Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sets new record

[Julius Seeker]

It’s now the highest selling unbundled game for a single platform in Nintendo’s history.

Here are the best selling Mario Kart games of all time:

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NS) - 38.74m
Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 37.38m
Mario Kart DS (DS) - 23.60m
Mario Kart 7 (3DS) - 18.95m
Mario Kart 64 (N64) - 9.87m
Super Mario Kart (SNES) - 8.76m
Mario Kart 8 (WiiU) - 8.46m
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GCN) - 6.88m
Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA) - 5.91m
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (NS) - 1.27m

It’s easy to write this one off as just a port of Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, but it’s quite a bit more than that. With the Nintendo Switch, no longer is local multiplayer limited to a split screen affair, and no longer is local multiplayer limited to 4 players. Instead, it can go up to 12, and if there are less than 12, connecting to the Internet can fill the remaining slots with human players online instead of CPUs. The original game didn’t feature a proper battle mode. The local multiplayer additions are (IMO) significantly more valuable than any of the extra content—the heart and soul of Mario Kart has always been local multiplayer.

It’ll likely remain the best selling game on Switch, but Animal Crossing: New Horizons is hot on its tail at 34.85 million. Especially with a massive expansion released today. But I can’t see any game surpassing Mario Kart 8 DX as the #1 office lunch hour title any time soon - Among Us was (and remains) probably the best shot.

The game sold around 1.7 million during the summer to finally break Mario Kart Wii’s record. The interesting thing about Mario Kart Wii was its longevity, it continued selling for years after the Wii had been replaced.

[Eric]

I've never been able to enjoy Mario Kart games, my competitive brain hates that if you're in first there's a good chance some RNG bullshit is going to CC you into oblivion due to CPU rubberbanding and item RNG and cost you the race lol.

[Don]

I don't like them because I think the later ones turns it into where if you power slide you're strictly faster or something like that and that seems like you might as well ask people to input a dragon punch motion for a speed boost. In the original version power slide is slower than making a turn that you could make without going out of bounds since you have to travel a larger distance to power slide so you only use it on a turn you couldn't make and you could overtake someone who power slide pointlessly by just driving normally.

To Eric's point, I assume the RNG items are for like party flavor because otherwise if you're against someone who has a higher or equal speed class that's ahead you pretty much will never catch up. But I think that's how driving game should be, though to be fair it's not like it takes all that much skill to drive someone in a high top speed class so it just means certain characters are more powerful once you get used to how to make difficult turns.

[Julius Seeker]

For me, the appeal of Mario Kart has always been its local multiplayer. The Switch version allows for 12 people to play at once, and you can fill the extra slots with online multiplayer, so rarely do I actually ever play against CPUs myself. For me, single player Mario Kart is like single player Secret of Mana, what’s the point?
But as a local multiplayer game it’s one of my favourites.

While power sliding was fairly overpowered in Mario Kart DS, it’s diminished to the third or fourth most valuable tool in the arsenal in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Slipstreaming is probably the best, with gold mushrooms being next, and powersliding being next. You probably shouldn’t power slide at all when playing the pack game as it opens you up to green shell hits. But it really depends on the track, like power sliding is most valuable on Yoshi Valley with all its different paths and turns.

Eric’s complaint isn’t a rare one, I’ve heard it before. But I think the “rubber banding” excuse is just something players use to explain why they’re not winning. A great Mario Kart player is generally going to win nearly every single race they play if no other great players are present. Sorry Eric

While racing skill is important, Mario Kart isn’t just about racing tracks. Players who are great racers, but suck at all the other elements of the game are only going to benefit from being in first… the moment they get shot down, they’re done, because they won’t have the skill to get back up. Being in the pack (generally places 3-10) is dangerous, players are going to get hit frequently if they don’t defend and drive more elusively/aggressively. But those who are great at the pack game are going to break out ahead and have a shot at 1st or 2nd place.

The pack game isn’t just about shooting up opponents either. One of the strategies is placing yourself correctly to get the better items - the further back you are, the better the items… but if the pack is long, this isn’t going to be of much value. The other elements to get good in the pack game are things like slipstreaming and bumping opponents for big speed boosts when in hover mode. Players good at the pack game will get up to the front of the pack rather easily. But they’re also going to need to be good at the racing game to get out ahead and have a shot at first. Mario Kart is designed in a way that first place ignoring defence is going to get shot down easily, but those who are great at defence may keep first the entire race, or at least be able to muscle out any challengers along the way.

In short, a great Mario Kart player needs to be able to be great at racing, great at the battle game, great at the defence and elusive/aggressive driving game, and great at the speed bonus game. If those types of players are in a game, it’s probable they’re going to win every single game. Of course, even players who aren’t that great may be great on certain tracks - I know a few old school players who are just really good on the original Rainbow road, but not really any other tracks. People who played Mario Kart 7 a lot generally have an advantage on those tracks… well, had, anyone who’s been playing 8DX since it released in 2017 will likely have caught up in skill.

[Eric]

Eric’s complaint isn’t a rare one, I’ve heard it before. But I think the “rubber banding” excuse is just something players use to explain why they’re not winning. A great Mario Kart player is generally going to win nearly every single race they play if no other great players are present. Sorry Eric

Pah! I'm not arrogant enough to believe you couldn't become good and be consistent @ Mario Kart, but the nature of it being a party game means I'm not really trying to invest in it like that! Went down that rabbit hole with Smash, never again rofl.

[Julius Seeker]

I do agree that Mario Kart without the party element becomes a lot less interesting. The game isn’t as interesting as an RPG or strategy game for a single player.

It’s appeal is definitely in its local multiplayer, and that’s been true since the very first game.