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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe · The Long and Short of It

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Thanks for checking out the Long and Short of It podcast.
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Please consider following or subscribing.
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We hope you enjoy the show. Hello and welcome to The Long
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and Short of It, the podcast where we discuss each of the
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games on the Open Critic Top 100 list.
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My name's Dan and I'm. Joined by this is Lawrence.
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Welcome to the podcast. How's it going?
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Good, it's been a long week. As always, I will say that I'm
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tired as we're always tired. That is our constant state these
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days. I'm.
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Not going to say it this week. Now you're going to say that
0:42
you're energised and full of beans.
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No, I'm not that either, but somewhere between, yeah.
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You're not. You're not a run of bean.
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You're not a baked bean. You're just a bean.
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I'm a kid, a Mexican jumping bean.
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Yes, if they. Exist, if they exist.
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That's right. I feel that I should start this
0:59
episode as well. For anyone that tuned into our
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last episode on Oblivion Remastered, I was kindly
1:08
informed by a friend of the podcast, James.
1:10
That's the audio that I uploaded was actually, I think I must
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have rushed it when I uploaded the episode, but it was
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literally just Dan's side of the sound from the beginning.
1:21
So everyone knows that we're we're weird now and that we do a
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little clap at the start of the episode so that we can get.
1:27
Everything else, right? So yes, yeah literally I just
1:34
uploaded your audio I think and I got it mistaken.
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But luckily within a day James told me that the the audio was
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off and I was like oh and then had to upload it.
1:42
So if you listened to the Oblivion episode on release and
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thought what the bloody hell is this rubbish, it has been
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rectified. The episode is fully up and
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running now and both sides of the audio are there so.
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And it was indeed rubbish. Well, that's for them to decide.
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But my warm, heartfelt apologies for the issue.
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It is up and ready for your perusal and listening.
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Joy Now. Yeah.
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So yes, I thought I'd put that out there early doors, just in
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case anyone missed that episode because of the stupidity at the
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start. Yes, and today we've got a
2:22
barnstorming episode. I don't know what makes it
2:26
barnstorming. But it will be something does,
2:28
something does, yeah. Storming a barn, I would imagine
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that's right. So today we are looking at #50
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three on our open critic list #53 is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,
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which scored an average score of 92 and was released on the
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Nintendo Switch in the year 2017.
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So as we always do, I'm going to start with a bit of a rundown of
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the very brief back of the box. So what it says is Race Without
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Limits, 48 tracks of deluxe Mario Kart action introducing
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new races and you've got a selection of pictures of the new
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races, including the I Know Your Favourite, Kingbu and Dry Bones.
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Yeah my my 2 favourite characters out of all of Mario
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Kart. And Baby Bowser.
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Yeah, we'll start up there for you.
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That's correct. Yeah.
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And battles are back. New courses, fan favourites,
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brand new rules and double items that you dominate the
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competition. And this is really touching on a
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few of the things that the game adds, because this game is a
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deluxe version of Mario Kart 8, which was released on the Wii U
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2014, I believe that was. Interestingly, that's crazy that
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it's been 11 years since there's been a Mario Kart game, because
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obviously Mario Kart world's just come out on the Switch too.
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It's mad that it's been 11 years since Mario Kart's had an
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outing. Obviously the deluxe version
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came out in 2017, which we're discussing, but that's a long
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time for like, no new Mario Kart.
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Yeah, and and. I think it was a.
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Good period of time before Mario Kart?
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Oh no, actually no. So they had the I don't know if
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it was a 3DS game, which was Mario.
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Kart 7, yeah. And then they had the Wii
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version before that. So yeah, typically you get one
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every console generation, the Switch being the outlier where
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Mario Kart World was originally in development for the Switch,
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but it got pushed to the Switch too.
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So here's an interesting tidbit for you.
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The Wii U original scored only 88 on the open critique list, so
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we've got a bit of a points differential there.
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I reckon that's probably due to the console.
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We've talked about it before, haven't we?
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But the Wii U wasn't successful and I think people struggled to
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get on with it. Maybe it's like it's a quirky,
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interesting console, but coming off the back of the Wii and then
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kind of the precursor for the Switch.
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It didn't really, I mean, it didn't take off all.
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I think they sold 5 million units or something, whereas the
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Wii had sold over 100 million. Yeah, so the Wii U sold 12.9
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million or something? It's crazy in comparison to what
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the Wii did. Yeah, and do you think it was a
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smart decision by Nintendo to release a deluxe version for the
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Switch? Yeah, 100%.
