Mario Kart 8 is coming out May 30th on the Wii U. There's a lot of information to cover, from the Nintendo Direct and various possible rumors to already confirmed information! The Nintendo Direct can be seen below:
Promotion
Games for NA:
- Pikmin 3
- New Super Mario Bros. U
- The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD
- Wii Party U
The game needs to be bought new before July 31st in order to take advantage of this offer.
Bundle For U.K.
Mario Kart 8 will have a Premium Bundle for £249.99 containing a 32GB black Wii U Premium console, black GamePad controller, and a physical copy of Mario Kart 8.
There was one more bundle, or rather two announced for those who want to go the extra mile – The Team Mario and Team Luigi bundles. Both of these bundles are £299.99 and contain a Wii Wheel, cover for the Wii U gamepad, Wii mote, Hat, and Prima Guide. All of these, asides from the Prima Guide, will be either Mario or Luigi themed depending on what the buyer chose.
A limited edition bundle of Mario Kart 8 is also available for only £9.99 more than the regular edition with a limited edition blue shell figurine, a shell key ring, and a bullet bill T-Shirt. This limited edition will only be offered once, so for anyone who can get it and wants to, it’s best to not wait.
Bundle For U.S.
Mario Kart 8 will feature a similar bundle to the Team Mario and Team Luigi bundle but with only Team Mario being available with the Mario Wii Mote, cover for Wii U Gamepad, Wii Wheel, and a copy of Mario Kart 8.
This bundle will be $329.99
There is one more special offer offered by Best Buy. Anyone who pre-orders Mario Kart 8 will receive a $10 pre-paid gas card.
Characters
Check out the final roster below:
Courses
The Final Course list was indirectly confirmed in the Nintendo Direct. Read below to see all of the new and retro courses included in Mario Kart 8.
-Nitro Courses
-Retro Courses
Items
Online Features
Mario Kart 8 supports voice chat in lobbies for games with friends only.
Mario Kart 8 will allow the player to select an icon and input a name for when the player uses Create-a-Tournament. The player can select rules for a tournament (speed, teams, number of wins and more) and set a tournament to be public or restricted to friends
Tournaments will also feature more customization abilities:
Replays
Mario Kart 8 will allow players to record footage and upload it onto the web. This feature will allow the player to do the following:
Battle Mode & Other Modes
Battle mode takes new and existing courses and re-engineers them for battle. Battle mode replays can also be edited and shared. The GamePad will mirror the TV in 4-player multiplayer. Should a player die in Battle Mode, Mario Kart 8 will also allow the player to obtain bitter revenge as a ghost, allowing them to do almost everything they could while being alive asides from winning.
Co-Op Grand Prix from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is back and allows up to four separate players to compete in a Grand Prix simultaneously.
As previously mentioned, Frantic Mode is available, but whether this will be usable in local play is unknown.
No other modes have been announced for Mario Kart 8 at this time.
Possible Leaks
This image was revealed by the Spanish counterpart of the official Nintendo Magazine. This image shows Diddy's face as an optional character alongside already confirmed characters such-as Baby Luigi, Rosalina, and the Koopalings:
What this means for Diddy Kong is unknown. The publications director, Juan Carlos Garcia, said that the chimp's inclusion by Nintendo can only be confirmed by Nintendo. If Diddy Kong is in, there's two possibilities: Diddy Kong as an unlockable character or as Downloadable Content.
The final rumor was posted on both Reddit and Neogaf. This rumor is a playable demo in the eShop containing more than three carts and some characters to try out. This rumor is not that out of bounds considering Mario Golf: World Tour, another upcoming Mario game, just received a demo. This is, however, a rumor, so its possible that said Nintendo Rep was misinformed. Should this be true, it will have more than three tracks to try out.
Mario Kart in Smash
Mario Kart 7 will have Rainbow Road Stage in Super Smash Bros for 3DS. More footage of said Stage can be seen in the Nintendo DIrect. Whether Mario Kart 8 will have a stage in the Wii U counterpart is unknown but is very plausible.
Get the wheels ready for Mario Kart 8's launch in May 30th across all regions!
Thethirdkoopa is a Game Producer, Game Collector, Gamer, and Smash Fanatic at heart. He's a friendly guy too. He can be reached on Twitter, @Thirdkoopa.
Promotion
Games for NA:
- Pikmin 3
- New Super Mario Bros. U
- The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD
- Wii Party U
The game needs to be bought new before July 31st in order to take advantage of this offer.
Bundle For U.K.
Mario Kart 8 will have a Premium Bundle for £249.99 containing a 32GB black Wii U Premium console, black GamePad controller, and a physical copy of Mario Kart 8.
There was one more bundle, or rather two announced for those who want to go the extra mile – The Team Mario and Team Luigi bundles. Both of these bundles are £299.99 and contain a Wii Wheel, cover for the Wii U gamepad, Wii mote, Hat, and Prima Guide. All of these, asides from the Prima Guide, will be either Mario or Luigi themed depending on what the buyer chose.
A limited edition bundle of Mario Kart 8 is also available for only £9.99 more than the regular edition with a limited edition blue shell figurine, a shell key ring, and a bullet bill T-Shirt. This limited edition will only be offered once, so for anyone who can get it and wants to, it’s best to not wait.
Bundle For U.S.
