One Month Later, What Does System Wars Think of MK8?

Mario Kart 8 released a month ago, and with its incredible commercial performance, critical acclaim, marketing, and viral positive word of mouth, it may yet represent a turnraround in the Wii U's fortunes.

This thread is about none of that.

This thread, rather, is about Mario Kart 8, the game. It had so much associated with it, and so much riding on it, a lot of people, particularly those who may not have actually played it, probably fail to assess it as a game. So this thread is to ask System Wars, now that Mario Kart 8 is a month old, and the shiny new game veneer has worn off somewhat, what they think of it.

As for me? I think it's great! The game's mechanically perfect and the best Mario Kart has ever been. Control is absolutely tight, and ensures that if you fail, you fail because you did badly; the item balance is great (the rejigging of existing items, the introduction of new items, the item distribution across races, and finally, the removal of the ability to stack items, all helps greatly in this regard), and the new tracks introduced might be the best batch of 16 tracks a new Mario Kart game has ever introduced. Single player racing is great fun (150cc and onwards is a legitimate challenge), and online racing is great. All of this, and Mario Kart TV is a great addition as well, as it allows for some great spontaneous video sharing.

As good as the game plays, it's also presented in a shiny great package. The graphics are incredible, with Nintendo outputting far and away the Wii U's best looking game yet, and a title that certainly qualifies as one of the prettiest on the market. The music is as great as the graphics (arguably better) with the full orchestration doing wonders for tunes both old and new.

On the other hand, the game does have some clear deficiencies- the character roster is padded, for instance, and generally poor (why are characters like Baby Rosalina, Baby Pink Peack, and seven Koopalings, included over, say, Diddy Kong, Dry Bones, or King Boo?) The battle mode is clearly tacked on at the last moment, with the normal race tracks being a very poor substitute for dedicated battle arenas. I personally don't care for Battle Mode, but for those of you who do, the new Battle Mode is probably a butchering. Also, and I can't believe this is a thing, but Mario Kart 8 does not have an Options menu. What the hell?

All said and done, though, I think Mario Kart 8 is a great game, and one worthy of all the success it is getting. What does System Wars think of the title? And where would you rank it against exclusives on the PS4 and Xbox One?

TL;DR as usual

It's Mario Kart. It's fun.

Battle mode is atrocious though. Lazy. That's how I would describe that.

Mortal Kombat 8? Never played it

Got it for a decent price with Gamer's Club Unlocked. Played it for a little while. Realized the game hasn't really changed since Mario Kart 64. Downloaded my free copy of Windwaker HD. Sold my copy of Mario Kart 8. Basically got Windwaker HD for $2.

Haven't played it/10

Going to get the MK8 bundle when I can afford a Wii U/10

I think it is clearly the best game in the Mario Kart series. The online is just terrifically done, though it would be better if you could talk to your friends during the actual race. I really don't care about the character roster. It would be nice if the battle mode weren't such a pile of garbage, but I've never been a huge fan of the battle mode, anyway. I don't know. I think a 9 sounds too high and an 8 sounds too low.

I'm not trolling or hating, but after played it extensively, it's just another MK. That's not bad, quite the contrary it a fun game. It just doesn't offer anything different and feels like the same game with some updated graphics.

It still pisses me off that while int he lead you can get hit with 3 or more items in a row, it takes the fun out of it for me.

I haven't played it, or even seen it live.

I therefore declare it Worse than Hitler.

These would sum it up for me. It's an expected sequel, polished and improved, as good as the series has been, but very familiar, and battle mode sucks. I'm happy with it. 8/10.

That's actually made worse by the fact that your chances of getting a defensive item in first place are made worse because of the existence of that damn coin item, as well as the fact that they powered up the green shells this time around.

Cons:

• Can't change characters online without leaving the room. WTF Nintendo. In fact, the entire lobby system needs some work. You can't even choose to wait for more players to join, yet one of the text chat options is "Lets wait for others".
• Item distribution needs some work, too many times players near the back just get coins, when players in 4th get bullet bills and triple reds. Makes no sense.
• Character list already mentioned, but yeah it seems lacking.
• Super Heavies are OP'd. The lighter classes need a speed boost to offset the stat imbalance.
• Green shells are too powerful, they are bouncing unrealistically toward players and last too long.

