Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart 8
Information
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD Nintendo Bandai Games
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Wii U
Released	May 29, 2014 May 30, 2014 May 30, 2014 May 30, 2014 May 31, 2014
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player Multiplayer Online Play
Ratings	ESRB: - Everyone PEGI: - 3 years and older CERO: - All ages ACB: -General USK: - All ages DEJUS: - General audience

Mario Kart 8 (abbreviated to MK8) is a kart-racing game exclusive to the Wii U. It is the eighth Mario Kart game in the series (eleventh overall if including the arcade games). It was released on May 29, 2014 in Japan, May 30, 2014 in North America, Europe, and Brazil, and May 31, 2014 in Australia.

A new feature, anti-gravity, is introduced to the Mario Kart series while past features such as gliding, underwater driving, vehicle customization, and bikes return.

Gameplay

In the eighth installment of the Mario Kart series, anti-gravity is introduced. Via sensors, it enables players to drive on surfaces that are upside-down or tilted at a steep angle. This is one of the main focuses of the game, the feature being used in every new course. Gliding and underwater features return from Mario Kart 7, working in the same way, as do coins. Kart customization also makes a return, with bikes, from Mario Kart Wii, were added into the game as well. ATVs are also new types of vehicles.

Mario Kart 8 brought back 16 old and brought 16 new courses. It also brought 16 downloadable courses, which the total sum of that is 48 tracks. Battle mode returns, but battling is done on race tracks now, unlike it was done in previous Mario Kart titles. Stamps are also a new feature in the game, being collectible based on fulfilling certain criteria. They can be posted to Miiverse. Online modes also return, being playable, with up to two people on the same console. Mario Kart TV, or MKTV for short, is introduced in this game, where players can watch highlights from various races and battles. They can also share them to Miiverse and YouTube (However you will need a Google account).

Modes

Grand Prix

In Grand Prix mode, twelve players compete for first place in cups of four races. They are awarded with points based on their placements at the end of races, and the racer with more points at the end wins. This mode can be played with more than one player.

Time trials

Koopa Troopa does a time trial on N64 Royal Raceway.

Time trials allow players to race for the best time possible, either on their own or against a ghost. It is not possible to play this mode with more than one player.

VS

Bowser doing a VS race at 3DS Music Park.

VS allows players to race, but with their own custom rule sets set such as difficultly. It makes a return to single player from Mario Kart 7, when it was only available in multiplayer mode. Here, it can be played alone or with up to four people.

Battle

Ludwig von Koopa competes in a battle on Wii Moo Moo Meadows.

In battle mode, players must attack each other with items to make them lose balloons and gain a point. If players lose all of their balloons, they are eliminated. They can still play, but cannot win. They are invisible while defeated. This can be played with up to four people. This is the only Battle Mode that players use actual race courses instead of battle arenas.

Online

A player setting up an online race.

Players can race and battle online, alone or with another player. At the end of a race, players earn or lose VR based on how well they did the race.

Characters

Thirty six characters are playable in this game (including Mii) making this the most amount of playable characters a Mario Kart game has ever had. Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach are introduced to the overall Mario series in this game. The Koopalings, consisting of Larry, Lemmy, Wendy, Ludwig, Iggy, Roy and Morton become playable for the first time.

Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach, Link, Villager, Isabelle, and Dry Bowser are DLC characters, from the Legend of Zelda x Mario Kart and Animal Crossing x Mario Kart packs respectively. Baby Daisy and Shy Guy, for the first time in the series, do not need to be unlocked and are playable from the start.

Default Racers

Mario	Luigi	Peach	Daisy
Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium
Yoshi	Toad	Koopa Troopa	Shy Guy
Medium	Light	Light	Light
Baby Mario	Baby Luigi	Baby Peach	Baby Daisy
Light	Light	Light	Light
Bowser	Donkey Kong	Wario	Waluigi
Heavy	Heavy	Heavy	Heavy

Unlockable Racers

Rosalina	Metal Mario	Lakitu	Toadette
Heavy	Heavy	Light	Light
Baby Rosalina*	Pink Gold Peach*	Iggy Koopa*	Roy Koopa*
Light	Heavy	Medium	Heavy
Lemmy Koopa*	Larry Koopa*	Wendy O. Koopa*	Ludwig von Koopa*
Light	Light	Light	Medium
Morton Koopa Jr.*	Mii**
Heavy	Any
* - Mario Kart debut		** - Mii's weight is determined by its height and weight.

