It’s hard to believe that Mario Kart 8 is coming up to eight years old. Yet it’s also hard to imagine a time before it; like only a small handful of titles before it, Mario Kart 8 is a constant that’s become woven into my life, one of those rare forever games that’s always by my side. The weekly Mario Kart meet-ups might be no more – so much time has passed since the original came out on the Wii U that most of the group that used to squeeze into my shed for boozy four-player sessions have moved onto more adult pursuits, or moved out of the country altogether – but I’ll still boot it up regularly for an online race or two.
It’s comfort gaming, yes, but it’s also comforting to spend time with something that flies so close to perfection. Whether it’s the exquisite rhythm of its racing, pulled along by ribbons of triple-tier drift boosts, speed-up pads and pirouetting tricks, or its sugar sweet palette that ensures it’s prettiness hasn’t dimmed a jot, Mario Kart 8 remains a thing of wonder. When Nintendo announced, coming up to five years since the release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch, that it was following that up not with Mario Kart 9 but with more Mario Kart 8 I wasn’t exactly disappointed. It just makes sense – if you can’t improve on perfection, why not just go back and serve up another round or two.
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