So are any of you trying out Mario Kart 8 today or tomorrow?

Be sure to tell us everything, man! Sadly, I will not be playing it. I hope you have fun, dude!

Lucky you

I payed full price for Sticker Star and spent 3 weeks crying... 3 weeks, man!

Still, this game is bound to be a blast! I'm sure it will deliver. Make sure to dedicate your first blocked Spiny Shell to the forum!

Ok, I played it for a couple hours. All the races were 100cc, all characters were available, and Mario Kart Stadium, Mario Circuit, Sunshine Airport, Electrodrome, Water Park, Sweet Sweet Canyon, Toad Harbor, and Cloudtop Cruise were the available tracks. I got first on most of the races I played; Blue Shells aren't as frequent or effective, but opponents can catch up easier similar to MK64 (at least from my experience). It's also easier for you to catch up as well, and the Super Horn, while rare, is obtainable in first place as I got it a couple times. The most I've blocked with it is a Red Shell, since no Blue Shells came when I had one.

It's still possible to get a bad-luck streak, but not nearly as bad as MKW. A couple of times I got hit by a red and then a blue, causing me to end up in 3rd. As for technical things like stats, I'm not a competitive Mario Kart player who pays much attention to anything but hauling ass and getting first. I had a few "oh fuck" moments, like hopping over the gliding boost and falling off rather than doing a trick like I was trying to do.

I played as Waluigi mostly, but also used Lakitu, Luigi, every Koopaling except Wendy, Wario, and Bowser. I swear Baby Rosalina loves to take revenge. I noticed every time I owned her with an item, she would always screw me over at the end of the race and make me come in 3rd or 4th, lol. After each race you get to see the highlights, as most of you probably know already. Oddly, I got the Super Horn and even the Crazy Eight more times than I got the boomerang. I don't recall what places you could get the lucky 7 in MK7 but I swear I got a Crazy Eight in third place in MK8. Cloudtop Cruise was my favorite track so far, it was just perfect: the music made it even better. The amount of detail in the tracks is really amazing; I glided into the "Mario Kart" sign over the finish line in Mario Circuit and knocked it forward on its hinges.

Overall amazing game; the roster is atrocious but the rest of the game is breathtakingly beautiful. With some DLC to fix the roster this could be a perfect Mario Kart game. I definitely recommend it.

Electrodrome, like all the other tracks, was amazing. That was the one, however, where I hopped over the gliding boosts. Still, I think it was the most visually impressive, with all the lights beating to the music and such. Even the Piranha Plants were covered in lights! I can't wait to try out the new Rainbow Road and Bowser's Castle, also N64 Rainbow Road and the other retro courses.