Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Nintendo Switch
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Do you have healthy relationships with your friends, family, and/or roommates? Do you want to ruin those relationships? Then this is the game for you! The number one most effective game for destroying civility is back and better than ever! Revel in triumph as you blast past those skilled gamers with your contemptuous bullet bill or blue shell items. Scream in unrequited rage as your perfect race is ruined by an errant green shell. Destroy lifelong relationships and burn bridges in under two minutes with the most entertaining and chaotic racing series devised by evil geniuses!'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'This is the definitive edition version of Mario Kart 8, and a must buy for those who never owned the Wii U version. For those who already own the Wii U version, the changes may or not be worth it depending on what you\'re looking for. Without further ado here are the list of changes compared to the Wii U version:\n\n1. 1080p with higher frame rate* when docked (TV mode) instead of 720p (on Wii U). Tabletop mode it\'s still 720p. Frame rate TV mode is 60fps, off TV mode is 59fps. Yes, one frame makes a difference when comparing side-by-side and/or when you have been playing dozens of hours of the original\n\n2. 5 new characters: King Boo, Bowser Jr, Dry Bones, & Inklings (Boy and Girl)\n\n3. Characters can now carry up to two items at once, even if they don\'t drag the first item\n\n4. Double Item Box. Get two items when you run through a double item box or two singles. Note that you cannot swap items back and forth\n\n5. "Smart Steering" A mode that prevents you from running off course or into a puddle of water. Good for toddlers or young children getting into the game (especially on the rainbow road courses). If the Smart Steering mode is on, the player\'s vehicle will have an antenna sticking out its rear end. The antenna blinks when Smart Steering is active.\n\n6. "Auto-accelerate" for beginners. Can be used in conjunction with Smart Steering, essentially you don\'t have to hold down the accelerate button. Again, good for young children who just want to drive through the track without any stop-gaps. Works well when using the wheel peripheral\n\n7. All DLC (from Wii U) included. Everything is unlocked from beginning except kart parts and Gold Mario. Kart Parts are unlocked by playing through the game and collecting coins. Gold Mario unlocked by winning all of the 200cc grand prix cup\n\n8. Time Trials in the 200cc engine class have been added. Also added are new ghosts of Nintendo employees to race against\n\n9. Ultra Mini-Turbo, denoted by pink/purple sparks that appear after the orange sparks which makes you boost significantly faster. Cannot be used with smart steering on\n\n10. Online Play.\n-Option to change character and vehicle combinations during an online lobby without having to leave/exit out; this is done by pressing the "Y" button during the course selection screen of an online lobby.\n\n- You can see what lap everyone is in, in spectator mode if you finish early\n\n-When you win a match you get to wear a crown in the main online menu screen for everyone in the lobby to see. Hat also present when you\'re in the lead during a match\n\n- More icon packs for tournament mode\n\n11. Faster loading times. Just a few seconds, but it adds up overtime. If you purchase Mario Kart Deluxe digital over the physical you get 1-2 secs off each track loading screen\n\n12. New amiibo compatibility. You now get racing suits when scanning in specific amiibo\n\n13. Boo and feather (battle mode only) item return to the game\n\n14. You get the same 48 courses racing courses. But you get 5 additional new battle stages in battle mode + 3 retro stages\n\n15. The Villager in now split between male and female selectable characters with different stats bringing the roster to the total of 42 characters (excluding character variants. Example: different color yoshis/shy guys, create your own mii, etc)\n\n16. Graphical change: Motion Blur, High Quality Shadows, Confetti now drop to the ground showing animation at start of match\n\n17. Battle mode: Biggest change in terms of gameplay. There are 4 battle mode game types:\n\n-Balloon Battle. Traditional Arena Style (no more battling in a circle) Mario Kart Battle mode where you use items to pop your opponent\'s balloons or steal them via feather item in order to score points.\n\n-Renegade Round Up. Cops and Robbers style setup. One team with the potted piranha plants try to capture all the other team before time runs out. Once captured your teammate can also free you from your jail cell\n\n-Bob-omb Blast. Same as balloon battle, but you only carry bombs\n\n-Coin Runner. Collect as many coins in the stage as you can before time runs out\n\n-Shine Thief. A keepway style game where you have to hold the Shrine Sprite the longest before time runs out. The driver holding the shrine sprite will have their speed lower the longer they hold it\n\n==Additional notes:\n- There\'s 4 player split screen in docked (TV mode) and handheld/table top mode. Note that the screen for table top mode is really small and may be a problem for those who are far-sighted. When playing 2 player it\'s 60fps, 3 or more on the same screen it\'ll drops down 30fps\n\n-There\'s no Download Play, so you have to play split screen or have another copy of the game if you don\'t want to share the same screen or play more than 4 players\n\n-Stamps do not make a return since the Switch doesn\'t have miiverse\n\n-No more gamepad/duel screen when playing TV mode, so this time around you cannot see what items everyone is holding by glancing down\n\n-No voice chat (as of this review) unfortunately. Was present in the Wii U version with mic hardware (which no one bought). There\'s supposed to be a smart phone app that takes advantage of voice chat, but no word yet from Nintendo\n\n-Statistics of the vehicle parts and drivers have also been changed to make game more balanced\n\n-Other balance changes:\nFire Hopping have been removed: An exploit in the Wii U version where you can repeatedly hop from left to right to get extra speed from turboboost.\n\nBlue shell dodge exploit still present. It\'s when you fall off the cliff the last second the blue shell is about to hit you, it\'ll save a lot of time recovering from the hit. Note this cannot be done when smart steering mode is on\n\nIf a Blooper is about to ink the player as they cross the finish line, the player will still get inked.\n\nRed Shell Nerfed: If you\'re holding an item behind you while in the air, you can block a red shell\n\nEasier to break while drifting (advanced tactic)\n\n-Luigi still has his signature death stare\n\nIf there\'s anything I missed please put it in the comments.\n\nOverall, i personally think the best additions are the enhanced battle mode and the portability aspect as I can now play during my break period and commute to work. I already sunk in over 300+ hours on the Wii U version and the upgrade is totally worth it for me as I got more than my money\'s worth in the original game on Wii U and plan to sync 300+ on the Switch version especially with the ease of use due to it\'s portability, and 100+ more hours of play in battle mode play with housemates. Well that is my personal perspective, so if you are in a similar situation it\'s a very good buy. If not, I hope the list of changes helped you in your purchasing decision'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "Really great gaming experience. Smooth as butter, great music, fun sound effects, very immersive. We've come a long way from Kart 64. I haven't really played much video games since the N64 (skipped both the Wii and WiiU, so I kinda feel like an old man jumping back into the World of Nintendo). It's made me feel like a kid again, and with how much stress I've been under these last few years with my health... that's a pretty big deal to me. Thank you, Nintendo. You guys are still making quality gaming experiences, and now I get to share it with my niece and nephews, which makes it 100x better. Take care. -Ken Jones, OKC, OK"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'This is a very, veeery fun game. If your looking for the most awsome multiplayer game ever, this is the one. The online can get very competative at times, buts the onlines pretty good, overall, the best online game too. Some people might say that super smash bros. Ultimate is the best online game, but it lags alot, mariokart 8 deluxe on the other hand runs very smoothely both in handheld mode, and playing online. Would very much\nreccomend this game.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "Mario Kart 8 deluxe has the same racing courses as on the WiiU, but they made a few changes that greatly improved the game.\n\nBattle\nThis was the biggest, best change they made. Instead of driving aimlessly through regular courses hoping you pass someone, they have created battle-specific courses, making battle more intense. There are 5 different modes in battle: balloon battle, coin runner, renegade roundup, ba-bomb blast, and shine thief. All are great. Our family favorite is Renegade Roundup.\n\nBeginner mode\nThey have added two new features that make this game more bearable while playing with small children. You can turn on your rc (at least that's what we call it. It gives you an antenna that makes your kart look like an RC car). This will make it so you cannot fall off the track. If you have this on, the game doesn't allows you to take some of the secret shortcuts.\n\nThey also have an auto accelerator. This makes it so you do not have to push the gas the entire race.\n\nWe were hesitant to buy this because it's basically the same as the WiiU version, but their improvements made it worth the money."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': 'The game is great with friends I love playing it with others right next to me. Other than that, I agree with some of the other reviews that this game could use some major improvements. They have relegated the extra power ups so that you only get them if you are in certain positions. So if you are in first you never get shells or invincibility stars or anything like that. So, holding onto the first position puts you at a disadvantage? I would think everyone behind you gunning for your spot was enough of a disadvantage. Really, this does not affect the person in front as much as much as you would expect though because those behind him are now in a firing range where everyone has weapons and are busy slowing each other down. So, if you manage to get out front with a bit of headway its usually pretty easy to win otherwise if your stuck with the masses it can get pretty difficult. I would prefer a fully random draw of power ups. For the more battle royal missions they have added cheap gimmick spots into the maps such as one where there is a ramp onto the walls that players can just stop on top of and take a rest and others cant acually reach those players without going out of their ways to aim just for them.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': ' ***Update\nContacted Nintendo support and sent console together with game to them. After about a month got it back. All is working now. Issue is fixed. They kept me posted via email on the status of the repair. After all, I’m not sure if it was console of game issue.\nConsole is not recognizing the game, giving us an error that game card could not be read. All other games are working just fine. I did try to update it - same results - game card could not be read.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'been playing since it came out but lost my old cartridge, so i bought another one here and it works perfectly fine :) game is great i play for hours, super fun with friends'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Lo paso jugando con los amigos excelente producto'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I have MK8 on my Wii U so this is a re-purchase but I don't mind. I never unlocked much on the Wii U and didn't buy any DLC, and for various reasons, I didn't even enjoy playing MK8 on the Wii U. So even tho I purchased the same game twice, I have no regrets. I've only played single player mode, which is pretty boring (I always get 1st place). Online play is where it's at, even tho I am consistently in 12th place and losing points, it's still fun. I understand that Nintendo plans to make their online gaming a subscription based model before the end of 2017, so we'll see if I'm singing the same tune then.\n\nTried it with various controllers: a bare naked Joy-Con, a Joy-Con in one of those steering wheels, the Joy-Con comfort grip, and the Pro controller. As expected, the Pro controller is the most comfortable and best way to play. If/when I play local multiplayer, I guess i'll have to use one of the Joy-Cons."}]