Mario Kart 8 Trailer Reveals Release Date, New Characters

[rbstewart7263]

what is with the tires going hovercraft all the time?

 

[Vrach]

I can't really see the gamepad being used in any meaningful way, however.

It will probably do what it does in Sonic & All Star Racing now - act as an additional personal screen, allowing 5 players and less splitscreen in certain situations. Personally, I love it.

 

[Olas]

So basically Mario Kart 7 + roster update + rotation...

Going to be skipping this one and all subsequent ones until they do a reboot of the franchise

How exactly do you "reboot" a series like MarioKart? This isn't a story with a narrative, it's essentially a sports game a la Call of Duty. All they can do is add features, maps, and characters or fine tune them, which is what they do every game. If the fact that you can now ride a motorcycle, hand glide, go underwater, and hover up vertical surfaces isn't enough change for you I think you might just need another genre entirely.

Also, in case you haven't noticed, Nintendo doesn't reboot things, every single Zelda game since the first one is part of the same canon, as is every Mario game going back to the Donkey Kong arcade machines.

 

[Olas]

"What the touchscreen could be for?"

Doesn't have to be for anything. Just because you've got it, doesn't mean you need to use it.

And yet you paid $140 for it and it's use so far has almost always been unnecessary.

That's probably because of the type of games predominantly being made for it. There are a lot of things you can do with a touchscreen that would be annoying or tedious to do with joysticks and buttons. The point I think is to open the system to more casual iPad like games as well, which predominantly use touchscreens.

 

[truckspond]

So basically Mario Kart 7 + roster update + rotation...

Going to be skipping this one and all subsequent ones until they do a reboot of the franchise

How exactly do you "reboot" a series like MarioKart? This isn't a story with a narrative, it's essentially a sports game a la Call of Duty. All they can do is add features, maps, and characters or fine tune them, which is what they do every game. If the fact that you can now ride a motorcycle, hand glide, go underwater, and hover up vertical surfaces isn't enough change for you I think you might just need another genre entirely.

Also, in case you haven't noticed, Nintendo doesn't reboot things, every single Zelda game since the first one is part of the same canon, as is every Mario game going back to the Donkey Kong arcade machines.

No they don't do a straight reboot but they make dramatic changes every game. Every Super Smash Brothers game since the original they have added things which change the game completely - from the original to Melee they didn't just improve the graphics but added a whole heap of new characters with unique abilities to the point where no two characters had the same move-set and fighting style. In Brawl they added the final smash ability which was also a complete game changer as it allowed for MASSIVE attacks dealing a whole heap of damage if you could pull them off without completely missing. In the 3DS/WiiU version they are bring the game to a handheld console allowing for unprecedented multiplayer accessibility and they are again adding new characters with new and unique abilities as well as putting in a fix for "Edge hoggers".

Would you call the original Donkey Kong arcade cabinet and Super Mario Galaxy the same game? What about Super Mario 64? Paper Mario? Super Mario Sunshine?

Each Legend of Zelda game has also shaken things up quite substantially. Ocarina of Time made the jump to a 3d world which has been the norm ever since, Majora's Mask had the 3-day cycle, Wind Waker had the unique cell-shaded artstyle and Twilight princess had you turning into a wolf for goodness sake! All Mario Kart has done since Mario Kart 64 is stagnate with reskinned versions of the same three characters (Light, Medium and Heavy) that all handle exactly the same way. Mario Kart 7 only made things a bit floatier and Mario Kart 8 will only make things a bit more vertical. The only game which really changed things like they do with other series was Double Dash for the GameCube!

 

[V4Viewtiful]

We Need a new F Zero game.

Otherwise, this game looks fun.

 

[Lightknight]

Unnecessary? Just the ability to be able to play on the controller is enough. Maybe not for everyone, but many people appreciate it.

Wii U Pro controller [http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Wii-U-Pro-Controller-Black/dp/B009AFLXQQ]

You don't have to play with a WiiMote regardless. What I mean is that the gamepad screen is barely used, ever, and most things that do use it could just as easily have been designed for the Wiimote or WiiU pro. Miyamoto acknowledges that the primary function of the touchscreen is to make navigation of the store and menu easier. Just a simple touchscreen is costing you an additional $100 (minus the cost of the controller that could otherwise replace it).

This should have been an optional peripheral that Nintendo simply required game developers to support like Sony requires developers to support remote play on the Vita. You should have gotten the ability to decide whether or not you wanted to drop $140 on it. Some people would certainly have done this. As a kid, this would have been great. I could play the game without taking up a TV. Even my brother couldn't have stopped me from enjoying it then unless he was playing the system (or punching me).

But Nintendo was scared and thought that this was the peripheral that would set them apart. I don't blame them since it was another controller that saved them from continuing to circle the drain after the N64-Gamecube generations subsequent losses of market share. But we clearly didn't need/want a touchscreen that isn't even as advanted as the common smart phone and was $60 away from a Vita in price while being $100 away from it in quality. Let's face it, we have cheap-ass tablets that are under $100 and actually process things themselves rather than purely being a display/input device with no internal processing. I understand their fear, but they actually made it come true by adding that device/cost. The Wii was cheap and simple. The gamepad has mad it more expensive and significantly more confusing for a significant portion of their audience (yes, I'm talking the elderly and the more casual gamers).

Also, it's not really the same game, 7 and Wii were the closest ones and even then there were considerable differences. Just the coin mechanic changes a lot.

Fresh paint, new characters, new maps. It's more of an update HD remake with substantial DLC than a new game.

That's probably because of the type of games predominantly being made for it. There are a lot of things you can do with a touchscreen that would be annoying or tedious to do with joysticks and buttons. The point I think is to open the system to more casual iPad like games as well, which predominantly use touchscreens.

That's a pretty good idea. Just remember that the gamepad's touchscreen is not as advanced as iOS/Android devices. It's only a single touch, not Multi-touch. Hideki Kamiya (Wonderful 101 which boasts use of the screen but can often be better controlled by the toggle) actually expressed this as the number 1 feature he would change about the Nintendo hardware [http://mynintendonews.com/2013/08/04/hideki-kamiya-wants-the-wii-u-gamepads-touch-screen-to-support-multi-touch/].

I have to stress again that this is a $140 device that does not process anything. It's just input display and output controller. So adding the features that a cheaper tablet can perform really isn't a plus so much as getting closer to being worth it if you don't already have a smartphone or tablet.

The fact is, Nintendo still doesn't know what to do with it. [http://techland.time.com/2013/06/14/even-nintendo-is-stumped-by-the-wii-u-gamepad/]

I'm not sure what they could do with it. I wonder if there's a market for table top games. For example, games where there is a DM who controls the game along with players who shouldn't be able to see what the DM has in store for them. That's about the only way that the asymmetric would become advantageous in a meaningful way. They've got a dud here.