History Trivia / MarioKart8

* Electrodrome is, to date, the only track in the ''Mario Kart'' series to have a one-word name.

* KillerApp: Considering how well the original game sold -- approximately two-thirds of all Wii U owners purchased it -- it very likely prevented the system from going down as one of the biggest failures in videogaming history instead of "only" being Nintendo's lowest-selling home console. Weirdly enough, ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' also ended up being this for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch to some extent; while not ''the'' killer app for the system (that was ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''), it was still held up as one of the biggest reasons to purchase a Switch, and ended up outselling the original version in just under a year. By the end of 2018, it had dethroned ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' as the top-selling Switch title.

* This is the first ''Mario Kart'' game where no tracks (new, old or DLC) share the same music (although most parts of Mario Kart Stadium and Mario Circuit themes share the same tune, but with different instrumentation). This is broken in ''Deluxe'', though not entirely: the music for the battle stages of Sweet Sweet Kingdom and Dragon Palace are slightly remixed variations of the music respectively for Sweet Sweet Canyon and Dragon Driftway.

** Returning from previous ''Mario'' games are Creator/CharlesMartinet as Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Wario and Waluigi, Samantha Kelly as Peach, Toad, Toadette and Baby Peach, Kenny James as Bowser, and Caety Sagoian as Bowser Jr.

* OlderThanTheyThink:
** Using a Pac-Man amiibo in game unlocks a costume based on the character. This isn't the first time Pac-Man appeared in a Mario Kart game though -- the Namco-developed and arcade-exclusive ''Mario Kart Arcade GP'' games feature the yellow circle and several other Namco characters.
** Surprisingly, this isn't the first kart racer to feature anti-gravity: ''VideoGame/CrashNitroKart'' did the same thing over a ''decade'' prior (though, admittedly, ''Mario Kart 8'' uses it in much more interesting ways).

* AscendedMeme: The DLC track Baby Park has a statue of Baby Pink Gold Peach, arising from a meme which criticized the game padding the roster with Baby or Metal versions of existing characters.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Using a Pac-Man amiibo in game unlocks a costume based on the character. This isn't the first time Pac-Man appeared in a Mario Kart game though -- the Namco-developed and arcade-exclusive ''Mario Kart Arcade GP'' games feature the yellow circle and several other Namco characters.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: When thinking up ideas for what new gameplay concepts to introduce in this game, the development team initially considered being able to drill through the ground.

* KillerApp: Considering how well the original game sold -- approximately two-thirds of all Wii U owners purchased it -- it very likely prevented the system from going down as one of the biggest failures in videogaming history instead of "only" being Nintendo's lowest-selling home console. Weirdly enough, ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' also ended up being this for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch to some extent; while not ''the'' killer app for the system (that was ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''), it was still held up as one of the biggest reasons to purchase a Switch, and ended up outselling the original version in just under a year..

** Surprisingly, this isn't the first kart racer to feature anti-gravity: ''VideoGame/CrashNitroKart'' did the same thing almost a decade prior (though, admittedly, ''Mario Kart 8'' used it in much more interesting ways).

* KillerApp: Considering how well the original game sold -- approximately two-thirds of all Wii U owners purchased it -- it very likely prevented the system from going down as one of the biggest failures in videogaming history instead of "only" being Nintendo's lowest-selling home console. Weirdly enough, ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' also ended up being this for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch to some extent; while not ''the'' killer app for the system (that was ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''), it was still held up as one of the biggest reasons to purchase a Switch, and after only eight months in release had already sold nearly as many copies as the original version had over the previous three years.

* KillerApp: Considering how well the original game sold -- approximately two-thirds of all Wii U owners purchased it -- it very likely prevented the system from going down as one of the biggest failures in videogaming history instead of "only" being Nintendo's lowest-selling home console. Weirdly enough, ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' also ended up being this for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch to some extent; while not ''the'' killer-app for the system (that was ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''), it was still held up as one of the biggest reasons to purchase the system, and after only six months in release had already sold half the number of copies that the original version had sold in the previous three years.

* This is the first ''Mario Kart'' game where no tracks (new, old or DLC) share the same music. This is broken in ''Deluxe'', though not entirely: the music for the battle stages of Sweet Sweet Kingdom and Dragon Palace are slightly remixed variations of the music respectively for Sweet Sweet Canyon and Dragon Driftway.

* This is the first ''Mario Kart'' game where no tracks (new, old or DLC) share the same music.

* FanNickname: "Link Kart 8" or "Morton Kart 8", for how popular those characters are among players (the latter due to the double-whammy of being a heavyweight, statistically the best choice for a high top speed, and a [[EnsembleDarkhorse Koopaling]]; and the former simply because of the ''Zelda'' series's popularity).

* This is the first Mario Kart game where no tracks share the same music.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Using a Pac-Man amiibo in game unlocks a costume based on the character. This isn't the first time Pac-Man appeared in a Mario Kart game though. The Namco Developed and Arcade Exclusive Mario Kart GP features the Yellow Circle and several other Namco characters.