Mario Kart 8 (Wii-U)

[Doctor MK]

I wonder if the Amiibo integration will be be instead of DLC for the game. I could see that happening, as Amiibo compatibility was confirmed.

How much will Amiibos cost? Would £7 be a fair guess? I'd gladly pay that just for a Luigi statue.

 

I'd wager somewhere between £5-10, so yeah, £7 is probably a decent guess. The cheaper the better though, of course, especially if you plan to collect them all!

 

I can still see there being "normal" DLC for this game, but then again I don't know what else the Amiibo stuff could be used for. But it'd be weird just having figures of the new characters and not for the more recognisable ones... but having "figure players" like in Smash wouldn't add anything to a racer, unless it's like I suggested before and you have Amiibo figures of items instead of characters.

 

EDIT: Nintendo discusses the Luigi Death Stare appearance at E3! They're officially acknowledging it, folks!

[Gabz Girl]

Guh, me and Kaabii didn't know there was an SSMB Tourney thingie. D= Didn't help that when we first joined, the batteries of my Wii remote + nunchuk ran out so the game kicked us out after the connection failed and we had to scramble for some new batteries.

 

When do you guys normally start? We'd like to join again!

[Willsy]

So I raced with some of you guys tonight. I had a lot of fun, but the flaws in the item balancing are just so glaring. We had at least two people leave because it became so frustrating for them, and I don't blame them. Nintendo need to patch this, because this is a massive problem.

It was fun though, I'll be sure to race over the weekend!

[Gabz Girl]

So I raced with some of you guys tonight. I had a lot of fun, but the flaws in the item balancing are just so glaring. We had at least two people leave because it became so frustrating for them, and I don't blame them. Nintendo need to patch this, because this is a massive problem.

 

That could have been us. ^^;; If you check my post you'll see why we suddenly left, then rejoined.

 

You're right though. We've been playing a couple of online games now and the item balancing is a bitch. Makes most games very frustrating. I suppose that's part of the fun?

[Dantemustdie00]

I don't mind the item balance at all when your 1st through 6th, but lower positions than that, getting something as worthless as a Single Mushroom, Green Shell, Red shell, Banana, or Coin is just really stupid.

 

I actually don't mind Triple Red's in Second or 3rd or the Coin item frequency that much (well, not if your in a low position anyway), especially after the nightmare that was MK7 which made the Frontrunner immortal, I really like that 1st place is more open to attack this time.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Hmm, more news on MK8 seems likely, and DLC this year, here is more of the advertising

http://www.gonintendo.com/s/230894-mcdonald-s-happy-meals-to-feature-mario-kart-8-toy-karts

 

McDonald's Happy Meals to feature Mario Kart 8 toy karts

[Willsy]

....I want Luigi. I hope these become available in France, they look really cool!

[Nix]

McDonald's Happy Meals to feature Mario Kart 8 toy karts

 

I hope Luigi has dynamic head turning action for stop motion death stare videos.

[Doctor MK]

Oh god Luigi is even driving the same car as he is in the death stare video, this shit has gone cross-media

 

Needs moar Biker Rosalina though. Seriously, I would buy that in a second. Heck, gimme a Biker Rosalina Amiibo figure too.

[JezMM]

SSMB Daily Tourney Winners for Week 2:

 

#8

Fri 6th June
MickX

#9

Sat 7th June
MickX

#10

Sun 8th June

Random Rules Sunday: Mirror / Teams / Frantic / Karts Only / No CPU
Team Sanic (MVP: MickX)

#11

Mon 9th June
JezMM

#12

Tue 10th June
Brad

#13

Wed 11th June
MickX

#14

Thu 12th June
Felix

[Willsy]

Congratulations guys!

I'm sorry I've been sucking a lot, but I've really been having some bad luck with this game. I'm really hoping that Nintendo patch the item balancing.

EDIT: I actually sent some feedback to Nintendo about the item balancing:

Dear sir/miss/mrs

I'm not sure if I'm in the right place to be asking this, but I have a suggestion for the item system in a Mario Kart 8. My friends and I have been really enjoying the game since launch, but there is one thing that hinders the experience a bit and that's the way the items are balanced. A lot of the time we receive an item that doesn't make sense for the place one of us are in, and that can either leave one of us completely defenceless to an attack or to fall far behind everyone else.

I was thinking it might be a good idea to remove triple red shells as they have caused a lot of the people we were playing with to get very upset when they get hit at least twice in a row. There is also an issue with the coin powerup appearing too much even when we already have ten coins.

I was wondering, would it be possible to pass this feedback up to the development team, so they could look into it? I still really love the game, it's my favourite Wii U game so far! But it would be really great if this could be fixed, as it would make playing with friends so much calmer and more fun.

Your's sincerely,

Will *WILL'S SURNAME*

Age 16

Yeah I wrote formally.

[ProfessorZolo]

I don't really have an issue with the item balance, apart from when you're racing against a small number of people. Getting coins in first might not be immediately useful got defending yourself, but when you do get hit, you can regain some speed a little more easily. Feels intentional in order to shake the race up a little.

Now, a problem I was having when I joined the tourney yesterday (?) was that as people left, it became harder to get useful items. Especially so once it was down to me and Soniko. Her setup was built for a higher top speed, and that's not really an issue when there are 6+ people chucking shells and throwing lightning, but when there's just 2 of you, well...

In three (?) races, I got nothing useful. Permanently stuck in second, getting coins, mushrooms, two bananas and one bomb. In three complete races. Awful.