Downloadable Racers

Pack	Characters
The Legend of Zelda × Mario Kart 8
Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8
Color skins
Colored Yoshis*
Colored Shy Guys*
* - The CPU drivers do not drive as the different colored Yoshis and Shy Guys.

Vehicle parts

Karts

Kart	Speed	Acceleration	Weight	Handling	Traction
Standard Kart*	0
Pipe Frame*	0	+0.25	-0.25	+0.5	-0.5
Mach 8	+0.5	-0.25	+0.25	0	-1
Steel Driver	0	-0.5	+0.5	-0.5	+0.5
Cat Cruiser	0
Circuit Special*	+0.5	-0.25	+0.25	0	-1
Tri-Speeder	0	-0.5	+0.5	-0.5	+0.5
Badwagon	0	-0.5	+0.5	-0.5	+0.5
Prancer	0
Biddybuggy*	-0.75	+1.25	-0.5	+0.5	-0.25
Landship*	-0.75	+1.25	-0.5	+0.5	-0.25
Sneeker*	0
Sports Coupe	+0.5	-0.25	+0.25	0	-1
Gold Standard (Gold kart in PAL versions)	+0.5	-0.25	+0.25	0	-1
GLA* (DLC)	0	-0.5	+0.5	-0.5	+0.5
W 25 Silver Arrow (DLC)	0	+0.25	-0.25	+0.5	-0.5
300 SL Roadster (DLC)	0
Blue Falcon (DLC)	+0.25	+0.25	-0.25	0	-0.5
Tanooki Kart (DLC)	0	-0.25	+0.25	-0.25	+0.25
B Dasher (DLC)	+0.5	-0.25	+0.25	0	-1
Streetle (DLC)	+0.25	+0.25	-0.25	0	-0.5
P-Wing (DLC)	+0.5	-0.25	+0.25	0	-1
* - Changes color depending on the racer.
Bold denotes the part being available from the start.

Bikes

Bike	Speed	Acceleration	Weight	Handling	Traction
Standard Bike*	0	+0.25	-0.25	+0.5	-0.5
Comet	0	+0.75	-0.25	+0.75	-1.25
Sport Bike*	0	+0.75	-0.25	+0.75	-1.25
The Duke	0
Flame Rider	0	+0.25	-0.25	+0.5	-0.5
Varmint	0	+0.25	-0.25	+0.5	-0.5
Mr. Scooty	-0.75	+1.25	-0.5	+0.5	-0.25
Jet Bike	0	+0.75	-0.25	+0.75	-1.25
Yoshi Bike	0	+0.75	-0.25	+0.75	-1.25
Master Cycle (DLC)	+0.25	0	0	+0.5	-0.75
City Tripper* (DLC)	0	+0.25	-0.25	+0.5	-0.5
* - Changes color depending on the racer.
Bold denotes the part being available from the start.

ATVs

ATV	Speed	Acceleration	Weight	Handling	Traction
Standard ATV*	0	-0.5	+0.5	-0.5	+0.5
Wild Wiggler	0	+0.25	-0.25	+0.5	-0.5
Teddy Buggy	0
Bone Rattler (DLC)	0	-0.25	+0.25	-0.25	+0.25
* - Changes color depending on the racer.
Bold denotes the part being available from the start.

