My last race of Mario Kart 8 came down to the wire. We sped through a remake of DK Jungle, a stage previously introduced in Mario Kart for 3DS. My opponent slipped into first place. I was down in fourth, recovering from a poorly timed accident. I knew the stakes and had to race cautiously to secure a win. After power-sliding into third, I picked up one of Mario Kart’s shiny item boxes. The next ramp transformed our karts into gliders, and we swooped past three Screaming Pillars. As the familiar item roulette wheel spun in the top left corner, only one thought crossed my mind: “If I get a red shell right now, this race is done!”

“ What I saw showcased a stunning kart racer that can stand up to anything on competing platforms.

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Mario Kart 8 New Screens Gallery 7 IMAGES

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The build of Mario Kart 8 I played wasn’t complete, but it showed enough ideas to sell me on its potential. I raced on 16 of the expected 32 courses from the final game, and I couldn’t help but admire how gorgeous it all looked and played. While I didn’t have access to the smaller arenas of Battle Mode or Coin Runners during my demo, the cups and courses I saw showcased a stunning kart racer that can stand up to anything on competing platforms.Mario Kart 8 doesn’t rewrite the rulebook of kart racing, but it tosses in enough fresh ideas to kick-start it past the last two incarnations on Wii and 3DS. Jumps off of ramps helped me gain small bursts of speed, and familiar vehicle transformations morphed my kart into a glider and an underwater craft. The new hotness this time around comes in the form of anti-gravity, a liberating and fun mechanic that allowed me to race on walls and other surfaces. The angled camera angle during this stomach-flipping wall trick unconsciously caused me to tilt my head, as I was totally immersed by everything happening on screen.Each of the eight new tracks I played tossed in this fun new mechanic but also constantly switched things up. Water Park oscillated between underwater sections and an amusement park-themed gauntlet on land. Mario Kart Stadium delivered the spectacle and thrills of a huge event alongside a dizzying set of anti-gravity sections. The giant rolling stone wheel in Thwomp Ruins eventually collapses a special section of walls to reveal a potential shortcut after the first lap.Meanwhile, the eight retro stages I played took a conservative approach to fiddling with Mario Kart 8’s new tricks, but it helped to distinguish these retread courses. Cheep Cheep Beach, originally from Mario Kart DS, completely skips the anti-gravity flair in favor of tight turns and a fun spread of boost pads and ramps. Mario Circuit 4’s remake has a fancy, elevated anti-gravity U-turn in one corner of the race, but still preserves a faithful high-definition tribute to the Super Nintendo original. The remake of Toad’s Turnpike from Mario Kart 64 adds anti-gravity walls lined with booster pads and jumps to help speed racers along, but also tosses ramps and pads onto the backs of other large moving vehicles. From the rain-soaked roads of Donut Plains 3 to the hilarious golden temple of the banana gods in DK Jungle, these remade stages look and feel impressive.As Mario Kart 8 skewed between new and old ideas, Nintendo’s cohesive art direction managed to stand out even when it came to the items themselves. Old reliable favorites like the deadly Red Shell homing projectile and thunderous Bullet Bill made return appearances next to two new items. The Piranha Plant from Super Mario 3D World can reach out and chomp on nearby racers. It also provided an incremental boost for small durations, as it yanked forward in search of something to munch on. The Boomerang from Super Mario 3D Land also makes an appearance as a re-useable item. I could toss this curved weapon up to three times and, with the right timing, it could hit enemies on the trip to and from my hand.But just because Mario Kart 8 benefits from life in the high-def fast lane doesn’t mean it can pull a fast one on me. The limited features of this demo left some slightly awkward questions. While the GamePad allowed me to switch between off-TV play, a helpful map, and motion controls seamlessly using a simple set of touch panels on the display, Sonic & All-Star Racing Transformed took this second screen to the next level: Sega provided local play for up to five players and support for separate views between the GamePad and television. It even featured it as a rear-view display in single-player. The build we played of Mario Kart 8 only mirrored what was on screen, so my opponent and I shared the display in a two-player race no matter where I looked. Producer Hideki Konno made it clear in a roundtable interview afterwards that the GamePad features I saw were all from the final shipping version of the game.Even though I had a thorough hands-on experience with Mario Kart 8, there’s still plenty I didn’t get access to. I was only allowed to play multiplayer in two-player split-screen mode, the final game will support up to four. Twelve players can race online, but it wasn’t available during my demo. And then there’s the addition of Mario Kart TV, a feature that will setup sharing brief highlight films on Miiverse, but we still haven’t seen it in action. But regardless of the looming questions, one thing was clear after my demo: The core racing experience at the heart of Mario Kart 8 isn’t only intact; it’s better than ever. And it benefits from a steadfast approach to carefully preserving old ideas while blazing a trail forward with new ones.

Jose Otero is an Associate Editor at IGN and host o f Nintendo Voice Chat . You can follow him on twitter