On May 30th we welcome the eight instalment in the Mario Kart series, Mario Kart 8 on the Nintendo Wii U.

New to the Mario Kart Series are the anti-gravity sections, allowing players to drive on walls and ceilings.

The maximum number of players online is back up to twelve from eight on Mario Kart 7.

Mario Kart TV is a new feature that will allow players to use Miiverse to share clips from their races. Hopefully this is something we can use to really advertise the league on Miiverse and attract new members to not only the league but the site & forum as well.

Little over a month after its release and after everyone has got to grips with the game, unlocking all the characters & courses, the N-Europe Mario Kart League will make its return on Thursday 5^th June.

But for now let us take a look back at the 6 year history of the league as we prepare for season 7 and Mario Kart 8

The History of the N-E Mario Kart League

The Birth

6 years ago not long after Mario Kart Wii was released, one of our forum members (Dazzybee) came up with the idea for a weekly N-E Mario Kart tournament on the Wii version.

It started off as just a bit of fun, but over the next few weeks, it became more and more competitive and eventually a league table was introduced to keep track of everyone’s weekly performances.

The format was simple, every Thursday Night, we played two league GPs and then on completion of those we would play some balloon battles & a team GP to finish the night.

Over time rules were introduced, player of the month awards were handed out and the league got quite a following, all twelve slots were filled on the regular basis with five/six reserves waiting in the wings if one of the twelve couldn’t make it.

Claiming one of the twelve slots when the now iconic “Who’s in?” was posted became an event itself.

Thursday Nights became the night you dare not miss out on and if you did, it made you even more determined to get one of the twelve slots the week after.

Friendships & rivalries were made during the first year as we all recapped the night’s events on the forums, pointing out how races were won & lost.

The Second Year – how could we top the first year?

The 2009 season was hugely anticipated, how would we top the previous year? Lessons were learnt from the previous year and the league was much more organised from the start with a new points system introduced which made updating the league table much easier for players to follow.

The points system is as follows:

The total points you have gained from GPs are divided by the number of GPs you have taken part in, giving you your average. This is what determines your position in the league table, so if you do miss a league night, if won’t affect your score but you will most likely change position in the league.

To summarise, if I scored the following points in 6 GPs: 32, 10, 19, 40, 16 & 19

I would have a total of 136 which would be divided by 6 giving me an average of 22.6.

You have to stay active to have a chance of winning the league as you couldn’t win the league by taking part in say the first 5 nights then stop taking part as you would be moved to the ‘Inactive Players’ list once you had missed 4 nights in a row.

New players were declaring their interest in taking part each week as word of mouth spread that if you missed Thursday Night, you missed a hell of a lot.

Unfortunately work commitments meant dazzybee played less and less so it was agreed I would take over running of the league. One of the first things I did was introduce more theme nights to keep everyone interested in the league and to try to stop it becoming repetitive.

The second year of the League was a great success; we had built up a great following with eight/nine regulars playing every week with newcomers joining each week.

The Third Year - where the FIFA World Cup 2010 wrecked everything

With the third year, as I was now firmly in charge of the league, I wanted to shake things up a bit. A new league table was introduced, theme nights were now every week with the “Who’s in?” post now including a colourful guide to what courses, characters & vehicles needed to be used. The league had come on leaps and bounds from 2 years prior but at its core was the league template originally created by dazzybee.

The first five months went great, we had a mix of the regulars from the 2008/2009 seasons plus a few newcomers but in the summer the FIFA World Cup played havoc with organising the league nights.

We never recovered and the league was soon cancelled due to lack of interest.

The Fourth Year – taking Mario Kart back to its roots

The league returned in 2011 and in an attempt to tempt some of the regulars from the 2008/2009 seasons to return, I shook things up a bit. I took Mario Kart back to its roots by making the league “Karts only”, strangely this was met by a mixed reaction, some loved it but many hated it. I never quite understood the hatred but players had become so accustomed to using Bikes.

The first few weeks went okay, numbers were up compared to the previous year but a lot of people had just grown bored of Mario Kart on the Wii, if one game needed DLC in the form of new tracks & new characters, this was it.

The 2011 season ended prematurely in March due to poor numbers.

The Fifth year – Mario Kart goes 3D!

The fifth year was a big year for the league, with a new game (Mario Kart 7) and a new home (Nintendo 3DS) and after the two previous years ending prematurely, we would soon find out if the league had a future.

The answer was a resounding YES.

In total 43 players took part in the league, a record number of participants.

141 GPs were played in total over the 11 months, another league record.

One of the changes I made was to increase the number of league GPs we played each week from two to three and also increase the number of theme nights we played.

Another new introduction was the player of the month awards. This is given to the player with the best average score for that month. To be in with a chance of winning this, you need to have taken part in more than 50% of the GPs that month.

It was one of the most competitive years with everyone on their day in contention to win a GP.

2012 rivalled 2009 as the best league year.

The sixth year – League fatigue.

The sixth year wasn’t as successful as the fifth year but still was one of the best years of the league.

A lot of players were getting bored or frustrated of playing Mario Kart 7 each week and we were struggling to attract new league members.

A lot of players had issues with the Nintendo Network and disconnections, which ruined a lot of players league nights and no doubt put them off taking part in the league.

29 players took part in the league, down from 43 the previous year but still a high total in the leagues history.

123 GPs were played in total over the 10 months. The league was ended a month early due to the release of Super Mario 3D World in November.

The Future

The N-Europe Mario Kart League will make its return on Thursday 5^th June, bigger, better and for the first time in HD on the Nintendo Wii U.

We are always on the lookout for new members to join the league so if you want to take part for a bit of competitive fun in the 2014 season watch this space and the Online Board at our N-Europe Forums.

We are also hoping to use Miiverse to advertise the league and hopefully attract a few newcomers to both the site and the league so if you miss news on the 2014 League here we will hopefully catch you on Miiverse!

On Thursday 5th June 2014 at 8pm, shells will fly once again. Are you ready?