve players can race online
- Mario Kart TV is a feature that will let you share brief highlight films on Miiverse
- Baby Peach and Baby Daisy return
- 720p
- each track features multiple pathways and routes
- features leaderboards
- at the end of each race, your best moments are saved and shown to you in a highlight reel
- these replays have special camera angles and editing
- the Lakitu Bros. follow you around track to film your actions
- Mushroom Cup includes Mario Kart Stadium, Water Park, Sweet Sweet Canyon and Thwomp Ruins
- driving over a blue marker at key points activates anti-grav
- Flower Cup has Mario Circuit, Toad Harbor, Twisted Mansion and Shy Guy Falls
- first two retro cups are Shell and Banana trophies
- Shell has Moo Moo Meadows (Mario Kart Wii), Mario Circuit (Mario Kart Super Circuit), Cheep Cheep Beach (Mario Kart DS) and Toad's Turnpike (Mario Kart 64
- Banana includes Dry Dry Desert (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!), Donut Plains (Super Mario Kart), Royal Raceway (Mario Kart 64) and DK Jungle (Mario Kart 7)
- 4-player is 30fps and a drop in visual fidelity
- the more coins you have, up to ten, the faster your kart will be
- Spiny blue shell goes along the ground
- the three banana trail now is a separate item of fruit to be used individually
- bikes no longer allow for wheelies
- stunts return
- characters now hold their next item in their hand
- Time Trials and Vs. Race return
- developers' main priority was creating interesting courses that encourage new and different ways of playing
- small characters can now bump into bigger ones while in anti-grav and still get a speed boost
- the devs were able to harness the power of the Wii U to get a 'huge polygon count'
- this allowed the team to make multiple courses with 'undulating, moving surfaces'
- character animations are now more detailed and involved than ever before
- Roy Koopa will fist pump when he launches an item
- Lemmy Koopa moves around erratically
- puddles mirror your tires as you splash through them
- resting flocks of birds scatter as you zoom past
- Sweet Sweet Canyon appears to be a glazed dessert road
- far smoother reset on the track when saved by Lakitu
- you can select parameters to generate your video at the end of a race
- parameters include clip length, specific characters for the camera to follow and a focus on key racing moments such as item use or stunt jumps
- rubber-band AI seems to have been done away with
- ATVs are also a vehicle option
- in anti-grav, if you fall off the track, Lakitu snags you and immediately returns you to the race
- 27 characters confirmed thus far, with more to be revealed



Mario
Luigi
Peach
Daisy
Yoshi
Bowser
Donkey Kong
Toad
Toadette
Koopa Troopa
Wario
Waluigi
Rosalina
Baby Mario
Baby Luigi
Baby Peach
Baby Daisy
Larry Koopa
Morton Koopa Jr.
Wendy O. Koopa
Iggy Koopa
Roy Koopa
Lemmy Koopa
Ludwig von Koopa
Metal Mario
Shy Guy
Lakitu

 

[JaidynReiman]

Ok, that at the end makes me happen, we don't have a full roster yet. You can bet that at least one of the final characters is Diddy Kong, he's been in the past two console Mario Kart's. E. Gadd should honestly be in this game. It'd also be nice to have a WarioWare character.

 

I'm betting on 33 characters. One character for every track, plus Mii.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Ok, that at the end makes me happen, we don't have a full roster yet. You can bet that at least one of the final characters is Diddy Kong, he's been in the past two console Mario Kart's. E. Gadd should honestly be in this game. It'd also be nice to have a WarioWare character.

 

I'm betting on 33 characters. One character for every track, plus Mii.

I think we might be underestimating them, I believe they know they need to go full out, so they might give us the biggest roster yet, And I wouldnt rule out dlc for tracks and characters that didnt make the inital time crush, I mean Pikmin three got DLC why shouldnt Mario Kart, one of nintendos biggest and most popular francises get one?

 

also about there not being 5 player, I understand the reasoning, as this game looks like it takes a TON of power, also did you guys consider that the gamepad might be used to control the camera for the recording thing?

[Willsy]

Diddy was in MK7? How do you unlock him?

Edit: He was only in Double Dash and Wii.

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

He said CONSOLE Mario Karts. 7 was handheld.

