Will Mario Kart 8 save the Wii U?

hopefully, but i wont hold my breath

also a bit off topic but the greatest racing games of all time are super mario kart and nfs hot pursuit 2. the later mario games dont feel as fun to me as the first one, there is something special about it

If by save, you mean win this generation in sales, no. It, in conjunction with others games, will definitely help the Wii-U out a lot though.

It will be competitive with the One, but not the PS4.

No. There is no "Saving" the Wii U. It will come in 2nd in the end, it will beat the Xbox One. But All games will just slightly boost sales. The Wii U will be the car that's puts along. It will be a Gamecube situation again.

It will provide a big boost to the wiiu's image along with whatever else nintendo is planning for the console this year, but I do not not know if it will save the WiiU yet.

I think it will be the Wii U's first system seller but it won't necessarily move the units it "needs."

Wiiu doesn't need saving. Everything is peachy.

It. Pups very well end up surpassing the Xbox One if this market it right

Yes.

hahaha lol nice one.... I see what you did there

I think it's going to turn things around completely. Nintendo is going to sell a ton of Wii U's through the end of the year between this game and Smash, and the casuals might actually hear about it in their casual conversations.

Nope. Just about anyone who intended on buying Mario Kart 8 already own a Wii U. There isn't millions of gamers holding out on a Wii U purchase until MK8 gets released. The Wii U needs new appealing IP that caters towards the PS4/XB1/PC crowd. Those old Nintendo franchises just aren't as relevant as they use to be. Also, Zelda U won't save the Wii U either.

No it wont, cant save anything that already dead...

It will sell Wii Us. It isn't the most hyped Nintendo game in years though.

@ghostwarrior786 said:

hopefully, but i wont hold my breath

Yeah, I have my doubts too. I'm thinking a slight bump in hardware sales and some good lifetime sales for the game, but that's it.

As for that pic though... those usually make more sense.

Aside from 3D Mario, MK8 and Smash, I haven't seen any of those other factors thrown around.

I find this perspective to be quite interesting. Would you say at the end of this year, Wii U is still ahead of the Xbox One?

@ConanTheStoner said:

@ghostwarrior786 said:

hopefully, but i wont hold my breath

Yeah, I have my doubts too. I'm thinking a slight bump in hardware sales and some good lifetime sales for the game, but that's it.

As for that pic though... those usually make more sense.

Aside from 3D Mario, MK8 and Smash, I haven't seen any of those other factors thrown around.

zombiu was hyped up because it apparently makes good use of the gamepad and was supposed to illustrate how good the thing is, it flopped

wii fit & party were meant to get the casual market excited but it flopped

price drop didnt work

i hope it picks up but at this point nothing is going to save it

Posting to see posts? (hoping this works like old GS)

You expect these two games to carry them through the rest of the gen?(3 to 4 year) That's some mighty optimism. Considering there doesn't seem to be much in the pipes, and even games like Zelda, Metroid, DK(heck in even SM3DW) have proven to be incapable of moving the needle.

We'll see, but as of this moment, it looks to be a failure.

It will give it a slight sales boost but overall nothing major. Same goes for Smash Bros.

No just as it didn't save Gamecube.

This and SSB4 will move a lot of units. Anyone with a brain knows this.

Nintendo just needs to pull its weight this E3. If they do a good job. Wii U may end up like the Gamecube with a little hope.

It's going to help that's for sure. I'm curious to see how much.

I'd hope that Nintendo has been working on stuff and has new projects in the pipeline that they'll show at E3 due to their poor performance so far. Really hoping they've invested some effort.

Arguably the Gamecube sold as much as it did because of Smash and Kart.

