This afternoon, I held my 4th (and likely final) Mario Kart 8 get-together. Squishy and Qwerty joined in as we raced on the original courses and DLC tracks. I played as Link, Qwerty played as Shy Guy, and Squishy started out as Rosalina. We raced in four cups (although Squishy left after the third one), and I’ll give a brief recap of each cup. I chose 100cc for all of today’s races.
Cup #1
SNES Donut Plains 3 was the first race, and Qwerty raced ahead for a big win. Squishy and I battled back and forth, with me passing her in the final turn for 2nd place. DS Wario Stadium was next, and it was a fun, competitive race. All three of us were bunched together the entire race. Qwerty won the race, and I got third…but less than one second separated us all.
Hyrule Circuit (The Legend of Zelda DLC track) was the third race, and I led most of the way. Until the final straightaway, that is, when I got hit by a red shell and Qwerty passed me for the win. Ouch.
A banana peel or shell would have saved me, but coins were the only power-ups I got in the final lap. Mount Wario was the final race of the cup, and Squishy beat out Qwerty for the win. I was in a distant third place, unable to mount a comeback. Here are the final standings for the first cup:
Cup #2
Sunshine Airport was the first course here, and it was another fun, close match. It came down to the end, with Squishy winning the race and me coming in 2nd. 3DS Music Park was next, and Qwerty beat us for an easy win. Squishy passed me up at the end for 2nd place.
Mount Wario came up again as the third race, and just like the first time, Squishy won and I finished last. The cup wrapped up with the Animal Crossing track, which took place in winter this time. Squishy was the one crossing the finish line first, while Qwerty got 2nd, and I finished last once again.
Squishy won this cup. Here are the final standings:
Cup #3
The third cup started out with N64 Rainbow Road–always a fun track. We had a close race, but Qwerty came away with the win and I got 3rd place. Excitebike Arena was next: Squishy won the race, and I got 2nd place. But before the third race, aliens abducted Qwerty and Squishy!
It must have been a brief connection issue. They were able to rejoin almost immediately, but their scores for this cup were reset. GCN Dry Dry Desert was the next course, and Qwerty won the race. I got 2nd, while Squishy (now playing as Isabelle) finished in 3rd. Mute City was the final race of the cup, and Qwerty again won and I came in 2nd.
Despite being the only one who kept credit for all four races, I still didn’t win the cup. 😀 Qwerty got the win.
Cup #4
Squishy left before this cup, so I announced to Qwerty that this would be my final cup. Qwerty easily beat me in Excitebike Arena, Electrodome, and N64 Yoshi Valley. For the final race, I had trouble deciding on a course. Time ran out on me, while my cursor happened to be on Wii Moo Moo Meadows. That was the chosen course, and surprisingly, I actually won. That was my only win of the entire get-together. 😀
Here are the final standings for this cup:
Final Thoughts
Thanks to Qwerty and Squishy for coming and racing today. It was fun, especially those races that were really close. I did horrible, but that’s nothing new for me. I never got into Mario Kart 8 the same way I got into Mario Kart Wii, and I never got as good at the game (not that I was great at MKW either).
I’m not planning any more get-togethers for Mario Kart 8, but I’m sure I’ll do more once the next game comes out (probably on NX).
I won’t be posting any videos of today’s races, but here is one of my older MK8 videos: It shows what the Animal Crossing track looks like in each season.