Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart 8 was released for the Nintendo Wii U on May 30th, 2014. In this game, Daisy is a default character for the second time since Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. Baby Daisy comes back after 6 years of hiatus and is also a default character, for her first time overall (she had to be unlocked in her first Mario Kart game, Mario Kart Wii). In this version of Mario Kart, bikes return, and Daisy's biker outfit returns whenever Daisy rides a Bike and, in addition, whenever she rides an ATV, a new type of vehicle introduced to the series.

Daisy is a Middleweight character, along with Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Ludwig, Iggy, Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach and the Villagers. Daisy, Peach and Yoshi are grouped together as the lighter middleweight characters. Baby Daisy is a lightweight and is part of the lighter group of lightweights. She shares her stats with the rest of the baby characters as well as Lemmy Koopa. Mario Kart 8 does not have any hidden stat bonuses, classifying Daisy as an All Around character type as she is in the Middleweight class. Daisy is a bit slower and lighter than the heavier middleweights, but she has better acceleration, handling, and traction.

Daisy's rivals in Grand Prix mode are Peach, Waluigi, and occasionally Luigi.

Daisy references in various courses
The Daisy Cruiser, while not featured in the game as a playable course, can be seen in the background of Yoshi Circuit (GCN).

Daisy does not own a specific course in Mario Kart 8, but Daisy is referenced in several courses. In fact, not many of the new tracks are named after characters and have more generic names.

Sweet Sweet Canyon

Sweet Sweet Canyon is the third course of the Mushroom Cup. While this circuit is not named after Daisy herself, there are plenty of references to her. However, many people do consider Sweet Sweet Canyon as a Peach and Daisy track because of the amount of references towards them. Baby Peach is used by the staff ghost on this course for Time Trials and not adult Peach or Daisy. For more information, please see Sweet Sweet Canyon.

Toad Harbor

Toad Harbor (Toad Harbour in the PAL version) is the second course of the Flower Cup. This track has a few Daisy references in it. Sponsors for Princess ORANGE and Women of Racing Organization can be spotted if one looks very closely on the buildings. The Women of Racing Organization sponsor features both Daisy and Peach on it.

Towards the end of the course, there are two paths that can be taken. One of the Peach and Daisy's Royal Patisserie shops is located right by these two paths. Four Princess ORANGE shops are present, two being a part of a bigger building and two of their own..

Wii Moo Moo Meadows

There are no references to Daisy on this course, but the staff ghost uses Daisy on this course in Time Trials.

N64 Toad's Turnpike

The sponsor Princess ORANGE can be seen on a tower in the background of Toad Turnpike (N64):

N64 Royal Raceway

Royal Raceway is a course that originates from Mario Kart 64 and it belongs to Princess Peach. While the original version of this course from Mario Kart 64 didn't reference Daisy at all, the updated version in Mario Kart 8 does. Right at the beginning of the race on the right, Daisy can be seen on a "Women Racing Organization" sponsor along with Peach and Birdo. Daisy is placed right beside Peach. This sponsor can be seen a second time later on in the course. The Peach & Daisy Royal Patisserie sponsor also appears a few times.

The most notable reference however are the hot air balloons designed after Peach, Daisy and Rosalina. Daisy's hot air balloon is yellow with orange parts above and underneath the balloon. Above the orange part ends with a white one. Her emblem but with her jewels colors is painted on it and there are a lot of more little emblems painted in orange on the yellow part. Toads are also seen cheering in the hot air balloons.

3DS Music Park

There are no references to Daisy on this course, but the staff ghost uses Baby Daisy on this course in Time Trials.

GCN Yoshi Circuit

The Daisy Cruiser can be seen right near the beginning of the course if the player looks out at the sea. This is in a different spot compared to in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! where the Daisy Cruiser can be seen when the racers are driving on the "tail" of Yoshi. A Royal Patisserie shop is present too in the right part of the village (left in mirror mode).

GCN Baby Park

The hot air balloons from Royal Raceway are seen in this course. Additionally, small cylindrical buildings in the shape of a baby bottle appears in the background of this course, where the Peach & Daisy Royal Patisserie logo is reused, featured on Baby Peach's baby bottle. Baby Daisy also has a baby bottle, as shown in the background of the course, which features a Princess ORANGE logo on top of it. It is a yellow baby bottle with orange steps leading up to it (pictured right). The Daisy hot air balloon from N64 Royal Race Way is also reused.



Outside of references to Daisy, Super Bell Subway is a unique course in which it shows the locations of certain tracks and locations. Two particular elements show off these places: a map hung on the wall, and an outline of the subway's track-line. The map shows off many attractions, such as MUSHROOM BEACH. Of particular interest, the map says Princess ORANGE is located at C4 on the map. This most likely marks the map of Princess ORANGE's production building or headquarters, although it is unclear what it is definitively mapping in relation to Princess ORANGE. Unfortunately, the map proves difficult to read, and it does not appear Princess ORANGE can be found in the section C4. It is possible Princess ORANGE is located in C4, but that part of the map was cut out.