Wheels

Wheel	Speed	Acceleration	Weight	Handling	Traction
Standard	0
Monster	0	-0.5	+0.5	-0.75	+0.75
Roller	-0.5	+1	-0.5	+0.25	-0.25
Slim	+0.25	-0.25	0	+0.25	-0.5
Slick	+0.5	-0.25	+0.25	0	-1
Metal	+0.25	-0.5	+0.5	0	-0.5
Button	-0.5	+1	-0.5	+0.25	-0.25
Off-Road	0
Sponge	-0.25	+0.25	-0.25	-0.25	+0.5
Wood	-0.25	+0.25	-0.25	-0.25	+0.5
Cushion	-0.25	+0.25	-0.25	-0.25	+0.5
Blue Standard	0
Hot Monster	0	-0.5	+0.5	-0.75	+0.75
Azure Roller	-0.5	+1	-0.5	+0.25	-0.25
Crimson Slim	+0.25	-0.25	0	+0.25	-0.5
Cyber Slick	+0.5	-0.25	+0.25	0	-1
Retro Off-Road	0
Gold Tires	+0.25	-0.5	+0.5	0	-0.5
GLA Tires (DLC)	0
Triforce Tires (DLC)	+0.25	-0.25	0	+0.25	-0.5
Leaf Tires (DLC)	-0.5	+1	-0.5	+0.25	-0.25
Bold denotes the part being available from the start.

Gliders

Glider	Speed	Acceleration	Weight	Handling	Traction
Super Glider*	0
Cloud Glider	0	+0.25	-0.25	0
Wario Wing	0
Waddle Wing	0
Peach Parasol*	0	+0.25	-0.25	0
Parachute	0	+0.25	-0.25	0
Parafoil	0	+0.25	-0.25	0
Flower Glider	0	+0.25	-0.25	0
Bowser Kite	0	+0.25	-0.25	0
Plane Glider	0
MKTV Parafoil	0	+0.25	-0.25	0
Gold Glider	0
Hylian Kite (DLC)	0	+0.25	-0.25	0
Paper Glider (DLC)	0
* - Changes color depending on the racer.
Bold denotes the part being available from the start.

Unlocking criteria

Characters

Unlike how previous games have done, characters will unlock at random each time a cup is won. Also, characters that are not yet unlocked appear as CPU characters during races, unlike previous Mario Kart Games.

Vehicle parts

Vehicle parts are unlocked by collecting coins from Grand Prix, VS Mode, Time Trials, and online races. Coins collected by additional players are counted. Coins will count towards the player's coin total only for completed races -- if the player collects coins then quits during a race, the coins from that race will not be added to their coin total.

There are 38 unlockable parts, excluding golden parts. Players can unlock new parts for every 50 coins, but once players have collected 1000 coins, 100 coins are instead needed to unlock new parts. Like in Mario Kart 7, players can see how many coins they've collected by viewing the statistics screen from the main menu (this feature is available for only Ver. 2.0 and further of Mario Kart 8, however).

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800

850 900 950 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400

1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100 2200

2300 2400 2500 2600 2700 2800

Special parts

Special gold parts are unlocked with the following criteria:

• Gold Standard: Obtain a minimum of one star ranking in all non-DLC cups of every engine class.
• Gold Tires: Beat the Staff Ghost on all 32 non-DLC courses, Or obtain 15,000 coins.
• Gold Glider: Obtain 10,000 coins.

Courses

New courses

Mushroom Cup	Flower Cup	Star Cup	Special Cup
Mario Kart Stadium	Mario Circuit	Sunshine Airport	Cloudtop Cruise
Water Park	Toad Harbor	Dolphin Shoals	Bone-Dry Dunes
Sweet Sweet Canyon	Twisted Mansion	Electrodrome	Bowser's Castle
Thwomp Ruins	Shy Guy Falls	Mount Wario	Rainbow Road

Retro courses

Shell Cup	Banana Cup	Leaf Cup	Lightning Cup
Wii Moo Moo Meadows	GCN Dry Dry Desert	DS Wario Stadium	DS Tick-Tock Clock
GBA Mario Circuit	SNES Donut Plains 3	GCN Sherbet Land	3DS Piranha Plant Slide
DS Cheep Cheep Beach	N64 Royal Raceway	3DS Music Park (Melody Motorway in PAL versions)	Wii Grumble Volcano
N64 Toad's Turnpike	3DS DK Jungle	N64 Yoshi Valley	N64 Rainbow Road

