Mario Kart 8

 Wii U
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2023 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,789 out of 2023
  2. Mixed: 86 out of 2023
  3. Negative: 148 out of 2023
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  1. Ramon4567
    Jul 21, 2014
    4
    The item balance was done perfectly in Mario Kart 7, but now, luck is your best friend in this unfair sequel. Even when you play at your best, especially in online races, you will frequently acquire coins from item boxes. Another flaw is the character roster; where is Diddy Kong and Dry Bones? Instead of giving us these original characters (and more), we get five babies, two palette swaps,The item balance was done perfectly in Mario Kart 7, but now, luck is your best friend in this unfair sequel. Even when you play at your best, especially in online races, you will frequently acquire coins from item boxes. Another flaw is the character roster; where is Diddy Kong and Dry Bones? Instead of giving us these original characters (and more), we get five babies, two palette swaps, and the seven minions for Bowser. This is the worst list of characters yet, and it would have been nice to play as different colors of Yoshi and Toad. Finally, the Battle Mode is complete garbage now; you only have eight battle courses, and they are all race tracks. I'm pretty sure you get the idea. As for the good, it's not enough to revive this ridiculous game. The visuals are indeed the best, the controls are smooth, the music is mostly fantastic, but the amount of courses should have increased from 32 to about 50. What about the gameplay? Well, it is extremely simple, and it didn't change a whole lot. I wish Mario Kart 8 was more like it's hand-held predecessor, but with more content to boot. In its current state, you will be severely disappointed, so rent it before you buy it.… Expand
  2. MissFelixia
    May 15, 2015
    0
    this review is for online mainly since thats probably where you'll be the most for online its too unbalanced to even rate so the score is lowered once again. 0/10 for online. seriously a coin in last place? or a single mushroom? i've had worse dice rolls. it seemed to start balanced but i swear as the rank increases they decide to change that.
    for offline its a mediocre 6/10
    sorry but    this review is for online mainly since thats probably where you'll be the most for online its too unbalanced to even rate so the score is lowered once again. 0/10 for online. seriously a coin in last place? or a single mushroom? i've had worse dice rolls. it seemed to start balanced but i swear as the rank increases they decide to change that.
    for offline its a mediocre 6/10
    sorry but mediocre at best rather play the wii version more. the graphics and gameplay is amazing but you'll get frustrated at the addition of the stupid coin item. want bannana only mode well i guess the coin is a bannana now. want a franic powerful items game yet again the coin is a powerful item apparently same with bob-ombs only. the Ai in this is lame as soon as you realise you can pick the slowest car even on 150cc and destroy the ai. but again that and the coin ruin what could have been an amazing game. only thing worth getting it for is the time trial. as for online yeh its pretty fun up to about 5k points then the dice rolls will screw you over in 5th? heres a coin or in 5th heres 3 mushrooms while the person in front gets a bullet bill. items just seems messed up this game. battle arenas have gone and also small but noticable is podium finishes. i hope the next game is better than this. sorry but after many many bs unbalanced online matches the score is lowered. to a 2 from a 6 if you want online get sonic and sega all stars racing if you want a family experence get this. this is unbalanced to all hell and not even better than the wii version. the Ai is really bad in this also probably cause they dunno how to balance their game but for single player this is the worst mario kart game so far. get it preowned for the time trials thats all your gonna have fun with.    … Expand
  3. Hmongol
    Jun 17, 2014
    3
    This game was such a disappointment! They no longer have automatic and manual, for most people this is okay but for casual gamers like my wife and kids who do not know how to drift will not like it very long. Mario kart 7 introduce Automatic driving which was great because now my family can actually play on 150cc cup with me because it auto drifts for them. I do not know why they took outThis game was such a disappointment! They no longer have automatic and manual, for most people this is okay but for casual gamers like my wife and kids who do not know how to drift will not like it very long. Mario kart 7 introduce Automatic driving which was great because now my family can actually play on 150cc cup with me because it auto drifts for them. I do not know why they took out the feature but my family all quit after always coming in last. We went back to mario kart 7 so we can all play together… Expand
  4. jlplatten
    Jun 13, 2014
    0
    Where's the 8-Player LAN party? Double-Dash was the peak of Mario Kart greatness, because it allowed friends to all come together at one location, hook up 2 GameCubes with a TV each, and have loads of fun for hours on end.... The Mario Kart on Wii lost the most attractive feature, and playing by myself got boring real fast... When I heard Mario Kart on Wii U also didn't have this feature,Where's the 8-Player LAN party? Double-Dash was the peak of Mario Kart greatness, because it allowed friends to all come together at one location, hook up 2 GameCubes with a TV each, and have loads of fun for hours on end.... The Mario Kart on Wii lost the most attractive feature, and playing by myself got boring real fast... When I heard Mario Kart on Wii U also didn't have this feature, I decided to boycott the game. How can technology be advancing, yet simple networking features be stripped? No thanks to Mario Kart 8... a game that's meant to be enjoyed with friends is not fun playing by yourself on the couch. I'm not saying internet multiplayer shouldn't be there... I'm just saying a LAN option should be included. Is it really that hard to do?… Expand
  5. Broyax
    Mar 28, 2017
    0
    Cette licence est recyclée à l'infini, tellement recyclée que c'est devenu une usine à pneus rechapés, tellement niaise que c'est avec le premier Mario qu'est né le mot-combo "japo-niais". Avec ce nouveau Mario sur ses déplaçoirs Playskool, rien ne change, sauf l'apport de la HD (enfin, façon de parler...), ce qui est déjà une révolution pour Nintendo.

