Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe includes the entire content of the Wii U version of Mario Kart 8. We had the opportunity to test this game, and then awarded it a 9/10, explaining that it was exceptional. Here is the summary of the test of the time, before we talk about the specifics of the Switch version:

“Mario Kart 8 is the best kart game Nintendo has made in a long time. It strikes a delicate balance between old ideas while introducing new ones. Admittedly, its superb graphics and its jazzy soundtrack reinforce its rendering, but its shape is nothing compared to what it will bring you in game. And this even if I spent a lot of time on the details of slow motion, its rhythm, both fast and furious, or its races, with friends online or locally, which made me stay in the game for a very long time. "

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe includes all of this, as well as all of the previously released DLCs for Wii U and a few new features. To put it simply, you now have access to 48 exciting circuits, 42 characters (among which we find new ones like Bowser Junior and the Inklings of Splatoon), and some particularly neat extras like the 200cc karts which prove to be incredibly fast. Each race, character and game mode is unlocked and accessible from the start, which means you just have to jump into the vehicle of your choice and put on the eraser.

The strangest addition is undoubtedly the Driving Assistance mode, a new feature proposed to help novice players to stay on the track. Helping neophytes understand the simple rules that govern Mario Kart racing is far from a bad idea, but the problem lies in the fact that Nintendo has chosen to activate the Driving Assistance mode by default, and that walking follow to deactivate it in the menus is far from clear. Except for this little quirk, this Switch port turns out to be a high-flying go-kart game with gargantuan content.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has lost none of its beauty on Nintendo Switch. In 2017, its visual rendering is as splendid as it was when it was first released on Wii U three years earlier, and its excellent artistic direction is the main reason why its graphics stand up to the test as well. time. The circuit design is top notch - I particularly love the way the Mario circuit twists and tilts like a Möbius ribbon. And even the tracks recreated for the occasion, like the Rainbow Route inherited from the Super Nintendo component or even Mute City taken from F-Zero, benefit from a remarkable level of detail, whether you play in Tablet mode or on your TV. And even if it happens that the framerate goes from 60 to 30 FPS when you play three or four on the same console, this little inconvenience is however far from being a major problem, as the game turns out to be visually splendid.

If you already have the Wii U version, the real reason to offer you Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remains its Battle mode completely revised and corrected for the occasion. Nintendo has added five game modes that are well thought out and focused on achieving various goals, and each one offers you a unique experience in eight particularly varied arenas. In Balloon Battle mode, you must take advantage of objects and position yourself intelligently on the track in order to burst your rivals' balloons and score points. Capture de Soleil offers you a frenetic and action-packed experience, while the Bob-Omb resemble a confrontation as excessive as it is explosive. I wish I could be so enthusiastic about the Coin Battle mode, but collecting and picking up coins from your competitors is unfortunately not nearly as exciting in comparison.

The most interesting of them is undoubtedly the Tracking mode on the Track: it is a mode operating by sleeves in which a team embodies thieves who are desperately trying to escape from a team of police officers taking the form of piranhas plants before the time limit is reached. When your teammates are captured, you can free them by putting your pilot skills to the test, but it also means that you run the risk of being captured and losing the match if you are the last representative of your team. This approach allows you to experience intense “double or double” moments that can even be particularly exciting when playing with an experienced team. You can play all of these modes against bots with different intelligence levels, but the funniest parts are obviously played online.

That said, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's online multiplayer mode on Switch is as minimalist as it was on Wii U. Some of the improvements it benefits are glaring - like finding a game faster, and be able to change characters and go-karts between races. But the Switch is a bad student when you compare its ergonomics to that of other platforms, since it requires you to use external means (such as your smartphone) to communicate with your friends. Unfortunately, this was further aggravated by the impossibility of inviting other players to join your games. Knowing that this is the first truly multiplayer game aimed at the Switch, it remains quite disappointing to note that very little has been done to make the online experience more effective.

Provided that you have not won, that you have not crossed the finish line first thanks to a killer combo of green shell, red shell, slippery banana and miniturbo shot in the face of the one who has sucked all the above shells . We are first, giggles, and you others can only smell our immense and indisputable class from afar and with the right deference. Because this is Mario Kart 8, this is the truth, this is life: the meritocracy buried by six feet of lightning or mushroom-shaped slaps, the meritocracy that stands mighty and golden in its indisputable truth, only if they lead to home the fifteen points intended for those who whiz as a winner over the finish line.

Mario Kart 8 is the umpteenth chapter of an infinite story, of a challenge that repeats itself the same and different with each generation of Nintendo consoles. And, given the rather stifling competition, even with each generation of consoles in the broadest sense. Mario Kart 8 is like the football world cup: a pain that digs you in or, when everything goes well, the greatest "pastime" of the season. With the slight, significant difference, that after a fish competition (in fact, in Calamaki) in the face, the adrenaline is released on the buttons to restart another one as quickly as possible. "This time we see, this time I take the fast kart, this time I understand where the shortcut is, this time they too will give me three red shells in the last thirty seconds", this time. Because below all we know that Mario Kart is right, he is an inflexible, rigid father, ready to punishment and almost amused by humiliation, if needed, but in the end it is right. He will give all his children an opportunity to shine. Illuminated by the sequence of flaming balls thrown to those who preceded us thanks to the Fiore di fuoco, transfigured in the features of the face while we turn with indecent violence and unpresentable foul language to our rival in the race, just paved from behind. Aunt Rosa, perhaps, 53 years old.

All this is Mario Kart 8, the most anticipated game on Wii U up to this point in 2014, a year that has been (again) rather ungrateful with those who have the Nintendo console placidly connected to the TV. Yet Mario Kart 8 is the game that promises to make the owners of a Wii U feel less lacking than anyone else. The one that modifies the times of the average game sessions, dilating them in long evenings with friends, in sultry nights online, in rigorous afternoons spent to refine their times (and knowledge of the thirty-two tracks) thanks to the time trial challenges. Maybe it won't instantly change the fortunes on the Wii U market, gathering at least a decent percentage of those 35 million (!) Buyers of the Wii version, but who cares after all: if you have a Wii U, you must have Mario Kart 8. Also why. look a bit, he's probably the best Mario Kart ever.

Nintendo dared: perhaps not in substance, given that the innovations introduced in this new chapter are interesting and effective, but certainly not revolutionary ... but at least in the intentions. The direction of Mario Kart 8 was entrusted to Kosuke Yabuki, the young lever already responsible for the excellent Mario Kart 7, which notes the position that, on the occasion of Mario Kart Wii (and Mario Kart DS) belonged to Yasuyuki Oyagi. In short: youth in power and the results can be seen.