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We show you an ingenious, hidden game mode

There is a way Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to play that hardly anyone knows, but is a lot of fun. With a bit of self-organization, you can fight furiously among friends, abuse each other and even improve your driving skills – without having to be online at the same time.

In the first corona lockdown, Robert and I discovered an interesting way to play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe against each other asynchronously (i.e. not at the same time). However, Nintendo goes to great lengths to hide this type of game. It’s a shame, but let me enlighten you.

Steep thesis: Most players will Time trial mode Ignore (“Time Trial”) of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe more or less. You shouldn’t do that, because it makes sense in three ways:

  • For one thing, you can get good ones here Gain knowledge of the route – much faster than, for example, in online mode.
  • Second, you get the golden hoops as a bonus item if you defeat the Nintendo spirit on all 150 cc tracks. Okay, these things are relatively useless in terms of play, but of course completists still need the item.
  • And thirdly, the time trial mode can be good for incredibly fun challenges with friends use. How to do that, I’ll explain to you now.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in “Trackmania mode”

Explanatory insert: In racing games one describes Ghosts as opponents, through which one can simply drive through, mostly these are shown slightly transparent. Advantage: You can change the driving style of the Enemy ghosts study, compete with them, even without driving at the same time and with them optimize your own driving style. For the Trackmania series, ghosts are part of the core gameplay.

The time trial mode of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe also has ghosts as an option. Whenever you have improved your best time on a track, you can upload it as a ghost. In addition to the Nintendo ghosts, you can also get the Download ghosts from other players and compete against them. For this purpose, Nintendo has created an eternal list of the best for each route.

The problem with this: Competing against the top ghosts from the list of the best doesn’t make much sense, because that’s what they are global record times of Mario-Kart demigodswho have optimized the entire race, timed to the millisecond. They move away in such a way that as a “normal mortal”, even with a lot of practice, you won’t finish until 10 to 20 seconds later. The learning effect is small, the frustration is great.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch)

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch)

The ghosts of my friends

And now it comes: it gets much better if you compete against the ghosts of your own friends in the time trial.

Robert is just here in front of me so you know what he looks like as a ghost.

Nintendo hides the fact that this possibility exists incredibly well – I don’t know why. The trick is in the list of downloadable ghosts scroll all the way down! At some point you will find the best times of all friends with whom you are linked on Switch Online, recognizable by the orange Mii picture. I’ll show you where in this short clip:

“Robert, today there is war in Käseland!”

That’s half the battle, if you will: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in Trackmania mode. Now with Trackmania the whole series of games is built around the principle of “person against person in asynchronous combat situations”, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe you have to organize a bit around it. I recommend this approach:

Step 1: Opened a Group in Messenger Your choice with people who want to compete against each other in MK8DX.

Step 2: Add each other on Switch Onlineif not already done.

Step 3: Challenge each other via messenger (“Today WW3 on Kuh-Muh-Pasture Nordschleife, you leeks!”), Download the best times of your friends and / or set one yourself.

Step 4: Celebrate with one quick posted proof picture In the messenger group, mockery if you have undercut a friend time and / or curses your “frenemies” in the most filthy manner if you have been beaten. Here are some impressions from our WhatsApp group:

And that’s essentially it. It is simply a great mood to improve yourself at the same time, chase best times from your friends, improve yourself with driving skills and experiments in the vehicle / driver setup, while also learning shortcuts, optimizing ideal lines and the use of mushrooms. Oh yes, of course teasing yourself too.

How Nintendo could improve time trial mode

The fact that this way of playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is largely unknown is because Nintendo apparently didn’t realize how much fun asynchronous time trial battles among buddies can be. I once asked around in an unrepresentative way: No Mario Kart driver around me knew that you could drive against the ghosts of friends.

I think this is a missed opportunity, but maybe it will be different with the next Mario Kart. Here is my incomplete list of suggestions for what Nintendo could do better:

  • Remove the stupid restriction that you can only have 16 ghosts downloaded to the switch at the same time. Seriously, why do I have to erase a ghost on one track just so I can compete against another on another?
  • Make it possible to compete against several ghosts at the same time
  • List friends’ best times separately from global times
  • In-game notifications when a friend has broken their own personal best
  • List in the duel statistics who is ahead on how many routes.

So, now please hit my 2: 07.821 in the Wario Arena. That goes for you too, Robert. You rag!

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