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While we still don’t have a concrete release date for Mario Kart 8, the upcoming Wii U installment in Nintendo’s evergreen kart racing series, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata did announce a time frame for when the game will be making its global debut.
Speaking at today’s corporate management policy briefing, Mr. Iwata confirmed that the hotly anticipated Wii U title is scheduled to be released globally this May, coming in at the tail end of its “spring 2014” release window. Mr. Iwata stated that a specific release date for it and other Wii U titles would be announced at a later time. He also assured investors that Mario Kart’s release would not be a “one-off event” and that other key titles would help sustain Wii U’s momentum throughout 2014, though he did not elaborate on which titles.
Our own Marc Deschamps had the chance to go hands-on with Mario Kart 8 at the Nintendo Experience at Best Buy last summer. You can read his impressions of the title here!
Is Mario Kart 8 one of your most anticipated Wii U games? Do you think its May release is too far off? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Source: Nintendo
I had my fingers crossed for April, so I’ll just have to hope that this is EARLY May.
Nintendo could do well to fill the gaps between February’s Donkey Kong title and this release by really bulking up the Wii U virtual console releases. They have a lot of promises to make good on now.
“Nintendo could do well to fill the gaps between February’s Donkey Kong title and this release by really bulking up the Wii U virtual console releases.”
Couldn’t agree more with this statement. It’s a wonder Nintendo hasn’t utilized the virtual console more effectively during their long and infamous gaming droughts. Whenever I hear Iwata apologizing for the slow software release schedules, I scratch my head as to why they don’t unleash a flood of 8, 16, and 64-bit goodness into the virtual consoles!
On another note, Iwata’s mentioning of Mario Kart 8 as being a title that will really showcase the WiiU gamepad has me nervous. While I love the gamepad, I just want some pure Mario Kart racing action with the Pro Controller. Basic controls for Kart worked just fine on the SNES, N64, GBA, GC, DS, Wii, & 3DS thank you very much. Please don’t force me to do some crazy tilting and twisting with the gamepad. The game looks FANTASTIC!
I can imagine Mario Kart 8 showing off the gamepad in some very positive and exciting ways. (But I do understand and somewhat share your apprehension.)
Giving two local players their own screen would be an obvious and excellent example. I very much hope that gets implemented.
Perhaps they will play up “8” a little more than they did with “7”. There was that “7” super-item that gave you a bunch of stuff, but it wasn’t very useful because you couldn’t effectively pick the order in which items would be used. But, divide the gamepad display into two rows and four columns, and you’ve got “8” nice, giant touch icons!
Another example with items: perhaps we could finally store up several at a time (Double Dash gave a little taste of this), and switch to whatever the situation calls for with a quick tap on the screen. Hoard items for a rainy day, or go all-out? Are any of those item slots shielded from lightning? Lots of interesting risk/reward possibilities here.
The original SNES Mario Kart had a rear-view mirror that would show for a moment when a CPU opponent behind you was attacking. That hasn’t been used since, and I’d love to see some new take on the idea. The gamepad seems the perfect place for it. It’s informative but completely optional. Ignore it at your own peril!
I hope this is the kind of stuff Iwata was talking about, not just gyro steering and a big ol’ “honk” button or something. ;^)
Actually Penduin, your suggestions are pretty cool, creative, and well thought out.
I for one would love it if they brought back the rear-view mirror from the original SNES kart. Plus the added strategy with the storing of items would be welcome.
The “big ol’honk” button had me laughing. I can imagine Nintendo devoting an entire “Nintendo Direct” to this new “innovation!”
At the end of the day, I’m sure Mario Kart 8 will be AWESOME and I’m very much looking forward to May.