I personally will be using the Wiichuck. Backwards compatibility with controllers saves a lot of trouble. But actually, with the removal of wheelies and change to Hop for tricks, all controllers save the Wii Wheel are now on equal terms. The rest is down to familiarity, hand size, and preference.

Wii Wheel: Experts would beg to differ. It just takes a lot more finesse and practice than the other control methods. There'll be threads for Wheel tops.

Wiichuck: Perfectly viable. All the buttons are accessible. It was just in MKW, that it had a disadvantage with tricks and wheelies. That, and if your nunchuk connection sucked, it would occasionally disconnect mid-race. Using AA batteries is only a disadvantage if you don't have backups like a good racer should. Potentially the most ergonomic due to freedom of hand positions.

CC/CC Pro: This works fine. May have the same connection issues, but less prominent due to less motion while playing compared to Wiichuck users.

Wii U Gamepad: Not uncomfortable in the least. Though its size makes it rather unpopular. I expect it to sit on the side as an info screen while the player uses a different controller though. Battery life issues can be mitigated by plugging it in on longer play sessions. Or by taking breaks.

Wii U Pro: May be the preferred option. Ergonomics duplicate that of the 360 controllers, but lighter. Long battery life, and a good racer will plug it back in at the end of a session.

GCN: You forgot this option. Not sure how many players have bought the adapter for this. By far the most ergonomic controller usable. Most players are familiar with this controller. It has a better joystick than any of the Wii/Wii U controllers. Limited by Wiimote battery life. Cheaper than the Wii U Pro controller for those who own a GCN controller.

Oh god I didn't realize there was no real controller now that you can't use the gamecube one. So.. I really don't know what I'm going to use, I will have to do tests obviously.

Though I think there won't be any advantage taking one in particular (no clawing involved apparently).

Of course, the Gamepad will be pretty much mandatory when playing online, if only for the map and player item information alone (whether you're playing with it, or using it as a secondary screen while playing with another controller).

But I also expect the Gamepad to be the superior controller on several tracks in Time Trial.

Why ?

Simply because it has 2 jump buttons (R and ZR) instead of one, which means you could technically perform tricks WHILE drifting like in MKWii. Sunshine Airport is the track that comes to mind right now where this technique would save a significant amount of time.

EDIT : I guess the Wii U Pro Controller will have the same advatange as well.

Mick wrote on 05/09/14 at 04:41:59:

I don’t think you understand how videogames work

that won’t work

I’ll probably just use the WU pad because I have no alternatives except for Wiichuck which I might try in case the WU pad is shit

ALAKTORN wrote on 05/09/14 at 05:46:04:

I'm not saying it will work for sure since I haven't tried the game which is why I said "expect". If tricks must be initiated from the ground then it certainly won't.

However I'd like you to elaborate on why this wouldn't work besides what I just mentioned above.
L-tech in MKDD is a really useful advanced technique that would be impossible if there was only 1 drift button instead of 2, so it's not like there isn't any precedence in this series alone.
And I'm sure there are other working examples in gaming as well...

I'm concerned about the WiiU pro controller having the same button for both drift and trick. This was pretty annoying in MK7 on some tracks like SNES RR, since you would often hop instead of tricking.

However, with motion controls, I believe you can register trick inputs without the possibility of registering hop inputs. Like MKWii, this is done by shaking the wiimote / gamepad. This can give a slight advantage for timing tricks.

I think ALAKTORN is right that drift+trick won't work with ZR+R, but it certainly is a possibility. It seems slightly more likely that drift+trick will be possible using motion controls though. By drift+trick I'm referring to tricking mid-air while holding your drift (possible in MKWii, impossible in MK7).

With Wiimote+Nunchuck, you can steer using non-motion controls and trick by shaking the Wiimote. I think Wiichuck will be the best controller because of this. Also, you can trick using B with the Wiichuck, so it gives you both options.

Basically, my predictions are:

If drift+trick is possible, but only with motion control tricking:
  Wiichuck will be the best controller by far.

If drift+trick is possible, including with ZR+R:
  Wiichuck will have a slight timing advantage for some tricks, so it will technically be the best controller. It won't be dominant though.

If drift+trick is impossible:
  Wiichuck will have a slight timing advantage for some tricks, so it will technically be the best controller. It won't be dominant though.

Ignoring tricks, the 2 drift buttons might be useful in another way for the WiiU pro controller. In MKWii, there are some techniques that work better if you utilize both the R and B buttons on the GCN controller, but overall this has had almost no impact on the game. On the other hand, SMK and MKDD both had techniques that only worked due to the double drift buttons (flatboosts and L-tech).

Flatboost: SMK tech where you press both the drift buttons (L & R) on the same frame. This causes you to start a drift without hopping, staying flat on the groud. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmEEfLU23Cc (end of MC1 flap)

L-Tech: MKDD tech where you spam L while holding R to take a turn tighter (mostly only used on spiral turns). Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCpAeIcOkU8

These probably won't be in MK8, but it shows that there have been techs created because of multiple drift buttons. Not every game handles duplicate buttons like MKWii, but it's likely that MK8 will.

Cole wrote on 05/09/14 at 08:32:19:

The motion controls for MK8 works the same way as in MK7, instead of the MKWii way. You can ONLY steer and modify you kart angle, not perform tricks.
Here's a video of the MK8 digital manual that shows that tricks don't have a dedicated command and states that they can only be performed using the jump button.

ALAKTORN wrote on 05/09/14 at 10:33:58:

B and R have a unique function in MKWii though unlike in MK7/MK8 when R/ZR has two functions. However I didn't know two buttons could actually be linked as a single input source at a software level. Well I guess we'll have to wait for someone here to try a demo to find out...

Oh that sounds like good news then, and I hope you're right ! I really like the ergonomy of the Wiichuk so in that case I'll definitely use it for TT. I don't know why they would withhold such control information from the manual of the game though.

RRD wrote on 05/09/14 at 15:17:12:


Rechargeables are bullshit, once they are empty you can't play. When I charged them, they were already down to half of their power after 5 mins... My batteries are the best ones you can get, no doubt. For example. My clock had 1 of these batteries and it lasted 10 years.

ρf☆Pαμl wrote on 05/10/14 at 00:27:11:

I’m quite disappointed in rechargables myself. anyway, a clock barely takes any power, clock batteries during years is nothing special

ALAKTORN wrote on 05/10/14 at 06:06:23:

The second video Cole posted is only one week old and shows all the modes, tracks and characters available.
It's very likely the final version of the game, or at least the same version the reviewers got to play.