{"id":21321,"date":"2017-05-10T19:37:44","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T09:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=21321"},"modified":"2017-06-10T19:38:38","modified_gmt":"2017-06-10T09:38:38","slug":"mario-kart-8-deluxe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=21321","title":{"rendered":"Mario Kart 8 Deluxe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mariokart8deluxe\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Developer: \u00a0<\/strong>Nintendo EPD
\nPublisher: \u00a0<\/strong>Nintendo
\nPlatform: \u00a0<\/strong>Nintendo Switch<\/p>\n

T<\/span>he Nintendo Wii U was a disaster sales-wise but the system had its share of gems and perhaps none shone brighter than 2014’s\u00a0Mario Kart 8<\/em>. \u00a0The game garnered rave reviews<\/strong><\/a> at the time of its release (including a GOTY<\/strong><\/a> on this very website). \u00a0But the Wii U’s poor hardware sales meant that\u00a0MK8\u00a0<\/em>sold just a quarter of the number of copies that its predecessor did on the original Wii.<\/p>\n

With the Nintendo Switch selling unexpectedly strongly and early adopters looking for more games to play as they finish the superb\u00a0Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, Nintendo have wisely opted to toss out a quick port of this kart racing classic. \u00a0And why not? \u00a0There’s a ton of people who never got a chance to play it before and the gameplay hasn’t aged a day.<\/p>\n

Nintendo have chosen to brand this version as a ‘deluxe’ edition but in modern gaming parlance, it’s basically a ‘Game of the Year’ edition that includes all of the additional DLC content that was released after\u00a0Mario Kart 8<\/em>. \u00a0So straight out of the box, you’re getting a whopping 48 tracks and 42 playable characters, all unlocked and ready to go from the first time you boot up the game.<\/p>\n

\"mk8deluxesquid\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The game also comes with a few extra tweaks. \u00a0The ability to hold two items (last seen in\u00a0Double Dash<\/em>) is a welcome reintroduction to the series. \u00a0Nintendo have also dispensed with their\u00a0dreadful battle mode from the original\u00a0MK8<\/em> and replaced it with a new set of modes that are a little closer to the traditional battle mode from the original game. \u00a0I appreciate the effort but truth be told, it still doesn’t really capture the magic of the original SNES game. \u00a0Who knew that after all these years later, the success of that particular concept would prove so difficult to improve upon?<\/p>\n

It’s worth noting that\u00a0Mario Kart 8 Deluxe<\/em> is the best version of the game to play with young children and non-gamers. \u00a0Not only does the game look and feel very accessible with its colourful cast of characters and charming aesthetics,\u00a0the\u00a0deluxe edition also comes with a driver assist mode that makes it impossible to drive off the edge of the track. \u00a0For an all-ages family gathering, you can play this game on 50cc mode with the assists turned on and basically anyone should have a chance at winning and find some enjoyment out of the game. \u00a0It’s a very\u00a0Nintendo-like concept and I think its kind of brilliant.<\/p>\n

By far the best new ‘features’, as one might expect, are the advantages that come with the shift to the Nintendo Switch hardware. \u00a0I can’t emphasise enough how great it is that\u00a0Mario Kart 8 Deluxe<\/em> can be enjoyed as a home console racer\u00a0and<\/em> as a portable game on the go. \u00a0The accessible nature of the Joycons also meant that in the short period of time that I’ve owned the game, I’ve already played more local multiplayer than in the three years I owned the Wii U version.<\/p>\n

\"mk8online\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With each iteration of the\u00a0Mario Kart\u00a0<\/em>series, I feel the pendulum swings back and forth as Nintendo creates a game for a casual audience (Mario Kart Wii<\/em>) and then one for the die hards (Mario Kart 8<\/em>). \u00a0Mario Kart 8 Deluxe<\/em> is the best version of the series yet for a casual audience<\/em>. \u00a0The game is an absolute blast when played in local multiplayer mode, particularly with people who don’t normally play video games. \u00a0But that does come at the expense of depth and enjoyment for gamers looking for a more skill-based and conventional gaming experience.<\/p>\n

Having every character and level unlocked from the very beginning means that there isn’t really any point to playing the single player offline mode. \u00a0Perhaps it’s time to add a story mode or something? \u00a0As for racing online, my success or lack of it felt entirely random. \u00a0I think out of fifty races online, I won half a dozen but equally, I probably finished dead last just as many times. \u00a0I’m sure a diehard\u00a0Mario Kart<\/em> player could have a slightly better winning percentage but for the rest of us, it’s a total crap shoot.<\/p>\n

But no matter. \u00a0For all its foibles,\u00a0Mario Kart 8 Deluxe<\/em> is still a fine package and a welcome addition to the Nintendo Switch library so early on in the console’s lifespan. \u00a0I tend to agree with some of the chat online that this is perhaps the apex of the series in its current format. \u00a0Would a new iteration with, say, sixty tracks and characters really be an improvement? \u00a0I think a more interesting direction would be to fully embrace the entire Nintendo roster and rebrand as Nintendo Kart or fundamentally change the ‘sacred’ mechanics of the game, the way\u00a0Breath of the Wild<\/em> did. \u00a0For\u00a0Mario Kart<\/em> as we currently know it, this iteration with this many karts, this many characters and this many tracks seems to be as good as it gets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mario Kart 8 is the definitive version of Nintendo’s classic kart racer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1136,2645,441,2618],"class_list":["post-21321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","tag-mario-kart","tag-mario-kart-8-deluxe","tag-nintendo","tag-nintendo-switch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21321"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21329,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21321\/revisions\/21329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}