Mario Kart 8 Customization

Emotional Reponse To Mario Kart

I went and loaded up Mario kart 8 and decided to play the first track from the mushroom cup which is more or less the “tutorial” for the game. The track itself is just a generic “Mario Kart Stadium” however this works as a good starting point for new players of the series. My personal reaction to playing it again was mainly fun, since Mario kart has no real narrative structure, there are no plot points to consider or in depth characters to relate to. The game is purely colourful cartoon racing. I also want to note i was playing on the easy mode to help me enjoy the track instead of focusing too much on the difficulty.

The track itself seemed to be designed to explain key game mechanics to the player. You obviously have the item boxes and boosters which come as self explanatory as you play but the track is designed with a major bend near the start, I can easily see the other racers powerslide around it which teaches me how to manoeuvre round bends on the track. There is also sections of the zero gravity track which caused my kart to turn into a magnet, sticking to the road as well as a big jump that uses the mid air gliding feature. Not all tracks have both these sections but it was important that this one did.

Overall, this game gave me a great sense of accomplishment from winning even on a simple track. Putting up the difficulty will actually improve the A.I and make the gameplay faster, thus making for a more challenging but equally more enjoyable race. This tutorial track was great for me when I was learning how to play the game and is still fun to play now.

Mario Kart 8 Infograph