On Friday after work the first thing I did was run out and get Mario Kart 8. While I knew that this wouldn't be a huge departure from the rest of the series or anything, it wouldn't be a groundbreaking game in the series or anything, but at the same time, I'd liked every Mario Kart game that I had played before, so of course I was going to like this. Also, this being another game to play on the Wii U doesn't hurt either, a system that I feel is still hurting for games. Anyway, to give you an early hint of what I thought about the game, my right thumb was sore from Saturday through Monday, and I haven't even had a chance to play it for more than 1 cup since Saturday night.
If that didn't give it away, I'll put it right out there, I love this game. It's not perfect, as no game is, but it's a great update to the series. The new courses are outstanding and bring a very fun atmosphere, the controls are simple, but still something you can play around with and leave plenty to give you an advantage with more skill. The game is visually beautiful, and the music is outstanding and fun.
The game itself reminds me of a very upgraded version of Mario Kart 7. It uses the coins and the same customization options as Mario Kart 7, and it keeps a lot of the changes in the series that Mario Kart 7 brought, but it just goes so much further, and not just in that it's in HD, it also has the magnetic track thing, which allows for tracks that actually remind me a bit of the Nintendo 64 classic, Extreme G. Extreme G's biggest problem was that it was a little bit too fast and too chaotic. Mario Kart, even at 150cc isn't that fast, and while it does get to a point of where it does get intense.
One of the bigger things that I like is that this game is less reliant on items. They're still a huge part of the game, but you can actually go a lap in this game without getting hit with 2 shells and a banana. One of the best new items that they have added is the horn that can even get rid of blue shells. This is an excellent item that you can even get when you're in first place. On the other side of things, the coin item is still there, and when you're in first hoping you can get at least some defense, it really is disappointing when you pull up the coins, especially when you already have the maximum of 10.
The one game I really compared this to when I was playing it was what I felt was the current king of the kart racing game, Sonic All Stars Transformed. How does MK8 hold up? Quite well if you ask me. While Sonic still has the challenges, I'll give MK8 the edge in visuals and overall racing. The courses, to me, are more fun and a little more creative in MK8, despite Sonic using planes and boats as well as carts. I love both games and will still play both plenty, but Mario Kart has regained the kart racing crown with the best current kart game.
So, now for the rankings. Keep in mind that there isn't a bad game in the series, just some games that are better than others.
1. Mario Kart Double Dash - The two racer mechanic is one of my favorite things they have ever done in the series. While I generally don't like weapons having too much of an impact in the game (still like them there, but just not as a regular deciding factor), the way they were something that involved so much strategy really helped to give them more purpose. Throw in all of the extras you could unlock and how great so many of the courses were, this was such an amazing game.
2. Mario Kart 8 - Yep, it's that good to me. I've already gone over all of my reasoning above. If I were to give it a score out of 10 it would be at least a 9, possibly a 10 (I view 10's as being games that are ones that you'll remember as classics forever, and considering there's games lower on here that I see that way, then this could very easily be a 10).
3. Mario Kart 7 - This was the one that really took that step in the right direction that has led to Mario Kart 8. It brought in the glider and the underwater driving. Also, it really brought the coins back, which was something that was sadly missing for too long from the series.
4. Mario Kart DS - When I bought this I was excited, but since it was going to be on a similar level technically as Mario Kart 64, I was worried that it would carry a few of the things I didn't like about Mario Kart 64, but luckily it didn't, and it brought in some of the more creative tracks in the series.
5. Mario Kart - The original, and this isn't just about nostalgia, this was a very fun game. Sure, the graphics don't hold up to really anything in the series, but this game is still fun to this day, proving how little graphics actually mean and how much worse graphics snobs make their own lives.
6. Mario Kart Wii - This is very close with Mario Kart 64, but in the end, this just had much better and more interesting courses with great moving parts. However, I'm not huge on the controls on this one, although they were not horrible.
7. Mario Kart 64 - As promised, Mario Kart 64 is next. As a whole, I really liked this game and had some great moments in college playing this with friends. However, there were some parts of the game that I didn't like. The rubber banding was so bad that at times it just ruined any fun in the game. There was no point in even taking shortcuts when you were going to have someone right behind you as soon as you completed the shortcut anyway. Still, the mechanic that allowed you to hold a shell behind you is one of the best innovations in this series, and as a whole this was what really put things in place to make the series as great as it has become.
8. Mario Kart Super Circuit - While this technically had all of the tracks from the original, it was just something about this game that just wasn't as good as the rest. The tracks unique to this game were fun and all, but they just didn't hold up to the other games in the series. Like I said before, I still love this game, but it just isn't as good as the rest in this series.
Mario Kart has become, in my opinion, the best racing series out there. While Mario Kart 8 isn't the #1 game in that series, there is no shame in #2, especially when you're putting it up against as great of a game as Double Dash. Still, it's another amazing addition to the series.
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