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Mario Kart 8 Info Thread

lol, this is pretty much me. Except I don't even play online at all because most of the fun for me comes from local multiplayer with kart racers. I usually just play to unlock everything and maybe 3-star all the cups, then the game just sits collecting dust until friends are visiting.

I might play online with MK8, but I'm not sure.

Why wouldn't you play it online, though? It's a great, casual way of killing some time. Not nearly as much fun as local multiplayer, sure, but it's a nice feature regardless. Also, GAF Tournaments!
 
Just played this for the first time at my local best buy; the game is really pretty and a blast to play. I'm really angry I had to sell my Wii U. The only thing that really bugs me is the fact that they didn't apply any anti aliasing at all, it really destroys what this game could have looked like. I'm praying they add anti aliasing to Bayonetta 2 before it releases because the jaggies are really annoying to me.

I can imagine how gorgeous this game would look if the target was 30fps (not that I'd want that). The new Zelda could really blow us away if the target is 720p 30fps going by how this game and 3D World have turned out in such a crisp 60fps.
 
Just played this for the first time at my local best buy; the game is really pretty and a blast to play. I'm really angry I had to sell my Wii U. The only thing that really bugs me is the fact that they didn't apply any anti aliasing at all, it really destroys what this game could have looked like.

If you're curious what it would've looked like, check my post on the previous page. I rerendered a few scenes with anti-aliasing enabled.
 
Exactly how I wish it would look. AA to me isn't something that should be compromised, especially if you're making such a vibrant pretty game. Well maybe one day they'll put out a patch for it. :/
 
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Better image quality here:
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-new-mario-kart-made-me-want-to-game-with-friends-again

just when I thought this game coudn't possibly look any better

i want the Jetsons bike
 
Yeah, you'd be mad to pay the actual eShop price directly. Get a code from Game and you'll save a lot of money and still be digital.

On this front, is anyone able to tell me whether using a download code bought from GAME will count towards the Deluxe Digital promotion thing?

I would never normally pay the full eshop price, but I've got £5 to redeem from the promotion already, then the £5.49 off from buying SMK and buying MK8 on the eshop would push my points total over for another £5 off. That said, if I get the points from MK8 using a code from GAME that would still work out cheaper.

Hope that makes sense! I couldn't find a definitive answer elsewhere...
 
Exactly how I wish it would look. AA to me isn't something that should be compromised, especially if you're making such a vibrant pretty game. Well maybe one day they'll put out a patch for it. :/
Isn't AA particularly taxing? Has it ever been "patched into" any game ever?
 
On this front, is anyone able to tell me whether using a download code bought from GAME will count towards the Deluxe Digital promotion thing?

It does count, and you get points as if you had paid full price on the eShop too.

Not sure if this is the best thread to ask this, but what's the best controller to use for this game on the Wii u?

Wii U Pro Controller, for sure. Same for any game that doesn't use the GamePad too extensively.
 
Love the bright colors and art in this game, but the jaggies are really a shame. It seems strange to me that there's no AA solution whatsoever when the previous first party WiiU titles have had rather good image quality.

For those curious what the game would look like anti-aliased, I went ahead and rerendered a few scenes with anti-aliasing on. Anti-aliased versions are on the right.

Yeah, those are pretty and all but I'm sure Nintendo considers all this stuff when they're developing the game.
Thing is... they always get their priorities right. They know their hardware better than anybody else. They know what the Wii U is capable of before it starts to compromise performance (which is and always should be their priority) I mean, they already made it this far with the game looking the way it does. I'm sure they wouldn't have stopped there if they knew Wii U was capable of more without any performance hit.

Not sure if this is the best thread to ask this, but what's the best controller to use for this game on the Wii u?
All of them are very comfortable.
It seems to be the Wii U Pro is the best option given its battery beast.
 
I'm guessing this works on the UK eShop/my UK NNID even if my system was originally AU PAL (unlike Club Nintendo codes).

It works with the UK NNID for sure. And with any other EU eshops/NNID. I don't know about AU eshop, but you could give it a try.
 
Isn't AA particularly taxing? Has it ever been "patched into" any game ever?

I doubt AA has been patched into any game, I'm not sure on that. From what I know MLAA isn't too taxing. Someone in the screenshot thread mentioned that the use of AA could have resulted in 55-60fps rather than a solid 60fps. I think that could have been why they didn't use it considering it isn't too taxing to use some cheap form of post processing AA. But I'm too much of a tech noob to give any detailed answers about AA.
 
I doubt AA has been patched into any game, I'm not sure on that. From what I know MLAA isn't too taxing. Someone in the screenshot thread mentioned that the use of AA could have resulted in 55-60fps rather than a solid 60fps. I think that could have been why they didn't use it considering it isn't too taxing to use some cheap form of post processing AA. But I'm too much of a tech noob to give any detailed answers about AA.
You're on the right track. There's a number of post-processing anti-aliasing methods which can provide solid results and only result in a few milliseconds of additional render time per frame. Given the lack of stutters in the game, I imagine there's a pretty healthy amount of spare compute time where they could have squeezed it in.

