Apropos of nothing, Nintendo has sprung a Mario Kart 8 Direct on us. Right out the gate, Pink Gold Peach and Baby Rosalina joins the roster (leaving one more unknown racer). We’ll go through the other details below.
So, this should be no surprise, but the US is also getting a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Set bundle. You get the Deluxe 32 GB system, a physical copy of the game, a red Mario Wii Wheel accessory, and a red Mario Wii Remote Plus. This bundle is retailing for $ 329.99.
Fans who register their copy of Mario Kart 8 before July 31 get a free game via download code on the eShop. You get your pick of New Super Mario Bros U, Pikmin 3, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, and Wii Party U. You can register both physical and digital copies of the game, and also the bundled copies.
Ok, regarding online multiplayer. As many as 12 players can compete online, with four different modes. You can also trash talk in the lobby, using the GamePad microphone, or by using text phrases. You can also set public and private tournaments, with set dates and times, and different rulesets. You can also race against (aka learn from) ghost data, from your friends and top racers. Players who can beat the developer’s ghosts get special stamps for Miiverse.
You may already know about Mario Kart TV. Nintendo is setting up video sharing for Mario Kart 8 in a very special way: they will edit the videos for you. Races will get highlight racing reels, with Nintendo’s own algorithm deciding which parts make the cut. These highlight reels will be easily shared on Miiverse, but if you log in your Google account, you can also upload them to YouTube.
You can check out the latest batch of screenshots below.