Mario Kart 8 Bundle & Direct

[Thirdkoopa]

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

• 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.

 

[Renji64]

Hyped for this smash and mk is bread and butter.

 

[Newt Floss]

Why does that game offer advertisement show more games than the four that are listed?

Edit: Never mind. I see now that the ten game offer is for European customers.

 

[Ragna22]

Say what you want about Pink and Gold Peach, I'm hyped for Lakitu, it's about time that guy became playable.

 

[Pokerhappy]

Metal Mario? Lakitu? Shy Guy? I'm stoked.

 

[Shalashaska]

Say what you want about Pink and Gold Peach, I'm hyped for Lakitu, it's about time that guy became playable.

I'm pretty sure he was in Mario Kart 7.

 

[Haydossy]

I'm pretty sure he was in Mario Kart 7.

Yeah, he was.

 

[Haydossy]

Why does that game offer advertisement show more games than the four that are listed?

Edit: Never mind. I see now that the ten game offer is for European customers.

Is that just for Europe or for PAL? Because Australia is PAL, and that's where I live.

edit: oops double post

 

[Ragna22]

I'm pretty sure he was in Mario Kart 7.

If he was then my mistake, either way I'll be using him.

 

[Vashimus]

Why isn't Professor E. Gadd a racer already? He's a pretty recurring character now.

 

[Domo-dono]

Co-Op Grand Prix from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is back and allows up to four separate players simultaneously in GP.

Now this is something I really like. Used to hate sharing a controller just to unlock stuff. 4-player Split Screen is a serious plus as well. I mean...it should be standard to do this but Microsoft and Sony just can't seem to give gamers what they're used to having anymore i.e. split screen, backwards compatability etc. That aside, thank you Nintendo. This is a MUST buy for me.

 

[Jecux]

That is the complete character roster? Well this ruined my day. What happened to Dry Bowser, King Boo, or Dry Bones? I know that they weren't playable in 7 but that doesn't mean they cannot be added to later MK character rosters. Instead there is another baby version, third version of Peach which is heavyweight, and all seven Koopalings. At least Rainbow Road 64 is now a part of Lightning Cup, that track is easily my favourite one in the whole series.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Feeling bad for the Jr. and Diddy fans.

I was kind of hoping for a better balance of racers. We have 13 lightweights, 7 middleweights and 9 heavyweights. Could of made Wendy a middleweight at least. She's a bit... bulkier than the majority of other lightweights there.

We really didn't need either Baby Daisy returning or Baby Rosalina being made with such inbalance; lightweights would still outnumber the other two weight classes easily.

Still, getting this bundle. Seems like a great deal.

 

[Haydossy]

That is the complete character roster? Well this ruined my day. What happened to Dry Bowser, King Boo, or Dry Bones? I know that they weren't playable in 7 but that doesn't mean they cannot be added to later MK character rosters. Instead there is another baby version, third version of Peach which is heavyweight, and all seven Koopalings. At least Rainbow Road 64 is now a part of Lightning Cup, that track is easily my favourite one in the whole series.

Also Diddy Kong and Bowser Jr.

 

[Another K-2L Survivor]

Preordering the NA bundle tomorrow. Can't wait to tack on that free extra game after that. Though, It'll be awhile before I play it, as MK8 will likely absorb my life for quite some time.

 

[Mega Bidoof]

Still hope for unlockables and DLC.

 

[\\Killer//]

I can't wait to upload online gameplay on my channel ^^

 

[Iguana]

The Direct in particular felt kinda awkward at moments for me, but anyway this game is going to be amazing. Already loving some of the retro course selections (Kreygasm for Toad's Turnpike and Donut Plains 3).

 

[ImaClubYou]

I haven't played MK since Double Dash since the rest after it didn't appeal to me but this one looks so good I preordered it yesterday

 

[Gombukelp]

I liked the Direct! It was funny, neat and had many great moments! Mario Kart 8's online seems to be so much more in depth than Smash 4's.

 

[Pazzo.]

Buying this within the launch week. I planned on holding off a few weeks, but that Pikmin deal is too good to pass!

 

[Thirdkoopa]

Personally I'm not stoked on the idea of the roster, but the courses are what MK is all about - As long as you have a character in each weight class you want to play, the rest comes through. For me? I really want to play Koopa, Iggy, and I guess Bowser for heavy class.

