Games Inbox: Is Mario Kart World better than Mario Kart 8?

Metro

7 days ago

The Monday letters page thinks that Sony has become the single format future, as one reader believes Microsoft is wise to delay the Fable reboot.
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Close rivals
I know they're both two quite different games, but this is the internet, so I want to see my favourite things fight. So I ask the question that I don't think I've seen a solid answer for: which is better out of Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart World?
I do like World but I feel you have to be surprisingly picky in which game modes you play in order to get the same level of fun out of it as 8. I would say that if you compare content at launch than World wins, because all the Knockout Tour courses are different and there's a certain amount of randomness depending on how you link them together.
But there's so many perfect courses in 8, where I literally can't see a flaw. The word perfect is all over the game and that's even before you add the DLC to the competition. So, I think 8 is the best. World might inspire a tenth game that takes the crown, but at the moment I don't feel it's quite there.
The other question I've seen come up, with my friends and family, is if the Switch 2 has had as good a launch line-up as the Switch 1. Switch 2 has more games but I'd say Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Snipperclips wins out over Mario Kart World and… nothing.
Rory
Money on the table
I understand all the negativity around Xbox at the moment, and I do agree with it in terms of the basic facts, but I also feel they're more sensible than a lot of people give them credit for.
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Yes, they do still go on about Halo and Gears Of War as if they're the biggest thing ever, and it's still 2006, but they kind of have to. Those are the company mascots and it's not like they're going to admit they're tired and probably should have a rest.
But I do think they're being sensible by delaying Fable and not talking about it too much. Halo and Gears Of War get endless second chances – or at least a lot of them – but Fable has got one chance to knock it out the park, especially given how much Microsoft must've spent on it, since it's been in development so long.
Vendar
PS: While I'm on the subject, why was there never a Halo vs. Gears of War crossover? Seems like that would've been easy money when both were at their peek.
Proven plan
I'm a little unclear on how exactly the PlayStation 5 has been so much more profitable than the others. They had to set things up with the PS1, and I guess they were securing their win with the PlayStation 2, then PlayStation 3 was a mini-disaster.
But the PlayStation 4 was firing on all cylinders so I guess, since it's not really that different, they had an easier time making the PlayStation 5 and could see all the ways to save money on design and manufacturing with that.
I imagine they won't ever tell us but that is such a massive difference between the generations it must make them so confident that they're doing everything right at the moment.
Bugnut
GC: It's presumably that, yes. You could also argue that by making less games they've saved money and made more profit.
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Slow start
I appreciate GC tying up their Nintendo Switch 2 launch coverage with the round-up on Friday. I can definitely see how they lack of review codes must've upset both website and publishers hoping for a bit of free publicity.
I doubt Nintendo thought about that side of things for a second. The console wasn't even out yet and already Nintendo was upsetting third parties. If some of them don't bother again then Nintendo will only have itself to blame.
I will wait for reviews of Donkey Kong Bananza to make a final decision, but I think I will wait until next year to get a Switch 2. There's absolutely nothing in the launch line-up, other than Mario Kart, for me to be interested in, not even a little indie game or anything. It's very poor and while I understand the business reasons I think it's a disappointing start for long-term fans.
Tacle
Affordable retro
Popped into CeX yesterday and safe to say, I think my money was well spent.
After using my £6 store credit voucher it was overall a total of £12, for copies of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Kingdom Hearts. What do you say GC? Good haul?
Shahzaib Sadiq
GC: It's certainly hard to imagine them being cheaper.
Unknown author
Hot damn, Donkey Kong Bananza looks absolutely smashing.
Remember that bit at the end of Super Mario Odyssey, where you briefly possess Bowser and proceed to wreck things up as you escaped with Peach?
It's like Nintendo looked at all the frenzied fun that could be had from that exhilarating sequence and took the hulking destruction aspect to the nth degree.
Therefore, I'm 80 to 90% certain at this point that the same developers, EPD, are behind the bonanza of joyously malleable, tactile and ambitious ideas seen here.
Also, how gorgeous does the fur and facial expressions on the avid ape look?
Galvanized Gamer
PS: Bit of a long shot this, but what the heck: Inbox magic for Donkey Kong Jungle Beat to receive a ravishing refresh on the Switch 2, boisterous bongo accessories and all. It's time this marvellously manic platformer got the love it deserves!
GC: The current rumour is that Bananza is by a new team (there are already around a dozen) within EPD, but Nintendo still hasn't said.
Different scales
I don't know how the rivalry between PlayStation and Xbox is going to play out, as I think the last two or three years have seen things nobody would've predicted even just five years ago. PlayStation games on PC? Xbox games on PlayStation? They would've locked you up!
However, I can only imagine Sony execs hoping and praying that Microsoft do go all in on portable gaming, because if their idea of a good plan is a rebranded ROG Ally, that costs more than £500, I don't know what to tell you. Other than it could be 10 times more popular than the original and still not be a blip to the PSP, let alone anything from Nintendo.
Loomis
Don't panic!
I agree with the Reader's Feature over the weekend, that said success has spoiled Sony. For years everyone sensible had said that without Xbox, or an equivalent, Sony would get lazy and exploitative and that's exactly what's happened. In a way, I can't even blame them. There's no business on earth that would be charitable enough to do anything different, certainly not Nintendo – as we saw in the NES days.
If it wasn't for the Switch, and now Switch 2, being wildcards we'd now be in a situation where the fabled one format future actually came true. And it would have bene awful. Imagine Sony as they are now but with even less competition. Absolutely no one else doing similar things and nothing to push them or measure themselves against, and nothing to compare prices with.
I don't know what Xbox is going to be like the in the future, given they're basically third party now, but PlayStation fans should hope more than anyone that they pull themselves together. You don't want them to dominate, you don't want anyone to, but that's not exactly been a problem for the last 25 years and I doubt it will be in the future.
They don't have to win, they just need to pose a threat to keep Sony on its toes. Nintendo is not going to provide that. The Switch 1 outsold both the PlayStation 4 and 5 and yet we're in the situation we are now because Sony didn't care and didn't change anything as a result of it. If the Xbox had outsold both consoles, you can bet they would've pushed the panic button years ago.
Instead, we get the anti-panic button, where they basically tell everyone to put their feet up and do whatever, because it doesn't matter.
Melchett
Inbox also-rans
I can just imagine the call that Nintendo in the UK must've got from Japan on Friday, after that Metroid Prime 4 blunder. As usual there was no secret, it was just a dumb mistake. It's always just a dumb mistake.
Fury
Just starting playing Stellar Blade on PC and I really like it. That's good for me but it does seem like yet another reason not to buy a PlayStation 5. Don't really understand Sony's plan, even if it benefits me.
Symode More Trending
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