Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Microsoft's accessibility-friendly Adaptive Controller has been made to work with Nintendo Switch.

Update 24/11The last few Switch deals are popping in and out of stock - today's best is aNintendo Switch Neon with Super Mario Odyssey for £288.99 from Amazon, although you can swap that for a different game if you like. For other Switch bundles, including Pokemon Let's Go, hit up our big list of Nintendo Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.

UPDATE 21/11/18: Nintendo has confirmed to Eurogamer it is investigating the conduct of Nintendo Russia boss Yasha Haddaji, after footage of him verbally abusing hosts of a Mario Kart stream was widely-shared online.

Early in 2017, Nintendo announced that it was suing a Japanese company that had begun hosting real-life Mario Kart races around Tokyo - complete with fake moustaches and very familiar costumes - for intellectual property infringement. The court has now ruled in Nintendo's favour.

Nintendo fans were left shocked and upset today at the astonishing disclosure from adult film star Stormy Daniels that US president Donald Trump's penis looks like Mario character Toad.

Surprise! There's a new update for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe downloading to your Nintendo Switch which contains Link's lovely motorbike from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is now compatible with Nintendo Labo - so you can use the cardboard creation system's handlebar model to play.

Nintendo is bringing another of its biggest franchises to smartphones and tablets. This time, it's Mario Kart.

Mario Kart Tour will launch sometime before the end of the next financial year - so, before the end of March 2019. There's no word yet on whether it will be paid-for or free-to-play.

Exactly how close it will stick to the current Mario Kart formula is unclear, too.

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Can you believe it? This week marks the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Kart - the original, pioneering Super Nintendo release. Many imitators have come and gone, but that 1992 release set the template for seven sequels - eight if you count the excellent Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch - and we felt that was worthy of celebration. But beyond the anniversary itself, the importance of Mario Kart's evolution across the years is significant - each series entry defines the strengths and weaknesses of its host platform, and demonstrates the values, practises and philosophy that set Nintendo apart from its competition.

"Much of what we experience in life results from a combination of skill and luck," writes esteemed analyst Michael Mauboussin. And while he doesn't name-check Mario Kart explicitly, I think we all know what he's getting at.

More than 4.7m Nintendo Switch consoles have been shipped since the platform's launch at the beginning of March.

It is, almost without doubt, one of the most infuriating things that can happen to you in games.

Mario Kart is getting a first-person VR spin-off for Japanese arcades.

Nintendo still rules video game sales in Japan.

There's a new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe patch that makes it easier for players lagging behind in an online race to catch up.

Players bringing up the rear will receive better items as of update 1.2, which is available for download now. You should receive it the next time you turn on your Switch.

The update means if you're at the back you'll get better items, such as the Blue Shell, Lightning, Star or Bullet Bill, more frequently.

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Nintendo stood out even more than normal at this year's E3, and that's not just because you could have cut Reggie into the new series of Twin Peaks without so much as changing a line of his charming doggerel dialogue. Nintendo's ditched conferences for a while now, relying on short, sharp video presentations that do the job of a conference in half the time, and with no need to brave Downtown traffic. This year, though, there was a stronger sense than normal that Nintendo is operating in a different world to its competitors, and that it's managed to transform its own recent fortunes. The strange place that Reggie addresses us from is success: palpable success. The Switch really has changed everything for Nintendo, and this Nintendo Direct was a chance to understand that.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has this morning been updated to remove an arm-clench gesture deemed offensive in some countries.

The Nintendo racer's Inkling Girl character previously used to perform a celebratory arm pump similar to the obscene bras d'honneur gesture - clenching your first and pumping your arm, while holding it with your other hand.

While not deemed offensive in the UK - or in Japan, where it is simply seen as a celebration - the move is considered an insult in Latin America, France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, among others.

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The numbers are in, and Nintendo Switch was April's best-selling games console in the US.

This week, the Eurogamer editorial team had its annual offsite - a day of rigorous discussion about the state of the website and what we want to achieve in the next year, followed by an evening of rigorous drinking.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has had a strong start in both the UK and North America, according to numbers data from both Nintendo and Chart-Track.

If it's artful understatement you're after, look no further than the manual for Mario Kart 8 in all of its glorious entirety:

I love it for several reasons, not least for how it's an example of a dying form (and in the case of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch, relegated to the flipside of the cover itself, a boon for environmentalists but a blow to traditionalists like myself who get lost in fits of reverie at the mere sniff of a freshly opened manual). Mostly, though, I love it for what it doesn't tell you.

So yes, in Mario Kart 8 the fundamentals haven't moved on a jot since Nintendo first laid out the template in 1992. You take charge of one of a dizzying roster of familiar characters, collecting power-ups and drifting across heavily sugared landscapes in pursuit of victory. It really is that simple.

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Mario 8 Kart Deluxe is set for release on April 28th and we've been fortunate enough to have spent around a week with the game now - and it's an extremely impressive package. Graphical upgrades in terms of art assets are few and far between, but this release enhances one of Wii U's very best titles - easily one of the best-looking games on Nintendo's last machine. On top of that, a good amount of thought has gone into gameplay tweaks that subtly improve playability, and yes, there is additional 'content'.

Nintendo appears to have removed Mario Kart 8's sneaky fire hopping technique for the game's upcoming Nintendo Switch re-release.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Nintendo Switch includes a special unlockable character if you beat all tracks on its hardest 200cc difficulty. Introducing... Gold Mario:

Nintendo is suing a Japanese company that let you street race go-karts while dressed as Mario.

Nintendo has finally acknowledged what we've known all along - that Switch is perfect for playing games on the toilet.

I set my alarm for 6am on Friday the 13th of January because I'd heard that was the time Amazon would be kicking off its online preorders for the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo Switch has a port of Mario Kart 8, and so it has its own motion control steering wheel controller, too.

Nintendo has officially confirmed Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which will launch on 28th April priced £49.99 in the UK.