I got to play the demo today. I thought my GameStop wasn't doing the event, but they just delayed it due to technical difficulties.
It's a different demo from the one I played at last year's E3 Best Buy event. All of the characters were available this time, along with kart customization.
There were eight playable courses: Mario Kart Stadium, Mario Circuit, Sunshine Airport, Electrodrome, Water Park, Sweet Sweet Canyon, Toad Harbor, and Cloudtop Cruise. All very beautiful courses.
The game feels very nice overall, although the demo was locked at 50cc and 2 laps. The gamepad's gyro controls were also great (I would have used the Wii Remote, but it was forced to use the nunchuck). Drifting feels a lot more like Mario Kart Wii than Mario Kart 7, being more slippery. Inside drifting for sport bikes has been tweaked from Mario Kart Wii, where the start of the drift actually goes outward before curving inside. It was a bit awkward for me, so I think I'll stick with karts for this game.
Also, you can only have one item at all times; this means that you can't hold one behind you and then have another in your item slot. This makes defense a bit harder, since you won't have a shield once your item gets destroyed. I do agree with this change, as it kind of balances out the fact that you recover much faster from being hit and from falling. Seriously, you get back into the race really fast.
Man, I'm really looking forward to this game.
EDIT: Apparently this demo is 100cc, not 50.
Here is some video. I didn't record everything, sadly. Maybe tomorrow I will have better footage?
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