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I mean, I will get onto our history with this game in a
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moment, I imagine. But I think yes, because a lot
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of people, one of my big critiques of the Wii U was that
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no one knew what it was really. I think a lot of people thought
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that it was just an add on to the Wii.
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They didn't market it correctly. So I think a lot of people
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missed out on the Wii U, meaning that they would have missed out
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on this game. So I think it was a smart move
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bringing this over to the Switch, but effectively the
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Mario Kate Mario Kate Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is just a port of the
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Wii U version that just didn't sell very well.
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Yeah, it's there. There are some additional
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elements which we'll get to in a moment.
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But yeah, for this game to have been locked on the Wii U before
6:30
this, it would have been mad. It was a full-fledged,
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full-fledged, big budget Mario Kart game that was locked on a
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system that no one bought. So why don't you give me a
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history with the game, please? So I got a Wii U in around 2014,
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2015 maybe. So I remember it was when I was
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living in Essex and I got Mario Kart 8.
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I don't know how long after I bought the Wii UI, might have
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got it with it, maybe, I'm not sure.
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But yeah. So it was one of my few Wii U
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games I had in the collection. I think I had this Hyrule
7:11
Warriors, Wind Waker HD and a couple of others I had.
7:20
I can't. I had a Mario game as well I
7:21
think but have. Oh yeah, maybe Mario and Luigi
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you. Yeah.
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Maybe something like that, but I didn't have very many games on
7:32
the the Wii U at all, to be honest with you.
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And the game that I played the most of was probably Mario Kart.
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I also paid for the extras that you could get on the Wii U,
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which were brought over to deluxe with the the two extra
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cups with the additional characters.
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So yeah, I I played it a lot on the Wii U before I got rid of my
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Wii U whenever. That's interesting.
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Yeah, I enjoyed it. I thought it was a good game.
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And you've actually? Got a bit more history in terms
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of going back years than I have. Yeah, yeah, I got it.
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You know, when I got my Wii U and then for for deluxe for the
8:12
Switch, virtually no experience. So I picked this game up about
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two weeks ago for the podcast to play on my Switch.
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But it's, it's the same game really.
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I don't even need to say really. It is the same game.
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But yeah, so I, I played this game probably not long after it
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came out or within a year or two of it coming out.
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What about you? Yeah.
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So I, I only picked up the Switch version, but I did put a
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lot of time into it. So I I got three stars as in
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coming first in all of the speeds.
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So there's 50, CCA 100, CCA 150 and 200.
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And also there's a mirror mode which runs it's 150CC.
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So I did all of that. I also played a lot of
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multiplayer on this game, which I'll probably get to a bit
9:00
later. But yeah, I put a lot of time
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into this game and I came back to this game 2-3 weeks ago and I
9:09
actually played through all the download tracks because they did
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release some additional DLC for this game which was quite
9:15
substantial. So the differences between this
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and the original are like the back of the box referred to, you
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can now collect 2 items at a time rather than one, so you can
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have one in stock. In terms of the graphics, they
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increased the game from 720P to 1080P on the when it's in
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docked. And one of the big criticisms of
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the original Wii U version when it came out was the lack of a
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battle mode. I think they had a battle
9:48
element, but it took place within the courses themselves.
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So with the Switch version came a full-fledged battle mode, I
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think 8 courses there and it's quite a bit of fun to be had
10:00
with that. So I think that probably
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boosted. The review.
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Scores slightly, but not not. A huge amount of difference must
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be said. Yeah, To be honest with you, you
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mentioned there multiplayer as well.
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I'd forgotten that. I did play this game quite a lot
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online as well on the Wii UI, think I was.
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I was pretty good at it to be fair.
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But again, this is going back probably about 10 years and I
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didn't play it online for the Switch because I don't have, I
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don't have Nintendo online. I don't play the Switch enough
10:30
to to pay for it. But you just bought a switch
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too. I have, which was to the
10:37
surprise of everyone, including myself, was a spur of the moment
10:42
decision. On the morning that it came out,
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I was like, oh, maybe I will get one.
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And then I think I've played it for about 3 hours, four hours
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maybe. And yeah, it's just been in the
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docks. Yeah, you have been dabbling
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with it because I've seen you online a couple of times.
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Yeah, I've played, I've played a little bit of Persona 3 Mobile,
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which I'm, I said to you, I'm going to kind of stop because I
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don't think I'm playing the, the, the ideal version of
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Persona 3. Going to wait until they bring
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out the, the remake or remaster on the Switch.
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And then I've been playing a bit of Final Fantasy 6 as well, as
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well as Mario Kart obviously. And you've got a bit of
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experience because you've picked up the Switch too on launch.
