Any of you going to get Mario Kart 8 at launch?

Likewise Moontoon, it's just difficult since my Wii U is in the living room so I can only really play at night or on days off (like next Wednesday, hint hint guys.) I really need an HDTV for my computer room...

Anyway, finished 50cc. Rainbow Road N64 is indeed my favourite course, I didn't even notice the amazing background of stars and the cityscape. I appreciate really starry nights in games in addition to the stuff I mentioned in my previous post. The new Rainbow Road is okay but the music is the highlight. Music Park was my favourite (followed by Coconut Mall) but the MK8 version's music doesn't mesh with the piano sound effects as well, or maybe it's the other way around. I think I prefer the drums near the end though. Neo Bowser City was also cool in MK7, design-wise.

The only course I truly dislike is Piranha Plant Slide, a course I also didn't like in MK7. Dingy and boring and I don't like the music for it. The randomness of the jetsreams at the end also means that sometimes the end of a lap is extra-underwhelming. I still wish the game had an extra non-looping course, but otherwise I'm satisfied with the track list (I want Nintendo to get super ambitious and release all MK courses as MK8 DLC, personally.)


Anti-gravity as a mechanic I feel is a little underused, I wish there were more boost bumpers. I do like how, because you are on the LITERAL outside of the track, they compensate with lots of boost pads and trick spots, but in many cases it's nothing special mechanically. Boosting off of players is the meat of it, so it's probably more fun online with lots of humans.

The best uses of anti-gravity are visual, being able to see half of a course as a "wall" in the sky (Rainbow Road Wii U) or just simple separations of terrain like in Mario Circuit, turns a boring hairpin turn into a floating spectacle.

Question, are there any hidden items on courses? Like bushes in MK7 that you could hit to cause a banana or mushroom pop onto the track ahead in Wiggler's Whatever. Probably Woods.

Taiyz wrote:

That was a blast, Sliv!

Likewise Taiyz!

I think I'll be sticking with Rosalina for a while as well. I found a really fun kart+wheels combination later that evening.

Taiyz wrote:

it's just difficult since my Wii U is in the living room so I can only really play at night or on days off (like next Wednesday, hint hint guys.) I really need an HDTV for my computer room...

If you disconnect the WiiU from the tv, you can actually play MK8 in your computer room on the WiiU gamepad (kinda small, true) while your folks watch tv or whatever. You don't even need to disconnect it, you can just switch the imput channel.[/quote]

Taiyz wrote:

Anti-gravity as a mechanic I feel is a little underused, I wish there were more boost bumpers. I do like how, because you are on the LITERAL outside of the track, they compensate with lots of boost pads and trick spots, but in many cases it's nothing special mechanically. Boosting off of players is the meat of it, so it's probably more fun online with lots of humans.

I recall in the trailer they showed a road in daylight on which you could almost touch the racers driving above you on the ceiling. No such track seems to exist in the game itself. I must say I felt a little ripped off. Such potential, but alas. No loopings either.

Taiyz wrote:

Question, are there any hidden items on courses? Like bushes in MK7 that you could hit to cause a banana or mushroom pop onto the track ahead in Wiggler's Whatever. Probably Woods.

I don't think there are. I haven't found any, in any case.

I did figure out most of the shortcuts by now though.

Moontoon wrote:

I'd love to play some MK8 with someone soon again.

Does anyone feel like racing today?

Eh I don't want to lug the console back and forth upstairs. The Wii U gamepad unfortunately doesn't have enough range to consistently reach from this room (I tried it recently and thought it was successful but repeated tests proved otherwise.)

Ah ok. I thought the range was sufficient =)

Taiyz wrote:

Question, are there any hidden items on courses? Like bushes in MK7 that you could hit to cause a banana or mushroom pop onto the track ahead in Wiggler's Whatever. Probably Woods.

I know that in the Airport stage, if you hit some of the boxes on the conveyor belts, items like bananas and mushrooms will pop out of them.

I should be able to play some on Wednesday afternoon, but I am only free when my daughter is napping. She usually takes naps around 1 PM CDT and she usually sleeps for an hour and a half to two hours.

(This is MK Wii though.)

Sorry for the late reply Sliv. I'm not at home atm and I'll most likely be very busy the coming week ;w; Hopefully everyone won't grow tired in the game until I'm available again haha.

No problem Moontoon!

I didn't really want to play mario kart yesterday anyway......... T__T how could you?

Just kidding! I just raced some random people yesterday. I'm glad I am getting 2-3rd place far more consistently now. Race you soon!

Taiyz wrote:

(This is MK Wii though.)

That video is awfully accurate in terms of my MK8 experiences so far.

Except that half the red shells should've been green.

Bumping into someone on an antigravity part of the road is often a failsafe way to boost them off of the track as well.

So I was right about gliding, the majority of your lift is achieved at the start of the jump, I can reach shortcuts without issue now.

100cc's RNG is evil; twice the blue shells, triple the red, and guys in second place are getting piranha plants and triple mushrooms! The actual racing isn't much different, just enemies stay closer.

Taiyz wrote:

So I was right about gliding, the majority of your lift is achieved at the start of the jump, I can reach shortcuts without issue now.

Tell me everything you know Taiyz. Tell me everything.
I'm having trouble just reaching the next platform on occasion these days.

Taiyz wrote:

100cc's RNG is evil; twice the blue shells, triple the red, and guys in second place are getting piranha plants and triple mushrooms! The actual racing isn't much different, just enemies stay closer.

