Mario Kart 8: 6 Reasons It's Game Of The Year So Far

4. The Easter Eggs

Somewhat typically of a game that is so openly nostalgic, Mario Kart 8 also includes a number of fan-baiting Easter Eggs and self-referential nods designed to increase the player's pleasure in gameplay. It's all a matter of little touches, rather than hammer-blow obviousness, to the game's eternal credit. For instance Yoshi Valley, which is now a Wild Yoshi Sanctuary is littered with the same berries that Yoshi eats throughout the old sidescrolling Mario and Yoshi games, the frequency for the highway advisory radio station in Toad City is 64 MHz, in reference to the track's debut on the N64, and in Sunshine Airport there's an island hidden in the background whose rocks are distinctively shaped like Koopa Troopas, just like the statues that peppered the Koopa Troopa beach track in Mario Kart 64 and indeed Mario Kart 7. These are not the only references and nods by any means, but they are indicative of the kind of approach that's gone into developing the game, and precisely why it will appeal so much to Mario Kart fans.