Switch Gaming: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

This weekend, Nintendo Switch owners in my FFXIV Free Company got together to play some online Mario Kart 8 for the first time. We got Syn’s Switch set up and running, and Discord did surprisingly well on phones and wireless headsets as a means of group chat for Switch play.

For some people, playing Mario Kart online is old hat. For me, this is the first time I’ve been online with a group of people like this. I tried it out back when the game first launched with 3-4 racers, and yesterday with Syn alone. But the game really starts to ramp up once you get a solid group of friends together!

My Mii is being antisocial

It was all pretty casual and fun, since some players were new to this version of Mario Kart. We took to some of the tracks first, then, as some of the players left the game to do other things, we ended with a round of battle mode, which was really fun with team play.

Later in the afternoon, once everyone went off their own way, I decided to spend a little time practicing and unlocking kart parts, since I haven’t done much of that on this version of the game (had a lot of parts unlocked for the Wii U version, so need to catch up).

While I usually play using my Mii character, I decided to try out something different and started racing with Cat Peach. I’m not usually one for picking the cute, pink, girl characters, but I have to admit, she’s pretty adorable, especially when she taunts.

The first thing I unlocked on my solo play was the pink cat cart, so I decided to take it for a spin, and actually did pretty well on most the tracks I tried. Of course, this is just 50CC, but you have to start somewhere.

I’m still experimenting with my kart build, but for now, I’m consistently coming in first on the easy tracks, so I’m sticking with what’s working. I’ll probably have to adjust once I move up to a higher speed.

Overall, I enjoy the Switch version of this game more than I did the Wii U version. I think the major issue was that the Wii U’s main control pad was so huge and bulky for me that it made it difficult to play games that required quick response. The smaller joycons in their holder have proven to be extremely comfortable and easy for me to use in comparison.

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