Nintendo Mario Kart 8 Wii U

Awesome game, kids really enjoyed it. I must say wii u has the best games for kids as compared to sony or xbox. Mario is evergreen

I bought this game for my Dad because he really loved Mario Kart for the Wii. My Dad whose in his 60's got his game and played it right away he was so excited for it. It has lived up to his expectations and my older brother whose played it will him a few times. They love that you can customize the Kart and the levels are really fun. I know that this will keep my Dad busy for many months and the replay value on it whether alone or playing with friends is very high. Well worth the cost!

Who says that sibling rivalry dies when you reach adulthood? For Christmas, my brother and his family got a Wii U. Guess who bought one before New Year’s. That’s right, it would be me. And this is despite not playing my Wii much at all during 2014. I also had to buy the latest version of my favorite Wii game – Mario Kart 8. Yes, it is just as awesome as I expected it to be. If you’ve played any of the previous seven versions of this game, you know the basics. You are racing against 11 other characters around fantastic courses trying to get first place in various cups. Depending on where you place in each of the four races, you earn points that determine your overall place in the cup. So what’s different this time around? There are new courses, for starters. About half of the courses are new or at least new variations on familiar themes. Of these, my favorites in the Twisted Mansion (a haunted house), Toad Harbor, and Sunshine Airport. Then there are 16 retro courses from the previous versions of the game. Since this is only the third Mario Kart I’ve bought, there are plenty on here I don’t recognize, but I do enjoy playing the familiar Moo Moo Meadow and Grumble Volcano from the Wii, the last version I bought. And a couple of the courses are one long race instead of going around the same course for three laps. For those, we get check points. If you are familiar with the Wii version, the controls will be familiar as well. Once again, you can use your Wiimote and tilt it to control your car. Or you can use your Nunchuck controller. And yes, the game pad controller that comes with the Wii U can also be used as a controller with either tilt or thumb stick control. There are a couple of changes to game play from the last version. They have brought the use of coins back to the game. They had used them in the very first Mario Kart, the one of the SNES. (And yes, that’s the other one I have.) Collecting coins will increase your speed. It’s a small amount, but I can see the boost at times. You start with somewhere between zero (1st place) and 5 (12th place) and can collect up to 10. They are scattered around the maps. Of course, you lose three each time you are hit by an object or drive off the edge of the map. (And if you do drive off the edge, they actually put you back on course faster than before, too.) In addition to being on the maps, coins might be hiding in the mystery boxes you can pick up along the way. If that is your prize, you’ll find two coins. Other new surprises are plants that will attack your fellow races and gobble up coins, a boomerang, and fire power. Of course, there are plenty of the old standbys like Bullet Bill, red and green shells, and invincibility. The final change to the game is the gravity defying part of the game. Parts of the courses allow you to race up walls and even upside down. There are clear indicators in the game when this is happening. It really doesn’t change how your car operates, but it is fun to think about. Oh, and if you crash into an opponent in this section of a course, you get a boost! Obviously, this is more prevalent on the new courses, but they’ve switched up a few of the old courses to let you do this as well. In addition to the traditional races, you can also do timed trials and fight battles to pop your opponent’s balloons. And you can race by yourself or with up to four people in the same room. Plus they’ve brought back the ability to play against people all over the world thanks to the internet. One or two people per machine can log in and race or battle to their hearts content. One change here I really like is that at the start of each new race, you are given a choice from three randomly selected courses. Everyone votes for one of those three and then the game randomly selects the course you actually race. If those three really don’t appeal to you, you do have a fourth choice – random, which will randomly pick any course in the system not necessarily one of those three courses. Overall, this cuts down significantly on those annoying people on line who always select the same course over and over again. There are a couple of things I don’t like about this game. First, the rankings and course map don’t appear in part of the TV screen but on the GamePad during the race. Any time I glance down to see those things, I lose track of where I am on the TV screen. Maybe I’ll get used to it as I go along. I’m also not happy that they have developed some extra content that is for sale separately. Oh, we get as many courses with this version as we did for the Wii, so they aren’t skimping on us, but after spending $60 for this game, it seems a shame that I have to pay extra for the final few characters and courses. I’ve resisted – so far, but I have a feeling I will wind up buying them. The game looks and sounds great. The picture is crisp and the sounds effects are fun. Both are definitely a step up from the last version, but what else would you expect from new video game system that uses an HDMI cable. Of course, it’s all still highly stylized cartoon action, but for what it is, it looks great. I’d been debating for a while about buying the new system, but I’m glad I did. So far, I’ve been concentrating on Mario Kart 8, just because it’s always been a favorite franchise. I’m sure I’ll be racing around these tracks for some time to come.