The courses, on the other hand, are looking better than ever. Frankly this might just be the best Mario Kart stage list; the only thing it's missing to me is a bit more from GCN.

Still hope for unlockables and DLC.

Agreed.

I liked the Direct! It was funny, neat and had many great moments! Mario Kart 8's online seems to be so much more in depth than Smash 4's.

Hey, maybe we can hope that there's more to come!

 

[Gombukelp]

Hey, maybe we can hope that there's more to come!

Yeah, hopefully. You can tell that Sakurai is trying but they need to add a lot more to online play in order for it to become a more engaging and fun experience imo. From what they revealed to us in the Smash 4 direct there seems to have been many missed opportunities :-/

 

[Deleted member]

If we see Diddy Kong as DLC, I wonder what this could mean for this game?

Also, can anyone confirm whenever or not the Diddy Kong picture is new to this game?

 

[proxibomb]

Please don't let that be the official roster. There has to be some secret characters that haven't been unlocked yet. Comparing MK8's roster and MKW's roster - there is a gaping hole in which characters could easily fill. Where's King Boo? Where's Petey Piranha? Where's Funky Kong? Where's Dry Bones and Dry Bowser? I mean, I know I could just be annoying people right now with a lot of questions, but wouldn't a game that comes from a line of older games try to better?

Well, the exception to my last excerpt is Brawl - that game just made the series worse.

 

[DaDavid]

I don't understand getting hung up on the roster too much... Yeah it's not the most exciting batch of MK characters we've seen, but honestly everything that actually affects gameplay is a big step up from the past games. This isn't Smash we're talking about, the roster doesn't radically change anything.

Personally this deal is going to be the reason I finally pick up a Wii U. I mean, I've wanted one for a while but it was never quite worth the money. Now I kinda can't afford to pass up on this since I want Pikmin 3 as well.

 

[Gameboi834]

I don't think this is the final roster; no Diddy or Bowser Jr.? Doubt it.

 

[PixelPasta]

I'm sort of disappointed with the final roster. No Diddy Kong or Bowser Jr? I'll also miss King Boo.
The Koopalings are a great addition, but it annoys me how they took the boring direction and added more lazy baby and metal forms of characters. Why not add real characters, like Kamek, Professor E. Gadd, Toadsworth, or Lubba?

 

[Haydossy]

 

[Haydossy]

I'm sort of disappointed with the final roster. No Diddy Kong or Bowser Jr? I'll also miss King Boo.
The Koopalings are a great addition, but it annoys me how they took the boring direction and added more lazy baby and metal forms of characters. Why not add real characters, like Kamek, Professor E. Gadd, Toadsworth, or Lubba?

Dixie and K. Rool, although unlikely, would've been great characters too! I would gladly remove Metal Mario, Parental Guidance Peach, Baby R, D & P for Diddy and Bowser Jr., and another if possible.

edit: oops double post. I do this a lot.

Also, could someone answer this previous question of mine, please?

Is that choice of 10 games just for Europe or for PAL? Because Australia is also PAL, and that's where I live.

 

[Chilex]

I'm not crazy about the characters, but the tracks and gameplay look dope.

 

[Tepig2000]

I hate Pink Metal Peach or whatever her name is. Oh, and I doubt this is the final roster.

 

[MangoTwist]

I dislike the roster, but aaaahhhh both Toad's Turnpike and Yoshi Valley from MK64 make it okay.

 

[rikochet]

Someone mail me a wii u !

 

[Fire Emblemier]

I hate to show some criticism, but the roster is rather mediocre, in my honest opinion. I found the adding of metal peach, all of the koopalings, and metal mario rather excessive. Removing characters like Diddy, Bowser Jr., and more in the process. Diddy was my favorite since his introduction in DoubleDash. The only newcomer I find interesting is Lakitu.
But, at least I still have Yoshi, I guess.
Besides the roster, this game looks great, plus my youtube channel will finally have some activity thanks to the online features. I just hope you can upload the entire race rather than just simple reels.

 

[DrizzyDrew]

Is it time to but a wii u? Looking like i gotta start saving up. I might wait for the smash bundle...maybe this is tempting

 

[Rahma Noodles]

I don't know I can wait for a Smash Bros Wii U bundle anymore, because this Mario Kart looks amazing.

 

[Z1GMA]

I just wish they didn't completely destroy most of the Retro Tracks.
Most Retro Tracks have either been dumbed down (Broader roads and more Item Boxes) or filled with Boost Panels - or both