The sun was setting on Moo Moo Farms as my Shy Guy in his souped up go kart launched like a bullet (literally, since the power-up changes you into an indestructible bullet), dodging cows and other famous Mario characters in a fast-paced race to the finish. The beautiful pink sky met the soft rolling green hills, while clumsy cattle shuffled their way across the dusty gravel. I could probably go on and on about how beautiful the tracks are—whether they’re new or updated versions of classics—in Nintendo’s new Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U, but the only thing more worth my time to talk about is the incredibly fun gameplay.
Mario Kart is a classic Nintendo franchise, where—as you probably are well aware—your favorite Nintendo characters hop into a go kart and race around fun tracks to win Grand Prix, VS, or Battle races. Only in the new Mario Kart 8, you get to trick out your go kart. You can add parachutes, monster truck wheels, gliders, and you can choose from different types of vehicles to drive as well. Racers will find themselves suddenly racing on walls or upside down as their wheels automatically rotate and shift into anti-gravity gear throughout the course. You’ll race underwater and soar with hang gliders. You’ll perform tricks on motorbikes in the air.
That’s not all! There are new items, such as the Piranha Plant (which straight up CHOMPS everything in your way and is AMAZING), Boomerang, Crazy 8, and Super Horn. But if you love the classics, they’ve still got all of your favorites, including turtle shells, banana peels, and the Star Power—complete with that famous Star Power music that I’m convinced would make you feel invincible in any real life danger. The new Boomerang can be thrown at other players three times and Crazy 8 encircles you with eight different items that you can use one by one. The Super Horn will send sonic shock waves that blast away everything in its vicinity, including other drivers, Red Shells, and blue Spiny Shells.
Mario Kart TV lets players watch their highlight racing reels, rewind them, play them in slow motion, or upload them to Miiverse. Players can also watch the world’s most popular reels and comment on them. If you have a Google account, you can also upload your reels directly to your YouTube channel. The game also features 12-player online competitive play.
All in all, I found this latest installment of one of my favorite Nintendo franchises to be super fun to play and not lacking for excitement. The other editors and I were just as into the races while we were testing it as we were as kids playing the games in our living rooms on N64 consoles. So grab a controller and on your mark, get set, GO—or fly, swim, glide upside down, drive up walls, do flips, or drive underwater. The Mushroom Kingdom world is your oyster.
