Wait - what? 12 players?
Yes - it's online. Properly. Race anyone you have a Friend Code for - or, if Mario Kart DS is the template, random worldwiders. Unlike on DS, Battle mode will also be online. And while Reggie told us to "wait and see" how many karters will be racing, the video screen behind him showed a dozen karts on the track! You'll understand if we don't get round to updating the website anymore.
Those little touches
Do the characters' heads actually turn to look at the vehicles they've just sent flying bonnet-over-exhaust with a perfectly-timed red shell? Looks that way, judging by Luigi's air-punching and a smug glance at Bowser. Perhaps there'll be Mario Strikers-style "highlights" bits at the end of the race to really rub it in, too.
Pesky "pedestrians"
Don't blame the Goomba - it is a zebra crossing after all. But do get ready to curse more pesky kart-clattering obstacles than ever: happily bouncing cows at Moo Moo Farm, roving barrels of gold in Wario Mines, and inconveniently-placed treehouses at Yoshi Falls.
A 29-year-old PC racing game going cyberpunk anime with Troy Baker, Initial D drifting, and cutscenes from the Metroid: Other M studio sure wasn't on my Game Awards bingo card
A speedrunner just beat Need for Speed: Most Wanted's world record by 90 minutes - by using Half-Life's Gordon Freeman instead of a car