Pros:

• Different classes of vehicles truly feel different (bikes FTW!)
• Lots of customization options to keep everyone happy.
• Family friendly.
• Game is fun, even when you're in 2nd and you get blasted by 3 red shells, shrunken then ran over for a 10th place finish making you want to hulk smash the game pad. The fun factor outweighs everything in my con section above.

played it at the arcaded 2 weeks ago with few buds. Mha Cool game, NOT worth a system alone

@R3FURBISHED: Holy shit I was hoping I wasn't the only one that thought this was about Mortal Kombat

I only played a few matches of local multiplayer and used a wiimote to play which is far from ideal but from that short playtime personally I think Sonic All Star Racing Transformed(Played the PC version) is a better kart racer then Mario Kart 8 its also has better graphics as well at least the PC version does in both split screen and single screen. The Mario Kart Series peaked with Double Dash imo and has gone downhill since then 8 is definitely better then 7 but can't match Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed Sega really outdid them selves with that game wasn't expecting much from it when I first tried it but far surpassed my expectations.

Needs Track DLC. The older track selection has a few good tracks, but the rest I don't really care for.

Oh and smaller characters need a speed buff or larger characters need a speed nerf.

Too many f***ing Rosalina's online.

In Mario Kart 7, you always had 2 defensive items in first place. 2nd place could at best get one red shell. Blue shells were the only thing that could stop you at all. In Mario Kart 8, now you can only have one (but you're likely to get a coin), and I've seen people in 2nd get an 8 or triple red shells before. Like they shifted the balance to being in 2nd waiting for your opportunity to screw the leader at the very end.

It's a matter of semantics, but if 8 was better than 7, then Mario Kart cannot by definition have been 'all downhill since Double Dash.' All downhill implies each successive installment was worse than the last, which by your own admission is not the case with Kart.

As for Sonic, as someone who owns the game on three separate platforms and greatly enjoys it, it doesn't even hold a candle to Mario Kart 8- no, it does not look better, no it does not do better multiplayer. The only think Sonic did better is the single player mode content, which is an area I have long felt Mario Kart needs to step it up, but that's about it.

Weight can easily be countered with a good vehicle build. The Yoshi I use with a Flame Rider and Wooden Wheels is pretty weighty.

I have had two game nights with friends with the game (a good friend of mine has the game) and I love how it controls. The tracks are also really nice looking. The graphics are great. The only things I do not like is the character roster (but I have Baby Mario, so I don't really care about that so much), no stacking items, and that fucking coin item. That thing is incredibly annoying to get.

Picture this: You're in first place and you need a banana or a shell to defend yourself from shells with. You hit an item block, and what do you get? Some fucking coin that, from what my friend told me, doesn't do anything in the actual races. I had that thing costs me races because I couldn't play defense.

One other thing I don't like is not being able to stack items. I liked getting a banana, holding it at my rear, and then getting a green shell. It made it a lot easier to stay in first place.

It doesn't come close to the perfection that is Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing.

Just more mario kart. though I cant wait to own it myself.

I'm tired of Nintendo's attitude with these sequals "we will give you practically the same ammount of maps and characters with each new itteration. despite the game formulars being so similar all we really do is update the graphics...

It goes double for Smash Bros .... the new roster looks mediocre as hell... I don;'t see how these companys who rehash these games justify NOT having every previous character and just adding... instead of taking away. don't give me the BS of "longer developement time" ... we only see one friggin smash/kart a generation... ridiculous...

What do I think? Judging from the comments in here, it seems like it's the same old slow Mario Kart that punishes players for doing well. I'm convinced, like GT, this franchise gets most of its praise due to brand name. Whenever I get a Wii U, I don't plan on buying it.

Definitely one of the best mario karts.

I'd put it right up there with DS. It's just a shame that they never brought back mission mode

@charizard1605: ah, I see you have a different viewpoint to me, which is interesting to read.

It's just a shame that you're wrong on this matter. ;D

lol, nah :p

Speaking of Sonic, I hope they make a third one, Transformed was too good to not be expanded upon.

Mario Kart 8 is still better.

Coin is a stupid item.
Roster is lacking. (I want diddy, Dry bones, and bower jr!)

Other than that it's great! simply amazing.

It's better then Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing Transformed.

Battle mode is bad but whatever.

Performs as expected.

It's really only a party game for me, MK just doesn't hold me.

beautiful, i play it all the time since i got it

150CC is still fucking evil and the super horn isn't common enough to mean anything. I should not feel like in single player I could get fucked over at any moment because I'm doing well. Modnation Racers did something right with regards to the shield.

The game was also clearly rushed as ****. the aborted battle mode and the lack of attention some of the retro tracks got. that roster too, Pink Gold Peach sounds like some kind of James Bond villain.

I'm also still salty about them butchering Rainbow Road 64.

Great game though. Love the new tracks, and simply wish there was more to the game.

