We have an updated listing of all confirmed tracks for Mario Kart 8 thus far. Check it out below:
Mushroom Cup
- Mario Kart Stadium
- Water Park
- Sweet Sweet Canyon
- Thwomp Ruins
Flower Cup
- Mario Circuit
- Toad Harbor
- Twisted Mansion
- Shy Guy Falls
Star Cup
- Sunshine Airport
- Electrodome
- ???
- ???
Special Cup
- ???
- ???
- ???
- ???
Unassigned Tracks
- Bone Dry Ruins
- Cloudtop Cruise
- Dolphin Shoals
GameSpot has published a series of articles featuring commentary from Mario Kart 8 producer Hideki Konno and director Kosuke Yabuki. During a roundtable session held at GDC last month, the two touched on the game’s graphics, balance, brand new Rainbow Road course, and more. You can find the Q&A roundup below.
Update: Debunked. The quote now reads:
“Let me think about that. Well the Metal Gear series is always coming in and out of my ‘field’. We have put bids out on it a couple of times. Raiden was always a character that I had wanted to play. I did end up playing him on PlayStation All-Stars (*amended at the request of Mr.Langdon); so I actually did kind of end up playing him eventually (* Amended- Reuben here is referring to playing Raiden in Mocap- not as a voice actor). But NOT to the extent that he exists in the other games.”
Original: I’m only going to mention this in passing – at least for now – since this may be a misunderstanding or plain confusion. But as the title reads, there’s talk of Raiden playing some sort of role in the new Smash Bros.
When asked in a recent interview about a franchise he’d like to appear in, voice actor Reuben Langdon said:
Let me think about that. Well the Metal Gear series is always coming in and out of my ‘field’. We have put bids out on it a couple of times. Raiden was always a character that I had wanted to play. I did end up playing him on Super Smash Bros; so I did end up playing him eventually. NOT to the extent that he is in the other games.
Langdon’s comments have led to speculation that Raiden will be in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be playable though, nor does it exactly confirm Snake’s appearance. I’d personally advise taking all of this with a grain of salt until we have some sort of clarification.
This week’s North American Nintendo Downloads are as follows:
3DS Retail
Super Monkey Ball 3D
3DS Download
Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball – free
Mystery Case Files Dire Grove
Mystery Case Files Ravenhearst
Wii U Virtual Console
Metroid Fusion – $7.99
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga – $7.99
Advance Wars – $7.99
Wii U Download
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition – $19.99
Evofish – $4.99
eShop sale
Buy Dr. Mario, get $5 off Dr. Luigi in the Nintendo eShop for a limited time – Is there a doctor in the house? How about two? If you buy or already own the classic puzzle game Dr. Mario from the Virtual Console service in the Nintendo eShop on the Wii U console, you can get $5 off the purchase price of its sibling game Dr. Luigi in the Nintendo eShop starting today at 9 a.m. PT until April 10 at 8:59 a.m. PT.
Source: Nintendo PR
This is something that we covered in our Mario Kart 8 press release today, though this nugget deserves a bit of extra attention.
Yep – Mario Kart 8 does in fact feature music recorded by live performers. It’s not for all tracks, but it’s a fantastic addition in any case!
Live recorded music: For the first time in the Mario Kart series, select courses in Mario Kart 8 feature music recorded by live performers.
Remember how Retro Studios contributed to some of the retro tracks in Mario Kart 7? Well, that seems to have been a one time thing. While not absolutely confirmed, a Nintendo representative indicated to NintendoWorldReport that Retro Studios is not involved with Mario Kart 8.
Despite rumors to the contrary, Mario Kart 8 will not include a track editor. Producer Hideki Konno finds the idea interesting, though implementing such functionality would be difficult, he explained during a roundtable held at GDC.
Konno started out by stating that allowing gamers to design Mario Kart 8 tracks is “a fun feature” and something he’s “been interested in for a long time”, he said. “However, with Mario Kart, course creation is key to the series, and it’s really tough.”
Konno added:
