Unless 8 blows me away, this is the best one, for sure. All 16 new courses are all fantastic, not a single dull moment among the bunch, and the retro tracks aren't snoozers, either. The trick system is, of course, brilliant, combined with the focus on drifting thanks to the easier controls and new bikes, and you've got one of the most consistently fun games I can think of. Anyone who writes the praise for this game off as nostalgia is being intentionally pig-headed, you can feel how great this is as soon as you start your first race. The only Mario Kart game so far where I've actively wanted to unlock everything manually, rather than begrudgingly acquiescing or just cheating it in. Absolutely deserves the hype.