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Source. So you've been playing a bit of
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Mario Kart World, haven't you? Yeah, so I've played Mario Kart
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World. It's good.
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Maybe not the reinvention that I was hoping for.
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Maybe he's worth £80? Yeah, I didn't play it pay you
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or near that to be fair. So I I got the one which was
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included in the bundles. Yeah.
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So I think you ended up paying like 35 lbs or something like
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that for that. Or something like that.
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I think it's about 50 maybe. But yeah, like I've I've seen a
11:47
lot of discourse, but people saying that it's really, really
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good and a great Mario Kart game, but probably not worth
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£80. Yeah.
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And I'd recommend if you are going to get a switch to to get
11:58
the Pakian version because. Because you're not going to.
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You're not going to pick it up cheap anywhere else because
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Nintendo games don't decrease in value, do they?
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And you save a good chunk of money there, which is probably,
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well, is the price of an additional game on the switch to
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depending which game you get. So yeah, I would say that.
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OK, so on to our ever present feature.
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And I think this is relevant even more so to the the game
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that we're talking about, which is gameplay is King.
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Is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe fun to play?
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Yeah. Of course it is Mario Kart.
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I think that you can talk to anyone that has any knowledge of
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gaming, and they've probably heard of Mario Kart.
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And, you know, Mario Kart has the monopoly on Kart races.
12:50
You know, there's Crash Team Racing, which is quite popular.
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You've got like Sonic All Stars maybe, or like a Sonic Kart
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racer, and there's like a Garfield Kart racer.
13:00
And they look like there are a few different Kart races.
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But nothing has trumped Mario Kart.
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I don't think it's one of those games that even people that
13:10
don't have experience with gaming can pick up and play.
13:12
They know what it is and they know what to do.
13:15
But yeah, Mario Kart is super fun.
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It's probably one of the best Nintendo like party.
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Games. Yeah, 100%.
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I think it's better than Mario Party.
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Yeah, it's a level. Above yeah, 100%.
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It's probably one of their best like serieses or series.
13:37
So yes, it is very fun and I imagine that you would probably
13:39
agree. Yeah, it's fun.
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Yeah, I don't really have much to add it.
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It is fun. It's a refinement of the
13:46
formula. There are little things extra
13:48
that you can do drifting and then using the boost.
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And yeah, it's just fun. And it just plays so well.
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It's one of those games where playing it, the act of playing
14:02
it just feels good. It's very tight, smooth and
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slick and buttery. And yeah, did this is an
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interesting question. So we ask an additional question
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in this section. Did the gameplay evolve over
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time or how much depth really is the question I wanted to ask.
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How much depth is there to this game?
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I think there is depth because I mean the the standard speed that
14:27
I play this game on like you mentioned at the start, you can
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go between 50 CCA hundred 150 and 250CC really is for for kids
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or people that are playing it for the first time.
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And you go up in the speeds with difficulty and the game gets
14:41
harder to master as you go up in the speeds.
14:44
I tend to play this game at 150CC yeah, 200's a bit too
14:48
fast. Well, not too fast for me, but.
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200 rock solid. Yeah, it is difficult especially
14:55
yeah yeah, the the SNES version of Rainbow Rd as well on 200CC
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like forget it. But yeah, it, it does develop
15:04
just depending on what, what I suppose you call them
15:08
difficulties, what difficulty you play on and what tracks or
15:11
what cup you play that that will have a big indication as to how
15:15
much of a good time you're going to have with it.
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If you're going to do well or if you're going to struggle.
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Because like on those high difficulties, the AI is brutal.
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And it does often feel unfair. Like I was about to win a race
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like this time around playing it, and I was about, I don't
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know, 20 metres from the finish line, I got hit by a red shell.
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I was like, oh, piss, OK, I can, it's still fine, you can do it.
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And then recovered and within about 3 seconds I got hit by a
15:39
blue shell as well. And then I came fifth.
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I was fuming because it isn't fair.
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But that's the whole point of Mario Kart.
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It isn't fair. Yeah, but it is.
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Unfairness. It is fair because everyone's in
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the exact same boat. Yeah, and and there are ways
15:54
around it. And if you use tricks and all
15:57
the tools at your disposal, and yeah, this game does have depth
16:00
in its higher difficulties. And you really have to take
16:03
advantage of all those tricks that you've got in your book to
16:08
to come first in 200CC. And it and it takes time and
16:12
you've got to really learn the courses and and pick the right
16:15
character, pick the cart with the best stats.
16:19
Yeah, so there's definitely depth here.
16:21
I'm not going to say, oh, it's the the deepest game you'll ever
16:24
find, I know, but it's decently deep.
16:28
It isn't trying to be anything that it isn't.
16:31
Correct. OK, so I'm going to talk a bit
16:36
about the multiplayer. In fact, why don't you give us a
16:39
bit of an overview of your experience with multiplayer when
16:43
you played it on the Wii? U yeah.
16:45
I mean, Nintendo consoles have never really been like online
16:52
multiplayer focused. I think the Switch too is.
16:55
And the Switch was to some extent, but the Wii never really
17:01
was that much. So I feel that the Wii U was
17:03
their first foray properly into that.
17:05
On the Wii I remember playing Goldeneye remake.
17:08
Yeah, Wii. There was online multiplayer,
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but it wasn't. It's never been a focus for
17:13
Nintendo. It wasn't a big selling ever.
17:15
No, and I mean this game is this is a couch Co-op game.
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Well not couch Co-op but a couch multiplayer game.
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It is a split screen like experience and I've done both.
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I've played it split screen, I've played it online and I
17:31
really enjoyed the online elements of its back from what I
17:34
can remember 10 years ago. But it was good and it it was
17:40
good fun. And you know, like people that
17:42
will play competitive online games, things like Call of Duty,
17:47
like FIFA, there's obviously a level of skill that has to be
17:52
there. But also Nintendo has a very
17:56
wholesome approach to to gaming. Like when I think of when I
18:02
think of multiplayer games, the first thing that comes to my
18:04
mind is like a Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 lobby on Xbox
18:08
360 with everyone just screaming at each other, calling each
18:12
other the N word like that. That's what I think of when I
18:15
think of like multiplayer lobbies and online lobbies
18:21
because they were just incredibly toxic places, whereas
18:24
Nintendo has never cultivated that or allowed that.
18:29
It's only now on the Switch to that really.
18:31
You can get voice chat and online games and like the webcam
18:35
thing that they've they've put out there.
18:38
But I think Mario Kart is best when you're playing it with
18:41
friends together in a room on a sofa with split screen.
18:47
It would be my opinion. This game comes to life the more
18:52
players you add to the mix. So same.
18:56
As. Yeah, you play it on your own,
18:58
you're only going to get so much mileage out of it.
19:00
You play it with two people again, there's there's probably
19:04
a shelf life on that, but you start to have three and four
19:07
players or or more. And yeah, this game just comes
19:13
to life because you have more competition.
19:17
It becomes more fun when someone comes past and and hits you with
19:21
a red shell. I remember I had some, I was
19:24
working in London at the time. I had some friends in work that
19:27
had the Switch and we played a lot online of Mario Kart 8.
19:32
And we'd get home from work and we'd log into Discord and we'd
19:38
play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. And it was fun and it was silly
19:42
and it was competitive in a in a non competitive Mario Kart kind
19:46
of way. And then we also did the same
19:48
with Splatoon 2 and which was also a blast and also a great
19:52
multiplayer experience. Yeah.
19:55
And I just got fond memories of that.
19:57
And this game is a fondly remembered game for me for that
20:05
reason. I think I put in a lot of time.
20:06
And yeah, it's just those good memories that you have of
20:10
getting home from work or from school or whatever it is that
20:14
you do. And just.
20:16
Logging into online and looking forward to playing.
20:18
And we talked about that online experience with Call of Duty
20:21
Modern Warfare 2 as well. And for me, it's the rare game
20:25
that captures me like that. This was 1 and it was that sort
20:30
of honeymoon period with the Switch as well.
20:33
And everyone's got their preferences as well, haven't
20:35
they? With this game?
20:36
Like it's the same with Smash Brothers.
20:37
Everyone will have a character that they will always go to, the
20:42
same with Mario Kart, and it's the same with the courses as
20:44
well. Everyone will have their
20:45
favourite courses in Mario Kart. Everyone's got their preference
20:49
with this game. And no, no one really is the
20:51
same. Everyone you know is a little
20:53
bit different, yeah. Agree on to our did you know
20:58
section where we give some factoids about the game.
21:02
So what I'm actually going to do here is a bit different.
21:04
I'm going to give you some numbers, some stats, so to
21:08
speak. So as of today, the final
21:12
version of Mario Kart 8, including all the DLC, there are
21:16
96 courses, believe it or not, really 96.
21:21
Yeah. So they doubled that original
21:24
amount and they they took some courses from Mario Kart Tour,
21:30
They remastered or remade some courses from some of the old
21:35
games. Maybe the additional ones aren't
21:39
as high quality as the original ones, but there are some good
21:43
ones in there as well. I particularly like the city
21:45
courses from Mario Kart Tour. So driving around in the
21:49
fictional version, the Mario Kart version of Rome or or Paris
21:53
or London is interesting. It's an interesting mash up that
21:57
you never quite knew you needed. And there are, I believe, 50
22:03
characters in the final version of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe today.
22:10
Obviously some, some characters were added.
22:12
And you've got characters like Diddy Kong, the Inklings from
22:15
the Splatoon, lots of characters that have never been represented
22:19
before in a Mario Kart game. And actually a lot of
22:21
characters. Yeah.
22:23
And lots of characters that are missing in in Mario Kart Tour.
22:26
To my disappointment. I, I wanted to play as Diddy
22:28
Kong, but I couldn't. And I was, I was mad by that.
22:32
Is Diddy Kong your character? Not, not really I.
22:36
I see you as a Yoshi person or a Toad person.
22:38
No, I always use Wario. Don't I just just for fun
22:41
because. I like to.
22:42
Annoy people and warriors. Inherently annoying.
22:46
So yeah. That's true.
22:48
So when we used to play Mario Party, yeah, I was always Wario.
22:55
Now, the amount of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe copies sold is 68.20
23:09
million units. That's.
23:10
Crazy. It's mad, Yeah.
23:13
So this game massively, massively outsold the Wii U and
23:20
it's near enough. It's it's not far off.
23:24
One in every two Switch owners that owned this game.
23:29
It's the biggest selling Switch game out of all of them.
23:34
To be fair, I'm impressed that it's taken.
23:36
When did I get my switch? 20/21/2020?
23:39
I can't remember, but I'm surprised that it's taken me
23:43
four or five years to pick this up on the Switch.
23:47
But I just never had the I never had the itch to get it, you
23:50
know? Well, you'd.
23:51
Played a lot of it before, hadn't you?
23:52
So yeah, maybe it wasn't a priority.
23:55
Now the final numbers stat, which is probably less
23:58
interesting, is I checked my play time on this game as you
24:01
can on the Switch, and I've played for 45 hours plus on
24:06
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. So yeah, it's impressive, decent
24:10
whack of time that I spent on this game overall.
24:14
So that was, did you know a few topics to talk about there?
24:17
I did not know, but now I know. There you go.
24:20
Now you know, that's how we're going to end that that feature.
24:23
Every. Every.
24:24
OK, so let's talk about give me your thoughts on the audio and
24:30
the visuals of this game. It's like it's so good.
24:36
I mean I I haven't played Mario Kart World yet, but I believe
24:40
that Mario Kart World is in 4K, isn't it?
24:45
I think, I don't know if it quite gets there, maybe it's
24:47
1440P, right? It's high.
24:51
Yeah, it's high, yeah, of course.
24:52
But I mean, Even so, like Nintendo games, particularly on
24:56
the Switch and above, Nintendo and their developers are very
25:00
good at getting all of the colour and all of the pop that
25:04
they can out of the games. I mean, I feel that the best
25:09
example of that with this game is one of my favourite tracks,
25:12
which is it was one of the added tracks in the first kind of DLC
25:16
thing when it came out on the Wii U.
25:18
That is the Rainbow Rd for the SNES.
25:21
So like the original Rainbow Rd, I feel that the colour in that
25:25
map is insane. It's such a good looking game.
25:31
And I mean in terms of the sound, I think we say it about
25:35
every Nintendo, like first party Nintendo game that we talk
25:38
about. The sound is just always superb.
25:42
You know, it's catchy. There are some fantastic tunes
25:45
in there, even like the the like the the rolling the dice kind of
25:51
sound that happens when you go over an item and it kind of does
25:54
its little rolling roulette thing.
25:57
Yeah, like stand outs. Yes, this is probably one of the
26:02
best Switch games like in terms of looking, I think like most
26:08
visually appealing. I think, yeah, this, this game
26:11
can be summarised. It's like a blast of joy in
26:14
terms of the audio and the visuals.
26:16
It it just is, yeah. So much colour, so much life in
26:21
every track. Breath of the Wilds up there,
26:26
but it's in a different way, isn't it?
26:27
In the same. Yeah, that's more artistic
26:29
world. This is more, this is more
26:32
instant, isn't it? Yes, yeah, 100%.
26:36
Yeah, OK, now I wanted to talk about the Luigi death stare.
26:43
So do you want to say what you know or or when you first saw
26:47
the Luigi death stare? I must, I must have seen it
26:50
about, I don't know, 10910 years ago maybe, but it's, it's just a
26:56
meme with who's the who's the artist that sings the song
26:59
rolling dirty? I can't remember.
27:04
I can't remember. But yeah, it's a meme basically.
