Firehopping dead in Mario Kart 8

Competitive play at 200CC renders technique ineffective

Firehopping has essentially been killed off in competetive Mario Kart 8, thanks to the recent addition of 200cc mode to the game. While adding 200cc mode doesn’t patch out the ability to firehop, the alterations that have surfaced in the metagame of high level competetive play have rendered the ability all but useless.

For the uninitiated, firehopping was a technique where players could extend their boosts indefinitely by switching quickly between jumps left and right. Before the introduction of 200cc mode, heavy characters were generally favoured by the competitive scene because even at their highest speed, the lost drifting and handling abilities were insignificant. 

Following the introduction of 200cc, players are now finding that even light characters are fast enough in straight lines that their increased handling is a huge advantage. Basically, it’s now far more important that players be able to effectively turn than it is they be able to squeeze their top speed a little higher.

As to how this will effect the competitive Mario Kart 8 scene, we will likely have to wait and see. Many high level players disliked firehopping on principle and it will be interesting to see how the scene reacts to it being rendered ineffective.