Mario Kart 8 director on why arenas were replaced with tracks in Battle Mode
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 93 Comments
Mario Kart 8 introduces a major change for Battle Mode. For the first time, tracks from the main game are used as opposed to dedicated arenas.
You might be wondering why Nintendo decided to implement such a drastic alteration for Battle Mode. Kosuke Yabuki, director of the title, did explain the thought process to EDGE this month.
Yabuki said the following when asked why the team replaced arenas with tracks:
We’ve changed the style of Battle mode for Mario Kart 8 to use circuits that lots of people can play on. Players won’t know when a rival will appear from around a corner, which will bring a new sense of excitement and strategy to this mode. In terms of rules, we designed it for playing with 12 players, including the CPU. In the beginning, you have to defeat the CPU players and earn your score, and towards the end it becomes a battle between just human players. That’s the real thrill of it! It should also be a fresh experience for users to be able to race backwards around the circuits they are familiar with. I’m sure there will be a few people who aren’t so sure about us moving away from how we’ve done things previously, but I hope they try it out for themselves first. I’m sure it will be a new experience for everyone, [and] like no other battles in Mario Kart before
Thanks to joclo for the tip.
More: interview, Kosuke Yabuki, Mario Kart 8, top
Mario Kart 8 team pushed Wii U to its limits, but dev says the console “still has a lot of potential left”
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 58 Comments
Mario Kart 8 manages to push the “Wii U’s capabilities to their limits”, director Kosuke Yabuki has said. Still, Yabuki believes that the console “has a lot of potential left, and I suspect there are more ways to make use of its capabilities that we haven’t even imagined.”
Yabuki shared these remarks while speaking with EDGE this month. His full comments can be found below, which came about when asked how he thinks the team pushed the Wii U hardware.
More: interview, Kosuke Yabuki, Mario Kart 8, top
Mario Kart 8 devs talk game’s graphics and using Wii U’s power, balance, original Rainbow Road is “really spectacular”, more
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 6 Comments
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.
