More Mario Kart 8 Gameplay Details, Tracks Announced

Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach join the roster of competitors in Nintendo's first major exclusive of 2014.
Nintendo have today announced several new details on their upcoming racing video game Mario Kart 8. Launching exclusively on the Nintendo WiiU, the eighth outing in the acclaimed first-party franchise will take advantage of both the WiiU GamePad controller and the current-generation home console's enhanced online multiplayer capabilities.

You'll find all of the details in the publisher's latest Nintendo Direct video conference (which was released this morning and focused exclusively on Mario Kart 8) below. To make life a little easier for you, though, dear reader, we've rounded up the essential information that you'll want to hear on the impending sequel with the following list:

• NEW POWER-UPS- Joining the standard power-ups which were available in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7 (the red shell, the Mega Mushroom, the notorious winged blue shell and the like) are the Crazy Eight (a power-up which surrounds the player with eight different power-ups to use at whatever time they so desire) and the Super Horn (which sends out a shockwave that will render even the deadliest attacks obsolete, even from Blue Shells!).
• NEW COMPETITORS- The keen readers among you will already have worked this out from the article's tagline: a toddler version of Super Mario Galaxy's Rosalina (Baby Rosalina) and a female version of Metal Mario (better known to the world at large as Pink Gold Peach) will be attempting to gain their places on the podium in one month's time. They've come at the right time, too, as the new Mario Kart TV online feature will allow players to record footage of their best races and upload those videos to a global database with ease for the entire gaming community to see...
• NEW PROMOTIONS- Nintendo are evidently striving to provide incentives aplenty with their upcoming video game products, kicking off their latest WiiU promotional campaign by offering up a free WiiU title with every purchase of Mario Kart 8. All owners of the much-anticipated sequel will have to do in order to claim the game of their choosing is sign up to ClubNintendo.com and register their product using its individual key. Once these two criteria have been fulfilled, they'll be able to select one title from the following (rather impressive, it must be said) list: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD; New Super Mario Bros U; Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate; Game & Wario; Pikmin 3; The Wonderful 101; Sonic Lost World; Nintendo Land; Wii Party U and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. A great deal, no?
• NEW TRACKS- As if this plentiful series of announcements wasn't enough to entice Nintendoites everywhere, CVG.com went on to reveal the full track-list for Mario Kart 8 in the aftermath of the Direct conference. It reads as follows: Mario Kart Stadium; Water Park; Sweet Sweet Canyon; Thwomp Ruins; Mario Circuit; Toad Harbor; Twisted Mansion; Shy Guy Falls; Starshine Airport; Dolphin Shoals; Electrodrome; Mount Wario; Cloudtop Cruise; Bone Dry Dunes; Bowser's Castle; Rainbow Road; Moo Moo Meadows; Mario Circuit (II); Cheep Cheep Beach; Toad's Turnpike; Dry Dry Desert; Donut Plains 3; Royal Raceway; DK Jungle; Wario Stadium; Sherbet Land; Music Park; Yoshi Valley; Tick-Tock Clock; Piranha Plant Slide; Grumble Volcano and Rainbow Road (II).

Mario Kart 8 careens exclusively onto Nintendo WiiU consoles this May 30th.