So let's look back for a little bit:
Super Mario Kart introduced us to the battle mode which is a 3 life based arena deathmatch with Mario Karts. And it was fantastic. I couldn't really get into the vs driving, but I just loved the multiplayer with jumping in the pools and trying to get each other.
At the time it was my most played multiplayer game and mode for sure!
Along came Mario Kart 64 - they upped it to 4 players, gave us 3D gameplay which was excellent on Block Forts and Double Deck and had an excellent solution for the first two drop-outs who came back as bombs and could still mess with the other players - level the playing field.
Again, I loved that game and especially this mode.
Then we had Double Dash. As disappointing as the game was for me, it still played around with the battle mode formula a bit. The stages weren't as good or iconic, but we got 2 other modes out of it that were really fun!
Mario Kart DS introduced the balloon pumping method which was a really weird thing to do, but okay - we still have the basic formula of arenas and Shine Runners also makes a return.
Mario Kart Wii - this is the first time we get introduced to an online mode in Mario Kart on a console. Seems rather inconsequential, but for the Battle Mode that means big restructuring was necessary. They upped the player count and because of that, it didn't make sense to have people drop out and wait for the match to end when they were hit 3 times. So they changed the structure to a point based system and adjusted the stages to be much bigger to accommodate for the extra players. I pretty much loathed these changes. I didn't play this iteration a lot tbh, mostly because I couldn't get into non shared grand prix driving. For me, Mario Kart was always a local multiplayer game and I had very little interest in playing it for myself. Forcing me to play alone to unlock cups and players was a sure thing to lose my interest in an instant. Messing with the battle mode was another one.
I never played 3DS or GBA battle modes, so I can't say anything about them.
Which bring us to today - Mario Kart 8 DX comes along on the Switch and is a really fine port of the older Mario Kart 8. Not only that, but they fine tuned some mechanics, added players and karts - and as the big new thing, they reworked 8's Battle Mode.
Again, they really put thought into it - they looked, what worked in the past, what modes were liked, what maps they didn't do yet and what would fit MK8's style the best. Of course it had to be online focused because MK8 had an excellent online mode and it should be a cornerstone on 8DX too.
But apparently, the way the majority of the MK battle modes played, wasn't 'modern' enough anymore to even implement it as an option.
I somewhat get that they didn't build the maps to be played with 4 players only. I even get that they not even put in smaller versions of those maps as an option.
They have a little verticality, but not too much so you can't really make a drop on someone in most of them. I can also live with that. They even implemented a new mode that basically doesn't work with 4 players at all. I even get, that they dind't want to go back to Block Fort again, after having revisited it for a few times by now.
But to be really fun and have that evergreen status locally with four or less players it needs the option to go back to stock mode.
Having a counter running and just trying to get as many kills as possible isn't bad per se, but it robs the mode of so much tension. It was fantastic to have every player left down to 1 balloon and have everyone tense up and hoping for that one items that could change the game. Having them think about where they wanna go because they might get dropped on by a player they don't pay attention to atm.
Coming back as a bomb and taking revenge even.
All of this isn't possible anymore and the game came and went when it comes to local multiplayer for me. It's okay for a little while, but even Double Dash gave us the option to choose between stock and time. It's just not feasible for me, why they wouldn't put in a stock option for local or custom matches left of 3 minutes. It's such a small change and it makes a world of a difference for me - and I'm pretty sure for some of you too.
E3 came and went and we didn't hear about anything new coming to Mario Kart. Not that it was expected. But a small glimmer of hope was still left, that Nintendo might have heard the complains and implemented an option for those that still got their heads in the golden days of Mario Kart Battle Mode and wanted to reexperience the thrill of the one balloon standoff.
What's your favorite? How do you like the MK8DX battle modes locally? Is it enough for you to come back again and again?
Super Mario Kart introduced us to the battle mode which is a 3 life based arena deathmatch with Mario Karts. And it was fantastic. I couldn't really get into the vs driving, but I just loved the multiplayer with jumping in the pools and trying to get each other.
At the time it was my most played multiplayer game and mode for sure!
Along came Mario Kart 64 - they upped it to 4 players, gave us 3D gameplay which was excellent on Block Forts and Double Deck and had an excellent solution for the first two drop-outs who came back as bombs and could still mess with the other players - level the playing field.
Again, I loved that game and especially this mode.
Then we had Double Dash. As disappointing as the game was for me, it still played around with the battle mode formula a bit. The stages weren't as good or iconic, but we got 2 other modes out of it that were really fun!
Mario Kart DS introduced the balloon pumping method which was a really weird thing to do, but okay - we still have the basic formula of arenas and Shine Runners also makes a return.
Mario Kart Wii - this is the first time we get introduced to an online mode in Mario Kart on a console. Seems rather inconsequential, but for the Battle Mode that means big restructuring was necessary. They upped the player count and because of that, it didn't make sense to have people drop out and wait for the match to end when they were hit 3 times. So they changed the structure to a point based system and adjusted the stages to be much bigger to accommodate for the extra players. I pretty much loathed these changes. I didn't play this iteration a lot tbh, mostly because I couldn't get into non shared grand prix driving. For me, Mario Kart was always a local multiplayer game and I had very little interest in playing it for myself. Forcing me to play alone to unlock cups and players was a sure thing to lose my interest in an instant. Messing with the battle mode was another one.
I never played 3DS or GBA battle modes, so I can't say anything about them.
Which bring us to today - Mario Kart 8 DX comes along on the Switch and is a really fine port of the older Mario Kart 8. Not only that, but they fine tuned some mechanics, added players and karts - and as the big new thing, they reworked 8's Battle Mode.
Again, they really put thought into it - they looked, what worked in the past, what modes were liked, what maps they didn't do yet and what would fit MK8's style the best. Of course it had to be online focused because MK8 had an excellent online mode and it should be a cornerstone on 8DX too.
But apparently, the way the majority of the MK battle modes played, wasn't 'modern' enough anymore to even implement it as an option.
I somewhat get that they didn't build the maps to be played with 4 players only. I even get that they not even put in smaller versions of those maps as an option.
They have a little verticality, but not too much so you can't really make a drop on someone in most of them. I can also live with that. They even implemented a new mode that basically doesn't work with 4 players at all. I even get, that they dind't want to go back to Block Fort again, after having revisited it for a few times by now.
But to be really fun and have that evergreen status locally with four or less players it needs the option to go back to stock mode.
Having a counter running and just trying to get as many kills as possible isn't bad per se, but it robs the mode of so much tension. It was fantastic to have every player left down to 1 balloon and have everyone tense up and hoping for that one items that could change the game. Having them think about where they wanna go because they might get dropped on by a player they don't pay attention to atm.
Coming back as a bomb and taking revenge even.
All of this isn't possible anymore and the game came and went when it comes to local multiplayer for me. It's okay for a little while, but even Double Dash gave us the option to choose between stock and time. It's just not feasible for me, why they wouldn't put in a stock option for local or custom matches left of 3 minutes. It's such a small change and it makes a world of a difference for me - and I'm pretty sure for some of you too.
E3 came and went and we didn't hear about anything new coming to Mario Kart. Not that it was expected. But a small glimmer of hope was still left, that Nintendo might have heard the complains and implemented an option for those that still got their heads in the golden days of Mario Kart Battle Mode and wanted to reexperience the thrill of the one balloon standoff.
What's your favorite? How do you like the MK8DX battle modes locally? Is it enough for you to come back again and again?
