PixlBit

The Fast and the Furious

So today Nintendo decided to do another Nintendo Direct and it seems that they've been on a role with them this month. It was all dedicated to Mario Kart 8 and boy was it awesome. I have listed my highlights and thoughts, but before that, look at the video below

 

 Highlights: 

Nintendo announced a new Wii U bundle just in time for Mario Kart 8. It comes with a deluxe system, a copy of the game with a red Wii Wheel and a Mario Wii Remote Plus. The price will be 329.99, good for those still on the fence about the Wii U.

Nintendo also announced a promotion for the game, buy the game at retail or eshop, register it at Club Nintendo and you get a free code for a Wii U game. This also applies for the bundle. The games you can get is New Super Mario Bros. U, Pikmin 3, The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker HD which I highly recommend, and Wii Party U. I have 3 of those games, I may get the Wii U Party game. You have to register Mario Kart 8 before July 31, just in time for the new Club Nintendo year.

They also announced some new online features with the biggest one being online chat. There area also 4 modes, the ability to host your own tournaments and more. You can also use Mario Kart TV to upload your racing highlights on Miiverse, and/or on Youtube, considering you have a Google/Youtube account.

There were also some new tracks, items, and characters. My favorite courses so far is the redone Rainbow Road from MK64, Toads Turnpike, and what seems to be a new Rainbow Road which reminded me of Star Wars.

Items include Boomerang Flower which can hit opponents in front of you and it hits opponents when the boomerang comes back to you. The piranha plant also becomes an item and it hits or noms on whoever is in front of you. It also gets rid of dropped items like banana peels in front of you. There was also this boombox speaker thing that uses a soundwave to hit everyone around the radius of the attack. And last but not least, the Crazy 8. It gives you eight items and it works like the Lucky 7 from Mario Kart 7.

New characters included the Koopalings which we already saw previously. Pink Gold Peach was also announced as a new character as well as Baby Rosalina which looks just adorable. You can also use Mii's again.

 Final Thoughts:

I thought the Direct was pretty cool, we got some great news regarding Mario Kart 8. I'd say Pink Gold Peach was a wasted slot, they could of added someone else like Bowser Jr. unless he's in, haven't been paying too much attention to the roster. Other than that, the only other complaint I had was the free game selection for registering Mario Kart 8. I know alot of people already own those 4 games, but I've seen an image on the net suggesting that The Wonderful 101, Mario and Sonic, Sonic Lost World, and Game and Wario are on the list. It could be games for the European promotion. Who knows.  

Overall I'm very excited for Mario Kart 8, I was already getting this on launch when it was announced at last years E3 but this just makes me more excited. I would of posted this sooner but my internet connection was down for the whole day yesterday for some reason, and it's pretty buggy right now so I'm even lucky posting this. In other words, my internet connection works when it feels like it. So thanks for reading and later.