Two of Nintendo's biggest franchises together at last!
Where do we even begin? This game is filled with awesomeness.- Gliding near planes in Sunshine Airport. In fact, you actually glide faster than the planes!
- Many courses here have awesome stuff in them: Mario Circuit (driving on both sides of it), Electrodrome (all of it), N64 Rainbow Road, etc.
- The Super Horn item cancels out SPINY SHELLS.
- The game allows you to watch the best moments of the race with slow motion!
- The replay features employ a fixed camera angle, so while the in-game camera always follows the orientation of your kart, the replay will make you realize that you were actually driving along walls or across the ceiling!
- This marks the first time in the Mario Kart series that every single race track has its own unique music track! A feat that is not easily done, especially with this being the first game in the series that uses live recorded music!
- As the DLC has hit, let's go over some of the truly awesome things in the courses.
- They do not list previously redone tracks as off limits for retro courses, allowing for the return of SNES Rainbow Road, GCN Yoshi Circuit, and GCN Baby Park. The packs also include new retro courses such as GBA Cheese Land, GBA Ribbon Road, Wii Wario's Gold Mine, and 3DS Neo Bowser City.
- Link joins the roster, as well as the Villager and Isabelle from Animal Crossing.
- GCN Yoshi Circuit is still shaped like its namesake, with shortcuts preserved. But the detail that has gone into everything is absolutely mind-blowing. You may just end up deliberately losing the race so you can admire the scenery.
- Excitebike Arena is not only a very faithful recreation of the original, but it's randomly-generated; no two races will be exactly alike!
- Dragon Driftway is a new track, taking place on the body of a giant stone dragon (Gobblegut, to be precise). The entire course is full of perilous twists and turns, and combined with the beautiful views and catchy music, it's a favorite in many a fan's book.
- Mute City and Big Blue play just like the games they come from, with plenty of boost pads, huge jumps, and sharp turns. These courses even change up the gameplay — rather than collecting coins across the track, you drive over health strips that refill them automatically. Also, they both have amazing music.
- SNES Rainbow Road makes its glorious return, and it's better than ever. The course has been given a gorgeous redesign, complete with rainbow lighting illuminating the hills of the skyline, and the music has been given a lovely remix. However, the core track remains the true test of skill that it always has been, making it an incredibly fun and memorable course.
- Hyrule Circuit. This course is chock-full of Shout Outs to classic Zelda games. Instead of coins on the track, there are rupees. Deku Babas replace the Piranha Plants, and Keese take the place of Swoopers. When you get an item, you'll hear the Item Get! jingle from Ocarina of Time onwards. You'll even hear the classic "Puzzle Solved" jingle playing if you hit all three switches on the way to the Master Sword's chamber, which unlocks a shortcut for a few moments.
- Long-awaited GBA courses Cheese Land and Ribbon Road make their grand return. The tracks have been updated with slopes and hills, new shortcuts, and tons of details along the way. In Ribbon Road's case, its scenery has gotten a complete overhaul, giving it a Toy Time flair. Cheese Land, meanwhile, is made much more appetizing and is given new obstacles such as an anti-gravity section and a Chain Chomp. Both are truly astounding and are a real reward for long-time fans of the series.
- Baby Park is back. Alongside updated visuals and music, the chaos is now elevated to twelve players, allowing for even more mayhem than before. The background details that have been added put an entire amusement park in the background which makes some of the other courses look bland by comparison.
- Animal Crossing is one of the most detailed courses in the series, featuring plenty of Easter Eggs and cameos across the track. There's even four different variations of the level and its music — one for each season of the year. It's definitely a wondrous sight to behold for Animal Crossing fans.
- For the first time in the whole Mario Kart series, there is now an option to play at 200 cc. Previously, the fastest mode was just 150 cc.
- Once you reach the last portion of Big Blue, a familiar voice shouts, YEAH! THE FINAL LAP! Very unexpected and very awesome.
- Another unexpected first in the series is being able to drive real-world licensed vehicles as karts: three Mercedes-Benz kart bodies (one new car, the GLA, as shown in this image
◊, and two classic ones, the W 25 Silver Arrow and the 300SL Roadster) and wheels based off of the ones on the GLA. Oh, and it's free. However, whether it's a worthy addition to the game (let alone the series) or nothing but a blatant advertisement for any third party company (let alone a car company) that would be out of place in a Nintendo gamenote depends on who you ask. - When Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was announced for Nintendo Switch, it reavealed Playable Inklings and a Splatoon battle mode arena.
- With Deluxe adding Smart Steering and Auto-Accelerate to the game, someone has proved that Luigi can win an entire cup in lower difficulties by doing absolutely nothing. Yup, you read that right, Luigi won an entire cup by doing absolutely nothing.