Yes. The Xbox One isn't selling much better than the Wii U in its first year. Microsoft relies heavily on 3rd party support, yet they are trying to sell a console that plays 3rd party games worse than their competition and costs $100 more. It is very unappealing right now. The only thing that could possibly put it ahead of the Wii U this year would be Halo 5, a price drop, and Nintendo incompetence. Nintendo is putting together a very nice exclusive library, and they actually have pretty good 3rd party support from indie developers. From May-July, people purchasing a Wii U will be able to get NSMBU/NSLBU packed in with the console, buy Mario Kart for $60, and get a choice of another game for free. If you take those games at retail value, you are only paying $160 for the Wii U. That is an enormous value. Nintendo would have to completely blow their advertising of this to not move millions of consoles at that price. It's a ridiculous deal, and if the online ends up being as good as it is looking to be for Mario Kart, and more importantly, if they can keep it together for Smash, I think they are going to turn a lot of the "Nintendo doesn't do online" talk into the "Why would I ever pay for online when I can get it elsewhere for free?" talk that ultimately sold me on a PS3 over an Xbox 360 last gen.

Nintendo also really needs to stress the point that all of your Wii controllers not only work with the Wii U, but are actually useful as a multiplayer control scheme in every Wii U game. For any other console that you purchase, you will have to spend $60 for an additional controller, plus $50-$60 to actually play whatever game you decide to purchase (no game included in the console price) online. If you already owned a Wii, you are going to be fully equipped for multiplayer, online or off, with no additional purchase required.

So many people seem to forget that the Gamecube had all those games and still ended up flopping. The sad thing is that the Gamecube was actually selling better than the Wii U at this point in time. So, the Wii U is actually flopping harder than the Gamecube. Anyone who honestly believes Nintendo can revive the Wii U is smoking drugs.

Not trying to hate, but why was Nintendo being all cute and not releasing the big guns early on when they had a whole year. I think if one of the heavy hitters like mario kart or ssb came out at launch the numbers would be better and the support would be better, a whole worlds difference. The weak momentum towards the end of Wii should had been an indication to come out strong for the wii u.

I still voted that these two games will save or break them, if they don't pull enough numbers than they maybe in deep doo doo.

The meaning of "save" is lost because gamers today dont know what the shit they want.

Mario Kart 8 if anything will give the Wii U the boost that Titanfall failed to give the Xbone

Otherwise the meaning of "save" with shitspin within the fucking retarded community.

Because lets say that the Mario Kart 8 did indeed push its sales above the PS4, you idiots arent gonna consider it "saved" your just gonna turn around and treat it like you did the Wii.

I honestly dont give 2 shits, having an Xbone and a Wii U im already set for Next Gen being a Multigamer so its just gonna be another great game to play while you guys do nothing but blab console war bullshit, but who am i kidding, this is literally the System War forum.

The Gamecube was competing against 2 consoles that had a better library of games that it, though.

Hopefully push it to GC sales levels.

I think the games just weren't ready. What other reason could they have possibly had for not getting them out last year?

It is selling worse than the dreamcast right now. 1 game is not going to magically save it.

I think the Dreamcast would have been ok if Sega wouldn't have run out of money bringing out the CD, 32x, and Saturn, all during what was one console gen for everyone else.

i will buy one if this game turns out to be good....or when supersmash comes out...until then fu*k nintendo

Probably, but I'm just thinking they should had planned for this come a bit sooner if not those two games than some other heavy hitter to get some momentum going. I mean the company is hurting a bit b.c of the slow sales.

Personally speaking, I got a Wii U specifically for Mario Kart 8, barely being aware of the other games the Wii U had to offer or is going to offer. I spent 500+ hours on Mario Kart Wii (both offline and online), and I still play it regularly. So when the home console sequel looks as good as it does, I don't really care what platform it's on, but I have to play it.

At least one other person I know ordered the Wii U + MK8 bundle, with several others considering it. So if I look around me, this game at least increases the interest in the console. I was not even considering getting a Wii U before I got one specifically for MK8.

Then again, this is coming from someone who is a major Mario Kart buff and believes the series has increased in quality quite dramatically over the years.

