So I recently came back from my nearest E3 Best Buy, and I have to say, I came back a bit disappointed. Not because of the games, those were awesome, but because of the way the whole thing was set-up. I was expecting a seperate TV for each of the four games, but they were all on a single T.V. Because of that, I was regretting WWHD being playable due to it's slow pace, being single player, and annoying boss that sometimes refuses to land where he can be attacked. Mario Kart 8 having been 4 players would have been uber helpful too.

 

I was also expecting to just be able to walk in at anytime and perhaps wait in line if I have to, but apparently they had sign-ups when the demo's first opened up, which obviously filled up uber quickly (I couldn't arrive until 6:00 for various stupid reasons out of my control). They were turning peoples away, many of which like me thought they could just walk in and play, wait in a line first at worst. They should have atleast detailed how all this was gonna go down (or maybe they did but I just never saw it). Of course with my beloved Mario Kart 8 only a couple feet away, I wasn't gonna give up that easily!

 

I asked if I could fill in for when someone doesn't show up and they said maybe. So I hung around for a while, playing Animal Crossing n Mario Kart on me 3DS while watching those beautiful Wii U games in motion. Eventually, they realized a crap load of people who signed up weren't even there, and there were so many peoples there that didn't sign-up but wanted to play. So now they implement the line. Really, this shoulda been a no-brainer from the get go. "First come, we'll serve you later and ignore our customers who are actually here," makes no sense at all. But eh, they went with the line, even started with me first, all is forgiven right? lol nope! If anyone on the list randomly decides to show up, they get priority over everyone else, and they get to play full sessions, whereas everyone else (unless you played with signed-up people) could only play one level or until 5 minutes passed, whichever came first. So, so lames... I only came away with one track's worth of MK8 on the day, though I did get a crapton of streetpass action.

 

But meh, enough about that, onto the games themselves! (even though I didn't play most of them lol) As said already, all of them look gorgeous! It's super clear the games are running at 1080p 60fps. Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Cats especially caught my eye, probably due their colorful cartoonish artstyles. I can't understand why Mario Cats was getting so much flak about it's appearance, though maybe I'm just not super into graphics.

 

Anywho, my time may have been short with MK8, but it was still great funs! I decided to play as Luigi cause you know, Year of Luigi! Also cause the kart he was in looked boss (each character is locked with a kart customization. demo only of course). I decided to let another player join in cause I'm not a jerkface and figured correctly that the computers would offer little challenge. Well my opponent didn't offer much challenge either lol, but that's probably because he was using the Wii Wheel which probably didn't mesh well with him being a Double Dash enthusiast. I did have a rocky start though as I forgot that the Gamepad defaults to motion controls. I have nothing against motion controls (I only Wii Wheel'ed in MKWii), but wanted to try the control stick out so I could better get a feel for the game in comparison to Mario Kart 7. That, and to better show off my mad skillz lol.

 

Gameplay is still the same as always, which of course is awesomes. The controls ( gamepad C-stick) did feel a wee bit looser than MK7, but maybe that just happens when your in anti-gravity mode, which would make sense considering your wheels are off the ground. The first track is full of anti-gravity shenanigans afterall, so when I started analyzing the controls, it was likely during one of those segments. I'll be sure to check this thoroughly though come Saturday. Regardless, the controls are still solid enough as I was able to cut tight corners and manuver with ease. So yeah needlessly to say I won easy. After my initial hic-up (running into walls), I picked up a triple mushroom, which I used to cut through some grass and eventually take first place. From there it was smooth sailing. I didn't have to do or worry about anything item-wise. This is mostly due to one thing... NO BLUE SHELLS IN MK8!?!? OMG!!! lol nopes. It obviously will be in the final game, but it just wasn't in the demo is all. However, they really should have put it in. Mario Kart just isn't the same without it. It adds suspense, unpredictability, excitement! It part of the reason why we keep playing race after race. I'll explain more on this in depth in another thread later on, as I'd rather not make this thread any larger than it is hehe.

lol wow, max character limit reached on 3DS. To be continued...

Blah, a day late with this. Animal Crossing really does consume your life lol. Well, continuing on with my little experience:

As for the rest of items, I was very pleased to see that they're sticking with MK7's level of balance and sensibility in this area aswell. Normal & Gold Mushrooms, Green & Red Shells, and the Fire Flower were all usuable in the demo. There were other items in the item reel such as Starman, Blooper, and Bomb-omb, but I never saw anyone get those items. I'm thinking you can't even get them, but I should probably watch more of other people's gameplay before saying that. There were no signs of the Boo, Pow Block, or Giant Mushroom power-ups, so that's a very good. Of course, MK8 is likely to bring a few new items to the table that have yet to be revealed, but I like I said they appear to be sticking with the MK7 route, so these new items should follow suite.