So yeah, sorry I bailed after that Soniko, but it was getting aggravating.

[Willsy]

Triple red shells are an absolute bitch. Sometimes, if the person in front is far away enough you can hit them with all three and pretty much get far ahead of them. It's bullshit, there should at least be a relief period from shells because I've had like four hit me consecutively before.

[Conando]

The thing about that is it's really hard to tell if you got that far ahead, due to pure skill, or if you just got that far ahead because the guy in second kept getting rammed by items. It's more often the latter.

[Autosaver]

I actually preferred Mario Kart to Sonic Racing due to the above problem  on the whole "skill" issue happening so often on SASRT. It always felt like I was first every race because the person in second and third kept knocking each other out. I haven't really run into this issue in Mario Kart that often.

[Conando]

The only balance issue I can see, with it currently, is the coin really does muck up 1st's defensive options. They shouldn't be an breakable wall, though.

[Autosaver]

I think the actual issue now is that you can't hold items anymore. This means someone in first is completely screwed if their one item they pick up isn't very good (such as a 1 item or a coin). Previous Mario Kart games have had similar bad defensive items such as the item box and didn't suffer from the problem.

 

It makes the game so much more challenging in the long run though. You can't just hold your position by having a billion items at your disposal.

[Blue Blood]

When Cola, Azoo, Indy and I were playing last night we had the items set to frantic initially and ended up with a fair amount of yo-yoing where pretty much the entire race depend on just the second half of the final lap. Even of none of us cocked up, the race wasn't ever in the bag until you got to the finish line. It was fun mostly, but on one or two of the races either I felt cheated or felt like I'd totally cheated someone else out of a win. And then Cola left and Azoo set the game to "boost only, no CPU". It was... Dull. From the moment the first race started to when the last one finished, we just held our positions and plodded along the tracks never coming close to each other. Without items or just with boosts, MK is boring. The items are totally necessary. But the balance is a really hard feat. Nintendo have done a much better job here than anytime previously, but it's still not right.

[-Mark-]

I can't remember if this has been mentioned already (or even if I was the one who mentioned it if it was), but is anyone else bothered by the fact that the UK TV ad for Mario Kart 8 says 'Not actual gameplay footage' over footage that actually is?

 

Way to undersell themselves and potentially shoot themselves in the foot there. D:

 

Anyway, I managed to get the last triple-star I needed on Mirror Mode yesterday, meaning I've now got them all;

 

 

 

So now I'm focusing on Time Trials. God damn the Rainbow Road staff ghost is hard. Spent a full hour attempting it yesterday and still didn't manage. Came close a few times, but nope.

[Jolt_TH]

I've decided what I don't like about the AI in this game. They don't seem like they are genuinely out to win, rather that they are just out to get you. Doing the mirror mode races and on those and the 150cc cups I can do just fine on three of the four races, but they always choose one track to be an absolute bitch! However this AI happens during all the races in those modes at least

The reason I say this is because I've been racing before and I'll have been hit and fallen to third, the person in second will go through an item box and get a red shell, they won't then throw it infront at 1st place, but throw it behind to hit me. After this I did a little experiment I had my girlfriend watch the items on the map screen while I raced and on the final race of the GP there were two CPUs that held items the WHOLE race, a red shell and a bomb and two that held them for at least the whole last lap, another two red shells. what happened, nearing the end of the las lap I get hit by a green shell from the racer In second, then racer in third fired their red shell (been holding it the whole race) then red shell from fourth (whole last lap), red shell from sixth (whole last lap) and bomb from seventh (whole race) they aren't trying to hit each other with these items, only you.

[DarkRula]

Only thing I'm hating about the items at the minute is how the AI always wait until you are just about to pass the finish line to use lightning. Especially if you've got ten coins.

One thing I am starting to think is happening is there are a number of AI-item modules within the game, randomly activated per race. They just act so different each and every race it's really a nightmare when you've had three clean races to get bombarded on the last.

[Lady Soniko]

I don't really have an issue with the item balance, apart from when you're racing against a small number of people. Getting coins in first might not be immediately useful got defending yourself, but when you do get hit, you can regain some speed a little more easily. Feels intentional in order to shake the race up a little.

Now, a problem I was having when I joined the tourney yesterday (?) was that as people left, it became harder to get useful items. Especially so once it was down to me and Soniko. Her setup was built for a higher top speed, and that's not really an issue when there are 6+ people chucking shells and throwing lightning, but when there's just 2 of you, well...

In three (?) races, I got nothing useful. Permanently stuck in second, getting coins, mushrooms, two bananas and one bomb. In three complete races. Awful.

So yeah, sorry I bailed after that Soniko, but it was getting aggravating.

 

It's fine, I actually left after Cloudtop Cruise myself.

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

A friend of a friend wanted me to post their video on the subject of this delightful game.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know either.

[Doctor MK]

Mario Kart 8 is holding strong in the UK charts, slipping slightly in the All Formats chart to #4 but up to #2 in the Single Formats chart

 

Hooray!

[JBrewer]

I was playing regional online last night with a mate of mine also from Australia and we were playing someone named Fabulous J and someone else I can't remember and it really seemed like they were ganging up on us, avoiding hitting each other and taking turns at winning. It made me so angry, so my friend and I decided to do the same thing. 

 

Let's just say that Fabulous J and his fire hopping ways were no match for the Aussies. He left like a little sook when he started losing.