The original Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo was a game that quite literally
ended friendships back in the day. Now, over two decades later, the latest
addition to the series, Mario Kart 8
is headed for the Wii U next spring, and I got a chance for a little hands-on
time at this year’s Jump Festa 2014 in Japan.
I should probably preface this by stating
that I have not played any of the Mario
Kart games except for the original. I kind of avoided the series after
watching a match between a couple friends end in punches, so I haven’t really
kept up with how the games have evolved. That said, playing the demo for Mario Kart 8 was quite fun.
First off, I got to choose from 12
characters: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Toad, Wario, Waruigi, Koopa, and Toadette. Sadly, the baby characters and Rosalina were not available in the
demo. After choosing Mario, I got to play through 3 courses: A standard circuit
with one upside-down area, a resort circuit with obstacles and hidden paths,
and a haunted circuit with traps and an underwater area.
Being a demo, the courses were pretty
straight-forward. I imagine that with some time and practice, I could probably
have performed a lot better, but in the end I managed – with some difficulty at
points – to come in first on all three races.
Visually, I have no complaints. The bright
atmosphere works to enhance the feel of the game and I never got tired of
looking at the screen, or any motion sickness for that matter. There are areas
where courses run upside-down, but the screen remains normal with your surroundings upside-down, so when you’re
concentrating on driving you never really have a chance to appreciate it. I had more fun driving sideways on the walls because your character goes sideways, making it more engaging and mixing things up.
One potential drawback is the fact that you
use the Wii U controller as a steering wheel. While the controller itself isn’t
that heavy, long hours of use could lead to some very tired arms. Also, because
you’re turning the controller to steer, I’m not sure if/how you’ll be able to
play on just the controller.
I was only able to scratch the surface, but
Mario Kart 8 definitely looks to be a
lot of fun. It does feel like more of its potential is tapped as a party game, but
then again, I’ve seen how those can end…
Mario
Kart 8 is scheduled for release in Spring, 2014.
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To contact the author of this post, write to cogitoergonihilATgmail.com or find him on Twitter @tnakamura8