27:07
Someone slowed down Luigi. Yes, someone slowed down Luigi
27:15
going around a corner and staring at one of the people
27:18
that he's overtaken. He's looks like he's about to
27:19
murder them whilst rolling dirty plays in the background.
27:25
It's only like a 10 second clip but it's quality.
27:27
Yeah, it's still so. It's so good.
27:30
We watched it a couple of times again before recording the
27:33
episode and it's still gold. And the fact that someone
27:37
discovered that and then put that music to it and it's just
27:40
great. If you take away anything from
27:43
this episode, go and watch the Luigi death stare footage.
27:48
That's right. Let's do that.
27:51
On to our question of the week. We're kind of racing through
27:56
this episode at a clip, which we don't.
27:58
Usually racing through it. Yeah, we are car racing.
28:02
So for this I want you to give me a shout out to some other car
28:09
racing games that you've enjoyed and what made them unique.
28:13
You've touched on a few of them, but are there any that you have,
28:17
that you've played in your life that really appealed to you?
28:19
I'll. Be honest, I've.
28:21
Got one that I'm thinking of. Not really.
28:26
Have you? Yeah, Yeah.
28:29
Crash Bandicoot. See, I got, I got crash Team
28:34
Racing when I first got my switch because I've never played
28:38
it on a PlayStation, but I obviously remastered it when
28:41
they did the the insane trilogy. And like, I actually played it
28:46
about a week ago when I was setting up my switch too,
28:48
because I was like, well, I've been playing Mario Kart.
28:50
Maybe I'll give Crash Team Racing another go.
28:53
OK, but I can't really get into it and I couldn't last time I
28:57
tried it either. I don't know why, but I'll be
28:59
honest, the only I mentioned a few Kart races at the start of
29:04
the episode, one of them being Sonic Sonic races or something
29:08
where they're all in cars. You've got a Garfield Kart
29:12
racer, which is such a strange thing.
29:15
And then the only other one that I can think of was the original
29:19
Sonic R that came out around the N64 period perhaps.
29:23
And it's just like incredibly buggy and is infamously bad.
29:29
So I can't. I can't think of any so.
29:32
So in terms of Crash Team racing, what that's probably.
29:35
The next one down from Mario Kart.
29:37
Isn't it really Crash Team Racing?
29:39
I've got one which I think is better than Mario Kart, but I'll
29:42
get to that. Diddy Kong.
29:43
Racing, of course. Yes, that is the one I was
29:46
talking. About which I've never played.
29:48
Yeah. So, so in terms of Crash Team
29:50
Racing, are you able to to vocalise what it is that about
29:56
that that doesn't quite click compared to Mario Kart?
30:00
It just doesn't feel as tight and I think that probably some
30:04
nostalgia come in comes into it as well because I think my first
30:06
Mario Kart game was, it might have been Mario Kart 64 maybe.
30:12
But the one that I've got the most like memory of early on a
30:16
year is Double Dash on the GameCube.
30:19
And then I played a little bit of Mario Kart on the Wii.
30:24
So I remember absolutely hating the Wario's Goldmine map on the
30:29
Wii version, which has made its way into 8 Deluxe.
30:33
But yeah, like Crash Team Racing, it just has.
30:39
I don't know if it's because like the there's the open world
30:42
element of the overworld, maybe, I'm not sure, but it just
30:46
doesn't feel as tight to me and I just struggled to to get into
30:49
it. But yeah, I believe with Diddy
30:53
Kong Racing, that's like one of your favourite games, isn't it?
30:56
I don't know if it's one of my favourite games, but I do think
30:58
it's a fantastic. You really like it?
31:00
Yeah, I would love to see a sequel or a remake in the same
31:04
vein as that game. The other one that I've really
31:08
enjoyed you, you alluded to this one as well, is Sonic and All
31:11
Stars Racing Transformed. I've heard that it's really
31:14
good. It's really.
31:15
Good. It's really good.
31:15
And obviously the big difference with that one is it's got the
31:19
suite of Sega characters. Yeah, like jokes are.
31:22
From sound fives in it, isn't he?
31:23
Yeah. And well, I don't know, that
31:26
might be the newest, newest one. Yeah, I think that's the newest
31:29
one. This is the one that came out.
31:30
It came out on the Wii U. It came out on the PS3 and the
31:33
Xbox 360, I believe. But yeah, this it's great.
31:38
And you've got levels based on like House of the Dead and, and
31:43
Ninja Gaiden and Shenmu. And yeah, it's, it's a, it's a
31:49
it's curious game that feels different in the way that Sega
31:53
feels different from Nintendo. But it's still arcade goodness,
31:56
and it's a it's a great time. Is the is the Shenmu level
32:00
called Shenmumu Meadow? Do you know what I can't even.
