Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Sets Record As Fastest-Selling Game In the Franchise (polygon.com)

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the fastest-selling Mario Kart title ever, selling nearly half a million copies stateside when it went on sale last Friday. Polygon reports: Nintendo announced that the game beat out Mario Kart Wii as the series' fastest seller, with a little more than 459,000 copies sold in the U.S. on launch day alone. (The Switch has moved 2.7 million units worldwide since launch, for context.) Mario Kart Wii, which went on to be the best-selling entry of the Mario Kart series -- and second-biggest Mario game ever -- moved just under 434,000 copies at launch in 2008. Nearly half of those with a Switch already have Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, two months after the console's launch. That's a remarkable attach rate, even considering The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on Switch has sold more copies than consoles shipped.

Comments

Never understood it

[Waccoon]

It's a decent series, but it still baffles me how many billions Nintendo has made on a karting game.

Re:Never understood it

[Anonymous Coward]

Okay, what other four-player split-screen racer would you recommend for a dorm?

I look at what's out for PS4, and the games don't offer multiplayer, don't offer "weapons" (so winning comes down to meticulous concentration) and have super-realistic (i.e., super boring) tracks.

If you don't understand the appeal of Mario Kart I don't know what to tell you.

Re:Never understood it

[thegarbz]

but it still baffles me

Then let me clear it up for you. The game is fun. Actually fun. Fun alone, fun online, and especially fun with friends. It's ridiculous and anything can happen. If you can steer the kart you have a chance of beating a veteran.

A lot of modern AAA studios could learn a thing or two about making a game fun before sinking $40M into yet another bug riddled grindfest of a 3rd person shooter.

Re:Never understood it

[Midnight Thunder]

For the most part, multiplayer games for the two other consoles require your friends to have their own console.

I'll probably be getting a PS4 because it has a number of games that I want to play, but I may also get the Switch for the same room multiplayer games, which happen to not take themselves too seriously.

Re:Never understood it

[hipp5]

It's a decent series, but it still baffles me how many billions Nintendo has made on a karting game.

Probably for the same reasons Settlers of Catan has sold a bajillion copies:

• - It's pretty easy to learn the basics, so it's accessible to anyone
• - There's a lot of room to perfect your skills, so hardcore players have something to keep them around
• - You can pick up and play for a few minutes, or you can go for a whole-day playing session
• - There's a nice balance of skill and chance, so the better player will win more often, but beginners don't feel like they have zero chance
• - It's very social, with a good level of healthy, between-friends competition

Re:Never understood it

[CohibaVancouver]

It's a decent series, but it still baffles me how many billions Nintendo has made on a karting game.

You can sit down and play it in 10-15 minutes, so you're not committing an entire weekend.

Grandpa and a 6-year-old can play it and have equally as much fun.

The control are reasonably easy to understand. There aren't 64 buttons you have to learn just to play it.

It's visually comedic and never takes itself too seriously.

I would've gotten first post...

[by (1706743)]

...but I got hit by a blue shell.

Supply & Demand

[bug_hunter]

Well wouldn't this be because everyone who just bought a Switch really wants to play games on it, but there's nearly nothing out?

Just like when Apple claimed their new laptop was the fastest selling in their history (because they hadn't updated it for years before and there was just pent up demand).

Disclaimer : I enjoy Nintendo games and Apple products. I just dislike it when people use positive sales figures to cover up a separate fundamental issue.

Re:Supply & Demand

[tlhIngan]

Well wouldn't this be because everyone who just bought a Switch really wants to play games on it, but there's nearly nothing out?

There were a few decent games. Zelda is the obvious one, but there's a few digital only games that are pretty decent as well. Scissorclips is a digital-only puzzler that's really good. And apparently, even launch day bombs like Bomberman actually got updates that turned them from "skip" to "buy".

And remember this is comparing MK8 for Switch to all mario kart games out there - and only doing 1/2 million copies seems to be rather low.

The other thing is, other than launch day, there were very few supplies of Switch - other than on March 3rd, most stores only got a small supply of them a week or two later, and that's it. It seemed though that Nintendo deliberately prevented their sale until MK8 was released because I was seeing big ads for switches on sale on Friday - every store was going to have Switches in stock. And while some got a minimum of 10, others seemed to have lots - their stock lasted into the weekend before selling out.

Kart Rules

[PopeRatzo]

I started playing Mario Kart with my kid when she was about 5 years old. She's defending her PhD thesis in a few weeks, and I'm still playing some iteration of Mario Kart.

I don't usually even like the games that are usually on the Nintendo platform, but there's something about the Kart that gets me right here.

Re:The awful transformationz

[bussdriver]

The game is the same as it was. Most the extras are just fluff on the same mechanics. You can alter the characteristics of the cars in more detail when before you could only choose a character with a fixed set of characteristics-- all which are pointless for a beginner but the MORE skill you have the more difference it makes. All those tiny tweaks matter to the more skilled players who can notice. I have my set of options I quickly pick, it doesn't take time. At first finding the right ones did but it added depth and most the time it didn't matter because I'd clobber everybody else whatever I ended up with.

The weapons have changed little but now they include everything all at once when before it was a subset. You can counter weapons now like you did before and the blue shell can be countered if you have the skill when in the past it was just about impossible regardless of skill.

The game is more intense with a full set of players and that is more of a problem than the number of items. The old one seems slower and is less appealing and the new one pushes you so hard that it doesn't feel old like the older versions because it is so busy and you are less comfortable - you never as safe. Part of this is the huge number of repeat players who want something NEW but also get upset if they change it. In this case, they even keep repeating tracks or variations of the old tracks! Oddly, Nintendo messed up on battle modes many times because that is the only part they have been willing to drastically change over the years.

So you make it the SAME but more intense (an easy safe change;) like a movie sequel is rarely good and when they are it's usually because it is a rehash with just enough changes to make it not feel like a clone. They also have a problem with making the sequels more intense on every similarity. (When is a super hero going to stop a lesser threat than the previous movie??)