Nintendo's 'Mario Kart 8' Demonstrates The Folly Of The 1080p Debate

From the looks of it, Mario Kart 8 is shaping up to be an incredibly gorgeous game. Eurogamer has a video that showcases the remade Mario Kart tracks compared to their original versions, and the results are absolutely stunning.

The article also comes with the footnote that Mario Kart 8 will run in 1080p, 60fps, even when it's being played on splitscreen multiplayer. That's great to hear, and certainly part of the reason the game looks so good from the early footage we've seen.

I've seen a number of strange conclusions spun out of this, however. Here's one from Gamnesia:

"The Wii U continues to churn out 1080p, 60fps experiences while other consoles struggle - either in hitting the true 60fps mark or nailing 1080p....Mario Kart 8 looks to be able to stand up to and next to any other offering on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One."

The idea is that the Wii U is hitting the 1080p, 60fps benchmark (in split-screen, no less!) while Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's Xbox One are still struggling with it. Therefore, that must mean the Wii U really does have what it takes to go toe-to-toe with the big boys in terms of graphical fidelity.

The reality? It's a misunderstanding of why resolution matters. Without question, Nintendo is more likely to hit the 1080/60 mark more often than its competitors, due to the fact that a good deal of its games are based on their signature cartoony animation style. But when you have games like Killzone and Dead Rising? Resolution is being sacrificed so other aspects of the game can shine through, lighting, shading, textures, and so on.

Ahead of the Titanfall release, those behind the game said that while the game could hit that benchmark, it would sacrifice too much to be worth it. That doesn't mean Nintendo is doing something miraculous here, it's that Mario Kart's animation style allows resolution and framerate to be maxed out, because there aren't a zillion other graphical considerations at play. Nintendo is still making beautiful games, but they're doing so because they're working smarter, not harder, using their non-graphically intensive, trademark animation style for most of these titles.

It's always been wrongheaded to equate resolution with power because it's so dependent on the game being rendered. I suppose it had some sort of bearing when the PS4 could render one game at 1080p while the Xbox One only made it 720p, but even then the differences simply weren't all that great, and the metric is best used for nitpicking, rather than actual comparison. No, there wasn't a sudden leap to all 1080p/60fps games as many were hoping with the new generation of consoles, but graphics improved markedly anyway, because there are far more factors in play.

As has been said before, if max resolution is your primary concern, PC gaming is far and away the path for you. Now, it appears the Wii U might not be such a bad choice either. But still, don't overvalue something before you truly understand it. Great games come in many shapes, sizes, and resolutions, after all.

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