Did some more digging, and found yet another preview video unveiling some new Mario Kart 8 details! Starting at 2:05 in the video linked below, he talks about some of the game's features, and specifically mentions how both VS mode and Battle mode were options in the preview demo, but just weren't accessible. No visual proof is provided, but I don't see why he'd lie about this. I mean Battle mode was never not going to be in this game, and it's pretty well expected that VS mode makes it's return! I don't know about you all but I'm taking this news to be true, which is great as VS mode was very much missed from MK7!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQS-cVohMRY

*crosses fingers for MK64/MKDS Battle Mode*

What was MK64's battle mode like? I can't even remember!

It was the battle mode where you had 3 balloons and each balloon was lost if you got hit by an item, fell into a bottomless pit or if you got hit by a Mushroom boost which  causes the player that used the Mushroom to steal your balloon! Oh, and Block Fort for the win!

Sounds exactly the same as newer battle mode's balloon battle, so you wont have anything to worry about!

I also saw a video where they played Cheep-Cheep Beach single-player and said it was the final race, but they only got points for that race (ie no points from previous races). Since it's not a first course race, I think they got to choose their own course and confirmed VS mode.

I think I may have to get a Wii U before Smash Bros releases because of this game.

Plus I need to replace my broken Wii! Why can you only play GameCube games now Wii??? The fact that I only played through Metroid Prime 3 once before it crashed is unacceptable! (Although I have a lot GameCube games that I enjoy replaying)

MKWii had that too... I'd expect it to be there.

I can imagine the stages for the battle mode will be very fun this time around because of the new zero gravity features. I hope they add some old stages from previous versions and put a twist on them.

D'oh! I forgot to add something! The battle mode in MK64 didn't have a time limit nor did it have the point system!