I wanted to like Mario Kart 8.
I wanted to love Mario Kart 8.
I wanted to acknowledge the effort they made into smoothing out the mechanics to be fairer, to be faster, more creative, and to still maintain the family-friendly magic that has resonated with the franchise for two decades. I wanted to acknowledge that thanks to DLC there are more tracks, more characters, and more vehicles than ever before. I wanted to acknowledge the nice polish that had been given to the franchise. I wanted to so badly become immersed like I was back when Mario Kart 64 became the pinnacle of multi-player and arcade-like racing (and nobody outside the Burnout franchise had come even close to challenging that until Forza Horizon).
But the truth is, Mario Kart 8 once again is proof that Nintendo scales back on some of its quality punches and saves them for the next installment, as opposed to going 150% all-out to deliver the ultimate Mario Kart experience, and to deliver a sure-fire reason to own a WiiU. Mario Kart 8 is good, it might be great. But it’s still not a console-seller, it’s still not going to turn heads the way past Nintendo games like Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Smash Brothers Melee, and Wii Sports did. And what really harms Mario Kart 8 is that for the same price you see a competing system release an entire anthology of its biggest franchise---4 games, all with a fresh coat of paint, upgraded visuals, and a massive, massive multi-player mode that blends it all together.
Halo: Master Chief Collection is 4 Halo games in one massive package, a package that includes the original and updated looks of the original two Halos, while remastering and tweaking the latter two installments. At just $60, you get hundreds of potential gameplay hours between multi-player, single-player, and online gaming---while getting new cutscenes from each of the games! This is allowing for the XBox One to have a breath of life this upcoming holiday season as they did another necessary price cut and have now been outselling the PS4 in the United States market. With a little more European love they can cut off the lackluster Japan sales and challenge PS4 for the crown in 2015.
Mario Kart 8 on the other hand once again has the same 32-course setup from previous Mario Karts. Once again, they inexplicably downgraded the battle mode, which is absolutely stupid how they can’t figure out a way to simply expand the idea of Mario Kart 64’s battle mode. Seriously, it’s not that hard: add new items, add new courses, and allow customizable rules. It is NOT THAT HARD NINTENDO!!
Mario Kart 8 also managed to even water down some of the classic courses, which makes little sense considering how awesome some of the new levels were. Toad’s Turnpike, Yoshi’s Valley, and N64 Rainbow Road are shorter, easier, less chaotic, and overall very ho-hum. Gone are the classic block bombs for some odd reason. Gone are the lap times and even overall race time from the grand prix. Why?!?!? Wait, why is there no way to see how my stats change depending on vehicle?!?! Wait, I don’t earn anything after earning 3-stars in all the Cups?!!?!??
THE BATTLE MODE NINTENDO, WHYYYYYY!!?!?!?!?!$(*#()*%(*#&)&(*#*)*$)*#)*$**#(*$&()*$)$
Worst of all, is all the history behind Mario Kart, and it doesn’t fully get utilized. Have we been watching all the insane features and throwbacks the Smash Brothers series has delivered? Why can’t we have an SNES Cup, an N64 cup, a Gamecube Cup, a GBA Cup, or a DS Cup? That is 80 potential courses to pick from? What sounds better: Mario Kart 8 with upside-down racing and superior online play? Or Mario Kart 8 with 100 courses, each online-capable? We are too technologically advanced in the gaming world to ever say that it might be hard to pull off; especially after seeing what Forza, Forza Horizon, Gran Turismo 5, and Burnout Paradise was able to deliver in the previous gaming generation. In a gaming world where Halo’s entire catalog runs at $60 and we can get full gaming experiences at prices of $3, $5, $10, we deserve better from Mario Kart.
Let’s have some more fun. Why not throw in some F-Zero tracks since we are already in the futuristic approach to racing? Why not Stunt Race FX? Why not Kirby’s Air Ride? Why not Diddy Kong Racing? Why not Crusin' USA/World/Exotica? Why did we kill the battle mode Nintendo? The Game Boy Advance version of Mario Kart (the underrated Super Circuit) had the entire SNES catalog. This tradition should have continued on Double Dash with the N64 circuit (which to me still has the best mix of courses in the franchises’ history).
I don’t get it, I honestly don’t. I want to enjoy this Mario Kart, but to be still so closely attached to Mario Kart of the 90s and 2000s while scaling back on even more features makes this a very frustrating experience. While seeing all the effort being given to Smash Brothers, one can only wonder what would happen if Nintendo fully dwelled and gave Mario Kart the time and love required to create the perfect installment. Give another gaming company a chance to contribute, give it a few extra years of work (look what GTA V accomplished after extra time to polish) and see what you can deliver. Make me be happy I spent $60 on you.
I want my Mario Kart to have more than just 32 courses pre-Mirror Mode and DLC. I want my Mario Kart to hit Gran Turismo territory with 70+ places to race in. I want my Mario Kart to reward me for being a good racer as opposed to coins and a few gold stars. I want my Mario Kart to have courses that doesn’t just test your skills, but can also test your endurance and patience (N64’s Wario Stadium comes to mind). I want my Mario Kart to allow me to experiment with shortcuts and secrets. And lastly, I want my Mario Kart to keep it simple while expanding the concept as opposed to improving some aspects and disappointing in others.
Will Mario Kart 8 make money and be a Nintendo hit? Of course it will, but unlike what Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64 accomplished, don’t expect it to leave a mark in gaming history. Mario Kart Wii was a forgettable mainstream hit, Mario Kart 7 was ho-hum, and this one was wasted potential thrown out to the public to keep extremely frustrated WiiU owners from burning their systems and switching to the other side.
The bar in gaming has been raised. And just like what has happened to Zelda (Still not fully recovered from Majora’s Mask), Mario (Mario Galaxy back in 2007 was its last earth-shattering game), Donkey Kong (Still lacking the personality of the SNES installments), and Pokemon (Not even going to talk about it) in recent years, Mario Kart is struggling to reach this new bar. Time to grow up. Don't just improve some things, improve everything. Step up to the plate boys, give me a full complete game. Otherwise you will see movement in software----but not in the hardware.
What hampers my complaining the most is that the damn game is still fun……..
