Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart 8 (the 8 being stylized as the Möbius strip in the logo of the game) is an upcoming Mario Kart game for Wii U, and confirmed to be released in Spring 2014. The game is the eighth installment in the mainstream series, and eleventh overall in the Mario Kart series. A new gimmick for the Mario Kart series, anti-gravity, is confirmed. Bikes, gliders, and underwater driving are also confirmed to return.

Gameplay
The gameplay maintains the traditional elements as most Mario Kart games. The main karts use a similar design from Mario Kart 7, with gliders returning from this game. Bikes, which are introduced in Mario Kart Wii make a return. Vehicles can also go underwater. The game introduces anti-gravity tracks, that allow the players to race on vertical and upside-down roads. When in anti-gravity, if a racer bumps into another racer the kart spins rather than just bumping. Coins, introduced in Super Mario Kart and returning in Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart 7, also return for this game, and like Mario Kart 7 the player can only collect up to ten coins at one time. Kart customizing from Mario Kart 7 also seems to be a feature shown by some of the standard karts having different wheels. Also, like Mario Kart Wii, twelve racers are present in normal races. An aesthetic changes includes the kart headlights turning on in a dark area. It has been confirmed that there will be Miiverse integration, which will allow players to share their replay videos and comment on others' videos.

Playable

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Peach
 * Daisy
 * Yoshi
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Toad
 * Toadette
 * Wario
 * Waluigi
 * Donkey Kong
 * Bowser

Non-playable

 * Super Piranha Plant
 * Goombas/Goomba Towers
 * Fishbones
 * Boos
 * Fishin' Lakitu

Items

 * Item Boxes
 * Coins
 * Banana
 * Triple Bananas
 * Fire Flower
 * Green Shell
 * Triple Green Shells
 * Red Shell
 * Triple Red Shells
 * Spiny Shell
 * Mushroom
 * Triple Mushrooms
 * Golden Mushroom
 * Star
 * Thunderbolt
 * Blooper
 * Bob-omb

Nitro Courses

 * Mario Circuit, which are floating islands where Princess Peach's Castle is, and also the main course shown in the E3 2013 trailer.
 * A course made of candy and desserts.
 * A ruins course.
 * A residential course with similarities to the city of San Francisco, California, United States of America.
 * A haunted mansion course with an underwater chamber.

Retro Courses

 * GCN Dry Dry Desert
 * 3DS Music Park
 * 3DS Piranha Plant Slide

Trivia

 * Instead of anti-gravity, the developers originally thought of giving karts a drill, so they can drill through the ground, but the developers thought that anti-gravity was more interesting.