Mario Kart 8 | "DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!"

Yep, Nintendo is swinging for the fences with all their might with these Directs and as crazy as it sounds to those who wan the console to simply roll over and die (it won’t), it looks as if they’re going to make the Wii U a system its owners can be proud of no matter how it does against the competition. Granted, by all accounts I’ve read, Mario Kart 8 isn’t breaking any “new” ground other than being the first in the series to run in glorious HD. On the other hand, it also shows that no one knows what its customers want in a returning and eagerly awaited franchise like this than Nintendo. Could it use MORE characters like (Smash Bros.), some actual gameplay innovations and perhaps better support for that GamePad? Sure, why not try to sell more copies to people who might still be on the fence about that shiny black or white console of yours? Of course, the game will sell millions as it is and doesn’t need me to tell you die-hards anything at all about what it “needs” to do.

Then again, the oddball launch strategy for the 3DS and Wii U versions does have me a tad worried. Then again, second guessing Nintendo seems to be a silly proposition (with a few exceptions where I’ve been correct, ha ha). Between this and the company skipping the usual E3 press briefing for a big Direct presentation (more on that later today), following its own muse is the best thing the company has done in a while. Methinks 2014 is going to be a worm-turning phase for that beleaguered console some have already written off, but it’ll take a LOT of sales in a market packed with too many other grand distractions…

While a few previews I’ve perused say it’s more or less the same old Mario Kart in terms of gameplay, on the visual front at least, Nintendo has a killer game here. Now, I’m not a big fan of this series because I prefer more realistic looking racers and have been karted out for years thanks to too many sessions with older entries in this franchise. But it’s hard to ignore those shiny (finally) CG-quality visuals doing their thing (and how!). Granted, the Wii U needs more than one game to push its sales numbers up and this one will indeed sell to fans of the games and maybe even move a few folks to finally commit to purchasing the console. On the other hand, at the rate new first-party games are dropping on the console, Nintendo will need to hope this one blows the doors off anything else released in May just so sales are steady or at least massive within the first month. As always, we shall see, but I predict yet another “evergreen” for the company that sells for as long as they continue to make games for the console.