Mario Kart 8 will feature a similar bundle to the Team Mario and Team Luigi bundle but with only Team Mario being available with the Mario Wii Mote, cover for Wii U Gamepad, Wii Wheel, and a copy of Mario Kart 8.
This bundle will be $329.99
There is one more special offer offered by Best Buy. Anyone who pre-orders Mario Kart 8 will receive a $10 pre-paid gas card.
Characters
- Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach confirmed for newcomers
- The Koopalings, already announced, are the only other newcomers in the game.
- The Mii from Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Wii returns
Check out the final roster below:
Courses
The Final Course list was indirectly confirmed in the Nintendo Direct. Read below to see all of the new and retro courses included in Mario Kart 8.
-Nitro Courses
- Mushroom Cup: Mario Kart Stadium, Water Park, Sweet Sweet Canyon, Thwomp Ruins
- Flower Cup: Mario Circuit, Toad Harbor, Twisted Mansion, Shy Guy Falls
- Star Cup: Sunshine Airport, Dolphin Shoals, Electrodrome, Mount Wario
- Special Cup: Cloudtop Cruise, Bone Dry Dunes, Bowser's Castle, Rainbow Road
-Retro Courses
- Shell Cup: Moo Moo Meadows (Wii), Mario Circuit (GBA), Cheep Cheep Beach (DS), Toad's Turnpike (N64)
- Banana Cup: Dry Dry Desert (GCN), Donut Plains 3 (SNES), Royal Raceway (N64), DK Jungle (3DS)
- Leaf Cup: Wario Stadium (DS), Sherbet Land (GCN), Music Park (3DS), Yoshi Valley (N64)
- Lightning Cup: Tick-Tock Clock (DS), Piranha Plant Slide (3DS), Grumble Volcano (Wii), Rainbow Road (N64)
Items
- Crazy 8 is an item just like Mario Kart 7’s Lucky 7
- Super Horn item can knock out other players or destroy incoming shells (including Blue)
- Super Horn will be a very rare item
- The previously announced Piranha Plant and Boomerang Flower are appearing as new items in Mario Kart 8
Online Features
Mario Kart 8 supports voice chat in lobbies for games with friends only.
Mario Kart 8 will allow the player to select an icon and input a name for when the player uses Create-a-Tournament. The player can select rules for a tournament (speed, teams, number of wins and more) and set a tournament to be public or restricted to friends
Tournaments will also feature more customization abilities:
- Restricting control schemes used in a race, whether computer players can fill in empty slots, and vehicle types
- Setting up a race so only players who achieved a certain online rank can join
- Complete tournament creation to get a number code to share with friends; this code can also be discovered publicly via search if the tournament is not private.
- Set up daily, weekly, or monthly recurring tournaments
- Set start and end times
- Choose which item sets are allowed in a race with some of the following options presented: all items, shells only, bananas only, mushrooms only, bob-ombs only, no items
- Frantic Mode arrives as a new mode. Frantic Mode means more likelihood of Lightning Bolts, Bullet Bills, and Blue Shells.
Replays
Mario Kart 8 will allow players to record footage and upload it onto the web. This feature will allow the player to do the following:
- The game records every race that the player participates in
- The events of the last 12 races the player competed in will be saed on the Wii U itself
- Edit clips down to 30, 45, or 60 seconds
- Render a highlight reel to display the full race
- Share the video via Miiverse or YouTube in HD
- Sign up/in with a Google Account to share via YouTube
- Add stamps to Miiverse posts
Battle Mode & Other Modes
Battle mode takes new and existing courses and re-engineers them for battle. Battle mode replays can also be edited and shared. The GamePad will mirror the TV in 4-player multiplayer. Should a player die in Battle Mode, Mario Kart 8 will also allow the player to obtain bitter revenge as a ghost, allowing them to do almost everything they could while being alive asides from winning.
Co-Op Grand Prix from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is back and allows up to four separate players to compete in a Grand Prix simultaneously.
As previously mentioned, Frantic Mode is available, but whether this will be usable in local play is unknown.
No other modes have been announced for Mario Kart 8 at this time.
Possible Leaks
This image was revealed by the Spanish counterpart of the official Nintendo Magazine. This image shows Diddy's face as an optional character alongside already confirmed characters such-as Baby Luigi, Rosalina, and the Koopalings:
What this means for Diddy Kong is unknown. The publications director, Juan Carlos Garcia, said that the chimp's inclusion by Nintendo can only be confirmed by Nintendo. If Diddy Kong is in, there's two possibilities: Diddy Kong as an unlockable character or as Downloadable Content.
The final rumor was posted on both Reddit and Neogaf. This rumor is a playable demo in the eShop containing more than three carts and some characters to try out. This rumor is not that out of bounds considering Mario Golf: World Tour, another upcoming Mario game, just received a demo. This is, however, a rumor, so its possible that said Nintendo Rep was misinformed. Should this be true, it will have more than three tracks to try out.
Mario Kart in Smash
Mario Kart 7 will have Rainbow Road Stage in Super Smash Bros for 3DS. More footage of said Stage can be seen in the Nintendo DIrect. Whether Mario Kart 8 will have a stage in the Wii U counterpart is unknown but is very plausible.
Get the wheels ready for Mario Kart 8's launch in May 30th across all regions!
Thethirdkoopa is a Game Producer, Game Collector, Gamer, and Smash Fanatic at heart. He's a friendly guy too. He can be reached on Twitter, @Thirdkoopa.
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