Title: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Cost: $59.99
Rating: Suitable for all ages
Score: 10/10
If you're in the market for a game that's appropriate for the whole family and for players of any skill level, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe should be at the top of the list.
I got the chance to dive into this game over the holidays and experience firsthand its wide-ranging appeal. The Mario Kart series has always been fun -- the series has sold more than 100 million copies in its 25-year history -- and the kart racing games on older consoles still hold lots of enjoyment years later. It has been 20 years since Mario Kart 64 debuted, and it's still one of my favorite games.
For the unfamiliar, players take control of characters from the Mario universe (and other Nintendo franchises) and race around a variety of tracks against as many as 11 opponents, while collecting items that can hinder opponents or aid the player. For example, thrown banana peels cause spinouts, and red koopa turtle shells act as homing missiles, while mushrooms provide a burst of speed.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe takes the best features from its long history. The not-deluxe version of the game came out for the Wii U in 2014 and was remastered into its current form for the Nintendo Switch. Besides all previously released downloadable content, the deluxe version adds more content, gameplay tweaks and 1080p graphics at a full 60 frames per second. (1080p is a high-definition video format.)
That adds up to 48 racing courses and 42 playable characters from across the Nintendo spectrum, with characters not only from Mario games (such as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Bowser) but also Donkey Kong, Link from Legend of Zelda and the Inklings from its Splatoon series.
The game isn't limited to just racing, either. There's an improved Battle Mode, where players race around a custom map using items to try to pop balloons tied to other players' karts. The Wii U version fell short on this feature, while the deluxe version created eight new and much improved maps for it. In Bob-Omb Blast, all items are replaced with bombs that players throw at each other. In Shine Thief, one player must hold onto the Shine Sprite while everyone else teams up to take it from him. Whoever then picks it up becomes the target of the other players. The battle mode Renegade Roundup is essentially a game of cops and robbers -- players are divided into authority and renegade teams in a high-octane version of tag.
While it's fun to race by yourself against the computer and try to improve a top score or track speed, the most fun comes from adding other players into the mix. This is another area where Mario Kart 8 Deluxe shines.
The Nintendo Switch uses a pair of hand-held controllers -- called joy-cons -- that work in tandem and use buttons and motion sensors. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe gives players the option to separate them -- meaning that to play co-op with a friend or family member, there's no need to buy a second controller. If you do have two controllers, they can be separated to allow four players to play simultaneously, with each player getting one-fourth of the TV screen. The game can also be played online, with racers battling other players from around the world.
The controllers can be operated either by using buttons and the joystick on each to steer, or with motion controls -- the controller is held like a steering wheel, and tilting it to the right or left guides the kart around the track. There are steering-wheel accessories available that you slide the controller into for the motion control option.
The Switch is Nintendo's most powerful console yet, and it makes the deluxe version's updated graphics really stand out. They're bright, bold and colorful -- so much so that they could even make you a little dizzy, especially on Rainbow Road, which is a swirling smorgasbord of neon lights.
I'd say my favorite aspect, though, is how the game has been made accessible for players of any skill level. Each player can enable or disable certain auto-assist controls. One of those is auto-accelerate -- rather than having to hold down a button to keep moving forward, the game does this for you. It's a real thumb-saver, as pressing down on a button for a long time can start to get pretty uncomfortable or even painful. And for anyone who has problems such as carpal tunnel, it's a godsend.
The second feature is "smart steering," which allows players to play while doing nothing more than pressing the "A" button for jumps. Smart steering prevents you from bumping into walls or running off the track, and combined with auto-accelerate, it's possible to finish a map without touching the controls.
It really opens up the game to the inexperienced, leveling the playing field. My first Mario Kart opponent was a 7-year-old for whom the advanced controls were too much. Smart steering made for a much more positive experience, and the features are activated for each player individually, so we could customize our controls to suit ourselves.
If you have a Switch, this is one of the essential games to get. If past games are any indication, it can provide years of entertainment.
ActiveStyle on 02/05/2018