Did you try 150cc yet? =(

I'm pretty sure the max speed of the CPU karts and bikes on 150cc is just plain higher than the max speed you can achieve on your own. I rode as Pink Gold Peach on the new Rainbow Route a couple of days ago, and I was driving perfectly, dodging every item, drifting every corner, not falling off of the track, getting 10 coins relatively quickly. Started off as first place, and stayed in first place for quite a while. Approximately halfway across the second track I was slowly overtaken by Roy, followed my Morton (they were not slipstreaming when they passed me), then Bowser, then Shy Guy and then Lakitu. None of them were using items, none of them had those fancy slipstream animations around them, didn't see them spin boost off of each other either. They just left me in the dust. I came in 6th. It felt extremely surreal.

Ever since I got better at drifting and controlling my kart (not going off road) I'm getting hit with items far more often and average 8th place a whole lot more often as well.

Slivendiferious wrote:

Taiyz wrote:

So I was right about gliding, the majority of your lift is achieved at the start of the jump, I can reach shortcuts without issue now.

Tell me everything you know Taiyz. Tell me everything.
I'm having trouble just reaching the next platform on occasion these days.

It's exactly what I discussed with you, steer yourself upwards as soon as you hit the glider pad and you get massive air, usually enough to fly straight at any shortcuts, though for some you still need to fly up a bit.

As far as I can tell, there's no reason NOT to do this, even if there isn't a shortcut ahead, because flying straight afterward (and glide tricking off of ramps) is faster than driving, I think, and the additional height gives you more flight time. Obviously you should angle downwards a bit if there's no shortcut to reach.

Taiyz wrote:

It's exactly what I discussed with you, steer yourself upwards as soon as you hit the glider pad and you get massive air, usually enough to fly straight at any shortcuts, though for some you still need to fly up a bit.

Thanks =)

Those tricks on ramps while gliding. Are you supposed to front flip off of them? Because I can't seem to pull that off. I can do a normal trick, but a front flip?

edit: looks like the lakitu drop boost really is gone... =(

Huh? You can't control what trick your character does.

Also you need to activate Miiverse, I tried to message you but I think it just disappeared into the ether (why it let me send a message to you at all? Who knows.)

Taiyz wrote:

Huh? You can't control what trick your character does.

Also you need to activate Miiverse, I tried to message you but I think it just disappeared into the ether (why it let me send a message to you at all? Who knows.)

I'll get to that.

But you can definitely control what trick your character does. Holding down the control stick while doing a trick off of a ramp makes you somersault/ front flip/ wheelie. If you don't time it correctly or don't hold down the control stick, you do either a normal trick or a spin. Not sure which one is triggered by what.

Oh for serious? That makes a lot of sense, actually, since Rosalina has specific animations where she kicks to either side of the bike, so I'm assuming that's triggered by holding left and right.

One of the things that got me addicted to Rosalina is the awesome flip she can do (I don't think the other gals do that) so I should figure out which direction triggers that (presumably back or forward.)

Taiyz wrote:

Oh for serious? That makes a lot of sense, actually, since Rosalina has specific animations where she kicks to either side of the bike, so I'm assuming that's triggered by holding left and right.

One of the things that got me addicted to Rosalina is the awesome flip she can do (I don't think the other gals do that) so I should figure out which direction triggers that (presumably back or forward.)

I did not try steering to the sides yet as that will likely alter your trajectory and you might just nosedive straight after the ramp if you steer forward, but yeah, they are probably all different. Most people online just seem to do the normal ones though ( maybe they don't know?).
Antigrav sections have their own stunt, but the wheelie is the same everywhere I think. I wonder if they give you more of a boost.
The girls, donkey kong, yoshi and shy guy all have amazing tricks.

The tricks you mentioned are different from what I'm talking about, now that I've tried them. The directional tricks seem to involve your vehicle (like a complete front flip including the bike,) where-as I'm referring to a trick animation where Rosalina does a flip ABOVE her bike. Exclusive voice clips, too. Usually happens on big jumps into open air or off of big jets underwater. It may be a gravity one, much like that Shyguy image (the jets before the last piranha plant in PPS come to mind.)

I don't think you need to trick off of a glider pad to get big air BTW, just fly up immediately because the majority of your lift happens then.

I realize it's the 4th of July and everything, but is anyone up for a race?

I'd be down right now if it's not too late.

also being a canadian helps

PanbanRichard wrote:

I'd be down right now if it's not too late.

also being a canadian helps

That was about 4 hours too late xD

Different timezones =(

Is it just me, or are the mirror mode tracks not all that hard?

The gravity tracks are often split up in two mirroring lanes anyways, so it doesn't make as much of a difference.
I'm trying to get at least one star in all cups (for the gold kart), but of the 12 tracks I've raced on, I've only taken a wrong turn once.

Wheres in Mario Kart Double Dash....
Maybe it's just that it took me a whole lot longer to unlock Mirror Mode in Double Dash... It's possible I'm just not used to the normal tracks that and for that matter the mirror mode tracks don't seem all that hard to me. They do look more beautiful to me somehow. More spacious and I'm paying more attention to the background and less to the road.

Did you know there's a Statue of Liberpeach in the background in Toad Harbour?

edit: I just had to jinx it didn't I? Bowser Castle and Rainbow Road completely wrecked me.

I don't remember Mirror Mode being difficult in MK7 either, to be honest.

Don't other characters in this game have death glare reactions, or did the internet just decide to turn Luigi into a giant meme?

Every character glances over at the people they are passing, but not every character looks as (fill in your own adjective) as Luigi. I don't think Yoshi is capable of giving an evil glance.

Waluigi certainly isn't capable of looking as (fill in same adjective as above) as Luigi in this game.

Okay, so it's just the usual stupid internet meme business.