Downloadable courses

Egg Cup	Triforce Cup	Crossing Cup	Bell Cup
GCN Yoshi Circuit	Wii Wario's Gold Mine	GCN Baby Park	3DS Neo Bowser City
Excitebike Arena	SNES Rainbow Road	GBA Cheese Land	GBA Ribbon Road
Dragon Driftway	Ice Ice Outpost	Wild Woods	Super Bell Subway
Mute City	Hyrule Circuit	Animal Crossing	Big Blue

Battle stages

In Mario Kart 8, unique battle stages are not present. The mode is instead played on race courses rather than enclosed arenas. All battle courses are playable from the start; regardless of whether the cup they appear in is or not. The only playable battle mode is Balloon Battle, making this game the first game since Mario Kart: Super Circuit to feature only one battle mode.

Mario Circuit	Toad Harbor	Wii Moo Moo Meadows	GCN Dry Dry Desert
N64 Toad's Turnpike	GCN Sherbet Land	SNES Donut Plains 3	N64 Yoshi Valley

Staff Ghosts

For this game's staff ghosts, see Staff Ghosts.

Items

Items found on the track

Item Box	Item Boxes are found in groups, providing players with a random item based on their place in the race. Lower ranks give more powerful items, and vice versa.
Coin	Coins give players a slight boost in speed for each that is collected, the max allowed being ten. Coins are found on the track in groups.
Rupee	Acts just like a Coin, but they are found only in Hyrule Circuit. They also replace Coins in the item roulette.
Bell	Acts just like a Coin, but they are found only in Animal Crossing. They also replace Coins in the item roulette.

New items

Boomerang Flower	The Boomerang Flower allows players to shoot three Boomerangs to attack other racers, having effects similar to those of bananas. They also come back to you, despite the name.
Potted Piranha Plant	The Potted Piranha Plant sits in front of a kart and can be used to attack other players similar to how a Super Leaf worked in Mario Kart 7.
Super Horn	The Super Horn can be used to block incoming projectiles, including the elusive Spiny Shell, which could not be blocked in any previous game.
Crazy 8	The Crazy Eight is very similar to the Lucky 7, adding only a coin item to the seven items that circle around the kart. They consist of a Green Shell, a Red Shell, a Banana, a Bob-omb, a Blooper, a Star, a Mushroom, and a Coin. You use the items in the Crazy Eight if the certain item is in front of your kart.

Returning items

Banana	Bananas can be dropped on the course and will make any racers who run into it spin out.
Triple Bananas	Three Bananas rotate around the kart instead of staying in a line behind it as in previous games. They can be dropped one by one.
Green Shell	Green Shells can be shot along the track and can bounce on the walls until it hits a racer.
Triple Green Shells	Similarly to Triple Bananas, three Green Shells rotate around the kart and can be used one by one.
Mushroom	Mushrooms give players speed boosts that can be used to cross off-road terrain.
Triple Mushrooms	Three Mushrooms can be used one by one, for three speed boosts. Three Mushrooms are given automatically in time trials. They circle around the kart and can be stolen unlike other games.
Bob-omb	Bob-ombs can be thrown similarly to shells, but cause massive explosions that makes karts completely flip out.
Coin	In addition to being found on tracks, two coins can be given to players via item boxes.
Red Shell	Red Shells act like Green Shells but home in on opponents, and are destroyed if they hit walls.
Triple Red Shells	Just like Triple Green Shells, but with Red Shells instead.
Blooper	Bloopers shoot ink on all the players ahead of whoever used it, obstructing vision. While it disappears after a few seconds, it can be removed early with a Mushroom, going underwater or boost pad.
Fire Flower	Fire Flowers allow players to shoot fireballs for a certain amount of time. The fireballs make players spin out and can be deadly weapons in close races.
Star	Stars allow players to be invincible, travel off-road without losing speed, and run through racers without any impairment at all for a short time.
Golden Mushroom	Golden Mushrooms give players unlimited speed boosts for a few seconds.
Lightning	Lightning strikes all racers, making them small. The racers in lower positions are first to return to normal, while higher-ranked ones are the last.
Spiny Shell	Spiny Shells travel on the ground in pursuit of the racer in the first place, able to knock out any racers in its path. It can only be blocked with the Super Horn or avoided by using a Mushroom at the precise time.
Bullet Bill	The Bullet Bill allows racers to become a giant Bullet Bill, giving them effects similar to that of a Star, but they cannot control themselves. Rather, they are automatically steered at fast speeds for a few seconds.

