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Mario Kart 8: Retail disc or eShop?

I'm 50/50 at the moment. I already have WWHD as a digital copy and liked being able to just boot into it whenever -- even just for a single player game. But on the flip side, I also really like MK8's box art and feel a bit more at ease about owning it physically, but having it digitally would mean I could play it whenever without worrying about having to take the 5-10 secs to swap discs.

That and getting it digitally would mean I wouldn't have to wait a few days due to shipping (if I ordered a physical copy online) or have to leave the house to get it. BUT I'm still not 100% sure what to dooooo.

Leaning more on physical though especially because Pikmin 3 would be the digital game I'd be getting for free. What to do... what to do...
 
eShop.

Its not a game I'd ever consider selling so I'll want the digital version. Just easier to work with.

I also already own 3 of the 4 free game options and the fourth (wiipartyu) I simply don't want. Of the other 3, I only own Zelda digitally. So I think I'll get a free digital copy of pikmin3 or nsmbu and then sell my disc or give it away. idk, maybe I'll watch some videos of wiipartyu to see if I'd like it overall.
 
The Real Napsta said:
You aren't worried about losing your entire wii u library?
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Why would you be? Worst case scenario you file a police report and Nintendo unlocks it for a new console. More than likely scenario is that Nintendo does as they say and continues to improve their digital experience to be more open like others, thus you can control your devices remotely at some point. After all, not like WiiU is the last console they'll make.
 
Why do so many feel like it is such a huge chore to swap a disc out? It doesn't take that long, and super easy to do.. To each their own. (No, I am not bagging on anyone, I just don't understand the big deal.)
 
Too bad MK8 isn't one of the free games to redeem lol.

You can buy the retail for your collector fetish and redeem the code for always access.
 
dreamcastfan said:
Why do so many feel like it is such a huge chore to swap a disc out? It doesn't take that long, and super easy to do.. To each their own. (No, I am not bagging on anyone, I just don't understand the big deal.)
Click to expand...

Convenience is really nice.

Have you had a DD only platform like Steam? It's so awesome. If you're a console only gamer through and through, the benefits may not be apparent.
 
Carlisle said:
Similar here. I'm getting mine for $40.

$40 (for $50 in eshop credit)
$10 (to make up the difference for the MSRP of $60)
-$10 (DDP for MK8 + Free game)

= $40
Click to expand...

I loaded up on $200 in eShop cards for $160, wish I had grabbed more. I'll be using the DDP from Donkey Kong and some indie purchases to get my extra $10 off. I'll save the DDP eShop codes from this and the free game to go towards Smash.

Really amazing when you think about it. I'll end up with Mario Kart 8 and Pikmin 3 for $38 and then have $10 from the DDP from those games to go towards Smash which I'll use discounted Best Buy cards to also get for $38. What a fantastic cycle.
 
I'm half tempted to go digital because, well, it's a game where you can see stock goes off flying quick. And, I do not know if I'm going to be able to afford it immediately either.

At the same time, I... need to buy more stuff on the eShop because I barely took advantage of the Digital Promotion that my WiiU Deluxe comes with. So, yeah.

My WiiU has like... 18-20GB left in.

Wait... how much space Mario Kart 8 need? We don't know yet right?. I'm thinking of taking WWHD along so I need space for that too! Dang...
 
mario.jpg


Retail for the case, the manual, etc. But more importantly, the space on my HDD.
 
Retail.

I refrain from getting Nintendo games on their eShop, their service/account management just doesn't look finished to me. Also, it's nice to get a boxed copy of a game for a change after all those steam games.
 
Depends on if we really do get a red case or if they screwed up or flipped back to blue. I get a digital NSMBU either way as I certainly don't care to get Wii Party.
 
I want to take advantage of this DDP thing before it goes away so certainly eshop. I found target selling $20 eshop cards for $18 (un-taxed) so $54 + DDP on Mario Kart and the free game which will be Pikmin 3 which comes out to $6 back on each game. Do we also get Super Mario Kart for free? I thought I saw that somewhere in this thread.
 
retail


$48 + tax at best buy with my GCU membership, also get free $10 card , then i can sell the free game since i had and beat all 3 of them (lol no wii u party cause i got no one to play with :(

pretty good deal but i would go digital but i need to save money
 
Probably eShop, unless there's like a really neat special edition announced at the last moment. Otherwise I've already gotten onboard the digital bandwagon for games. Christ, I did it with music and movies. No point in holding out on games.
 
