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

3. For What It's Done For The Wii U

As mentioned already, Mario Kart 8 has already proved to be a deciding factor for some gamers who were wavering on the idea of investing in the Wii U console. The game's release, and the stellar first weekend sales coincided with a pick-up in sales for the console that must have felt like a major relief for Nintendo after a relatively dismal state of affairs to date. And more Wii U sales is a decidedly good thing: the console launch might not have been handled the best way possible, but there is much promise in its features, and there is a market space in this new generation that was specifically created by its fore-runner the Wii that needs to be filled for gamers looking for something other than the experiences offered by the PS4 and XBox One. Despite the lack of tent-pole games, and the baffling continued refusal to release the games that would specifically help sell the console - like Zelda, Pokemon and even Mega Man (all of which could easily take advantage of the gamepad) - the Wii U genuinely deserves to succeed, and hopefully the hope offered by Mario Kart will compel Nintendo to start looking back to their core for the right flag-ship games to launch.