    C'est tellement bête que même les    Cette licence est recyclée à l'infini, tellement recyclée que c'est devenu une usine à pneus rechapés, tellement niaise que c'est avec le premier Mario qu'est né le mot-combo "japo-niais". Avec ce nouveau Mario sur ses déplaçoirs Playskool, rien ne change, sauf l'apport de la HD (enfin, façon de parler...), ce qui est déjà une révolution pour Nintendo.

    C'est tellement bête que même les mômes n'en veulent pas : ils veulent en effet jouer à GTA et écraser des gens en écoutant du rap, pas diriger des persos idiots dans des graphismes en 256 couleurs, des effets sonores de la fête à neuneu et une musique de cirque. Il est temps que Nintendo (qui s'enlise avec sa console premier âge déjà dépassée) pense à sa reconversion.    … Expand
  6. icedchoffee
    Jun 5, 2014
    2
    this game needs soooo much fixing, dont get me wrong its a good game i completed all the cups already with atleast a 1 star rating but the items and karts are sooo dumb. first of all the kart parts have "stats" in which some have more speed than others and some may have more acceleration, but none of those stats come into effect. i play as morton (heavy) on the sport bike with azure rollerthis game needs soooo much fixing, dont get me wrong its a good game i completed all the cups already with atleast a 1 star rating but the items and karts are sooo dumb. first of all the kart parts have "stats" in which some have more speed than others and some may have more acceleration, but none of those stats come into effect. i play as morton (heavy) on the sport bike with azure roller tires and the bowser kite. the stats for that is (4.25 speed, 4.0 accel, 3.75 weight, 3.25 handling and 1.75 traction) that is a great balance of a high amount of speed and acceleration but noooooo in this game ive gotten passed by normally driving by mario, who is a medium player, with the Standard kart, standard tires and the super glider which has (3.75 speed, 2.5 accel, 3.75 weight, 3.25 handling and 3.75 traction) so nintendo is trying to go above and beyond with these features of customizable karts but you basically customize them for show since the stats dont apply to the game at all. Second, the items in this game suck, ive gotten a star in 2nd place, that really doesnt make any sense at all in my eyes, when you get hit by an item its almost like youre stunned for 15 seconds, ive been in first place slipped on a banana and was sent all the way back to 7th in a matter of seconds. in mario kart wii, which is the best mario kart, when you had a mushroom or a star it would give u a noticably big speed boost...... not in mario kart 8, there is probably a 2% speed boost tops when activating star power. mushrooms in this game barely add speed as well, ive had a golden mushroom before and was passed by a person getting a boost from drifting.......wtf is that crap. there really needs to be something changed with the items with how often you get a certain item, what places can and cant get certain items, faster and more powerful boosts with mushrooms or stars and even the bullet bill. the bullet bill is complete garbage in this game. if nintendo is going to implement kart stats they should at least make it balanced or just have the stats removed. in addition to that, the stats are completely unfair, heavy characters start off with a base stat of (4.75 speed which is already fast, 2.0 accel, 4.75 weight, 2.25 handling and 3.25 traction) with just a base stat of that is completely over powered. having a footrace on mario circuit with heavy against light, heavy would win because of the speed they have(light has a base stat of 2.25 speed). overalll this game is completely 100% broken from items to stats to stun from items.right now with my experience on this game i would give it a 2.5 out of 5 and im a great Nintendo fan, but they really messed up this game and its bad.… Expand
  7. SuperAttackGame
    Jun 4, 2014
    4
    This is, without a doubt, the biggest letdown in the Mario Kart series, a middle finger salute to the fans. Mario Kart 8 is a result of taking out everything that makes Mario Kart good, and leaves in the bad. Mario Kart 7 was pretty much the refined Mario Kart of the series, but that doesn't mean there was nothing to improve upon. They could have at least tried to make it on par with 7,This is, without a doubt, the biggest letdown in the Mario Kart series, a middle finger salute to the fans. Mario Kart 8 is a result of taking out everything that makes Mario Kart good, and leaves in the bad. Mario Kart 7 was pretty much the refined Mario Kart of the series, but that doesn't mean there was nothing to improve upon. They could have at least tried to make it on par with 7, but instead it was like they deliberately held back on this one. Were they trying to make sure there was enough to improve upon with Mario Kart 9? Because you don't do that. You don't try and make a sequel less than perfect so you can make the next sequel better. That's just a blatant, lazy excuse for money. To be a little more specific on why this game is bad - remember Mario Kart Wii, with its sloppy controls and rubber band AI? It's back in 8, maybe even worse this time around. How can they take such a step backwards? The stage design is also incredibly flat and uninspired, ironic given the anti-gravity feature, and that in itself is not utilised at all because I barely felt like I was going anit-gravity, and the stages are still flat.