Is a powered HDD required for the Wii U? I have a portable 1TB toshiba HDD that isn't powered and I've had nothing but problems with eShop games.
 
Well, it can tell for the DDP what you own so ownership is clearly tracked on servers there. It's just they're thick and don't have any account recovery options. Or save recovery for that matter but the hacking probably scared them of giving any control over save ownership outside of Wii stuff which is kind of a lost cause anyway.
 
Nothing wrong with the all-digital route as long as you're not playing on multiple consoles. I generally keep it digital on my Wii U, I just wish it didn't have such a small amount of storage space.
 
Eusis said:
On the other hand no tax here and I see NES Remix 2 bumped me past the threshold to get a code... which means it's almost like $15 off for me.
Click to expand...

Nice! I'm stuck with tax in Texas. I did notice recently that Newegg doesn't charge tax, though. That might be a better deal if they have a promotion before the game comes out.
 
eShop.

The last retail Wii U release I bought was Wonderful 101. But only because I was able to buy it two weeks early at PAX Prime. I've bought Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD, 3D World, and Tropical Freeze from the eShop with no regrets.
 
I'd love to go digital for DDP, ease of quick-booting, plus if they stick to the trend this will be the only Mario Kart for Wii U, but I already have too little space for it on my system and don't have an external HDD for my Wii U yet.
 
I am going to buy the retail version.
I just waiting for the limited edition. If it will be available on Europe, why not in the US ?

And I particularly just purchase the retail version, when the option is available.
 
Retail for sure. So glad the free game is retail also.

I'm finally able to take advantage of this deal. I was never able to because of NoA's stinginess regarding their timeline for registering. Not this time!
 
eShop. I feel like MK8 is a game I will go back to sporadically over a couple of months/years so it would be convenient to have it a click away.
 
I really, really dislike WiiU's constant disc spinning if you have a game in drive - it does it even if you're not playing it, for fuck's sake.

Other then that there are no benefits of going digital for me, since the console's not region-free and I can't save almost 20€ like I do when I buy a game day one on US PSN for 60$ instead of buying a retail game for 60€ in our local shops. No trade-in possibilities down the line if by any chance I get bored of it (and no account system) makes that even a bigger issue.

So probably retail. One way or the other, that free game promo sure sweetens the deal for going day one.
 
I'm going eShop because I don't live in NA and would rather do that than wait for an import.

But I'd probably get digital anyways for the DDP and the fact that I can see myself sneaking in a few online matches now and again throughout my time with the Wii U. Seems much easier to have it at all times without having to switch the discs out.
 
Retail for me, MK games are generally pretty short on content and I'm not a big online guy, so I'll sell it when I complete the SP cups. They're going to sell a ton with that free game offer though.
 
ST3K3LLY said:
A retail copy may work in their next console where as digital probably won't. Unsure myself!
Click to expand...

All digital Wii purchases work on Wii U, same goes for DSiWare on 3DS, I don't really know why you're saying this because there's absolutely no indication so far it rather will or won't be backwards compatible digitally


Jaded Alyx said:
I thought this was fixed a while back?
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Indeed it was, guy is wrong or hasn't played Wii U in a whole year… it came with 3.0.0, in April 2013.
 
PotionBleue said:
All digital Wii purchases work on Wii U, same goes for DSiWare on 3DS, I don't really know why you're saying this because there's absolutely no indication so far it rather will or won't be backwards compatible digitally




Indeed it was, guy is wrong or hasn't played Wii U in a whole year… it came with 3.0.0, in April 2013.
Click to expand...
As I thought. I don't even use discs and I knew this.
 
Jaded Alyx said:
As I thought. I don't even use discs and I knew this.
Click to expand...
It's a bit more complicted, though. Disk will always spin unless you launch a foreground DL app. That is, if you launch a disk-less app, then disk won't spin. If you launch a disk app (including the system dashboard while a disk is in), disk will spin, even if you're in a background app (miiverse, browser, etc).
 
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