Sponsors
Sweet Sweet Canyon features an all new sponsor: Peach & Daisy Royal Patisserie. This sponsor can be seen several times on Sweet Sweet Canyon. It can be also spotted in a lot of other circuits too, such as N64 Royal Raceway, Toad Harbor, Super Bell Subway, GCN Yoshi Circuit, GCN Baby Park, on various menus, billboards and signs. Toad Harbor even shows off that Peach & Daisy Royal Patisserie has its own shop established! The sponsor itself depicts a crown with three jewels in the shape of flowers, with two circular jewels on either ends. The color of the jewels alternate between pink and light blue. Perhaps the most prominent sponsor of Daisy's is Princess ORANGE, which appears on a large number of courses throughout Mario Kart 8. Of note, Sweet Sweet Canyon reveals that Princess ORANGE can come in green bottles, which compromises the underwater section of that course. The sponsor itself showcases Daisy's emblem on top of an orange. A less frequent sponsor that shows up sometimes is WOMEN OF RACING ORGANIZATION, which can be seen in N64 Royal Raceway, alongside other sponsors bordering the crowd towards the beginning of the course. This new sponsor depicts represents Birdo, Peach and Daisy together, and it should be noted a second alternative one with the same text also appears on the same track, depicting Rosalina, Wendy, and Toadette. This sponsor also appears in Toad Harbor on some buildings but it only features Peach and Daisy. Interestingly, no old sponsors from previous Mario Kart installments return in Mario Kart 8.

Other Features
The game's loading screen features some of the characters scrolling across the screen. Daisy is one of the twelve characters that will appear on the loading screen.

Similarly to the previous installment (Mario Kart 7), Peach's Parasol returns as a selectable glider, which can change colors to an orange color scheme for Daisy and Baby Daisy. A slight modification was given to Daisy's color scheme, where a turquoise ring now surrounds the tip of the umbrella.

The Flower Glider reappears in this game as a selectable glider. This time, however, the glider has received an edit in which its petals are orange instead of white.

A new kart in this game, the Biddybuggy, comes in select colors: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Pink. Daisy and Baby Daisy's Biddybuggy turns into the yellow color when they are selected. Other characters receive the yellow color when they are selected with the Biddybuggy as well.

A new bike for this game, the Sports Bike, comes in different designs. Daisy and Baby Daisy along with many other characters receive a Princess ORANGE design complete with the sponsor and an orange coat.

Daisy's horn sound is unique, different from Peach's one, whereas Rosalina has the same as Peach's one.

Daisy can be seen on the back of the trophies used for DLCs 1 and 2:

A new feature introduced in Mario Kart 8 are stamps that can be collected throughout the game. They can then be used on posts for Miiverse. Daisy and Baby Daisy, like other racers, have their own stamp. They can be obtained if you win a Time Trial race against the staff ghost of the circuit with the character you choose. The Daisy's giant cake stamp from the Sweet Sweet Canyon race can be won if you win the race in Time Trial mode too against the staff ghost of this circuit.

​In Grand Prix, only the original 4x4 grid of 16 characters have rivals, which always appear in the GP as the front-running characters, often coming in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place, regardless of the items and obstacles in the race. In Mario Kart 8, Daisy's two rivals are Peach and Waluigi. Daisy appears as a rival for Luigi and Wario.

The Pipe Frame returns from Mario Kart, again each character receives their own Pipe Frame reflecting that character's palette. Daisy' Pipe Frame coloration is shared with Baby Daisy, Orange Shy Guy, Orange Yoshi, Tanooki Mario and a Mii with an orange racing suit.

The Peach Parasol also returns from Mario Kart 7, again Daisy receives her own coloration which is shared only with Baby Daisy.

A Daisy silhouette appears on the loading screen.

Gallery
See the Mario Kart 8/Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Gallery.

Trivia
☀ The Prancer vehicle has a small metallic flower emblem on the back of all Prancer karts. This resembles Daisy's floral gem on her crown:

☀ Daisy's coloration for the Peach Parasol now has a small turquoise ring surrounding the top, which the previous entry, Mario Kart 7, did not have.

☀ Daisy has a 50% chance of screaming, "Woah-ohhhh! Yeah!!" if she accelerates early on in the countdown to start a race. This may possibly be an error, as the clip that plays seems to be a very happy and positive reaction (It was first used in Mario Kart: Double Dash when Daisy would go through a cannon in DK Mountain or Rainbow Road), where 'burning out' is supposed to be a negative event.

☀ This is the first Mario game in which Baby Daisy is a default character and uses a different emblem from Daisy: