Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Link driving a Mercedes.

Can't wait to see THAT sight. This is going to be glorious.

In the meantime, though, MK8 owners can put the game's regular cast in the new vehicles provided by the Mercedes DLC. Being free, don't expect super amazing new stat combinations, as all three bodies and the one new tire set are all clones of existing stuff. The GLA is the new counterpart to the Steel Driver, Tri-Speeder, Badwagon and Standard ATV, the W25 Silver Arrow is a reskin of the Pipe Frame, Standard Bike, Flame Rider, Varmint and Wild Wiggler, while the 300 SL Roadster is a clone of the Standard Kart, Cat Cruiser, Prancer, Sneeker, The Duke and Teddy Buggy. Meanwhile, the GLA tires are nothing more than Standard/Off-Road tires. At least they could've done new players a favor and made them a clone of the Slick tires, just so that they aren't at the mercy of random unlocks just to get one of the most widely used tire stat sets. Oh well. I'm going to be honest, if not for the Mercedes logo in front those don't really look that much out of place, especially the Silver Arrow. The other two are more standard fare, I guess, but we already have stuff like the Sports Coupe anyway, so it's not that bad.

A few other features were included in that update, including the ability to have the minimap on the screen! Just press the - button, and voilĂ ! It was about time too, having to look down at the gamepad to see where you were compared to your competition (especially when leading) got annoying. The map is still as useless as ever on Mario Circuit, though. We also get to see previously invisible stats such as win-loss record, total number of coins, and so on. Why weren't they visible out of the box, if the game was keeping track of them? I have no idea. The number of coins is especially useful, just so you know how far (far far far) away you are from unlocking the Gold Glider.

And then of course there's support for the upcoming DLC packs. Yep, as most people expected Nintendo's now jumping on the DLC bandwagon. I'll give them props, though: they gave us a full game, THEN added some extra DLC content instead of withholding what we've come to expect and selling it to us as DLC later. Big surprise, though: no Bowser Jr., no Diddy, no Birdo. Instead, we have Cat Peach and Tanooki Mario, as if they had no idea of the outcry over Pink Gold Peach. Or maybe they're just trolling. But more bizarrely, we also get the Villager, Isabelle, and LINK. Well I'd be lying if I said I hated the idea. Link in a Mario Kart game... at least the Animal Crossing crew are a bit more at home. And then there's the relatively expected Dry Bowser to round out a narrow super heavyweight crew. Cat Peach also does the same thing to the middleweight class (provided she even remains middleweight), but she still should've been an alternate costume like the Yoshi and Shy Guy colors you get for pre-ordering both DLC packs. (I did a few races online just now, lots of Yoshis and Shy Guys!) Same for Tanooki Mario.

15 comments:

  1. The update has also fixed one of my biggest complaints, how in Offline mode the default option at the end of a race was "view highlights". Who thought that was a good idea? It's a good thing it's been changed.

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    1. I've become so accustomed to just pressing down, now I go to "View highlights" by accident.

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    2. My biggest complaint was the map not being on the screen...Though for some reason, pressing Select on the Wii U Pro Controller does not get the map up...

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    3. Yeah, that's kinda stupid. Just use the Gamepad once to turn the minimap on, and since the game'll remember you want it there you can go back to the Pro controller.

      Still, you shouldn't have to do that.

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    4. That's pretty much what I had to do. And yeah, I do agree. Though I can still activate it with the Gamepad without playing on it. Pretty much a split-second thing. And yeah, at least I don't have to do it every time...

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  2. I haven't touched MK8 since I 3-starred 150 mirror, I don't know if this DLC will give me the reason to play again

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  3. This is DLC done right, that's for sure. We get everything we expect from a Mario Kart game, and then they give us more for a very reasonable price (From the 7 Euro pricetag on the original leak, I was expecting $10 for each DLC pack and $20 for the total, not $12 for a bundle of the two!). 6 new characters, 8 new colors for two existing characters, and 4 cups containing 16 extra tracks? In a Mario Kart game, where tracks are like the characters from Smash Bros, that's like expanding all the content of the game by 50% for less than a quarter of the game's original price!

    Now, has anybody heard anything about the kinds of tracks we're getting? I haven't heard any news, so I'm wondering if maybe we're going to get tracks themed around the new characters? It would be awesome to see a Zelda-themed track or two. Of course, the four speculated cup icons (http://didyouknowgaming.com/post/95673085825/mario-kart-8) are all Mario-related, so perhaps not.

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    1. There's going to be a Legend of Zelda-themed track, an Excitebike themed track, an Animal Crossing-themed track, and an F-Zero-themed track, plus Wario's Gold Mine as a retro course.

      The Cup Icons for the DLC cups are Yoshi Egg and Triforce for the first, and Animal Crossing Leaf and Super Bell for the second.

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    2. Probably also should've linked where it says all of this:

      http://mariokart8.nintendo.com/dlc/

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  4. On the other hand, fans of Xbox and Playstation are using this event to their advantage by making the great trollbait of Nintendo fan being hypocrites for criticizing DLC on other games yet praising it when Nintendo does it. Sadly enough, way too many people for my taste are actually taking said bait. Will there ever be a day when I don't feel like facedesking until I fall unconscious for liking the same things as a bunch fools ?
    Oh wait, I'm supposed to be positive. Shiet.
    SIR KING POOGIE IS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR. Travelling every Monster Hunter community event to spread joy and snuggles... I got nothing. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is now 15,99$ for the digital Wii U version on the Eshop now too. Anybody ? I can help out teaching how to play... Ok, sorry, I'll stop.

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    1. Those Xbox/Playstation lovers are apparently so accustomed to getting their wallets fucked by greedy developers, they can't tell the difference between DLC as add-ons to a full game and DLC as a cash-grab that should've been in the game in the first place. Either that or they genuinely have no idea 32 tracks has been the norm since MKDS, not 48.

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    2. Main problem comes from the few but loud uneducated Nintendo fans themselves who bashed on every single DLC without any discrimination even though DLC has in fact been done right before. Not a common occurrence, but it still happened. So they obviously couldn't resist stepping down to the level of those fools and making themselves look even worse... which is OBVIOUSLY going to fix the problem. DUH.

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    3. Actually, Sludge Wave was Gengar's special Dream World move last gen, so it already had it. And you might be surprised to know that it's a coin flip decision between it and Sludge Bomb.

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    4. Sludge Bomb's extra poison chance can be a hindrance sometimes, though, as you may end up poisoning something that's better off burned or paralyzed. Or worse, trigger Guts or Quick Feet. I think that's the logic behind a lot of the Sludge Wave use. Except for Landorus-I and the Nidos, which I think I don't need to explain why.

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  5. I don't feel like paying $12 just for skins of characters I don't ever use, thank you very much. And we don't even know what nearly all of those new courses will be like! I'm gonna pass on the preordering. There's little doubt in my mind that it will be worth paying for in May of next year (!) when the second DLC pack comes out, but not now. Not even close.

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