Topic: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Yes @lighteningbolt79 - you’ve sussed the problem .

I was being stupid and didn’t realise I had to.

I am happy about seeing the love for the MK Tour tracks. I know that game isn't for everyone, but I have enjoyed all of the new tracks in the game. Tokyo Blur is probably my least favourite MK Tour track (still liked it though) but it has still been made a lot better in the DLC.

They downloaded early! I'll play them in a bit and share my thoughts.

@MarioLover92 I placed time trial times for 150cc & 200cc for the tracks in the first new cup.

Anyone else struggle to trick off the ledge boost panel exiting the mall via lower deck? Very often, pressing L or R button wouldn't do anything. Fail to trick off ledge boost panel at 0:20. (Or, is everyone exiting the mall via upper deck route? That's how I went in MK7, but I don't notice an advantage to the upper deck mall exit here in MK8. I could be wrong)

Got the DLC this morning. Now I am just waiting for it to download, which means with this crappy internet I got I hopefully will be playing it by Christmas.

I played through all of the tracks, and I really liked them. I hardly even noticed the simpler art style and lack of anti-grav because the tracks themselves were just so much fun. It was incredible playing Coconut Mall in HD and seeing so many other classic tracks being ported to a new console. The majority of the maps had a lot of twists and turns to make them more challenging, and I don't think there was a weak track in the entire first wave.

Is it on par with the base game? No, but just barely. These are still fantastic Mario Kart courses, and while they aren't as visually mindblowing as some of the base tracks are, I just don't really care. What matters to me is how they play, and they all play really well. I love these tracks and cannot wait for the future waves.

@lighteningbolt79 Ah I see, I guess I was too surprised that they changed it like that. It's still a fun track for sure. Maybe it's to compensate for 200cc or something? That's really cool they made Paris and Tokyo like that. I've always liked Toad Circuit too, it's just as good as it was in Mario Kart 7 and the remastered music is amazing. I'm satisfied with wave 1 overall, can't wait for more to come. Won't be long until we can play the DLC online as well.

@Grumblevolcano I think Sky Garden is how it was in Mario Kart Tour. A few retro tracks in Mario Kart 8 were reimaginings to begin with honestly, like how they made Rainbow Road from Mario Kart 64. But that never bothered me personally. I think the remade RR from 64 is so much better than the original.

@MarioLover92 The general shape is very similar with previous retro courses (even N64 Rainbow Road) but Sky Garden is completely different from the Super Circuit original and its DS remaster.

@WoomyNNYes I didn't have a problem on that individual ramp but lots of the courses seem to not register tricks as well as the base game.

Interesting, so Mario Kart Tour is being treated as Mario Kart 9 and the Booster Course Pack as either Mario Kart 10 or a port of Mario Kart 9.

@Grumblevolcano
I don't think they're following such strict logic- "game shown as part of its history must be mainline numbered entry, and DLC must therefore be the next mainline numbered entry"

It was a mobile spinoff. They're showing it on the list not to confirm it as some sort of "mainline entry", they're showing it as part of Mario Kart's history, given the fact this DLC takes some of its courses from it. They'd likely do the same for Mario Kart Live if it actually had courses to re-use.

New tracks are great. As I generally like the more urban set courses like "Toad's Turnpike", the real world inspired courses like "Paris Promenade" & "Tokyo Blur" endeared themselves to me pretty quickly (and they're made much more interesting due to the alternate routes). "Ninja Hideaway" has a ton going on & is great itself though.

Graphically I think they look fine. They've definitely gone with a bit of a simpler style than the base game, but as someone who has had played Tour a few months, I think the lighting and added textures make them fit here just fine. I even jumped between core game tracks & the new DLC tracks from time to time, and the difference (while there) wasn't enough to feel jarring to me. I think "Shroom Ridge" was probably the most noticable in this regard, but once I got racing it wasn't a big deal.

