The music is some of the most thumping of the entire series. In terms of art direction, it's spectacular, with a fully-realized Japanese dojo complete with water wheel, collapsing ceilings spiked with shurikens, and shy guy ninjas disappearing into thin air. Ninja Hideaway is one of the best courses to grace Mario Kart, period. This one's worth racing again and again.įorget about "best of wave 1". Based on the Tour version of the track, Choco Mountain in Deluxe feels new and improved, owing to a cave area with bright crystals and bat-like Swoops, a hang glider section, and an immensely satisfying ascending curve with hazardous falling boulders and some silly fossils embedded in the adjacent dirt wall. If you came to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe right from Mario Kart 64, you'd find Choco Mountain almost unrecognizable. In terms of track design, it's surprisingly good, with branching paths, a few tight corners, and an alternative third lap that sends racers in reverse, a la Luigi Circuit. It's an airy, cheerful level brought to life thanks to jaunty accordion music and lovely views of Paris landmarks, including but not limited to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Paris Promenade is perhaps the most inviting of this first wave of DLC tracks. The escalators are now glowing ramps - similar to but more garish than those from the Mario Kart 7 version - and the cars in the last stretch of each lap no longer move, but these are small things relative to the overall creativity of the base track. This Mario Kart 8 Deluxe variant is a slight downgrade from the Wii days. Thanks to its shopping center setting, escalator-like conveyor belts, and branching paths, it feels like its own thing. Coconut Mall has been a fan-favorite since the Wii days, and it's great to see it reappear on Nintendo's latest console. It has only one big drawback: its length. It also boasts some fun banking turns and a nice sensation of height. It's one of the prettiest new tracks, thanks to clear blue skies, billowy white clouds, and an armada of propeller-driven airships floating in the distance. The developers at Nintendo added a couple of shortcuts to this Mario Kart 8 Deluxe version, but it's not quite enough to make the track essential. It's decent enough, especially on higher CCs, as racers weave dangerously through busy traffic, but rather straightforward and predictable. Shroom Ridge feels like it's constantly on the verge of breaking out into something special, but it never does. Is it vanilla? Yes, but it's not half bad, particularly for folks looking for a straightforward racing experience. Let's remember: Toad Circuit started as the first track in the first cup in Mario Kart 7. Toad Circuit is definitely not a world-beater, but it's hardly a nightmare either. Fans are not exactly wild about its inclusion in this first wave of DLC. Toad Circuit has taken a bit of an online drubbing over the last 72 hours. It's worth noting the Tokyo Blur in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe combines three variants from Tour, which means an alternative third lap on the Tokyo highway, which is definitely the highlight. It's too wide - something true of several of the DLC courses, owing to their origins in Mario Kart Tour - and too bland. Unfortunately, the track just isn't very exciting. The setting is great, thanks to a striking opening view of Mount Fuji and Tokyo Tower, and street racing that calls to mind Ridge Racer. One of the new tracks has to be last, and regrettably it's Tokyo Blur. Now, five years after that, it receives eight additional remastered courses - the first of 48 planned DLC tracks, which will bring the grand total to 96 by the end of 2023.Īfter playing through the eight new tracks over the weekend - including a lengthy online session with friends and family Saturday night - I'm ready to rank the first wave, starting with the weakest addition and ending with the very best. Three years later, when it launched as a deluxe model on the WiiU's successor, the Switch, it had miraculously become even better, thanks to an overhauled battle mode and the inclusion of all previously-released DLC. When it arrived on the WiiU in 2014 it became, arguably, the best racing game of all time. Mario Kart 8 is the gift that keeps giving. By Evan Norris, posted on 22 March 2022 / 3,280 Views