It arrived in perfect shape. I enjoy playing couch games, and this is hands down one of the best to spend time with wife and friends. It has 8 cups and you can buy another 2. I didn't like much that you can also buy racers, though it has a good 16 of them included, most of them are baby versions of the others. Regardles the tracks are superb and you will spend days trying to master the vehicles, speeds, and tracks. Llego en perfecto estado, me gustan mucho los juegos locales, no hay nada como un juego local sin lag, sin dificultad de conexiones y además divertido, este cumple con todo, gran variedad de pistas, de corredores y de dificultades o velocidades. Incluso puedes comprar mas pistas y corredores si eso no es suficiente. Tiene mucha diversion y rejugabilidad. Altamente recomendado.

Mario kart 8 is the greatest mario kart game since 64. While I did enjoy the gamecube-mk7 mario karts the were always just a bit to chaotic and more lucked based. All the mario karts are of coarse luck based and this on is no diffrent when it comes to that however its more balanced and even though small amount of luck is needed prepare to practice your driving skills as well you will need it online and on mirror mode. Hardware wize this game looks amazing for being on the wii u and i'd say surpasses most ps4/xbone games. I say this because the graphics keep the game running smooth while looking absolutly beautiful at the same time. The game is truely a work of art. The sound on this game is great to I recomend playing on surround sound if available. Surprizingly the karts sound like actual gokarts, mopeds, etc, even more so then most driving simulation games have done so far. As for the soundtrack its really good the more jazzish soundtrack on a few of the tracks flows very well with the races. Of coarse when it comes to mario kart none of that hardware and sound really matters as long as the game is fun. Which is where this game really shines. As mentined earlier the game is a lot more balanced you will see more green and red turtle shells then you will bullets, blue shells, other items that effect everybody in this version and its also slightly easier to dodge the red ones as well you have to be close up for a gurenteed hit. Of coarse you will still see plenty of items that effect everyone to so blue shells still cost races occasionally. However if you have the new item the super horn you can dodge it if you use it correctly. Also As usual there are 16 new coarses and 16 coarses from older games. The new tracks are amazing in this game as are *most* the older tracks. Most ofThe older tracks in this on are changed a lot so the feel new I like to think of it as new tracks inspired by the older ones The newest thing about this game is the anti gravity mode which turns the world of mario kart upside down. You will be driving up walls on ceilings and everything which really shakes things up. When your in this mode if you hit someone it actually speeds both players up so it leads to intresting things. Of coarse there is also new power ups such as the pirhana plant, superhorn, and a few others that replaced older ons that are sadly missing such as boo, fake question blocks. Also returning from Mk7 is underwater and hang gliding which was the best part about that on. With all that being said there is a few things wrong with this version of mario kart. Most importantly the battle mode is broken no more battle coarses instead you fight on regular coarses which is just plain lame and lazy on nintendos part. Also some of the n64 coarses are barely reconizeable toads turnpike has 4 lanes of traffic with them going in diffrent ways which competly kills the challenge of the original on mirror mode. Yoshis valley also tells what place your in which even though originally it was supposed to it was more fun not knowing. However don't let those minor nitpicks change your mind unless your big into the battle mode, the racing and multiplayer is the greatest mario kart has been in years and if you dont have a wii u you need to get on for this game along with 3d world. Also before july if you register this game on club nintendo you get a free game