Liking the new tracks so far! tbh

OK so i just checked the eshop and the dlc still isn't there. Do I need to buy the whole expansion pass to get just this one wave or can I buy them separately?

@Palkia It's all or nothing, you can't buy waves individually like you could with Smash.

A minor gripe but I don't like how the new tracks re-use the existing MK8 assets soooo much... I feel like I saw a million flying Koopa Troopas just on Choco Mountain! Makes it feel a bit like something made in Mario Maker, lol

@Clyde_Radcliffe
I just realized something about Coconut Mall in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
There was NO Mii characters at all inside the Mall. They were replaced by Toads or Shy Guys. It was sad to see Nintendo really abandoned Mii existences.

I played a bit and I can still say it’s Mario kart fun
Wave 1
Golden Dash Cup

Paris Promenade (Mario Kart Tour)
This looks like it fits right into Mario kart 8. Clearly the best looking Dlc track in my opinion. Much much better looking than Mario kart tour

Toad Circuit (Mario kart tour)
My worse dlc track. Should of stayed on the 3ds. This just looks like it doesn’t fit Mario kart 8 graphically. Short track. Really colourful. Most of the 3ds tracks were colourful so other than the texture of the grass, I don’t know what else they could have done.

Choco Mountain (Mario kart tour) fun track but seems it didn’t get much work done to it and feels straight out of mk tour

Coconut Mall (Wii)
Looks colourful, some parts of the track seems to narrow. Love the music. Hasn’t featured in Mario kart tour yet.

Lucky Cat Cup

Tokyo Blur (Mario Kart Tour)
Never liked it on tour and no different here. Just too simple but great for 200cc

Shroom Ridge (Nintendo DS) again like toad circuit, really colourful. A fun track on the ds. Not so much on mk8.

Sky Garden (Mario kart tour)
Great dlc track. Fits in great. Has so much more detail than tour. Really short. Should of made it 4 laps.

Ninja Hideaway (Mario Kart Tour)
One of the best tracks on tour but also because it had many turbo ramps and trick varieties. Looks great. Fun track with good sound track but not on 200cc

There's a lot of complaining about the visual quality of these or that they're "watered down" or somehow just ripped right from tour as if that's a bad thing. Honestly? I don't see what the complaint is. These are solid tracks and they look fine. Sure, of the 8 tracks here 6 are from Tour but they have been improved visually and in any case, who cares? There are SO many tracks in tour did you think they were not going to re-use those courses?

On my more general thoughts. The three tour tracks here are very solid, Ninja Hideaway is genuinely a tricky course and Tokyo Blur/Paris Promenade are easier but generally pretty fun. Toad Circuit is exactly as it was on the 3DS but in HD which is fine by me, same deal with Coconut Mall. Shroom Ridge? I loved this track on the DS but I honestly don't remember playing it much because it was one of the tracks you couldn't play online. And Sky Garden is .... very Mario Kart 8.... which is a good thing

Probably the standout for me but is Choco Mountain. Now I know it's pretty much the same as it is in tour but as someone who only played tour for a bit? I never played this track on Tour. So this is entirely new for me. Probably one of the better remade classic courses in Mario Kart 8 I'd argue

The new tracks are decent...but definitely lacking compared to the tracks in the main game.

The Tour tracks are completely new to me and are a mixed bag IMO. Paris Promenade and Tokyo Blur would be completely forgettable if not for there basis in real-world locations. Ninja Hideaway, however, is probably my favourite course of the two new cups, offering a lot of shortcuts, twists and turns, and verticality, along with some cool theming (although it's lacking some of the visual flair of earlier courses).

The retro stages are alright but...unremarkable. I think the art style and reuse of assets makes them much less impressive than previous retro tracks e.g. Ribbon Road. As a result these courses somehow both fail to capture the feel of the originals, and fail to bring anything new and exciting to the table. What a shame.

Definitely feeling like a quantity over quality deal so far.