Mario Kart 8
Mario Kart 8 is the perfect Mario Kart game. It is stacked with tracks, characters, and kart options. It controls like a dream, it looks great and no matter if you are playing in single or multiplayer you are going to be having a great time. This really is a game that every Nintendo owner needs to have. Pros: Tons of tracks; Large character roster. Mario Kart 8 introduces new racing circuit designs and antigravity karts that will have players driving upside down. Players will also enjoy a variety of series-favorite features, including the return of 12-player online competitive play, hang-gliders, underwater racing and motorbikes.
Everyone plays Mario Kart games a little differently, and there are lots of different characters and kart parts to accommodate just about any play style (some would say almost too many). Maybe you prefer strong, off-roader karts that can take turns well, or maybe you prefer a slick ride that slides across the track with low friction. Of course, in the face of a blue shell, it can feel like your build doesn’t matter that much, but even that’s something to consider when building your ideal machine/driver combo. While there isn’t necessarily a “best” combo, here are a few thoughts on putting together the best Mario Kart 8 character, kart, and wheels combinations.
The performance of a kart in Mario Kart 8 is determined by five stats, each of which are subtly shifted and adjusted by your chosen character, your kart body, and your wheels. Oh, and gliders, I guess, but not to any substantial degree, so those aren’t really worth worrying about. Anyway, the five stats are:
- Speed: How fast your kart is capable of going overall.
- Acceleration: How quickly your kart can get up to its top speed.
- Weight: How much crashes and impacts knock you around.
- Handling: How much control you have over steering and drifting.
- Traction: How well your kart handles bumpy, uneven terrain.
There are also some “hidden” stats, such as how well your kart drives underwater or handles while gliding, but those are circumstantial to particular tracks, so again, they’re not worth putting a lot of thought into.
Best Mario Kart 8 Combination
Your ideal kart build will rely heavily on how you personally prefer to play the game. I, for instance, prefer a kart that can accelerate quickly and handle well while drifting in order to efficiently chain mini-turbos. Combined with a medium to large-build character for some extra speed, and you get a pretty well-balanced machine. Here’s an example of an acceleration/drifting build:
- Character: Rosalina, Link, or King Boo
- Body: City Tripper, Biddybuggy, Mr. Scooty, or Varmint
- Wheels: Roller or Azure Roller
But maybe drifting isn’t really your bag, maybe you’re all about that raw, straight-line speed. If you’re good at cornering on your own without the kart’s help, you put together some really mean builds that scream down the track like a comet. Just remember that high speed and weight are often mutually exclusive with good acceleration and turning. Here’s an example of a high-speed build:
- Character: Wario, Bowser, or Morton
- Body: Blue Falcon, Sneeker, or Prancer
- Wheels: Slick or Cyber Slick
Mario Kart 8 is arguably the ultimate Mario Kart game. It takes what was already great about Mario Kart 7 and kicks things up several notches.
Not Reinventing The Wheel
The first thing that has to be addressed about Mario Kart 8 is that it has a feeling of familiarity to it. However, Nintendo has refined what they did with Mario Kart 7 on the Nintendo 3DS with this game. They have kept the flying sections where you use a glider and new to Mario Kart 8 are anti-gravity sections. These are really cool and the graphical effect of your wheels turning up and you floating along the track is really neat.
Tons Of Tracks
No other game in the Mario Kart series has as many tracks as Mario Kart 8. There are some fantastic new tracks here that were part of the original release of Mario Kart 8. Also included though are all of the DLC tracks such as the epic Hyrule track, the F-Zero track and of course the track based on Animal Crossing which actually has four seasonal variations to it. There are also a ton of classic tracks from previous Mario Kart games.All of these tracks mean that you have a ton of Mario Kart GP’s to work through as well as records to set on each track in time trial mode. Of course, the large track selection also means that things never get boring in multiplayer mode.
Multiplayer Mayhem
You could easily make the argument that Mario Kart 8 is the best multiplayer game on the console. The large number of tracks make it great and you can take part in multiplayer Mario GP’s, time trials and of course battle mode! The original Mario Kart 7 had a rather disappointing battle mode. In Mario Kart 8 though, Nintendo has brought it back to what it was and that is just fantastic! As well as bringing the more traditional battle mode back, Nintendo has also made it so you can again have two weapons at once.
A New Racers and Karts Enters The Race
Mario Kart 8 includes all of the DLC characters from the original Mario Kart 7 such as Link and the Animal Crossing Villagers to name a couple. That is great, but some brand new characters were also added to this version. Bowser JR, King Boo, Dry Bones and the Inklings from Splatoon were added to the action making the roster truly huge. As well as racers there are new karts, wheels, gliders and so on that allow you to have more control over the kind of kart that you will be racing on.
Mario Kart 8 Menu
Smooth As Can Be
One of the things that Mario Kart 8 does not get enough credit for is how well it runs. It was already a fantastic looking game on the Nintendo Wii U, but on the Nintendo Switch, it looks even better. Nintendo thanks to the extra horsepower of the Switch have managed to make the game (in docked mode) run at 60 FPS and in full 1080P.
Mario Kart 8 is the perfect Mario Kart game. It is stacked with tracks, characters, and kart options. It controls like a dream, it looks great and no matter if you are playing in single or multiplayer you are going to be having a great time. This really is a game that every Nintendo owner needs to have.
Pros:
- Tons of tracks
- Large character roster
- Perfect amount of challenge
- Multiplayer is truly amazing
- Has all of the Wii U DLC and even more extras!
Cons:
- Even more Nintendo characters would have been nice
- You will get addicted to it!