After having a marathon of playing this and old Mario Kart games with my friends, my honeymoon period with this game is definitely fading and I'm seeing how, while it is still a great game, it is flawed compared to past Mario Kart games. My issues with the game are:

-My first and by far biggest complaint is how Nintendo completely butchered battle mode. It's obvious Nintendo treated battle mode like an afterthought when developing this game, which is a huge disappointment because when battle mode is done right like in Mario Kart 64, it is just as fun as racing. I really hope Nintendo releases some real battle arenas as DLC to fix this.

-The roster is lacking. I would expect the roster to get better with each new Mario Kart game, but in this game it has gotten worse.

-The tracks are not as good as past Mario Kart games. At first I thought the new tracks were cool, but after playing them more and replaying past Mario Kart games, I now realize that they are all style and no substance. The anti-gravity and underwater sections make the tracks look cool at first, but it's nothing more than visuals. They lack the interesting gimmicks that tracks in past Mario Kart games had. Plus, it has the weakest selection of retro tracks in any Mario Kart game as well.

-Not having the map on the TV screen is annoying. While it might be neat to look at the gamepad screen for the map, what about all of the players that are not using the gamepad, Nintendo?

-The fake item box being gone sucks. This item added a great layer of strategy in trying to drop them in the perfect position so people would expect it to be a real item box. Instead, they made lame coins an item.

-You are pulled back up way too quickly when you fall off a track in this game. There is no need to even worry about falling off a track now because it will barely cost you a second.

I would still recommend the game, but it's not my favorite Mario Kart.

A couple of the courses in the game have really tight turns or turns that make it harder for heavy weights to drift or turn well(some examples are rainbow road,dry dry desert and wario stadium to an extent) and heavy weights have really low acceleration(especially the super heavy weights). They are not as OP as you think, but they kinda are OP if you know how to use them.

I actually like the game. I never really messed with battle mode, like some of the improvements, but I wish there were more tracks and a wider variety of characters. I know that 32 tracks was the norm for the Wii, but give us more options in the newer ones. Please! I miss being able to play as King Boo and other characters. We're all those Koopa kids and bowser children necessary?

The coins boost your top speed for awhile if you use one. If you have 10 coins you will reach your top speed.

I love using rosalina and I'm kinda decent with her.

hehehe..same...she's hot imo. :P Still playing ...great game...I don't remember playing MK Wii for this long...then again MK Wii is my most dislike MK. :P

My only complaint is item chaos. With twelve people on the track it's very very hard to consistently win. Easily the hardest game in the series for online. That's not necessarily a bad thing either.

-Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach were both dumb additions.

-The highlight reel just doesn't feel worth it to me. There just isn't as much freedom or options for editing compared to, say, Halo's theater mode, where you can save any part of a video for any specific amount of time.

-battle mode was handled poorly (though I was never that much of a battle mode fan anyways, so not THAT big of a deal to me)

-Choosing Wario Stadium over Wario Colosseum as a retro track. smh Nintendo

Outside of those few things the game is overall great and very enbjoyable. I love the graphics and music, and I love almost all of the new tracks (except for Dolphin Shoals, for whatever reason that track seems to screw me over the most...)

Oh, well, then I guess my friend was wrong about that. I hadn't noticed they increased my speed.

Yes, that is one of the biggest let downs i had, i was prepared to play Rainbow Road 64 over and over again...oh...it's only a 1 lap track? never mind, let's put a race with 3 laps then...wait WHAT???

The game is pretty fun, but like most people have said, it has some issues, but overall, is a great game.

I still don't understand how this happened...

The roster is awful, but don't you dare mess with the Koopalings! >:(

It sucks, worst Mario Kart since 7.

It is enjoyable but there some gripes I have with it:

• As mentioned before by other Warriors, the character roster and Battle Mode are very lacking
• I felt that N64 Rainbow Road would have been better with it's original laps
• The good items do not return, i.e. fake item box and Boo
• Needs more courses
• Where is Mission Mode?
• Versus Mode does not give you the option to just do free play
• No option to add or remove certain items
• Where's the track layout map? Everyone wants to know what it looks like and not just the one playing on the Wii U pad

Played it at a friend's house for a few hours. It's a solid game. Lots of fun like other MK games. Hoping to get a Wii-U and MK this weekend. Would like to get the MK edition Wii-U, but the Super Mario / Super Luigi version is $275 at Target so basically $261 with my Redcard.

Add in the buy two get one free deal. So I buy MK8, and Mario 3D World for $120. I get Donkey Kong Deep Freeze for Free, and Download Wind Waker for free.

So basically I buy a Wii-U at $261 and MK8 and 3D World at $120, and I walk out of there with 6 games MK8, 3D World, DKDP, Mario U / Luigi U , and a Wii-U for $380.

Pretty much this. Its fun but Battle Mode was pitifully done. Diddy Kong Racing 64 still holds that crown.