Line #1 Trivia/MarioKart8


1	* AbandonWare: Online services for the Wii U were terminated in April 2024, meaning the Wii U version of the game is no longer officially supported by Nintendo.
2	* {{Blooper}}:
3	** Various errors were or currently are present on the North American website for the Booster Course Pass:
4	*** The Booster Course Pass was referred to as the "Booster Course Pack". This mistake would eventually get corrected.
5	*** Shroom Ridge was listed as a [[VideoGame/MarioKart7 3DS]] track instead of a [[VideoGame/MarioKartDS DS]] one, which would eventually get corrected.
6	*** The image for GBA Sky Garden uses a screenshot from ''Mario Kart Tour'' instead of one from the actual game. This wouldn't be ''too'' noticeable if the ''Tour'' version of the course didn't use gray cobblestones instead of the orange ones from the Booster Course Pass version.
7	*** SNES Bowser Castle 3 is referred to as SNES Bowser'''''[='s=]''''' Castle 3 in promotional images for Wave 6.
8	*** Wii Rainbow Road shows an image of 3DS Rainbow Road instead, although this is only present when viewing on a desktop but is correct on mobile devices.
9	** The announcement speaker in Super Bell Subway speaks in grammatically incorrect German. The announcement appears to be a genuine one from an actual train station (the speaker talks about the delayed arrival of an ICE train, referencing Germany's famous high-speed rail services), which makes the grammatical inaccuracies more curious.
10	** When ''Deluxe'' first released, Miis didn’t properly show any emotions. A patch would later fix this issue.
11	** Various official descriptions for DS Mario Circuit mention its blossoming cherry trees and a winding trail through Peach's Castle, describing the Mario Circuit from ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'' instead of the one from ''VideoGame/MarioKartDS''.
12	* ContentLeak:
13	** Not long after Wave 1 of the Booster Course Pass released, dataminers discovered an image that revealed some of the future courses. Dataminers also discovered internal data that linked the rest of the unreleased courses to their source games, which would be confirmed true with Wave 2.
14	** Shortly after Wave 2 released, prefetches of the remaining tracks' music got leaked, including the entirety of the third wave and small portions of the other waves' tracks.
15	** Between the internal data that leaked the placement of courses, the aforementioned music leak, and the banner datamine, several future tracks for the Booster Course Pass have been identified. All the tracks implicated by this leak were confirmed as of Wave 5.
16	** In a roundabout way, data for a ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland''-themed track was leaked from ''Tour'', but the existence of the course itself was confirmed first for ''8 Deluxe'' by Nintendo. A similar thing would happen to Squeaky Clean Sprint, which had been datamined in Mario Kart Tour under the codename of [=mobBR=] for months beforehand.
17	** A Twitter User by the name of [=RatgorlHunter=] has leaked the entirety of the [[https://twitter.com/RatgorlHunter/status/1544549939358928899 second]] and [[https://twitter.com/RatgorlHunter/status/1586221047228944386?cxt=HHwWhMCi9ezosYMsAAAA third]] waves with cryptic meme edits of the cup selections, which is notable given how the entirety of Wave 3 lined up with how it ended up being on release, rather than what was previously leaked.
18	* ColbertBump: The two ''VideoGame/FZero'' DLC tracks gave said series a small one, helping increase the clamor for a new ''F-Zero'' game since the series was put on ice after the [=GameCube=] era.
19	* DevelopmentGag: The ''Booster Course Pass'' DLC for ''Deluxe'' is named after ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'''s internal name: ''[[WorkingTitle Booster]]''.
20	* DummiedOut:
21	** The retooled Grand Prix courses that served as battle arenas in the Wii U version still exist in ''Deluxe'', but can't be accessed without hacking.
22	** The "upcoming DLC" icons for Link, Villager, Isabelle, and the other downloadable characters from the Wii U version still remain in ''Deluxe''.
23	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes:
24	** Certain amiibo figurines have gone out of print, making their costumes much more difficult to unlock.
25	** With Nintendo [=eShop=] support shutting down on Wii U, the only official way to access the DLC tracks on Wii U is to either already have them, buy a Wii U bundle with them preinstalled or purchase a Wii U used that the prior owner bought them on.
