Recently we were invited to Nintendo's UK headquarters to have a go at The Legend of Zelda x Mario Kart 8 DLC that's arriving on 13th November, and naturally we just had to tell you what we thought of it. This is the first time a Mario Kart game has had DLC, so Nintendo has to make an impact to convince buyers to part with their hard-earned cash, and including a pointy-eared, green-wearing adolescent isn't going to be enough by itself.
The New Characters
The three new characters in the DLC are Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach and Link from The Legend of Zelda series. Link of course is a tremendously exciting addition, as it's the first time any character that isn't directly affiliated with Mario has appeared in a Mario Kart game; as a heavy character he feels very weighty and offensive, much like his swordsman nature would suggest. Tanooki Mario and Cat Peach however feel a bit lacklustre in comparison. Two out of three of the new characters are simply variations of character we already have in the game, whilst we're still missing series staples such as Diddy Kong, Birdo, King Boo, Petey Piranha, and Bowser Jr.. Tanooki Mario does have some fairly interesting stunt animations that involve him turning into a statue much as he did in Super Mario Bros. 3, but we still feel a bit cheated by this multi-Mario representation. You can also unlock a number of neat character-themed outfits for your Mii by tapping an amiibo on the GamePad, but this feature naturally won't be available until the amiibo toys have been released.
The New Vehicles
This pack contains four additional vehicles: the Tanooki Kart, the Master Cycle, the B Dasher, and the Blue Falcon. There are also Triforce Tyres and a Hylian Kite to add further customisation options to make your ideal vehicle. The Blue Falcon is the stand-out, as it looks almost identical to Captain Falcon's famous flyer from the F-Zero series, although on a smaller scale to make it kart-sized. All the vehicles have their own appeal — the Tanooki Kart is powerful, the Master Cycle looks rad — but why don't we get on to the meat of the matter?
Egg Cup Courses
Yoshi Circuit (GCN)
A brutal, relentless track filled with a huge number of sharp, unforgiving corners and chicanes that ramp up the difficulty greatly compared to its first appearance, that to the speed and mechanics of Mario Kart 8. Like all the other classic tracks in the game, this course is beautifully remastered to look a hundred times more appealing than its first incarnation. Little details are scattered about the course, such as a town at the start line instead of the boring rocks that preceded it and a waterfall you must burst through in order to complete a nefarious shortcut, to name just a few, and all of these make the experience of replaying the old track all the more delightful. Yoshi Circuit is easily one of the most difficult tracks in the game to master, but if you manage to get your hands on some boosts, many of these devilish swerves can be easily avoided by boosting across the grass, just be careful not to get chomped by a piranha plant as you do so.
Excitebike Arena
This is one of the more unique track layouts in the DLC, and it's not difficult to see why. The predominantly straight course only has two corners, but between them you'll get an awful lot of ups and downs. The many ramps that are scattered across the track are partially randomised, which is very important, as it's clear that just the same ramps over and over again would get tedious fairly quickly. Knowing when to perform a trick and when to try and avoid a ramp altogether is crucial in getting a good lap time, but if you're unlucky enough to get hit by an item at the start of a series of these hills, it can be absolutely crippling. The speed required to get over the ramps effectively is surprisingly high, meaning if you've been slowed by an adversary you can lose an awful lot of places as you struggle to climb up the hills and get back up to speed.
Dragon Driftway
An almost exclusively anti-gravity track that makes full use of the mechanic. The track spirals and twists almost constantly, and manages to really feel as through you're defying the laws of physics, unlike most of the anti-gravity sections in other levels. The level is full of sharp turns in a similar fashion to Yoshi Circuit, but the ones in Dragon Driftway feel significantly smoother and pose less of a challenge than its Yoshi-themed counterpart. It blends beautiful design with gorgeous curves and motion sickness to create a contender for the best original track on Mario Kart 8. With one exception, of course…
Mute City
The kingpin of the Egg Cup, Mute City is — as most people know — based on the F-Zero racing series, and takes far more from it than just the track design. The course itself is mostly curved like many of the tracks in the series it emulates, and somehow the track has been designed so that it feels much faster than the other tracks. Of course it isn’t comparable to the blistering speeds in F-Zero, but it’s enough to have a significant impact on how you feel. There are also an abundance of boost strips in true F-Zero style, which also help to make the track one of the fastest in the game. Another wonderfully unique twist is the complete lack of any coins on the course, but don’t worry about not getting that extra speed that comes from pockets full of coins — you can increase your coin counter by passing over the various recharge strips at the side of the course. This little detail really helps to make the course feel like a completely new experience in an already well-established formula. Once you finish your race you may well recognise the music that’s played over the results screen, but you’ll have to shout ‘you got boost power!’ at the start of the second lap yourself.
Triforce Cup Courses
Wario's Gold Mine (Wii)
Wario's plundering paradise has been given a facelift worthy of the bulbous yellow-clad character himself. The huge peaks and troughs in the track serve little purpose for a mine, but are excellent to drive a kart on. You'll see many familiar scenes such as the shortcut that takes you literally off the track, as well as the underground portion just before it. This has been changed into an anti-gravity section, and for good reason, as now you can slam into mine carts that are also travelling along the track and gain a boost as though they were another player. Overall Wario's Gold Mine is still a brilliant track, but not much has been fiddled with, so purists should be pleased by the update.
Rainbow Road (SNES)
The classic 16-bit track was the first to bear its title, and Nintendo has been careful to keep as true to the original as possible, whilst providing the compulsory HD upgrade we'd expect. The track is a little wider than before to accommodate twelve racers simultaneously, and also retains the infamous electrified Thwomps of the original. Once one of these Thwomps comes down, they'll send ripples through the track that's in proximity to them in a similar manner to the ones that the Chain Chomps make in the N64's version of Rainbow Road, but move much more rapidly. Otherwise very little has been changed, although the upgrade in graphics has made it look better than it ever has. Just don't expect to stay on the track for the entire time!