32:05
I'm guessing there was a Shamu level.
32:07
Yeah, there must be if it's Saga.
32:10
There definitely was. I know you could play as Ryu
32:12
from Shamu in, in the newest version, but I, I distinctly
32:16
remember playing as Ryu from Ninja Gaiden in in All Stars
32:21
Racing Transformed. But yeah, I wouldn't say that my
32:24
memory of it's so good, but I did get it as when I, when I
32:27
bought the Wii U, which was back in 2013 or maybe 2014.
32:33
Yeah, I, I must, yeah, maybe late 2013.
32:36
I bought that as one. Of the IT was one we were in 3rd
32:38
year of uni. I remember it was you were
32:39
playing that Lego game. Yeah, and I, I, I bought it
32:44
then. So it was, it was a long time
32:45
ago, but I had a really good time with it and I, I believe
32:49
that you can get that game now on Xbox Series X&S.
32:54
So I might actually have a go on that at some points peruse Diddy
33:00
Kong. I think the the reason I I like
33:03
the structure of Diddy Kong and it's something that I wish that
33:09
Mario Kart world did actually one thing it doesn't have.
33:12
You've got this, you've got a really world, a really nicely
33:15
designed world. I mean the the detail and and
33:19
the way that the tracks into link is.
33:21
It feels so clever and it just works.
33:24
And they've got a new sort of race, which is I think it's
33:27
called Knockout Tour, where it's basically like 4 guys of the
33:32
Mario Kart world vein. So you start off with 24
33:36
characters and then you've got checkpoints.
33:39
You. You quite.
33:40
Literally. 6 tracks, so they're long races and with every
33:46
checkpoint 4 people get eliminated.
33:49
And that is the best way to play Mario Kart World and it's a
33:53
blast and it's tense and it's everything the Mario Kart should
33:57
be. And it, it feels like an
33:58
innovation for the series. But what I missed in Mario Kart
34:02
World, given that they've got this fantastic open world, is
34:06
just some sort of narrative or something to give you a chance
34:11
to really explore it on your own terms.
34:14
Because the free roam mode you have to like press X on the menu
34:19
to get there even and it just doesn't feel like it's utilised.
34:25
We've talked about it a lot in the past, like with open world
34:28
burnout, and there are just some games that just don't need it.
34:32
Yeah, like it's in there because it's the popular thing and I
34:37
think it's what companies think that people want.
34:39
But I think as we move forward, less people want open world
34:43
games. It it just isn't necessary.
34:46
And I mean you can use the last first part too as an example for
34:48
that, like at the start when you on day one or whatever you have
34:51
that open world area. Yeah, yeah.
34:53
But it just felt kind of forced in.
34:56
It didn't need to be there. And I feel like Mario Kart
35:00
World, I'll be honest, it doesn't appeal to me at all.
35:02
I didn't get the the bundle version when I picked up my
35:05
Switch too and I definitely don't want to be paying 80 lbs
35:08
for that game. I mean, I might have to
35:10
eventually if it's on the list. I don't know, I don't think.
35:12
It's, I think it's sitting at 87 or 88 I think.
35:15
Yeah, I, I haven't got the interest in it.
35:18
I mean, I might, I imagine I will play it sometime, but like
35:22
an open world Mario Kart game, I just think to myself, why?
35:25
Like, obviously you've got to reinvent the wheel sometimes,
35:27
but it just doesn't. Feel necessarily and do you know
35:29
what it does? It works in the actual races and
35:32
it works in the knockout tour, but other than that it.
35:37
Just doesn't as an overworld. Yeah, it just doesn't feel
35:39
utilised. And you can see the care that's
35:42
gone into it. There are there are parts of the
35:44
world that you go to that you wouldn't go to in the races.
35:47
And you just think, well, this could have been better used.
35:50
And what Diddy Kong does is it has the hub world and you you
35:53
unlock tracks based on how many balloons you've got.
35:56
And it's just a really nice progression.
35:58
And in in that hub world, you've got you can get additional
36:02
balloons and you've got the story element and you've got
36:05
Whiz Pig that you're trying to beat at the end of the game.
36:07
And it's a tough game as well. Yeah, I really like the
36:11
structure of Diddy Kong Racing. And it was made by Rare,
36:16
obviously. And we're never probably going
36:19
to get a remaster. I'd love to see one.
36:21
I'd love to see one on the Nintendo Online.
