Earlier today, Nintendo had one of their more impressive Nintendo Directs in recent memory. Among the slew of new game announcements and information was a brand new trailer for Mario Kart 8.

Looking gorgeous as ever, the trailer showed off new race tracks, such as Sunshine Airport, an Arabian/Pirate/Boneyard course, and a track which has you racing through the clouds on a giant beanstalk. It also confirmed the return on Baby Mario, Luigi, Peach and Daisy — complete with pacifiers. Not only that, they also showed a glimpse of a brand new vehicle: The Quad Bike (ATV).

Mario Kart 8 - Beanstalk Course | oprainfall
The new beanstalk-style course.

Check out the beautiful trailer below.

Mario Kart 8 will be released for the Wii U sometime in the spring of 2014. For more information on today’s Nintendo Direct, check out the recap article by Jonathan Higgins. You can also check out the full Nintendo Direct on YouTube for North America and Europe.

David Rawlings
David Rawlings, or ‘Rawky’ as we like to call him, joined the Operation Rainfall Campaign at the beginning. He’s British and found solace with us as he was able to understand our pain about Nintendo and their localizing faux pas. He’s a big fan of the letter ‘U’ and refuses to remove them from words, even though we constantly ask him to. He also believes it’s about time Princess Daisy got kidnapped.