- On February 9, 2022, Nintendo announced a new DLC pack for Deluxe called the Booster Course Pass through their Nintendo Direct. However, it wasn't just four cups of new and retro tracks included like the first DLC package for the Wii U game that was included by default in the Switch version. Instead, they announced six different waves of eight tracks included in twelve different cups, making for an extra 48 tracks included in the game by the end of 2023! Granted, all of the tracks are going to be retro tracks found from Super Mario Kart up to Mario Kart 7, as well as give some of the more unique tracks from Mario Kart Tour like the Tokyo Blur, Paris Promenade, and Ninja Hideaway a more permanent home for those that purchase the DLC under a permanent basis by a one-time payment of $24.99, but that kind of extra business helps give Mario Kart 8 a new second wind that is sure to give it more playing time entering the second half of the Switch's existence. And as an added bonus for those that may want an incentive to go for the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, purchasing that will make the DLC free for you in that subscription.
- On the note of Paris Promenade & Tokyo Blur, both of those tracks give you three laps where the way you race on them isn't always the same thing. For Paris Promenade, the first two laps give out basically the same, normal route like you'd find in Tour for the original track, only for the third lap to immediately surprise by going a completely different route that also has you going backwards for most of the track as well! Meanwhile, Tokyo Blur has three unique laps that take you through each original route from Tour's Tokyo Blur stages into one ultra course that provides a complete package for you. Combine that with Ninja Hideaway having many different branching paths for one truly memorable track, and it's no wonder why the Tour tracks have suddenly become fan favorites for the Mario Kart series for those that never played Tour before. And that's not even mentioning the other Tour tracks that were later confirmed for future waves in the DLC like New York Minute or Sydney Sprint.
- Wave 2 had been announced without warning on July 28, with four huge and awesome surprises: 1.) one of the tracks is a new track entirely, which many hadn't expected (the track was later announced for Tour, but it was confirmed for 8 Deluxe first), 2.) fan favorite Kalimari Desert is coming back, 3.) so is Waluigi Pinball, and 4.) Wave 2 is ready for release on August 4.
- Kalimari Desert in particular received quite the upgrade from it’s previous appearances. On the second lap, right before the second level crossing, a ramp will appear out of nowhere… directing you towards the oncoming train tracks. And right as you enter the tunnel, Lakitu drops down to tell you you’re in the final lap. That’s right, what was once a circuit is now a sprint-style race in the vein of Mount Wario (this new route is actually Tour's "Kalimari Desert 2" layout merged with the original). Who saw that coming?
- One of the few criticisms of Wave 1 was that the cars in Coconut Mall, which in the Wii version would go back and forth, putting racers at risk of hitting them, were now stationary and easy to dodge. Seems Nintendo took those criticisms to heart, as when Wave 2 was added, Coconut Mall was upgraded: now the cars randomly do donuts to try to knock players out.
- The Wave 3 announcement dropped on November 21, much earlier than anyone had expected, and it's loaded. Boo Lake got a complete overhaul, to the point that it's now in a lake, with an underwater segment — the first DLC track to have one, even including the courses that were DLC for the original Mario Kart 8. And then it dropped three of the most anticipated tracks — Maple Treeway, Rock Rock Mountain (which now uses antigrav on the vertical ascent), and 3DS Rainbow Road. To say that the fanbase was excited would be a massive understatement.
- Special mention in particular to DS Peach Gardens. While the first two laps are the normal route like in the previous versions of the track, the third lap has the player heading into a new pathway that was previously blocked off leading to the left side of the mansion, racing the rest of the track backwards (in similar fashion to Tour Paris Promenade).
- Announced in the February 8, 2023 Nintendo Direct, Wave 4 revealed one entirely new track: a track themed around Yoshi's Island. The track features several elements from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, including Winged Clouds that create additional shortcuts. That's not the only thing that's been announced; out of nowhere, Birdo was announced as an additional character within the wave, further expanding the roster; with Nintendo confirming that Wave 5 and Wave 6 will also be coming with returning characters, finally fulfilling the long-time fan requests to expand and diversify the roster of 8 Deluxe.
- And then the actual announcement came on March 2, for release on March 9 — significantly earlier than anyone expected. This time, it included two more fan favorite courses — Wii DK Summit and GCN Waluigi Stadium, both with halfpipes like Wave 3 had. In particular, Waluigi Stadium got a visual overhaul and looks downright incredible now.
- Announced in the June 21, 2023 Nintendo Direct, Wave 5 marks the return of Petey Piranha, Wiggler, and Kamek.
- Announced in the September 14, 2023, the final Wave marks the return of fan-favorite Diddy Kong; the popular pick from Mario Kart Wii, Funky Kong; the original damsel-in-distress, Pauline; and Toadette's Super Crown form, Peachette. The only track announced at the moment is none other than Wii Daisy Circuit. Of course, with the HD graphics, you can expect that it would take advantage of the sunset setting.
- And the Wii fans keep on feasting, as the full reveal trailer released on November 1 kicks off with the one and only Wii Rainbow Road. And not only that: GCN DK Mountain, an equally popular course with Double Dash!! and Wii fans alike, has also made its return once more! And what's more, Mario Kart 8 finally has its first retro Bowser's Castle in the form of SNES Bowser Castle 3, using its highly praised glow-up from its appearance in Tour. It even follows series tradition by being placed as the penultimate course of the Spiny Cup, right before Wii Rainbow Road.