[Willsy]

He said CONSOLE Mario Karts. 7 was handheld.

Oooooh.....maybe he will come back then, but I'd like to see Cranky too.

[jords]

Looks like the lucky 7 is back, or shall I say the lucky 8. Obviously its not confirm if it will work as lucky 7. It its the same, except it'll get 8 items.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Oooooh.....maybe he will come back then, but I'd like to see Cranky too.

*Imagines a DK character only race with DK, Funky, Diddie, Dixie, Cranky(in a rocket powered rocker), K.Rool, and a Kremling* Now THAT would be sick, I mean does anybody else want to see K.Rool in MK?

 

I mean both K.Rool and the Kremling WERE in Mario Strikers, and Mario sluggers

 

and the koopalings got in, I would argue that these two have as good a chance as well, why not have DK's foes in as well, and there is a precedence

[YoshiUnity]

I just saw the trailer.

 

More amazing looking new courses!

 

More items!

 

Shy Guy is back! (I have all the characters I want, and there's still more to be revealed!)

 

Toad's Turnpike is back with car ramps!

 

Rainbow Road 64 is back with an actual Hype Train!

 

 

 

... And I have to wait just under two months to get this bad boy...

 

... ..................................................

 

Is it May 30th yet?

[JaidynReiman]

*Imagines a DK character only race with DK, Funky, Diddie, Dixie, Cranky(in a rocket powered rocker), K.Rool, and a Kremling* Now THAT would be sick, I mean does anybody else want to see K.Rool in MK?

 

I mean both K.Rool and the Kremling WERE in Mario Strikers, and Mario sluggers

 

and the koopalings got in, I would argue that these two have as good a chance as well, why not have DK's foes in as well, and there is a precedence

I think It'd be cool if both K. Rool and Dixie get added, but I can't see much more than that. Unless they give us like 40+ characters.

 

I think we might be underestimating them, I believe they know they need to go full out, so they might give us the biggest roster yet, And I wouldnt rule out dlc for tracks and characters that didnt make the inital time crush, I mean Pikmin three got DLC why shouldnt Mario Kart, one of nintendos biggest and most popular francises get one?

 

also about there not being 5 player, I understand the reasoning, as this game looks like it takes a TON of power, also did you guys consider that the gamepad might be used to control the camera for the recording thing?

Its already the biggest roster yet. Mario Kart Wii had 24 characters (26 only if you count two Mii outfits). And personally I can't see them getting THAT big, but who knows...?

 

DLC I definitely could see, though. I could even see, for example, a "Sonic" DLC where you can unlock a Sonic Cup and up to four Sonic characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy). Perhaps as a throw back to the Yoshi/Zelda DLC in Sonic Lost World.

[Celestia]

 

That gif is terrifying.

 

I haven't been paying much attention to the game in a while (then again there hasn't been much news, so), but they've got my interest back. When it comes to Mario Karts, I've only ever played Double Dash, and last time I played that it...wasn't as good as I remembered. But hey, this looks really good, and not just dem "graph fixes", to use sophisticated gamer terminology.

 

Although, when I saw Dry Dry Desert I got a combined feeling of nostalgia and dread. Maybe I was just bad at the game, but that course always gave me trouble as a kid...

[VO.SUPER]

It's trending on facebook now, so the latest trailer definitely has been noticed.

[Willsy]

 

 

A hip hop, a hip hop hap, I'm giving you all, the Micheal Rosen rap (rap rap rap)...

So guys, is it worth paying an extra £10 to get the standard edition with the tshirt from Nintendo, or should I just get it from GAME?

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

More developer talk

http://www.gonintendo.com/s/225500-mario-kart-8-devs-talk-balance-two-rainbow-roads-included-representing-all-installments-in-the-franchise

 

Coming from Nintendo's Hideki Konno...

"Game balance is also another really important element of Mario Kart that we look very closely at and place a lot of value on,. From the time we start working on development, thousands of times, maybe even tens of thousands of times, we adjust that balance when we're playing. At the end we come up with what we hope and feel is a really good balance. It's our strong hope that folks would want to play with the items as we have balanced them.