Well, I got a WiiU for Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country, just got it a bit sooner :p

But seriously, the WiiU has some really nice games now and more interesting exclusives than Xbone or PS4 have:

NSMB U, Pikmin, Zelda, Super Mario 3D World, Wonderful 101, Donkey Kong Country and upcoming Mario Kart and Bayonetta.

I got a Wii U for Mario Kart too lol.

I always get a Nintendo for either Smash, or Pokemon, or Kart (if I am lucky, I get it for all three).

On one hand I think they milk to much. But on the other I always end up buying their systems for the same series. I bought my Gamcube with the Mario Kart bundle, same with the 3DS.

I do appreciate them making new series like The Wonderful 101... but those are really never as popular as their main franchises.

I love: Mario 2D platformers and 3D platformers, Donkey Kong Country (glad it's back since last gen), Zelda, Pikmin, Smash, Mario Kart, Paper Mario, ... lol a lot really.

It will definitely help in sales, but I'm not sure about saving it.

We'll see though.

Short term bump in hardware, but very high attach rate for title sales. People act like Mario Kart hasn't been on every Nintendo platform for forever now. It's just something you assume, and my guess is the biggest fans of the franchise are among the diehards already owning a machine.

I guess a sizable first month bump (for a typically slow month) and mild second month bump in console sales, before returning to normal.

It's hard to say, isn't it? Why isn't the Wii U selling? Is it games, or did it too quickly follow up the Wii? Is it because it's too expensive relative to how cheap the Wii was?

I find there to be multiple problems with this argument- not every Nintendo fan or Mario Kart fan necessarily owns a Wii U. Many might have decided to not spend money on the system until a game that they were interested in (i.e. Mario Kart) was available in the first place (probably also correctly assuming there would price drops and/or bundles by then). Many Nintendo die hards might be pushed into buying a Wii U now, with Mario Kart being the catalyst that pushes them to buy it, and the rest of the lineup representing a critical mass.

This isn't even to discuss the series' massive appeal outside of the Nintendo diehard. If you want to talk about the so called Mario Kart fanbase, it is at the very least in excess of 10 million people- so nearly half the people who like Mario Kart have not yet bought a Wii U, and are now likely to, especially given all the heavy pushing Nintendo is doing for this title.

Having said that, I agree there won't be a sustained bump, all from Kart itself- rather, Kart has a bump that lasts a few months, and when it begins to taper off, Smash comes along and provides another bump. Wii U is probably not going to sell at PS4 or even Xbone levels, but at the very least, it will be lifted above its current trajectory to somewhat respectable levels.

Sure sure, not EVERY MK fan has a WiiU, which is why I allowed for a short term bump. Some have been waiting for this and/or Smash, and some will see value in the bundle or with the free game giveaway (which is why I went two month bump.)

But 10 million Die Hard have to own the game Mario Kart Fans? I don't see it. It's sold gangbusters on platforms with high install bases, but less so on smaller systems, and WiiU makes the smallest of install bases look large in comparison. Like I said earlier, it's a game that if you have a Nintendo from the last 20 years, you can play MK on it. A game that you buy for the platform you own, not go buying a platform to own.

I see a high attach rate for the game, and decent legs going forward. For example, if we end the year with say 9 million WiiUs, I can see 6 million in MK sales, partly because of MKs popularity with the core Nintendo audience, and partly because they are giving away a free game with it. And as the WiiU's install base creeps forward, I do think MK will continue to sell.

I guess I don't think the modest goals you list for a sustained minor bump going forward are out of bounds. If any increase at all going forward is enough cause to celebrate I can see your argument, but I don't see them approaching the other consoles for any sustained period. It's going to take a price cut to get them headed to even GC levels.

No. A bump for a couple months, then back to PS3 beating it in sales.

those will be a fun couple months though eh?

Sure. I still may buy the game, since you get a free game with purchase. Not sure if the bump will take out Xbone/PS4, guess we'll see.

Nothing can save the wiiu

well nothing saved the ps3....so i guess the tables turned.