Should I get Splatoon 2 or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?

Hey guys. I recently bought a Switch. I currently have BOTW, Sonic Mania and ARMS. Now I'm deciding if I should get Splatoon 2 or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe next.

I'll be away from home the entirety of September for a work trip so I need something of a short burst of game time (usually at a cafe or at night in the hotel room). I never get to buy their previous games on Wii U so this will be my first experience playing both titles.

I don't plan on buying Mario + Rabbids at the moment as I'm not into that kind of gameplay that much.

Thanks!

Do you want to play an online game or something you can play alone?

I'd go for Mario Kart 8 personally.

@retrometal: I never play Mario Kart online so much on the 3DS, so nope. Mostly alone. I don't know how the online multiplayer works on Splatoon 2 though.

Mario Kart can be played alone. I think Splatoon is a multiplayer only game, sort of like Overwatch.

Yeah if you're mostly offline I'd go MK. online is still fun for that but people are pretty good at this point. Splatoon 2 does have a bit more fleshed out single player but it's not really that fun IMO. The rest is online.

Mario Kart is great (on the Wii U anyway, didn't double dip on the Switch version) but I imagine it'd get old quick if you weren't going to play online. After beating all the Grand Prix cups you'd be out of new stuff to do.

Splatoon 2 has a pretty cool single player campaign but it's probably only 5-6 hours long unless you want to replay levels with different weapons.

Splatoon 2.

If you have decent internet access, Splat2 by a mile. I am typically not a fan of multiplayer shooters or dual analog shooter controls but I adore Splat2 multi. The wide variety of weapons and tactics available opens the game up for drastically different personal playstyles. Also matches are only 3 minutes long so it's extremely easy to squeeze in a game or two whenever.

MK8 may have more "single-player" content but it's all just grinding cups over and over again against cheating-as-fuck AI. Getting 3-star Gold in 150cc and above ends up falling more on dumb luck than actual skill, since you never know when the AI is going to decide to Blue Shell > Red Shell > Red Shell you right before you cross the finish line.

I would give the edge Mario Kart 8. Even only playing it on the Wii U I think it's the best Mario Kart ever made. Overall I feel it's a more gratifying single player experience. There is no other arcade racer (Except maybe Wipeout Omega) that I would rather play, but there are many team based multiplayer games that I would pick over Splatoon 2.

Splatoon 2 is incredibly fun and unique, but I feel like I burned out on it faster. I do think that both of them work better in shorter bursts then marathon sessions. Although I did marathon the single player portion of Splatoon 2 while watching Giant Bomb content, and I found it to be quite relaxing and enjoyable.

Hotel internet is almost universally shit, so I'd go with Mario Kart. At least with Mario Kart you have something to do if the internet sucks and you can't play a decent match online.

It's a tough one. Do you like shooters or kart racers more? Do you want to play multiplayer? For a trip I think Mario Kart might be the better choice, since it has more single player content, so you aren't as dependent on having a wifi signal. Can't really go wrong with either of them imo. Amazing games both.

Mario Kart all the way man. Splatoon is a really fun game in an anti-user shell, with unpleasantly long matchmaking and no local multiplayer. Mario Kart 8, if you didn't already own the wii u version, is one of the best racing games available, and feels more complete.

Or, let's get crazy, how about Cave Story or Shovel Knight?

How old is the child you are buying the game for?

Seriously though, Kart is the correct answer. Splatoon does less than nothing for me personally.

Definitely Mario Kart 8, it's going to be one I go back to very frequently. Splatoon 2 is good fun, but I only really see myself going back when there's new additions. MK8 is the most fun I've had on the Switch so far, and that's including BOTW. Great pick up and play game

Thanks guys! I went ahead and bought Mario Kart 8 Deluxe just now and the shop was selling a used physical copy of Puyo Puyo Tetris for 18USD (I'm assuming this is a huge get and I enjoyed the demo) so I went ahead and bought that as well.

Played the first set of course in Mario Kart 8 and it's hella fun! Was playing in the train just now. Will definitely keep me occupied for the rest of September including Puyo Puyo Tetris!

Thanks again!

Now it's time to save up for Mario Odyssey!

Splatoon 2 by far.

They're both equally perfect. You'll technically get more mileage out of Splatoon 2 because theres an almost endless ramp in improving your skills and ranking up but Mario Kart 8 isn't lacking there either.

I'd give the edge to Mario Kart 8 anyway, if only because Splatoon 2 is basically finished in terms of community events and stuff and a Splatoon 3 is probably going to be announced next year.

Edit: I see you made the right choice :D Cheese Land is best course.