Mario Kart 8 is a beloved game to play both by yourself and with friends. This game has held its popularity not only because of nostalgia, but because of the great characters, unique tracks, and replayability. The combination of characters and tracks is endless, though many fall in love with one particular combination, and stick to it.
There are many different ways that you can make the game more challenging, such as letting your friends make decisions for you, or choosing which items you can use. Below, you’ll find the 10 best challenges to make Mario Kart 8 more difficult.
10 Friends Decide
Let Your Friends Pick Your Vehicle
There are benefits to different vehicles in Mario Kart 8; some prefer the ease with which they can drive on motorcycles, while others prefer the stability of cars. This game has a lot of customization options, including wheels, vehicles, and gliders.
Letting your friends pick your ride is difficult for a few reasons. There are objectively worse vehicles that they can choose, or they can decide to pick something that is your weakness.
9 No Collecting Coins
Minimize Speed Boosts
Collecting coins while racing around the tracks gives you a speed boost, which, of course, can help you win. It would be a fun challenge to avoid coins at all costs during your next Mario Kart game.
Since you can accidentally pick up a coin, you have to have a penalty in place. If someone grabs a coin, they can either stop their car for thirty seconds to make up for it or jump off a track twice in a row.
8 Biker Friends
Only Use Bikes
Cars tend to have better speed and are a bit more stable than bikes in Mario Kart. The positive thing about bikes is that it’s easier to drift with them, and some believe they have better handling.
Only choosing bikes can throw a lot of your friends off if they prefer speed to stability. Mix it up by all choosing the same bike to truly see who is the best player.
7 No Drifting
Stay In Your Lane
Drifting is one of the best ways to gain an advantage because when you’re turning, you end up losing speed. However, drifting helps you maintain your speed, and even gives you a speed boost.
Taking out this element makes it harder to win the game. You’ll slow down around turns, and it evens out the playing field for those who aren’t as good at drifting.
6 Rainbow Road
Endless Rainbows
With the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, you have five different Rainbow Road tracks. This means you can play an entire Grand Prix with only Rainbow Road.
Rainbow Road is considered one of the hardest courses, so battling with only them shows off your skills. Plus, if there’s a tie, you have one more Rainbow Road track for the tiebreaker.
5 No Items
All You, Baby
Items can make or break you during a race, and the farther back you are, the better your items are. Try playing the game without any items to see how well you can do without additional support.
Remember, the NPCs will still have items, so you could still get hit; if you accidentally pick up an item, throw it off the course, or don’t use it at all. If you accidentally use an item, you have to stay still for 30 seconds or let your fellow players each ram into you.
4 The Last Leg
Cannot Be In First, Second, Or Third Until The Last Lap
In this game, you can easily get a crazy head start and leave all the other players in the dust. That’s why you should challenge your friends by not passing into third, second, or first place until the very last lap.
Not only does this even the playing field, but it makes the last lap incredibly exciting. You can save up items, run people off the road, and race to finally get into first place.
3 No Falls
If You Fall Off, You’re Out
This is one of the harsher challenges, but it’s great for people who are looking for a more difficult challenge. Choose a track where you can drive off, and if at any point during the race you fall off the track, you’re out of the game.
This challenge is really fun, and incredibly frustrating at the same time. Drive slowly and carefully if you want to succeed.
Be careful of speed boosts while trying out this challenge.
2 Motion Controls
New Way To Race
A lot of people play this game with the motion controls turned off, as having to tilt your controller back and forth to move can make the game more difficult. If you’re looking for a challenge or new way to play, turn those motion controls back on.
To do this, you set up a race until you get to the point where you are choosing a vehicle. Press the plus or minus button, and then press the button next to Tilt Control to turn it on or off.
1 Timed Race
Under A Certain Time
If you’re looking for a challenge you can do over and over again, look no further. Decide on a time limit in which you have to complete the race; if you don’t, you’re kicked out of the rest of the Grand Prix.
This challenge is especially exciting because you can keep lowering the time that you have to complete the race in order to better yourself. It’s the challenge that keeps on giving.