26	* KillerApp: Considering how well the original game sold -- the best selling Wii U title, approximately two-thirds of all Wii U owners purchased it -- it very likely prevented the system from going down as one of the biggest failures in video gaming history instead of "only" being Nintendo's lowest-selling home console. Weirdly enough, ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' also ended up being this for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch to some extent; while not marketed as ''the'' killer app for the system (that was ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''), it was still held up as one of the biggest reasons to purchase a Switch and ended up outselling the original version in just under a year. By the end of 2018, it had dethroned ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' as the top-selling Switch title and remained as the system's killer app ever since. Between the two installments, ''Mario Kart 8'' has become the highest-selling game in the entire franchise. In 2021, 4 years after its launch (and 7 years after the original release), ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' still ranked among top 10 best-selling games of that year, and was considered to be a major driver of Switch sales as well, leading to Nintendo to release a season pass full of recreated classic ''Mario Kart'' courses for 2022 and 2023.
27	* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: A deluxe package that came with a figurine of the infamous Spiny Shell. It was a Nintendo Store exclusive in North America but was more widely available in the rest of the English-speaking world, who also got some other little trinkets depending on where the package was ordered from such as key rings or a Bullet Bill shirt.
28	* MemeAcknowledgement:
29	** Nintendo has directly referenced the Luigi Death Stare on numerous occasions:
30	*** At E3 2014, just a few weeks after the Wii U version released, Nintendo included a moment of the Luigi Death Stare during their presentation.
31	*** In 2019, the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch got a news bulletin for games starring Luigi to celebrate the upcoming release of ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3''. The message for ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' notes that "it's not polite to stare at rivals as you pass them", referencing the infamous Luigi's Death Stare.
32	*** When amiibo kiosks were still a thing, Luigi's showcase video had a brief moment of him doing the death stare.
33	*** In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash'', Luigi gives Mario and Huey a ride to Bowser's Castle in his kart. After dropping them off, Huey tells Luigi to give people that "mean stare" if they give him any trouble.
34	*** A [[https://www.mariowiki.com/Wii_Maple_Treeway#/media/File:MK8DMapleTreeway2.jpg promotional screenshot]] for Wave 3 of the Booster Course Pass has Luigi doing the death stare.
35	** To celebrate getting 1,000 subscribers on Instagram, Waluigi's creator shared an [[https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz344UUyyAY/?img_index=1 illustration]] of Waluigi riding the Wild Wiggler a la ''Manga/{{Akira}}''.
36	* TheOtherDarrin: An interesting variant. While Takashi Ohara is the voice of ''Skyward Sword'' Link, he also replaces Kengo Takanashi as the voice actor of ''Breath of the Wild'' Link due to using the same voice clips as Green Tunic Link.
37	* PropRecycling:
38	** Some of the battle arenas in ''Deluxe'' reuse assets from race courses. For example, Wuhu Town uses the background environment from Toad Harbor.
39	** ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'' tracks in the Booster Course Pass are directly based on their track models from that game, though most of them have updated textures and higher polygon counts.
40	** Shroom Ridge, Berlin Byways and Moonview Highway reuse the cars from Toad’s Turnpike, though without the glide ramp trucks due to their more circuitous design.
41	** The Swoops from Wario's Gold Mine are reused in Choco Mountain, Rock Rock Mountain, Athens Dash, and Vancouver Velocity.
42	** The Snowmen from Sherbet Land reappear in Merry Mountain and Snow Land.
43	** The environment for SNES Donut Plains 3 is reused for SNES Rainbow Road and SNES Battle Course 1.
44	** The Innertube Goombas from Tour Singapore Speedway reappear in GCN Daisy Cruiser.
45	** The planets and asteroids from 3DS Rainbow Road reappear in the background in Wii Rainbow Road.
46	** The penguins from GBA Snow Land reappear in 3DS Rosalina's Ice World.
47	** The Deku Babas and Keese that appear in Hyrule Circuit are re-skinned Piranha Plants and Swoopers.
48	* RefittedForSequel: Kamek was originally set to make his series debut in the Wii U version after his spot in ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' was taken by Donkey Kong, but ended up being DummiedOut, as his kart emblem was discovered in the game's files. It wouldn't be until ''8 Deluxe'' and the Booster Course Pass that he would be properly added to the game.
49	* UrbanLegendOfZelda: There are many claims online that honking the horn just as the race starts will cause the computer players to blow their engines and have a delayed start. This is entirely coincidental; honking the horn is just a [[Funny/MarioKart8 funny]] EasterEgg.
50	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
51	** When thinking up ideas for what new gameplay concepts to introduce in this game, the development team initially considered being able to drill through the ground.
52	** In the second DLC pack for the original game, 3DS Shy Guy Bazaar was originally supposed to appear as a DLC track, but was replaced with either GBA Ribbon Road or GBA Cheese Land, as shown by its code name in the files.
