The big thread of all the new recently announced Mario Kart 8 news

[Mario3DWorld777]

I apologize if there's a thread for this already, but I searched and couldn't find any.

Today marks only one more month until the next generation of Mario Karting, Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U! And Nintendo surprised us big time with a Nintendo Direct!

There were a bunch of things announced today, like voice chat, new characters, and much more!

Here's the big list of things announced today:

-Voice Chat: chat through text or voice using the Wii U GamePad microphone. Only for friend rooms.
-New characters: A grand total of 30 characters will be in Mario Kart 8. Today, Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach were announced. Miis will also be playable again.
-New tracks were shown off.
-Online multiplayer detailed. You can host tournaments, race worldwide, regional, or with friends. There'll also be leaderboards for tournaments.
-A Mario Kart 8 Wii U Deluxe set will launch alongside the game for $329.99, and it includes everything in the Wii U deluxe plus a copy of Mario Kart 8, a red steering wheel, and red Mario Wii remote Plus.
-Register Mario Kart 8 (retail or digital version) on Club Nintendo between May 30th and July 31st and get a download code to download New Super Mario Bros. U, The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Pikmin 3, or Wii Party U (only 1 of them) for FREE.
-Mario Kart TV lets players upload videos of races in 30, 45, or 60 second form to Miiverse and YouTube.
-New items: Crazy 8 surrounds the player with 8 items at once, Super Horn unleashes a blast that can stop any item (even blue shells!) and blow other nearby drivers away.

Here's a list of all of the characters.

Mario
Luigi
Peach
Yoshi
Daisy
Wario
Waluigi
Donkey Kong
Bowser
Toad
Toadette
Koopa Troopa
Baby Mario
Baby Luigi
Baby Peach
Baby Daisy
Rosalina
Shy Guy
Lakitu
Metal Mario
Mii

New characters:

Lemmy
Larry
Wendy
Ludwig
Iggy
Roy
Morton
Baby Rosalina
Pink Gold Peach

Mario Kart 8 will also feature 16 brand new tracks and 16 tracks from past Mario Kart games. These are the 32 tracks, in the exact order:

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
Dolphin Shoals
Electrodrome
Mount Wario

Special Cup

Cloudtop Cruise
Bone Dry Dunes
Bowser's Castle
Rainbow Road

Shell Cup

Wii Moo Moo Meadows
GBA Mario Circuit
DS Cheep Cheep Beach
N64 Toad's Turnpike

Banana Cup

GCN Dry Dry Desert
SNES Donut Plains 3
N64 Royal Raceway
3DS DK Jungle

Leaf Cup

DS Wario Stadium
GCN Sherbet Land
3DS Music Park
N64 Yoshi Valley

Lightning Cup

DS Tick Tock Clock
3DS Piranha Plant Slide
Wii Grumble Volcano
N64 Rainbow Road

I am REALLY hyped for this game!! Every bit of new info increases my hype level! The music in this game sounds great, and N64 Rainbow Road's new soundtrack is amazing!

I guess we can chat here about MK8 stuff. Again, sorry if there's already a thread about this. :/

 

[RhinoK]

Yoshi Valley

YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
OH YM DEAR LORD YES THIS WAS MY FAVOURITE TRACK OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOSHI VALLEY

oh and royal raceway I BETTER BE ABLE TO GO TO PEACH'S CASTLE

Can someone explain thi PinK Gold Peach thing
just why

 

[Fuzzbyroo]

I can't wait until it comes out! I'm really happy with the classic stages that they've brought in! ^^

 

[Byngo]

I'm really excited for Tick Tock Clock. That was my fav course ever! <3 looking forward to Baby Rosalina aswell. I think she'll be really cute c:

 

[chillv]

<<<I find it weird that they removed this guy (Bowser Jr.)

 

[Zeiro]

who the heck is pink gold peach?

 

[Jake]

still dont know if imma buy this.

 

[Javocado]

who the heck is pink gold peach?

an atrocity
just a counterpart for metal mario
but i guess they didnt want to call her metal peach bc that sounds funny lol

 

[ForgottenT]

I might buy a Wii U for mario kart 8 and Smash Bros

 

[Zeiro]

the only reason they put metal mario and lakitu into MK7 was because they got lazy with the characters. they just recolored mario and slapped lakitu into a kart. now we got another clone.

 

[Solar]

I know I'm in the minority here but I actually really like both Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach, (although I wish they would have called her Rose Gold Peach instead, it has a better ring to it). Overall I'm really happy with the roster. I couldn't ask for better tracks either, they ALL look so amazing!!

 

[RainbowNotes]

I agree with benmjy I am very excited to play as Pink Gold Peach and baby Rosalina! They're both so cute.

 

[Javocado]

no king boo ftw

 

[Zeo]

Oooh. I'm excited to see the seven Koopalings get to be a playable character in Mario Kart 8.

Baby Rosalina is a cute idea as well.

I like Gold Peach and Metal Mario, but it tell that the developers are getting quite lazy and just used the same model and just slapped on different texture.

 

[Jinglefruit]

Slightly under the radar, but the balloon battle system was also shown recently ~ not in the direct. GameXplain show gameplay of it and also show that instead of having different battle courses we just battle on the existing 32 tracks. < Which most people are dissappointed by, but I like the idea. ~ though I hope each course can be played backwards in this case, it'll be annoying if some of the jumps are only one way during these. Also some people thing larger courses may see us bein stuck in a restricted area.

Also a poster in the background of the direct is titled the ladies of racing and features Daisy, Peach, Rosalina, Wendy and BIRDO. So there will probably be more characters to unlock. Although this seems odd as according to Nintendo of Japan Birdo is male.

 

[Mario3DWorld777]

I'll say my opinion now.

I don't really mind Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach, but I do think Pink Gold Peach could've been someone else. :/ but I've been waiting for a Baby Rosalina to appear in a game.

 

[Jinglefruit]

I'll say my opinion now.

I don't really mind Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach, but I do think Pink Gold Peach could've been someone else. :/ but I've been waiting for a Baby Rosalina to appear in a game.

You were expecting a baby Rosalina? I preferred to think of her as some mysterious space being. Now it's like she's just another human.
I feel with Pink Gold Peach, they should have just given everyone an alternate metal skin, instead of having 2 separate characters. Though it would have been silly having metal minions as well. You'd be able to have races where every character is a spiny turtle.

 

[Kaiaa]

This was inevitable and I might just have to get it

 

[N64dude]

The anti-gravity system in MK8 looks pretty awesome. and YES N64 RAINBOW ROAD IS BACK .

 

[Javocado]

The pros greatly outweigh the cons in this game and i'm happy to say I will be purchasing it on May 30th!
I hope it leads to a resurgence of Wii U sales bc the bundle and a free download is clever.