That said, patching isn't Nintendo's thing in general, much less patching in visual effects, so I wouldn't get your hopes up.
 
Nintendo patches Wii U games frequently actually and has patched in major features such as pro controller support (NSMB U). They also optimized Pikmin 3 to remove some minor framerate drops.

But I wouldn't expect an change to actual graphic features from them. They seem to lock down the way their games look and behave.
 
It would have to be a major topic for us that will the own the game. They definitely should have the bandwidth available. If a thread created can stay on the first page of the forum, and the discussion spreads beyond GAF, we may get lucky and get MLAA or even SMAA if it's not to taxing.
 
BelgianGAF
There's a nice deal for a Wii U Premium and Mario Kart 8 for 200€ at GameMania.
You get it for trading in a Wii and Mario Kart Wii.

This seemed like the most appropriate thread.
 
Lmao. I can't believe people have hope of this. After all of the reviews saying how beautiful it looks, no way Nintendo would add AA to please a few gamers bothered by jaggies. I can't exaggerate "few" enough.

Hey, I think the game looks great and can't wait to play it. But a brother can dream, can I.
 
You're on the right track. There's a number of post-processing anti-aliasing methods which can provide solid results and only result in a few milliseconds of additional render time per frame. Given the lack of stutters in the game, I imagine there's a pretty healthy amount of spare compute time where they could have squeezed it in.

That said, patching isn't Nintendo's thing in general, much less patching in visual effects, so I wouldn't get your hopes up.

I really don't think “this game has no stutter, thus there's plenty of resources available” is anywhere close to a correct reasoning.
 
Chris Schilling from Eurogamer posted this on twitter:
Talking of Mario Kart, I've been playing MK8 for 50 hours now. I honestly think I'd be tempted to give it a 10.
I honestly think it's the best the series has ever been. And on top of that it's pleasurable from a purely aesthetic perspective.
We often deny or downplay aesthetic pleasures, because gameplay > graphics. But these tracks are a joy to look at. A treat for the eyes.
 
I really don't think “this game has no stutter, thus there's plenty of resources available” is anywhere close to a correct reasoning.

Perhaps not plenty, but if there's no frame drops or stutter whatsoever, even under graphically intense scenarios (lots of objects on screen, particle effects, etc.), then logic dictates that there some headroom. Even if it's only say five or six spare frames worth (i.e. the game is running at 65 FPS and v-synced down to a constant 60), that's enough to work in a decent post-process AA solution.
 
I don't know that this was posted yet, but I just got an email regarding Nintendo Club - register Mario Kart 8 and get your choice of a free game (Pikmin 3, Super Mario Bros U., Zelda Wind Waker, Wii Party).

I don't have Pikmin 3 yet, but have been wanting it, so that's the one I'll be getting.
 
I don't know that this was posted yet, but I just got an email regarding Nintendo Club - register Mario Kart 8 and get your choice of a free game (Pikmin 3, Super Mario Bros U., Zelda Wind Waker, Wii Party).

I don't have Pikmin 3 yet, but have been wanting it, so that's the one I'll be getting.

The promotion's been known for a while but they did just send out an email. Europe has four extra choices.
 
Just checked out a demo station that had it on display in a Future Shop and pretty fun. The controls seem really tight, and the sense of speed and vertigo when using the gravity wheels is also well done but not nauseating. Definitely looking forward to picking this up though I do quite miss the Gamecube analog triggers (or using triggers at all for acceleration/braking).

I hope you can change the controls in the menu when using a pro controller or gamepad.
 
So I'm listening to the Sunshine Airport music...on repeat XD...and I realize why I love this music so much. Some parts of it remind me of some Paper Mario music, particularly some parts of Super Paper Mario. Does anyone get that feeling?
 
Saw a thread in IGN that showed how long one lap in each track is in the game. The new tracks averages clocked in at longer times than the retro ones.

I guess proof is in the pudding and the tracks aren't short after all but about the same length as past games. Maybe I'm so used to Sonic Transformed or other racing games and haven't played Mario Kart in awhile other than 7 which also had tracks with similar length.
 
So I'm listening to the Sunshine Airport music...on repeat XD...and I realize why I love this music so much. Some parts of it remind me of some Paper Mario music, particularly some parts of Super Paper Mario. Does anyone get that feeling?

Im finally getting a nice pair of headphones for this game.


So, any relation to rainbow 64's hype train, and Nintendo Land's train(which drives on a rainbow colored track)?

It makes me wonder how Nintendo thinks.

You can almost pretend the tower down below, in rainbow 64 track, is the tower in Nintendo Land, where you go to play for prizes.

The song for MK8's rainbow road 64 sounds like a celebration of everything about Nintendo. Its glorious.
 
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