Battle mode is set to be very different in Mario Kart 8, it won’t be like previous iterations of Battle mode where they had they had specific course all dedicated to battles, no instead battle mode is set to use the courses from the main game.
I for one have been trying to understand why this is for a good while now as it seems even more annoying to do battle mode now and I am sure many of you feel the same as me and want to know why they made this decision. Well it appears there is a method to game director Kosuke Yabuki madness as he explained to EDGE earlier this month about what his thought process behind the decision.
We’ve changed the style of Battle mode for Mario Kart 8 to use circuits that lots of people can play on. Players won’t know when a rival will appear from around a corner, which will bring a new sense of excitement and strategy to this mode. In terms of rules, we designed it for playing with 12 players, including the CPU. In the beginning, you have to defeat the CPU players and earn your score, and towards the end it becomes a battle between just human players. That’s the real thrill of it! It should also be a fresh experience for users to be able to race backwards around the circuits they are familiar with. I’m sure there will be a few people who aren’t so sure about us moving away from how we’ve done things previously, but I hope they try it out for themselves first. I’m sure it will be a new experience for everyone, [and] like no other battles in Mario Kart before.
That is as good a reason as any, at this point in time I am still very sceptic about how this will play and whether it will work out but I must keep an open mind as it does sound interesting and different and I really hope it will be fun and work out. Good thing is I don’t have long to wait in order to find out. Hopefully this will be a fun twist that will change how I have fun and maybe it will make revisiting some courses more fun.
Source: Nintendo Everything