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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

WonderCon Mario Kart 8 Racing and Gaming



Over four hundred licenses were issued Friday by Nintendo for Mario Kart 8 at WonderCon 2014. The picture might be unflattering and it being the size of a standard photograph instead of a license a bit strange. It may only work in the Mushroom Kingdom. It says "NOT A VAILD DRIVER'S LICENSE" in capital letters underneath your picture and the ESRB has it down for Comic Mischief with Mario or the character of your choosing blazing across a track on it. It is still something to show another Nintendo fan and say, "Oh, do you not have one? It's because you're not a real racer or a fan." Then you should jump on your kart and drive away.

Mario Kart 8 was playable alongside many soon to be released Nintendo titles at their WonderCon booth over the last three-day weekend in Anaheim. Mario Kart 8 was the main draw, but there were other titles to demo.

Nintendo fans could play Kirby Triple Deluxe for 3DS, where Kirby has the new ability called Hypernova, allowing him to inhale exponentially. Though Kirby sucks more than ever before the game doesn't.

Mario Golf: World Tour for 3DS had me playing as the villainous Bowser and friendly Yoshi on courses around the Mushroom Kingdom. I'm not that good at the game, Yoshi hid in his egg form when I took too many strokes and Bowser nearly busted my 3DS screen. The animations were cute and saddening at my status of not being up to par.  Mushroom Kingdom levels remixed for golf courses always allow for major distractions.

Those who played Nintendo titles got special promo items. If you played on a 2DS you would get a blue or red 2DS case. If you tried a 3DS, a Mario Kart 8 lanyard was yours.

Mario Kart 8 was of course the big draw. It wasn't just the free licenses that Nintendo printed out or the photo area with a Mario Kart for you to take your picture on. It was the races. Fans as Princess Peach, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Mario and more raced on tracks now with hover abilities, letting their karts go almost anywhere.

The biggest news is this Mario Kart will be the first Nintendo developed titled for the Wii U with online multi-player. Race fans can once again battle their friends across the globe without their 3DS or last console Wii.

Nintendo booth members spouted special Mario Kart 8 shirts in blue in white fashion. Many attendees wanted those as promos. The game comes out May 30th.


Bandai Namco was also offering up its titles to the masses with demos for Dark Souls II and Dynasty Warrior Reborn 2. Booth workers told me that Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution was the most played demo at the booth. Ninja fighters never get tiring.  When I was talking to booth workers the demo for Dark Souls II was bit longer.