    It's very upsetting to see Mario Kart, of all franchises, become a lifeless shell of what it once was. 8 is the unlucky number for Mario spin-off sequels, it seems. This is the Mario Party 8 of the series, proof that people are getting sick of the series. Mario Kart will no longer be the big party game hit it once was, because even the biggest Mario Kart fans will have little good to say about this slump in the series. If we're very lucky, by Mario Kart 9 they will realise what they did wrong with this one and win everyone back - but let's face it, that's not very likely. Go away, Mario Kart. We don't like you anymore.    … Expand
  8. CoreyintheHouse
    Nov 8, 2014
    0
    When I first played Mario Kart 8, I had very high expectations. However I was met with the most disgusting racing game ever to be assembled in human history. DO NOT BUY!! a waste of money. People should buy a real game, like Corey in the House for the nintendo DS
  9. velvetmeds
    Jun 30, 2014
    0
    boring. looks like a kid game, plays without any depth, poor graphics at last gen resolution. annoying soundtrack (better to mute). already played this game in the 90s...don't bother with it again.
  10. A_L_I_2013
    Sep 24, 2014
    1
    The levels are simply gorgeous. The cart variety keeps the game fresh. The small yet critical changes made to the game affect how you play compared to previous titles. This game is for the hard core player while also being a living room favorite. My only hope is that battle gets updated because right now it is lack luster at best.
  11. Fefocos
    Jun 20, 2020
    0
    **** you only get 2 boxes if you playdrluxe and play against people that get them
  12. Larry_1
    Dec 7, 2020
    0
    What a game! Mario kart 8 is one of my favorite Wii U games. The controls are just incredible, even when using motion controls. The graphics are very impressive for a game on this console. The only things that do concern me is that the game has costumes locked behind an amiibo paywall. It's not that big of a deal, but I wish you could get the costumes by completing certain challenges asWhat a game! Mario kart 8 is one of my favorite Wii U games. The controls are just incredible, even when using motion controls. The graphics are very impressive for a game on this console. The only things that do concern me is that the game has costumes locked behind an amiibo paywall. It's not that big of a deal, but I wish you could get the costumes by completing certain challenges as well as being able to unlock them instantly from the amiibo. Other than that, great game.… Expand
  13. MetalSoArtFenix
    Nov 8, 2021
    0
    0/10 Одна Из Худший Игр Во Вселенной 0/10.............................................................................................................................
  14. Gono4kin
    May 29, 2023
    0
    this is super bad game !!!!! I love DustinEden !!!! I love DustinEden !!!! I love DustinEden !!!!

Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best Wii U Game of 2014
2
#2 Most Discussed Wii U Game of 2014
4
#4 Most Shared Wii U Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 82 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 80 out of 82
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 82
  3. Negative: 0 out of 82
  1. GameCritics
    Sep 18, 2014
    80
    Mario Kart 8 is pretty great in many ways, but undoubtedly moreso with a collection of friends to play with, or when facing off against other players online.
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  2. CD-Action
    Aug 25, 2014
    85
    No revolution here, but still it’s an absolute must-have for every Wii U owner. [08/2014, p.68]
  3. Universo Nintendo
    Jul 31, 2014
    95
    A beautiful and fun racing game, which uses the possibilities offered by its host platform to emphasize and renew the truly universal appeal of the series.
    Read full review
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