Buy Mario Kart 8 and get another Wii U game for free
New Nintendo Direct reveals all the details, including new items, tracks and characters
Mario Kart 8 is just one month away from being released on Wii U, but if it wasn’t already in line to be the Wii U’s first proper system seller, Nintendo’s just announced a new promotion that makes it even more enticing than before.
If you register the game on Club Nintendo between 30th May 2014 and 31st July 2014, you’ll be eligible to receive a free download code for one of ten selected Wii U games by 31st August 2014.
It applies to all versions of the game, including the Mario Kart 8 Limited Edition and Premium Pack Special Edition hardware bundle.
There’s a fantastic selection of games on offer, too, including the fantastic The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Pikmin 3 and Platinum Games’ The Wonderful 101.
Nintendo also announced that two new characters will be joining the race: Baby Rosalina, a smaller, lighter version of the heavyweight Super Mario Galaxy star, and Peach Gold Peach, a heavyweight metallic version of the Mushroom Kingdom princess that’s a kind of counterpart to Metal Mario. Like Mario Kart Wii, players will also be able to play as their Mii characters as well.
There’s also a host of new items to get to grips with, including the never-before-seen Super Horn. This, quite literally, blows all other items and drivers away by sending out a sonic shockwave across the course. It will even knock out pesky blue shells, making it the first item to trump the dreaded homing missile that has terrorised players for many years.
There’s also an item called the Crazy Eight, which is a mixture of eight different items that swirl around players as they race.
On the online side, Mario Kart 8 will support up to 12 players with four main racing modes: global, regional, tournament, friends and rivals. A lobby area will let players chat to each other before each race using the GamePad microphone, and players will be able to create public and private tournaments where they can specify the day of the week, time and rules.
Friends’ ghost data will also be available to race against on top of ghost data from the top ten racers worldwide. If you manage to beat the Mario Kart 8 development team’s ghosts, you’ll get a nifty Miiverse stamp to use on your Miiverse profile.