Jeff's Gaming Blog

My 2nd Mario Kart 8 get-together was held today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Cup #1

Josh, Jose, and Tom41 joined for the first cup of the day. That’s a much smaller turnout than I was expecting, especially when you consider Mario Kart 8 is still a fairly recent release. (Most of my Mario Kart Wii races had bigger turnouts even when the game was 4+ years old). But a few races in, DaBraxMan also joined in, giving us five racers. But Tom either left or disconnected prior to the final race, so the final standings for the first cup were:

1. Jose – 15 pts.
2. Josh – 14 pts.
3. Jeff – 11 pts.
4. DaBraxMan – 5 pts.

Cup #2

Even though I played some random worldwide races last night and did pretty well, I wasn’t doing as good in the friend races today. I think the people on my roster must be pretty good. Tom rejoined for the second cup; here are the results:

1. Jose – 20 pts.
2. Josh – 18 pts.
3. DaBraxMan – 11 pts.
4. Jeff – 10 pts.
5. Tom41 – 5 pts.

Cup #3

On the first race of the third cup, I accidentally picked GCN Dry Dry Desert when I meant to pick SNES Donut Plains 3. And of course, my accidental choice ended up winning the random selection. Josh and I were both playing as Waluigi; early in the race we bumped into each other and then both veered a bit off-course at the same place.

1. Josh – 18 pts.
2. DaBraxMan – 17 pts.
3. Jose – 13 pts.
4. Jeff – 11 pts.
5. Tom41 – 5 pts.

Cup #4

In the fourth cup, I had a few races where I was doing very well to start out, only to mess up badly towards the end of each race. I finished dead last in this cup. By the way, Tom41 has uploaded a video of the MKTV highlights of the N64 Yoshi Valley race from this cup. You can view it here.

1. Josh – 21 pts.
2. DaBraxMan – 11 pts.
3. Tom41 – 11 pts.
4. Jose – 7 pts.
5. Jeff – 6 pts.

Cup #5

Before the fifth cup, Tom left. We only had four racers as I won my first (and only) race of the day, 3DS Music Park.

Jose left (or disconnected) after that race, but returned for the final race of the cup. Also, mlninten97 joined in, so we had five racers once again. I finished 4th in the final race, but third in the overall standings for the cup. Of course that’s only because Jose and mlninten97 only got credit for one race.

1. Josh – 15 pts.
2. DaBraxMan – 14 pts.
3. Jeff – 10 pts.
4. mlninten97 – 3 pts.
5. Jose – 1 pt.

Cup #6

As for the sixth and final cup, here is a video of the whole thing. At the end of the video, there’s also a MKTV highlight reel of Toad Harbor, a race from the fourth cup.

Here are the results:

1. DaBraxMan – 20 pts.
2. Josh – 16 pts.
3. Jeff – 12 pts.
4. Jose – 11 pts.
5. mlninten97 – 5 pts.

I had fun at the races, although I still need more practice if I’m going to be able to compete with these guys. As for the one-player grand prix mode, I have all of the gold medals except the last one in mirror mode (I hope to beat that soon). After that, I want to go back and earn three-star ratings on all of the cups.

Thanks for reading!

I had my first Mario Kart 8 get-together tonight, and it was somewhat of an experiment just to test everything out. I’ll normally have these get-togethers on a weekend afternoon, but I couldn’t wait to give it all a try. So I opened up a lobby; Josh and Ash joined in. Mario Kart 8 supports voice chat in friend lobbies, but I wasn’t interested in using it. But oddly enough, if you turn your microphone off by pressing the “-” button, you’re also unable to hear anyone who may be talking (it plays music instead). I do not understand the logic to that at all.

There are about two dozen pre-selected messages you can enter, and those are helpful. But if someone is speaking to you when you have your mic off, you won’t know what they’re saying…and apparently, they won’t know you don’t hear them. The whole thing isn’t very intuitive. And unfortunately, the game does not support a USB keyboard.

When I was ready, I chose to start the race and an options screen popped up. The first option gives the host the ability to choose the mode (100cc, 150cc, etc.), and that is a welcome addition. I’m not a fan of the mirror tracks in general, so this means I’ll be able to avoid them in my get-togethers if I choose. Good deal.

You can also choose to have teams or no teams, and then there are a variety of choices for items. For example, you can choose to race with all items, no items, shells only, mushrooms only, etc. However, there does not seem to be a way to fully customize which items can or can not be used. I’ve heard that the game allows you to turn blue shells off, but I did not see a way to do that. If any of you know, please leave a comment below. The other options are for round time (I’m assuming this is for battle mode) and you can choose whether or not to have computer-controller characters race with you. I chose not to, at least for this time.

After that, we were able to select our courses. And thankfully, friend matches allow you to choose from all of the courses! You’re not forced into just three choices like you are in the random races.

Cup #1

The races began, and it quickly became clear that Ash and Josh are significantly better at the game than I am. I would occasionally get a 2nd place here or there, but I finished in last place most of the time. I definitely need a lot more practice, and I need to learn these tracks and their shortcuts. These were the results of the first cup (four races):

1. Ash – 12 pts.
2. Josh – 11 pts.
3. Jeff – 5 pts.

Cup #2

We started another cup with the three of us again. But after the first race, Meli joined in too! The fact that people can join mid-cup is a big improvement over Mario Kart Wii. On Wii, if someone wanted to join in and just missed the start, they’d have to wait for the entire four races to complete before they could join. That would often take 15-20 minutes, so I’m glad to see this change. It also means I won’t have to wait around for people at the beginning of each cup, since they can join in whenever they arrive.

Anyway, I beat Meli for 3rd place in the first race with her, but even that limited success didn’t last long. I was soon back to getting last place most of the time. Even when I was having a decent race, like being in 2nd place in Moo Moo Meadows heading into the final corner, I’d get hit with a shell and finish last. It was not my night. I did end the second cup tied with Meli for third place though. Here are the results of the second cup:

1. Ash – 19 pts.
2. Josh – 11 pts.
3. Jeff – 5 pts.
4. Meli – 5 pts.

Cup #3

Ash won the third cup as well:

1. Ash – 18 pts.
2. Josh – 12 pts.
3. Meli – 8 pts.
4. Jeff – 6 pts.

Cup #4

In our fourth and final cup, we finished off with N64 Rainbow Road. I still hate how they turned the longest track into one of the shortest, though (by only making it one lap). I did get 2nd place on this final track though, and that was about my only bright spot for the night. Here are the results of the last cup:

1. Ash – 20 pts.
2. Josh – 10 pts.
3. Meli – 8 pts.
4. Jeff – 6 pts.

It was fun, so thanks to everyone who came. The next get-together will probably be on a weekend sometime, so hopefully more people can come. In the meantime, I need some practice. See you all next time!