Legendary Mario Kart 8 First Impression

As many of you may know by now there is a new Mario Kart game that just got released 5/30/2014 which was yesterday IF your reading this the day I wrote it. I’m going to tell you in this first impression what I love about the game and sadly ……. what I love MORE! Now you may be asking yourself, Why didn’t he say hate? Well that’s simple because, as far as i can tell there is NOTHING to hate on if you are a true fan of Mario Kart. So before we give impressions of 8 let me tell you a bit about my history of Mario kart.

The original Mario Kart was never owned by me, but I did have a few friends with it and it was fun for the time, and is still probably revered as one of the best for nostalgic reasons which i’d have to differ on, however it did revolutionize the name and gave it a foundation to build on.

Mario Kart 64 on the other hand was my First Mario Kart I owned and loved dearly it brought speed with excitement and the graphics for it’s time were outstanding.

Mario Kart Double Dash now was a different story, They took the main principles and sorta twisted it. 2 Kart riders major air and a lot more twists and turns.

Now that wraps up my Mario Kart history for me, but I must mention I am familiar with them all so I do realize what led to Mario Kart 8, now on to my first impression.

When i first turned on my WiiU and inserted my disk i was really hoping to hear the same WELLLLCOMMMEEE TO MARRIIIOOOOO KARRRTTT AND well i wasn’t disappointed, with that out of the way i was already on track to knowing something AMAZING was going to be taking place. Not only had it done the proper intro, but during so the HD graphics and the beautiful tracks were playing and I couldn’t help myself but to think “O Snap Nintendo has finally outdone themselves.” Now lets make this clear i know of the other mario karts but i haven’t played 1 since Double Dash, so i was overly excited to see what the in between games had in store (there is always a twinkle of old mario karts in each one) After i got done watching the opening cinematic i hurried to Single player and was just amazed by the selection of characters right out of the gate, but what i never expected was to have so many options for my Kart right out of the gate. Now I must not lie it felt like i was in a Need For Speed Game ya know what I mean? I was just sitting there looking at the Karts, Motorcycles, And ATV’s and I was like “MAN Sick Kart now which wheels? Ya those look good! O man those look even better low rider style!” Then we got to the gliders but there aren’t as many options right away so it wasn’t to difficult, and then i realized if you press the “+” button it shows you stats and everything takes effect on your handling,speed,acceleration, and so on. SO i wen’t back and re-made a kart and called it good.

When I first got in the race and it was showing the track leading up to the start of the race i just couldn’t help myself but think MAN this track is just as beautiful as the cinematic showed, BUT then i got to thinking O CRAP what if that means the handling and game play suffer for it. Well about that time the count down was on. 3…2….1…… And we’re off! As i flew from last to 5th I couldn’t imagine the ease and amazing performance this console, the Wii U was putting out and how amazingly the Mario Kart 8 Developers pulled off this great accomplishment for Nintendo by incorporating what I as a childhood Mario Kart fan always wanted the game to look like, Then taking it one step further and adding loops and racing under water. Not only had they made the inner child in me excited, who can be amused just by amazing game play but they captured the adult in me who loves the surrounding and the beauty but mainly the way it handles.

Now as mentioned earlier that there we’re so many Characters i had seen before but never in a Mario Kart Game. Above is probably my favorite to this point, Shy Guy!

Another thing they have implemented Since I last played was the ability to drive on walls ( which is the same technology that allow you to drive upside down) AND they’ve added a trick that you can do when getting air that will IF done correctly give you a speed boost.

Now i feel like i’ve been rambling a bit to much and it’s starting to feel like a review instead of a first impression. So with that i will just give you a quick recap of my first impression.

Pro’s- Amazing FULL HD graphics, controls are better then ever, Tracks are serious works of art.

Con’s – NONE

Side Note- This is shaping up to be and more than likely will be by far my favorite Mario Kart game to date and alongside a new Zelda game? Nintendo I believe is on the right track. This game here proves to me Nintendo CAN compete with Sony and Microsoft if they wanted to BUT they are deciding not to and to make a good wholesome console for the families.