36:24
If they could come to an agreement with Microsoft and
36:26
Rare or, or, or a sequel. I know there was a sequel in the
36:31
works at one point, I think for the Gameboy Advance maybe, or
36:35
maybe it was the GameCube. But yeah, I would say that it
36:41
probably hasn't aged tremendously well.
36:43
I mean, playing Diddy Kong Racing, you're not going to get
36:46
the fluidity or the smoothness that you get with Mario Kart,
36:49
but that comes from the fact that it's by now not far off 30
36:54
year old game. But I do love the structure, I
36:58
love the hub world and I love that they had a bit more
37:00
ambition. It feels like a platformer that
37:03
they turned into a car racer, but in the best possible way.
37:08
The other thing with those games is that so in Dillicom Racing
37:11
you've got planes, you've got hovercraft and you've got karts,
37:15
and in Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed, you've got
37:17
cars, boats and planes as well. So it just adds a bit more
37:20
variety to the mix and generally speaking, they control well as
37:23
well. Now, who do you think would win
37:27
in a race between Blobby and Warrior?
37:30
I was wondering when that was when that was going to show its
37:33
face. I mean I assume it would be
37:35
Blobby as he the the phrase Jack of all trades, master of none
37:42
does relate to Blobby, but he's actually a master of all trades
37:45
so I would assume that he would win hands down.
37:48
I've heard. Is he the final boss?
37:51
Yes, that's correct. I've heard that blue shell
37:53
doesn't work on blobby. Wow.
37:55
Yeah, crazy. Yeah, so everyone who knew it,
38:01
OK, let's let's get to the end. Does Mario Kart 8 Deluxe deserve
38:07
to be on the Open Critic Top 100 list?
38:11
Yeah, I think with what you said about there being 90 something
38:14
tracks in the final version of this game, now that it's kind of
38:18
kind of not dead, but you know, there's a newer version, you're
38:22
getting a lot of game for the money that you're paying.
38:24
I would recommend for a game that came out eight years ago
38:28
now to get it second hand if you can on eBay.
38:31
I got it off inted cartridge only because I didn't need the
38:34
case. So I would recommend it.
38:38
It is great and I think it deserves to be here, but just
38:42
don't, don't pay. RIP off Nintendo prices for it.
38:45
Like they'd still charge you £40 probably for a game that's as
38:50
old as it is. So like that, no.
38:53
But if you can get it second hand, absolutely.
38:55
Because it is brilliant and it is a really fun time.
38:59
The value proposition here with the 96 tracks and 50 characters,
39:05
it's it's a no brainer sort of and and it's not my favourite
39:09
game ever, but I think it deserves to be represented
39:12
there. And as I say, I've played a long
39:15
time on this game, so maybe at the lower end of of that top
39:21
100, but then on the. Left.
39:24
I think it's where it deserves to be.
39:26
Yeah, look, she said. It's what, 5150?
39:31
3. I think that's where it should
39:33
be. I think that's a good place for
39:35
it. Yeah, I don't disagree with you.
39:39
It's a good time. It's still a good time.
39:41
It's still an easy recommend if, especially if you're playing
39:43
with more than one person. Yeah, this game, it's a great
39:47
party game. Christmas time, Mario Kart 8
39:51
Deluxe. No brainer.
39:54
Now we haven't. This is the part we haven't
39:56
discussed, really. What's coming up next time?
40:00
I don't know. I don't really know.
40:03
We've talked a while about doing The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered
40:09
and I feel that that game will probably take us a while.
40:12
And with how all over the place we've been with uploads
40:16
recently, I feel that we should probably put out a slightly
40:19
smaller game against yeah. We'll have a look sooner.
40:21
And we will. But maybe you were talking that
40:24
you wanted to do a Forza game again soon.
40:28
Yeah, maybe not too driving games.
40:31
Yeah, we'll have a thing. We'll have a look at the list
40:33
and I want to see if there's anything I can play on my switch
40:36
to, to be quite honest. Yeah, I was thinking that too.
40:40
So I'll have a look and look forward to a new episode in the
40:43
coming weeks. Yeah, probably about two weeks
40:45
time. I reckon we'll try it out in a
40:46
couple of weeks. But yes, as always, you can find
40:50
us on What are we on? We're on Instagram and Facebook.
40:55
You can also e-mail us at the long shortest
40:57
podcast@hotmail.com. But yeah, that is everything
41:01
that I have for today. Anything else from you?
41:04
No, that's it. Wonderful.
41:06
Well, we'll see you in a couple of weeks for a mystery game that
41:08
we do not know the title of yet. But yes, in the meantime, take
41:11
care, Cheerio. See you on the next one.