53	** As seen [[https://tcrf.net/Mario_Kart_8_Deluxe#Unused_Wii_Coconut_Mall_Car_Routes_.26_Settings here]], the cars in the parking lot of Coconut Mall were originally planned to move like they do in ''Wii'' and ''7'', but were changed to remain still for unknown reasons. The version 2.1.0 update made them move again, albeit with a different behavior, and only outside of Time Trials.
54	** GCN Waluigi Stadium was originally intended to be in Wave 3 as the second course of the Moon Cup, but was moved to Wave 4 and was replaced by Wii Maple Treeway (which was originally intended for Wave 6). Similarly, Bangkok Rush's presence in the music leak indicated that it was initially supposed to be in Wave 5, but it was moved to Wave 4 and took the spot of Singapore Speedway as the first course of the Boomerang Cup, with the latter course now being the last course of that cup instead (which was originally intended for Los Angeles Laps, which itself got moved to the first track of the Cherry Cup).
55	** The original prefix leak indicated that a fourth GCN course (likely Mushroom Bridge) was initially planned for inclusion, but was cut midway through.
56	** According to the prefix leak, one more prefix-less course (i.e. a non-city course originating from ''Mario Kart Tour'') was intended to appear in the Booster Course Pass, but was cut in favor of either Moonview Highway or Rosalina's Ice World. It's generally believed that the cut course was Piranha Plant Pipeline, which is the only ''Tour'' original to be excluded from the Pass.
57	* WorkingTitle: This game was known as ''Turbo'' internally. ''Deluxe'' was referred to as ''[=TurboS=]''.
58
59	!!Other
60	* This is the first time where Baby Daisy now has her own animation set for doing tricks, unlike in ''Wii'' where she reused Baby Peach's entire moveset. This also applies on a broader scale too, as her animations in ''Super Sluggers'' were also largely reused between the two princesses.
61	* Electrodrome is, to date, the only track in the ''Mario Kart'' series to have a one-word name in English.[[note]]If one counts battle courses, then Skyscraper in ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' also qualifies.[[/note]]
62	* This is the first game in the series that offers DLC. All of the Wii U’s DLC was included with ''Deluxe'', while ''Deluxe'' received new DLC almost five years after its launch.
63	* ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' is the first ''Mario Kart'' game to feature "retro" courses from ''after'' the game's release, due to featuring multiple courses from ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'' in the Booster Course Pass DLC.
64	* Most of the Staff Ghosts for the ''Tour'' courses are from the countries they are based on, with the exceptions of Sydney Sprint, Bangkok Rush, Singapore Speedway, Athens Dash, and Vancouver Velocity.
65	* ''Mario Kart 8'' was the best selling game on Wii U, with 8.46 million units sold. It is also the best selling game on the Nintendo Switch, with 60 million units sold as of December 31st, 2023. Roughly half of all Switch owners have ''Deluxe''.
66	* The original Wii U version is the only ''Mario Kart'' game where no tracks share the exact same music as each other.[[note]]Mario Kart Stadium and Mario Circuit use different arrangements of the same composition, however. This is also the case for Sweet Sweet Canyon and Sweet Sweet Kingdom, and Dragon Driftway and Dragon Palace, in ''Deluxe''.[[/note]] This is no longer the case in ''Deluxe'' as of Wave 2 of the Booster Course Pass, as DS Wario Stadium and DS Waluigi Pinball share the same arrangement of their theme (like they did in their debut).
67	* This is the first game in the series that has music that was live recorded with real instruments as opposed to being synthesized.
68	* The entire Star Cup from ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'' was remade in ''8 Deluxe'', marking the second time in a console ''Mario Kart'' title where an entire cup from a previous game was remade in-game through post-launch support, the first being Lightning Cup from ''Super Circuit'' having all its courses remade for ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'' (not counting ''Super Circuit'' itself including all of the ''Super Mario Kart'' tracks). In both cases, the tracks were added to the games in reverse order. However, when ''Tour'' launched, it included all Mushroom Cup courses from ''VideoGame/MarioKart7''.
69	* Courses need at least one stationary coin and one stationary item box, or else the game will crash. In order to prevent a crash, Mute City and Big Blue both have a single coin hidden somewhere beyond the course's boundaries. Mute City's coin is hidden inside a building, while Big Blue's is hidden inside an island. Baby Park has an item box hidden inside the support structure of the background Ferris wheel, while DS Shroom Ridge has an inaccessible item box buried underground in the field near the tunnel.

Context Trivia / MarioKart8