Considering past Mario Kart threads I've made before about MK7 being the best in the series and MK8 looking to top it and etc., you'd think I woulda done this sooner, but I just couldn't make up my mind until now. On the surface it seems like Mario Kart 8 is obviously better, and well, it is better in that regard, both objectively and in my own opinion, but there's more to it than just appearance. I'll go ahead and breakdown every part of the game below!
Graphics & Sounds
Well obviously Mario Kart 8 was gonna win this one, but damn did it win. Never before have I been able to say a Mario Kart game looks and sounds amazing. Mario Kart 7 only looked just good enough, though some of the Retros look really bland still, and it only had a few tunes I genuinely liked.
Character Selection
MK8 has more characters, nuff said. Though to me it wasn't that much better of a line-up as it lacked diversity, and it didn't have much of an effect on me since my core 3 from MK7 remained as my favorites. I'm also netrual on the voice work, as Daisy became worse, Lakitu got better and worse, and Yoshi got better. However, I can now play as a light blue yoshi, so I'll just give this one to MK8 aswell hehe.
Modes & Options
Number-wise, MK8 has just one more mode than MK7 being Vs mode, however there's way more options in each individual mode and they generally function better, except battle mode, lol. Not a big deal to me though as racing online takes up 95% of my Mario Kart playing time, so I'm very happy that it's better in 8. It's also more sociable with you being able to become friends with those you just raced against and with Miiverse communitys being intergrated into tournaments.
So currently Mario Kart 8 is wiping the floor with it's predecessor, however there's one thing left to go over, the most important thing, gameplay! Mario Kart would be nothing without it's gameplay afterall, and this is such a broad category that I'll break it down into all the things that come together and make the gameplay what it is.
Stat Balance
Lightweights are perfectly viable in MK7, not so much in MK8. Half of this is due to them screwing up the stat balance. They nerfed the already inferior lightweights, increasing the speed difference between the lightest tier and the heaviest tier from 1 to 2.5, and they made it so speed is mostly determined by the character while acceleration is determined by the vehicle combo, this was also the other way around in MK7. So with lightweights made slower and with any character being able to have high acceleration, the only thing lightweights have going for them is the smaller hitbox, which obviously ain't enough.
Track Selection
This a pretty subjective category since idk what makes a track objectively good, but both games have the same number of tracks and pretty good variety within that number. For me personally though, MK7 wins here. "But Delphin, what about Dolphin Shoals!?" Obviously it's the best track ever, but to sum it up, MK7's tracks are more technical n skill demanding, while MK8's are more flair and bells n whistles. Compare the Music Parks of both games. One is crude looking but technically demanding while the other is pretty but dumbed down a bit. Nothing wrong with that at all, I just prefer MK7 higher input requirement and how I was discovering new strats for quite a while after I first started playing, whereas there were only like 5 strats I picked up shortly after playing MK8 online. Yeah some of those strats in MK7 were glider exploits, but unlike MK8's fire hopping, every combination can perform them glider tricks, and they were only on certain tracks in specific areas. Wasn't too happy that instead of expanding the glider's uses, they essentially put a rock on top of them limiting their functionality. Lastly another good thing about MK7's tracks were it's shortcuts being more plentiful and more significant than the ones found in MK8, but I'll get to that more below.
Item Balance
Probably the biggest factor towards gameplay, as what would Mario Kart be without it's items. You may have seen me praise MK7's near perfect item balance, so I was definitely disappointed with MK8's.
First up, the Blue Shell. Virtually gone is the strategy of intentionally dropping out of first to avoid the Blues. This was awesome because it drastically shifted the pace of the game, what with the brake button suddenly becoming relevant and falling off the track actually being helpful. This also means the Blue Shell can actually help the one who got it catch up with everyone else scrambling to avoid pain. Even when the blue shell isn't on the field, 1st place and those right behind always gotta be considering what to do when the Blue Shell inevitably shows up in someones item slot on the bottom screen. The gamepad does act as this second screen, but not everyone uses the gamepad as their controller, and even when they do they could be playing off tv mode or just not looking at the screen enough, hence why the aforementioned Blue Shell dynamic is non-exsistent. Know what else is non-existent? Blue Shells, well practically, averaging one per game versus two per game in MK7. And no this is not a good thing. What makes Mario Kart awesome is how dynamic and ever changing each race is, but more on that later.
Next is item distribution, and dang did they screw this up. The worse your current position, the better the items you get are, if you're in front, you get defense, if you're in the back, you get things to catch up with. That's how it was in MK7, solid n sensible rubber banding method to keep things close and intense. Throw all that away in MK8, a game where you can get a single Green Shell in near last place while second place gets a Crazy 8. Combine that with the Starman barely increasing your speed, fewer n less significant shortcuts for the Mushrooms, less Blue Shells who have less impact, increased likelyhood of getting hit with only 1 held item and the Coin item leaving you defenseless, and catching up becomes extremely difficult. This means getting into first from the get go is near everything, which pretty well goes against what Mario Kart is about. This is also the other half as to why lightweights aren't too good, because to compete for first from the start of the race requires weight, something they obviously don't have. This is also the case in MK7 of course, but it's not a big deal there since comebacks are common place and lead changes are frequent. In MK8 the winner of the race can literally be determined in the first ten seconds with whoever managing to get into first just front running the rest of the way. To try and nerf first place you can only hold one item, thus discouraging backspam since you could get a coin then wrecked by a red, but really this just makes it harder for lightweights to front run since their low speed means backspam is more important for maintaining the lead. Plus it just makes 1st place boring since all you're doing is hoping they don't get triple reds.
The Verdict
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying MK8's gameplay is bad, I can still enjoy it, just not as much MK7's for it simply isn't as balanced and lacks depth in comparison. So does that mean I'm saying Mario Kart 7 is the better game? Not quite, for while gameplay is a big point, it's not the only thing that matters. I basically like everything else about Mario Kart 8. Love the visuals and music, so glad they brought back bikes, the antigravity is pretty sweet, MKTV better be a permanent feature in the franchise, continued updates with DLC is great for keeping me coming back for more, and being able to interact with the community is probably the best thing as I met lot's of great people and made many awesome friends! So to the point, which is better? I've decided... neither! They each excell in their own ways, neither of which outweighing the other to me, thus we have a draw! Anti-climatic? Perhaps! xD