Stamps

For this game's stamps, see Stamps.

In Mario Kart 8, players can obtain stamps that can be used in Miiverse posts. There are 100 stamps in the game: 28 are available from the start, while another 62 stamps can be obtained by winning a Grand Prix with every non-DLC character and beating the Staff Ghost on each non-DLC course in Time Trials.

In addition, ten more stamps were added with the version 4.0 update. However, beating a Staff Ghost on a DLC course or using a DLC character to complete a Grand Prix will not unlock a stamp.

amiibo

Mii outfits along with their amiibo character.

As of the version 3.0 update, Mario Kart 8 includes compatibility with amiibo. By using certain amiibos, players can unlock one of ten costumes for use by Miis based upon the amiibo character.

The amiibo was originally compatible for Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Donkey Kong, Link, Toon Link, Kirby, Captain Falcon, Samus, and Fox. Nine more suits were later added with the version 4.0 update, which can be unlocked by using Mega Man, Sonic, Villager, Pac-Man, Toad, Wario, Olimar, Rosalina, and Bowser.

Downloadable Content

As of the version 2.0 update, the game includes an in-game shop feature through which players can purchase and pre-order downloadable content. Alternatively, players can purchase content through the Nintendo eShop like normal.

Nintendo has released free kart parts as part of a collaboration with Mercedes-Benz. Six characters were also confirmed to be downloadable, including three from other series. These characters would come in forms of 2 themed DLC Packs containing a total of eight vehicles (with seperate vehicle parts) and four cups consisting of four tracks each.

Mercedez-Benz × Mario Kart 8

Vehicle Parts:

• GLA (kart)
• W 25 Silver Arrow (kart)
• 300 SL Roadster (kart)
• GLA Tires

Legend of Zelda × Mario Kart 8

Characters:

• Tanooki Mario
• Cat Peach
• Link

Vehicle Parts:

• Blue Falcon (kart)
• Tanooki Kart (kart)
• B Dasher (kart)
• Master Cycle (bike)
• Triforce Tires
• Hylian Kite

Tracks:

Egg Cup

• GCN Yoshi Circuit
• Excitebike Arena
• Dragon Driftway
• Mute City

Triforce Cup

• Wii Wario's Gold Mine
• SNES Rainbow Road
• Ice Ice Outpost
• Hyrule Circuit

Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8

Characters:

• Villager
• Isabelle
• Dry Bowser

Vehicle Parts:

• Streetle (kart)
• P-Wing (kart)
• City Tripper (bike)
• Bone Rattler (ATV)
• Leaf Tires
• Paper Glider

Tracks:

Crossing Cup

• GCN Baby Park
• GBA Cheese Land
• Wild Woods
• Animal Crossing

Bell Cup

• 3DS Neo Bowser City
• GBA Ribbon Road
• Super Bell Subway
• Big Blue

It was also confirmed that 8 other colors for Yoshi and Shy Guy would be included as well to include immediately. The colors are, red (not for Shy Guy), orange, yellow, green (not for Yoshi), light blue, blue, purple, black, white and pink.

Development

Development started in 2012. It was announced in the Wii U Nintendo Direct on January 23, 2013. Nintendo presented more information at E3 2013.

Updates

Version 2.0

The map display on the TV screen.

On the same day as the release of the Mercedes Benz x Mario Kart 8 downloadable content pack, an update for the game was also released in which the game adds an option to display the map on the TV screen by pressing Minus Button on the GamePad, and a records section, which shows how many coins have been collected, online wins and losses, and other statistics. The update also saves the players' last used vehicle combo (excluding DLC vehicle parts), lets them edit other players' highlight reels, and improves online stability.

