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LOS ANGELES — Nintendo showed off Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. This new Mario Kart features anti-gravity, where you can turn off the track and drive up a wall as a short cut.
I used the Wii U tablet to control Mario Kart 8. It was easy to learn. I used the A button for gas and the left trigger for using special items, like leaving banana peels for my fellow racers to run over. And I could use the left trigger to slide brake around turns. A huge red button in the middle of the Wii U tablet screen blows the horn.
I played it with producer Hideki Konnno. I think he let me win, but I managed to pass him even though he used the anti-gravity side route. He flew up a wall, appearing to go vertically, and then the track reoriented to his point of view. And when he returned to the main track, the world rotated again, and he played from a regular point of view.
Nintendo is showing 12 characters and three tracks so far. The multiplayer mode accommodates up to 12 players.
Here’s the video below. And I played the fellow on the right, Konno.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/NJjco3PWU9o]