The Nintendo Wii U is Great Thread

[melmer]

[Dewar]

So, are all you with the cool MK8 gifs worried that you'll recieve cease and desists fomr Nintendo?

In all seriousness, I was never really into Mario Kart, but I'm definitely getting tempted toward a Wii-U.

[Roderick]

Yes, MK Wii was a disappointment, especially coming out of the great DS version and the excellent Double Dash!!. I remember that Double Dash!! was initially mistrusted, but the teaming-up added a fun tactical layer and the tracks were amazing.

[BFrank]

I guess I took the huge sales number and ongoing multiplayer community as some evidence that MKWii did a bunch of stuff right. The DS Kart was not balanced well for online multiplayer, and DD (while great in local) probably wouldn't have held up.

 

So, to me, MKWii is the first entry where the online really worked. Plus, I loved the wheel, especially after a couple of drinks.

[JonCole]

Is online multiplayer something people actually want in Mario Kart? Vs COM or local multi races has always seemed the modes that I personally and my friends anecdotally ever were interested in.

 

Are huge sales for Mario Kart not a foregone conclusion? It has been and seemingly always will be a must-own for Nintendo platforms. I own Mario Kart Wii even though I think it's bad because I know every now and then someone may want to play it.

 

I'm not trying to be pedantic, I just don't see "first entry where the online really worked" as a particularly profound achievement.

[Twig]

I played a lot of MKDS online (I was a snaking beast, OF COURSE). Mario Kart online is a great thing to have.

[Thrik]

Online is definitely a great thing for Mario Kart if it's done well. There's nothing like local play with actual people — seriously, nothing — but online is a hell of a lot closer than brainless AI opponents. Especially with voice chat, although I don't know if MK8 has that.

I've played a lot of AI Mario Kart and it's still great, but for completely different reasons than the balls-out hilarity and fun of playing with actual people. The AI doesn't literally beg you to not use that stupidly overpowered weapon.

[BigJKO]

I have no idea what it actually is but I created a MK8 Tournament called "Idle Thumbs" with the code 0748-3415-1283

[miffy495]

I hated MKWii because of the 12 racers thing. Having 11 people throwing items at you at once instead of 7 threw the balance of skill to random way off for me. In the past, Mario Kart had always felt like it would throw some crazy shit at you to make it harder, but you could always overcome it with enough skill. 150cc Mirror Mode was always PERFECTLY balanced for me on all the previous entries. I felt like the added racers needed to have the items balanced way differently to keep that, and Nintendo fucked up that balance. I rarely felt like I earned either a win or a loss with my performance in MKWii, instead, I either was lucky or I wasn't. In every other entry in the series (MK7 included) I felt like they nailed the challenge.

 

Can't speak to other people's problems with the game, and if my gripe doesn't really matter to you then I'm sure it was a fine game, but I gave up on MKWii very quickly after being incredibly pumped for it pre-release.

 

 

...and yeah. Double Dash is still the best game in the series.

 

EDIT: BigJKO, may I request you put that in multiplayer networking too? I'd like to join, but my copy isn't here yet and I'm worried your post will be buried by the time I can sign on.

[Architecture]

These Luigi gifs are cracking me up so much.

[syntheticgerbil]

So Luigi has gone to straight villain mode now has he?

 

How the mighty have fallen.

[Bjorn]

How the might have fallen.

 

How the meek have risen!

 

On Double Dash, it is literally my favorite Nintendo game post SNES era (but I also played very, very few Nintendo games post-SNES).  Of course, that's also because it represented the best gaming bonding moments with my daughter, when we pretty much mastered the entire game as partners and were an unbeatable team.  Good fucking memories there.  Makes me want to dig her GC out of a closet and fire it up.

 

Also gotta admit those MK8 gifs look sweet.  Not tempting me to get a WiiU anytime soon, but maybe sometime down the road when I have some store rewards or gift cards or something to offset the price. 

[BigJKO]

I hated MKWii because of the 12 racers thing. Having 11 people throwing items at you at once instead of 7 threw the balance of skill to random way off for me.

 

Hmm.. You might not like Mario Kart 8, then? There's still 12 racers. :S

[dartmonkey]

I've played a lot of AI Mario Kart and it's still great, but for completely different reasons than the balls-out hilarity and fun of playing with actual people.

For me singleplayer Mario Kart is always a damn slog - I plough through the cups to unlock circuits and characters but it's a grind. MK8 is dredging up my Double Dash nostalgia.

Is MKWii really hateworthy? With 4 players it's a blast, like every Mario Kart, no? It felt a bit unbalanced and slow after Double Dash, like they had shrunk the karters by 20%, increasing the width of the tracks and also slowing everything down. But garbage??

 

Double Dash>64>Wii>Super Circuit. My theory is your preference correlates with the amount of time you spent playing local 4-player with it. Test my theory thumbs.

[BigJKO]

I'm still just going through the single-player portion (I have a 4-player date on friday, though, which is exciting) but so far I'm still having a blast with just playing against AI. Maybe the fact that it's not even easy for me on 100cc is a factor into why I'm having fun with it. If it were no challenge at all I'd probably be bored.

[Justin Leego]

Yeah, MKWii might not have been the best Mario Karter but the online managed to combine cuteness and cruelty in the way that Mario Kart does best. Random discons made sense when viewed in this way: it's how the AI blue-shells every human racer.

 

But that's not this. Now, if only I had $299 to scrape together....

[Griddlelol]

Now, if only I had $299 to scrape together....

 

That's similar to how I felt. Decided to save money by starting that diet I've been meaning to do for months. Win-win! (But now I'm hungry)

[N1njaSquirrel]

For me singleplayer Mario Kart is always a damn slog - I plough through the cups to unlock circuits and characters but it's a grind. MK8 is dredging up my Double Dash nostalgia.

Is MKWii really hateworthy? With 4 players it's a blast, like every Mario Kart, no? It felt a bit unbalanced and slow after Double Dash, like they had shrunk the karters by 20%, increasing the width of the tracks and also slowing everything down. But garbage??

 

Double Dash>64>Wii>Super Circuit. My theory is your preference correlates with the amount of time you spent playing local 4-player with it. Test my theory thumbs.

 

MK8 has improved the grind somewhat as completing a cup on 150cc also gives you the same cup for the lower cc's. If that makes sense. Of course I found this out after I'd done 100cc. XD

 

Can you play 4 player on Super Circuit? I didn't think you could. :/

[lobotomy42]

Am I crazy for having a strong preference for the SNES Mario Kart where Donkey Kong is red?

[tegan]

The new system firmware update is out! It adds some neat stuff like a Quick Start menu.

[Architecture]

C'mon, price drop!

[SecretAsianMan]

The new system firmware update is out! It adds some neat stuff like a Quick Start menu.

 

 

C'mon, price drop!

 

Unlocking a price drop via firmware update would be pretty awesome.

[miffy495]

Hmm.. You might not like Mario Kart 8, then? There's still 12 racers. :S

 

This is my biggest worry, yes. I hope they've worked on the balance a bit.

[Griddlelol]

So my WiiU arrived yesterday. Have a few things to say about it, but overall I think nintendo trolled me. This was my Mario Kart 8 Club Nintendo code:

 

 

[Roderick]

U R MR GAY