Like I said before, this game look's absolutely gorgeous, especially in motion. What I'm most impressed about is all the details they put into the background. You'd think they wouldn't concern themselves too much with the backdrops since you're zooming by them most of the time, but nope, they're not being lazy at all with this Mario Kart! Wish I could tell more on this but I'm not very good at describing this stuff. Course you all know what I'm talking about anyway as you've surely seen the trailer hehe. One thing I will say is that combined with all the anti-gravity shenanigans, it made the first course seem more vast and expansive than it really is. I couldn't tell at all where I was. No not on the track, but on the entire course in general. I was in disbelief when I saw the map that showed the course was a figure-8. That complex, imaginative, topsy turvy roller coaster was a figure-8!? The most standard of track designs second only the oval!? Impossible! I didn't even see where the track overlapped, not just counting my own playthrough! MK7's figure-8 track, Toad Circuit, has just been completely blown out of the water. Seriously, no contest. Well Nintendo's always been good at turning simple into amazing hehe. Oh, and my favorite part about the track was at the end where you're gliding and have to dodge stacked up goombas. Most track finishes are rather anti-climatic, so it's nice to see them spicing things up!

Okay, guess I'll end this now. Was way way longer than I thought it would be lol. Tomorrow I'll once again make the trek to Best Buy for some more MK8 actions, preferably a full playthrough of all three tracks. I'm just dying to playing that Boo's Castle/Luigi's Mansion course! Well I guess that's it for now. If there's anything yal would like me to test out/find out/etc., just let me know!

I got back from mine and it was super awesome. I got like 40 street passes and everyone was super nice and met a lot of cool people. It was crazy that they only had one station, but I just had fun hanging out with everyone and talking about games. Some people got to play like 4 or 5 times due to them hanging out up front any needed a filler for mario 3d. But i'm gonna go back Saturday..super fun!

MK8 sounds pretty awesome. Was really hoping it would come this year. The bestbuy set up doesn't seem all that well set up. I was hoping for multiple units. Maybe i'll pay a visit if i am driving by one.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

spurgeonryan said: You used your 3dS to write that? Ughhhh! I wanted to go, since it was the weekday and would probably have been easier than Saturday's event. So how was Zelda? I know you did not play it because of the short time, but you saw it right?

i saw every game many times.  I have video of Kart and Wind Waker.

They really should call it Super Mario Cats.

I'm planning on going Saturday so it's nice to hear other people's experiences.

I feel like my BestBuy will be swamped worse than any story I've heard so far. After all, my BestBuy is in an extremely tourist-y area (it's Florida... so...) and it's always packed. Always.

Hopefully I get to finish a whole course in Mario Kart 8, that's all I'm really going for. (I also think Nintendo should've had these demos from Wednesday through Saturday. Not just Wednesday and Saturday, kind of a bad decision.)

chriscox1121 said: I got back from mine and it was super awesome. I got like 40 street passes and everyone was super nice and met a lot of cool people. It was crazy that they only had one station, but I just had fun hanging out with everyone and talking about games. Some people got to play like 4 or 5 times due to them hanging out up front any needed a filler for mario 3d. But i'm gonna go back Saturday..super fun!

Yeah that was the best part, though it shoulda been actually playing the games. >.>

green_sky said: MK8 sounds pretty awesome. Was really hoping it would come this year. The bestbuy set up doesn't seem all that well set up. I was hoping for multiple units. Maybe i'll pay a visit if i am driving by one. Thanks for sharing your experience.

No problem, though I'm not even done yet lol! It woulda been nice if it came out this year, but it's even nicer that they're really taking their time with this game, to make sure it truely is the definitive Mario Kart game in everyway.

spurgeonryan said: You used your 3dS to write that? Ughhhh! I wanted to go, since it was the weekday and would probably have been easier than Saturday's event. So how was Zelda? I know you did not play it because of the short time, but you saw it right?

Yeah, while I was eating dinner. I didn't think it'd be so long lol. I did see Zelda, but because I haven't played Wind Waker since it first came out, I'm probably not the best person to ask. Any subtle changes in the HD version would fly over my head. I did hear one player say the grappling hook was faster, so who knows what other adjustments they made. All I can say is the game looks noice!