Additionally, the maximum online race and battle ratings have increased from "9999" to "99999". The rating system has also been altered in that the amount of points that the players win or lose after an online race or battle is more drastic if there's a large rating difference between participating players. In tournaments without race or battle limits, players can now have more than 1024 points during a tournament period; without the update, players with at least 1024 points have their score reset to zero for the next race/battle. Players must download the update in order to continue playing online.

The update also swaps the 'Next Race/Round/View Results' and 'View Highlight Reel' buttons in offline mode, and adds a Shop button on the main menu, where players can download the Mercedes DLC, and pre-order Add-On Content. The character icons on the map HUD are also altered.

Version 3.0

On November 13, 2014, the update to version 3.0 was made available. The update includes compatibility with amiibo figures and enables the first downloadable content pack for those who purchased it. The update also allows the game to save any last used vehicle combo that uses any of the DLC vehicle parts or characters. Also, when a light racer bumps into a heavier one, it will be pushed less far away.

In terms of online, the race and battle rating system has been modified to be less punishing to players who did poorly in a race or battle. Additionally, players can now set up tournaments that have cup limitations. The update is required to continue playing online, but players cannot play in rooms or tournaments that include the downloadable tracks until they have purchased them. Players that have not purchased the add-on packs can still encounter the included characters and vehicles online, but cannot select them.

Version 4.0

The addition of the 200cc mode in Version 4.0.

It was released on April 23, 2015, the same day as the Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8 downloadable content pack. In addition to the downloadable content and some bug fixes, the update adds nine additional amiibo racing suits and compatible figures, and adds a "200cc" engine class. Ten new Miiverse stamps have also been added. The update also allows players to enable the on-screen map using any controller, rather than just the GamePad.

In online mode, players who left a race/battle will not have their race/battle rating visible for other racers to see after a race/battle. The race rating and battle rating system remains the same as in the 3.0 update. Lastly, additional tournament settings have been added to support 200cc and the two cups in the second DLC pack.

Version 4.1

It was released on May 1, 2015. In addition to general gameplay adjustments and bug fixes, the update adds the Mirror and 200cc engine classes to Grand Prix mode by default, without having to unlock them.

Reception

Mario Kart 8 has received mostly favorable reviews, and has been lauded as one of the best games in the series to date. General praise has been given to the game's graphics, the tracks, the music, and the overall gameplay. The addition of anti-gravity has also been praised, as has the online mode.

The roster, however, notably the amount of baby and metal characters, and the lack of previous racer veterans, has received some criticism. The battle mode, however, has a universal negative reaction among reviewers, with most of reviewers preferring the traditional battle modes that previous Mario Kart games did rather than this iteration.

Mario Kart 8 won two awards at "The Game Awards 2014", being the "Best Family Game" and the "Best Sports/Racing Game".

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mario Kart 8.

Soundtrack

Main Article: Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack

Trivia

• In the E3 demo, Donkey Kong's standard bike color was brown, but in the final build it was yellow. 
• On the koopalings artwork, Morton's ATV color was black when in the final version it was green. The artwork is still used in the actual game though.
• When you're in first place, a beat has been added to the music. This also happens in Mario Kart 7. This beat is called 'frontrunning'.
• At the startup screen of Mario Kart 8, engine sounds can heard. This originated in Mario Kart 64's start up screen.
• At the course selection screen, the courses can also be recognized by pictures on top of the name. This is a possible reference to Mario Kart: Double Dash!! as in that game there are pictures of the character it is based on (if any), a little background, and the name. These pictures are used as recognition of the tracks in online mode and names are not included underneath in online mode.
• This is the first game to not have an Award Ceremony after a Grand Prix.
• This is only the fourth game to feature only one battle mode; Balloon Battle, as well as the first since Mario Kart: Super Circuit.
• This is the first game in the series to support Downloadable Content, a Cup where retro tracks meet up with new ones, game crossover, and Rainbow Road does not appear as final track in Cup.
• This is the first game to have three Rainbow Road tracks.
• This is the first game to have 200cc as an extra engine class, which can be bought in the second DLC pack.
• The course maps in this game show all the shortcuts on them, if any in the course. This means that there are no shortcuts that are truly "hidden" in this game.