Mario kart 8

[abiscuit]

I tend to run with Rosalina and Yoshi. Rosalina has the weight class I look for and is one of the few heavy characters that doesn't have crap handling. The Mii has stats I look for too but I wonder if the Mii's characteristics change the stats at all. At least in MKWii I think the height of the Mii can change what weight class it is in.

[Will T.]

I tend to run with Rosalina and Yoshi. Rosalina has the weight class I look for and is one of the few heavy characters that doesn't have crap handling. The Mii has stats I look for too but I wonder if the Mii's characteristics change the stats at all. At least in MKWii I think the height of the Mii can change what weight class it is in.

As of MK7 the Mii's height and "thickness" would both determine its weight class as far as I am aware. I think the same is still true in 8. The ability to choose which Mii to use at the character selection screen allows for some potential investigation.

[BigBiker05]

I've been watching streams of this game. Seems absolutely stunning. I haven't owned a console since N64. I have played emulated versions of Double Dash (great) and Wii (bad). But 8 looks great and if I somehow get some money this summer I may buy the bundle. But as of right now I'm sorta homeless and college wants all my money.

[TheCarpe]

[Gizanked]

Yeah that has kinda been my experience stepping up to 150cc. Wad about to go play but there is apparently a system update happening.

[Will T.]

I learned today that using a Blooper while in first place makes it attack you and only you.

Also that the "Crazy 8" power-up is insane. Makes it incredibly easy to get from 5th to 1st, but balanced well by the fact that it's exceedingly rare.

Also that all the rubber-banding that was absent from the normal races is there in full in Mirror Mode. I must have blasted Roy Koopa in the face a dozen times, yet he never stopped riding my rear bumper.

[Gizanked]

I've seen people make jokes about this happening and it is funny untill it happens to you.

[Will T.]

I tried Battle Mode for the first time today, not expecting much since it's the one area in which MK8 is consistently criticized in reviews. It's a mixed bag for sure, with some great points and one critical (but potentially fixable) flaw.

I'm actually a big fan of the rule changes they made this time around. The rules are a combination of the classic battle-mode elimination rules and the awkward scoring system from MK7: you get a score based on how many times you attack the other competitors, but if you get hit three times yourself you're eliminated. (Like in previous games, you can use mushrooms to swipe opponents' balloons to prolong your own life.) What I like about this is that it provides a much fairer and more skill-oriented playing field: it rewards those who use their items well while preventing that guy who hides in the corner until the very end from winning at the last second. I especially like that it's possible for an eliminated player to win so long as their score is not beaten by any of the remaining players.

Unfortunately the thing that kills it somewhat is the fact that there are no proper battle courses, with battles instead taking place on eight standard racetracks. The courses are predictably too large to host a battle very well, as you'll spend more time wandering around than actually fighting people, and when you find someone they can take off down the track and hide. This could be remedied through DLC battle courses later, but there's no telling whether they'll actually do that or not. I get the impression that they simply ran out of time to make proper battle courses, considering that Battle Mode itself has clearly had some thought put into it.


EDIT: After a bit more playing around and sampling more of the battle-modified racecourses, a few of them do actually work pretty well as battle stages, mainly the flatter/more open ones. Still wish there were proper battle arenas, but this is actually pretty fun once you get used to the idea that you'll be chasing people around more than actually fighting them. On some courses the fight will tend to condense into one area simply due to the nature of the racecourse, giving that classic arena feeling.

[Will T.]

Does anyone know how to get the golden wheels in this game? The Internet says I just have to beat all the staff ghosts, but I've done that and still no wheels. Do I have to beat them in the "Race Against Ghost" mode perhaps? I beat all their times in Solo Race, but I only did a couple with the ghost actually appearing on the track.


Also:

[Gizanked]

pretty sure the ghost has to be active.

[Gizanked]

also double post. what rollout are you using will?

[Will T.]

also double post. what rollout are you using will?

For my first run through all the TTs I went with Mii (heavy weight class) in the Gold Standard with Roller wheels and the Bowser Kite glider (which is identical stats-wise to half the other glider options - boosts acceleration while dropping weight). The Rollers offset a lot of the weak points of the heavier characters, allowing for much more well-rounded performance without sacrificing too much of their killer top speed.

Another good option I've been experimenting with is heavy Mii on the Jet Bike/Yoshi Bike/Comet with Rollers and +Accel/-Weight glider. It takes some getting used to, but its drift is unbelievably tight and lets you cut quite a few corners on the extreme inside edge with ease, as well as allows you to avoid going off the end of the track in a few spots where you'd otherwise have trouble, e.g. the spot right after the glider segment in Bone-Dry Dunes. Perfect for courses like Rainbow Road, where you actually have to be careful not to fall off the inside of the curve from turning too tight.

It helps hugely to experiment with mushroom boosts in various spots in the courses for TTs, as always. There's usually at least one obvious spot on each course where you can blast across an off-road stretch to save up to several seconds (best I got was ~3 seconds off per lap on a couple courses from mushroom shortcuts alone). Play with them a lot though, because there are a few courses with clearly marked off-road shortcuts that aren't as good as some unmarked ones.


UPDATE:
I finally figured out why I hadn't gotten the Gold Tires despite believing I had beaten all the staff ghosts ... it turns out I hadn't actually beaten the one on Mario Circuit. I've beaten it now, and it gave me the tires as soon as I went back to the main menu. So it turns out beating their times in Solo Race is acceptable ... so long as you actually beat them.

[Gizanked]

Any idea if you can look up your race history or record for online matches? I tried the online games tonight for the first time and did pretty well. I gained over 300 points in the hour or so I played.

[Will T.]

Had to fiddle with the replay settings quite a bit to get the shot right, but I captured a pretty epic moment during a race today that I felt warranted sharing:

[abiscuit]

Online play might as well be renamed Rosalina Kart 8.