Mario Kart 8 Gameplay News: Developers Reveal Two Rainbow Road Tracks and Discuss Antigravity Speed Boosts
Mario Kart 8 is closer to being released and recently the game's director Kosuke Yabuki and producer Hideki Kono sat down to discuss some key aspects of the game.
According to Polygon, the two were at a round table discussion, and prominently spoke about the new antigravity tracks that will allow racers to climb walls and drive upside down.
"One of the things you'll see with the later courses is antigravity being given to the player as an option, so you'll be driving on the course, and now the course branches off and you can either continue driving on the ground, or maybe go into the antigravity area to avoid an enemy or pick up an extra block," Kono said at the roundtable. "You might decide you want to take a different route that has a boost that allows you to take off and use your glider. So with the addition of the antigravity feature, we've been able to add more variety to the course design, and it fundamentally changes the player's strategy."
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Another interesting aspect is the speed boost that players now get when colliding in the antigravity zone. This adds a whole new element to the strategy of the game.
"One thing that's always happened in previous Mario Karts is if you're racing a light character and you bump into a big character like Bowser, you were at a disadvantage," Yabuki said. "However, with the antigravity section, and again the ability to give a speed boost from actually running into someone, even the lighter characters are able to strategize around using the antigravity sections to either keep the playing field even or to give them an advantage. So it does alter the strategy."
GameSpot reported the two executives also spoke about the beloved Rainbow Road track. In this game there will be two of them, with one being a remake of the classic N64 course.
"Rainbow Road of course is a classic course. This time we actually grabbed Rainbow Road N64 version in addition to the current iteration of Rainbow Road," Yabuki said. "So we hope you look forward to racing on both of those courses."
He continued, "One thing I do want to mention is Rainbow Road, that final course. We really want you to look forward to what we've done to it this time because it's something else."
The Wii U Racing Wheel for Mario Kart 8 is now available for pre-order at GameStop. The $9.99 wheel was intially not available in the U.S., but was recently rolled out as a global promotion.
Called the "PowerA" accessory, it encases the Wii Remote in the middle of it. The controller wheel looks just like a race car wheel and is white to match the consoles and its controllers.
The new racing wheel, while almost identical in size and shape, actually features some artwork on it. The Mario Kart 8 logo along with a picture of the plumber in his car are on the wheel. See a picture comparison of the old and new here and here.
The game will be released for the Wii U and 3DS on May 30.
