The Nintendo Direct on April Fool’s Day showcased the second DLC pack for Mario Kart 8, announcing it would come earlier than expected — April 23rd to be exact. Following the shock of the release date, another trailer came out of nowhere and announced a new racing difficulty for Mario Kart 8: 200cc — talk about breaking the fourth wall.
Nothing in the Nintendo Direct made me yell at my screen quite like those last few moment of the Direct, when 200cc blasted in out of nowhere. Were you even expecting a move like this from Nintendo? I mean, there have always been three racing tiers in the Mario Kart [ 50cc | 100cc | 150cc ] ever since the original: Super Mario Kart.
I literally had to wipe my eyes to make sure I wasn’t dreaming when I saw ‘200cc‘ appear on the screen. (I had a pretty frightening dream about seeing my Wii U in a pawn shop this week, okay — who knows what I could dream up!) After taking a day to talk to some people and gather opinions on this peculiar addition, I’ve come to notice that 200cc in Mario Kart 8 was the best decision Nintendo could have made. Just take a moment to compare the speed difference between 150cc and 200cc.
Mario Kart 8 Takes a Lesson From Hyrule Warriors
Nintendo used Hyrule Warriors as an experiment to dip their toes into the ocean of DLC. The way they approached it was refreshing to see, especially in 2014, when most DLC was pretty much worthless garbage, or severely overpriced — or both!
Mario Kart 8 is taking a tip from Hyrule Warriors and releasing 200cc in a free update with the next DLC.
Each Hyrule Warriors payed DLC pack accompanied free updates that expanded the game in various ways, such as increasing the level cap or completely fleshing out Challenge Mode.
Mario Kart 8 is taking a tip from Hyrule Warriors and releasing 200cc in a free update alongside the second payed DLC pack. It will be like a whole new game again.
200cc Brings New Life to Mario Kart 8
Not only do we get 8 completely new tracks the day this patch launches, but the existing 40 tracks could change drastically in 200cc, as far as “cutting corners” goes. We’ll all have to go back to the Time Trials and figure out how to handle this new speed on the Mario Kart 8 courses we thought we were so familiar with.
Not only does this beg the question of AI-intensity in Offline Play, but I can’t imagine how 200cc will effect Online Play, or the intensity of the Tournements. How do you think it will play out? Either way, I’m excited to get my hands on it — Nintendo has really hit a home run with this one.
Nintendo is Mixing Up Their A-Game
This isn’t the only proof that Nintendo is going through huge changes, though it certainly confirms it. Nintendo’s recent partnership with DeNA basically threw everything we knew about them until now out the window. Sure, adding an extra difficulty may not seem like a big deal, but the developers at Nintendo are known as “creatures of habit”. Once they find something that works really well, they stick with it until they run it into the dirt and pick up something new again — except that this cycle often takes up to a decade or more with Nintendo.
It’s obvious Nintendo is really picking at ideas outside of the box, and I’m really interested to see what the future holds. It’s nearly impossible to predict what they are going to pull out of their sleeves next.
