Topic: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

@Grumblevolcano Based on the leak prefixes there should be 2 city tracks, 3 nitro tracks, and 3 retro tracks in wave 6, but Nintendo could always change the track selection to surprise us.

Adding a custom lap count would have to be done on a per race basis, owing to the fact it can't be done universally. The game at present doesn't have the ability to allow that, and I don't think Nintendo are adding an extra step when selecting a race here when the next game can be built around allowing it.

@LilyGoMEOW @Nintoz The only way the rumours make sense is if Tour's reaching "end of life" status very soon. If it is reaching "end of life", I'd guess there'd be some sort of announcement within the next few weeks.

This means there's probably very little chance for a BCP2, with attention likely shifting to a new entry entirely.

@Nintoz Ah, that's a bit of a shame. Tour lasted a lot longer than ever I thought it would and it introduced a ton of stuff to the series that's still really cool/important (tracks changing layouts per lap, new characters that had never been in MK beforehand, etc.), definitely the end of an era.

This does make me wonder if MK9 (or I guess 10 if Tour is counted as MK9?) is closer than we initially thought if Tour is ending support right before the final wave of MK8 DLC though 🤔

@Fizza Oh absolutely.
Tour is often immediately written off for its 'obnoxious gacha elements' (most of which was removed a year ago). In reality, it was probably the most experimental Mario Kart since Double Dash!!

And yes, I sure do hope that the next MK related thing we see (after Wave 6) is a new entry on the new system pleeeaaase!🤞

@Nintoz damn.
Tour had a good run, but I think it ran its course for content.
So many remade courses for and only for tour need the chance to be played again, so I think this is kinda a good thing tbh

@Nintoz I sadly agree, the chance of MK8 Deluxe being supported after wave 6 was down to what happened with Tour:

• Tour reaching end of life status -> Brand new MK for Switch's successor, probably a launch title
• Tour continued to be supported with more content -> BCP2 and/or some kind of enhanced MK8 Deluxe port for Switch's successor

I also think Nintendo will announce the entirety of wave 6 in the next Direct with an earlier than expected release date (e.g. October 4th).

@Grumblevolcano I could see the DLC being later if Nintendo works on all the previous courses and brings the visuals up to that of the base game courses. If so I'd expect a November or December release.

I'm all ready for a new Mario Kart game, honestly. I haven't played 8 Deluxe in a while thanks to Splatoon 3, plus it's been six years since 8 Deluxe came out. With Tour not getting any more new stuff, hopefully they'll work on the next game after they're done with wave 6.

Oh I've been beyond ready for a new Mario Kart game. I've been ready for a new Mario Kart game since 2020 (which is about when we'd be getting one in previous generations with separate handheld/home consoles) but they've dragged MK8D and Tour out for longer than I liked. Tour was a nice little experiment, but we need a new, legitimate console entry for Mario Kart yesterday. In 2024 it'll have been 10 years since the last original console entry and 7 years since the last main series console entry. That is an unacceptably long time short of development hell-esque delays (which I don't think the next Mario Kart has suffered, it seems more like they were just resting on their laurels while MK8D printed money), especially when prior to that we had been getting new entries once every 3 years (and don't give me the "one entry per console" BS as they can make spinoffs/subseries of Mario Kart to circumvent that). Having long 7 year gaps with cheap mobile ports of classic courses... just doesn't hold attention as well as genuinely new and original courses, new gameplay modes/mechanics, or other bigger stuff that an actual new entry can bring. The kind of evergreen content we've been seeing with regular waves of new cups or Tour's rotating courses/leaderboards is great for keeping fans engaged with the game for like, a year or two, but it's not quite enough to fill out an entire console lifespan.

Final predictions for Wave 6 (in no particular order and without knowledge of leaks):

A SNES Vanilla Lake
GBA Bowsers Castle 4
GCN DK Mountain
3DS Wario Galleon
Piranha plant pipeline
2 city tracks
Wii Rainbow Road

Yeah I think I'm gonna plug mine in too:
Tour Rome Avanti
GCN Dino Dino Jungle
SNES Bowser Castle 3
Piranha Plant Pipeline

Tour Madrid Drive
DS Airship Fortress (I'm gonna agree with @grumblevolcano)
Piranha Plant Cove
Wii Rainbow Road

Characters: Diddy Kong and Pauline

Here before the eruption in wave 6 speculation

That's a massive curveball announcement and they did say final DLC wave so it feels like:

Acorn Cup
Tour Rome Avanti
Wii Daisy Circuit
GCN DK Mountain
Piranha Plant Cove

Spiny Cup
Tour Madrid Drive
Wii Dry Dry Ruins
Piranha Plant Pipeline
Wii Rainbow Road

There's extreme Wii bias and the only Wii nitro tracks missing that appeared in Tour are Dry Dry Ruins and Rainbow Road so may as well have them all.

@Grumblevolcano I think you're pretty much on the money with that track selection, although I would still swap Dry Dry Ruins with Bowser's Castle 3.

I swear nobody on this planet would have predicted Peachette rocking up

I'm happy with Daisy Circuit, it's not an amazing track but it's fun. At least in terms of music/visuals.

Happy with the characters too. I thought we were getting two Kongs, or one of them and Pauline. So I can't complain!
...what's up with the random versions of Peach though? Pink Gold, Cat, now Peachette...I don't think she's that great. But I'm sure someone out there is pleased.

Interesting about the "physical" release though, are we safe to assume the last wave will arrive on the same week? (October 6th)

Um achtually, Peachette is a Toadette alt 🤓

Really? Well that's slightly less offensive haha

I'm surprised to see Pauline and Peachette at all, surely they're more work? They have their dresses plus whatever they wear on bikes. The main reason I expected the Kongs was because they're naked all the time. Way less work.

@Kimyonaakuma The "physical" release is a download code so it could easily act as a pre-order for wave 6. That said, I had a look at the Japan Direct and there's a physical version that may actually be a physical version like how Japan got full physical versions of BotW and Splatoon 2:

Can't tell if it's physical MK8 Deluxe cart + a download code of BCP or a physical version with everything on the cart. If the latter, wave 6 is likely releasing that week.