We do hear, and a lot of people out there say it, that Mario Kart is all about luck. That if you're at the front then you'll get hit with a blue shell, so it's all about luck. That feature is not random--it doesn't just happen. There is a lot of adjustment and there is a lot of thought and effort put into that system, and developing it in a way that actually promotes game balance. I would hope people understand that as well."

The following comes from director Kosuke Yabuki...

"Rainbow Road of course is a classic course. This time we actually grabbed Rainbow Road N64 version in addition to the current iteration of Rainbow Road. So we hope you look forward to racing on both of those courses. One thing I do want to mention is Rainbow Road, that final course. We really want you to look forward to what we've done to it this time because it's something else. It's really spectacular."

Coming from Konno...

"We really wanted this game to be a representation of all the games that came before it. We wanted to summarize and bring together all the elements of the series into this title. The race courses themselves is one of the most important--if not the most important elements--in the series, so with Mario Kart 8 we really wanted to divide up the things we could do and make sure we're really using them effectively. So we have underwater sessions, we have flying sessions, we have anti-grav sessions, and we use all of these in a way to create really interesting and fun to drive on courses."

Also, you can item block, you just cant get another item while item blocking

 

also Jayiden I think this could be the biggest roster yet, perhaps a huge one!

[TearForFear]

 

Can't wait to see everything about Twisted Mansion. I'm calling it, it can be as fan favourite as Waluigi Pinball.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Levels and cups so far

http://www.gonintendo.com/s/225520-mario-kart-8-confirmed-tracks-thus-far

 

Mario Kart 8 - confirmed tracks thus far

Apr 03, 2014 by RawmeatCowboy

 

Mushroom Cup

Mario Kart Stadium
Water Park
Sweet Sweet Canyon
Thwomp Ruins

Flower Cup

Mario Circuit
Toad Harbor
Twisted Mansion
Shy Guy Falls

Star Cup

Sunshine Airport
Electrodome
???
???

Special Cup

???
???
???
???

Unassigned Tracks

Bone Dry Ruins
Cloudtop Cruise
Dolphin Shoals

Shell Cup

Wii Moo Moo Meadows
DS Cheep Cheep Beach
GBA Mario Circuit
N64 Toad’s Turnpike

Banana Cup

GCN Dry Dry Desert
SNES Donut Plains 3
N64 Royal Raceway
3DS DK Jungle

Leaf Cup

???
???
???
???

Lightning Cup

???
???
???
N64 Rainbow Road

Unassigned Tracks

DS Tick Tock Clock
Wii Grumble Volcano
3DS Music Park
3DS Piranha Plant Pipeway
 

 

[jords]

So we got Rainbow road, bowser castle and one more track.

And three more retro track. I'm hoping we get DK Summit. We need a snow track at least.

[Dantemustdie00]

Pretty sure Tick-Tock Clock is in Lighting Cup too, they had the symbols on the Pendulums.

[G-Force]

We should all know by now that the Special Cup will end with a new Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road.

 

EDIT:  Damn it, ninja'd.

[Indigo Rush]

I hope some variation of Sherbet Land shows up, preferably the GCN version, since we've been getting quite a lot of N64 love.

 

Also, that music.

 

 

It just isn't Mario Kart without a proper snow track.

[DarkRula]

Is it too strong of me to say 'the fools'?

I'll explain. Some people think that the Rainbow Road being shown off is the new RR specifically for MK8, despite, well... this-

-being the video the comments are showing up on.

[jords]

Is it too strong of me to say 'the fools'?

I'll explain. Some people think that the Rainbow Road being shown off is the new RR specifically for MK8, despite, well... this-

-being the video the comments are showing up on.

If it wasn't for the comparison video, I wouldn't of thought this was N64 RR, until I hear the music.

Can't wait to see MK8 RR

[DarkRula]

Yeah. It does look that improved, as do all the tracks. But since every iteration of Mario Kart has a Rainbow Road, you could be fooled that this was the new one.

If it wasn't so blatantly obvious from the video in question.

[JaidynReiman]

Watching it over again, I really do thing that turning one lap around the course into three laps makes that stage far, FAR shorter than it should be. I think it'd have been better making one lap around the course just one lap, but only requiring 2 laps instead of 3 like what Wario Stadium did in Double Dash. But whatever, it still look amazing.