Ice Ice Outpost
Being the only other new track that isn't themed around another game (alongside Dragon Driftway), Ice Ice Outpost is one of the slightly more mundane of the courses in this DLC pack. The course consists of two differently coloured tracks that intertwine around one another for the length of the entire course. You're given opportunities to switch from one track to another, but the difference in length between one another is so nominal that it's not going to be a deciding factor in most races. The theme means that most of the background that you'll see may as well just be white, as you're mainly focused on the track you're trying to stay on. None of this is to say that Ice Ice Outpost is a bad course, it's just a little uninspiring compared to the enormous lengths Nintendo has gone to make the others so fresh and unique from all other courses. Overall it feels like this course is just a missed opportunity, and really has nothing that makes it stand out in any real way.
Hyrule Circuit
One of the most highly anticipated courses, Hyrule Circuit is nothing short of excellent. The Zelda theme of the track is one of the biggest draws, of course, but even stripped of all its Hylian finery this is an extremely enjoyable track to play — Nintendo has managed to take two franchises and blend them together nigh-on seamlessly, and the result is wonderful. There's even a shortcut you can open if you manage to hit all three switches as you pass into Hyrule Castle, allowing you to jump over the pedestal that holds the Master Sword and avoid a corner completely. Coins are replaced by Rupees (even the icon on the HUD), Piranha Plants by Deku Babas, and whenever you hit an item box you're given a sound much closer to the sound that plays when opening a chest in the Zelda series than the standard Mario Kart affair. These little details all add up to an experience that is only marginally behind that of Mute City, but considering Zelda has almost nothing to do with racing, Nintendo's done an excellent job.
Summary
You'd be hard pushed to find a reason not to download this DLC pack if you enjoy Mario Kart 8. The characters could have been a bit more inspired in some places, but the rest of the pack is simply outstanding. The courses all feel just as well-made and meticulously designed as the courses included on the disc, and the new unique elements in a handful of the tracks really help to spice up the gameplay. The value for money alone should be enough to entice you into making that purchase, but if that's not enough, take it from us that this is well worth a download; we can only hope to see much more of this after the second pack comes out in 2015.
This DLC Pack is available on 13th November 2014 for £7.00/$7.99/€7.99. Remember that you can buy both DLC packs in advance for a special price of £11.00/$11.99/€11.99.
Which one of the courses has really piqued your interest? Be sure to vote in the poll below and let us know with a comment below whether or not you'll be downloading this fantastic DLC pack!
Which track are you most looking forward to? (470 votes)
- Yoshi Circuit (GCN)
- Excitebike Arena
- Dragon Driftway
- Mute City
- Wario's Gold Mine (Wii)
- Rainbow Road (SNES)
- Ice Ice Outpost
- Hyrule Circuit
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Comments (111)
This DLC just looks insanely fun. I seriously can't wait until the 13th!
Pre-purchased and ready to go!
Can't wait for Mute City, it's the closest we'll get to a new F-Zero game anyway!
Mute City looks so nice,can't wait to play this!
Mute City and Icy Icy outpost for me
I'm honestly looking more forward to either Mute City or Hyrule Circuit
Some cool content there.
Makes me want a proper F-Zero game even more though.
Funnily; despite the fact I really want a new F-Zero game, the two tracks that excite me the most are the Rainbow Road and Excite Bike ones. There's something about their simplicity that I like.
I preorder this a few days after they announced it. I want to try Dragon Driftway and Hyrule Circuit.
And the question may be dumb, but can only bikes be used in the Excitebike Circuit?
Absolutely cannot wait for the Hyrule track!
Link's bike is all awesome. Just look at all the details it has. And the Excitebike arena induced all kinds of nostalgia.
Pre-purchased and ready to go
@sinalefa
No, you can race anything you want on it. In fact, if you go to GameXplain's channel on YouTube, you can see them racing a kart on it.
Preordered the day it was announced. Thursday can't come quick enough!
Can't wait for this, with everything coming this month I am going to be extremely busy.
Sounds great, too bad they put two skins and one new character instead of three new characters. Oh, well... the tracks look terrific so I won't complain much.
This is how DLC should always be. A lot of content for a fair price.
I'm looking forward to Wario's Gold Mine, Mute City, and Hyrule Circuit.
Ready and waiting for this. Excited!
The overload of clone characters is pretty outrageous but you can't argue with 8 new tracks and the amazing Link/Eponacycle combo.
As far as Diddy Kong..? He's getting his own racing game next year. (http://kevincallahangames.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/the-strange-development-of-diddy-kong-racing-2/)
I think Dragon Driftway is based on the big dragon boss from Super Mario Galaxy 2
@BlackSpy There's just no pleasing some people..
woo hoo! snes rainbow road is back! I can't wait to make my friends rage!
BlackSpy's avatar is Toon Link from Wind Waker. Just pointing out the obvious.
@AlexOlney Umm, in the second paragraph, you state that Link is the first non-Mario character in the series...but R.O.B. was in MKDS, and the arcade entries had PAC-MAN characters.
@BlackSpy To be fair, N64, GCN and DS are running out of unused track choices. I am annoyed they chose Yoshi Circuit instead of Mushroom City or Wario Colosseum but I can see why they did it (only 4 unused GCN tracks left). SNES Rainbow Road however was a really pointless choice.
As for pack 2 I think GBA Bowser Castle 3 will get re-released along with something like DS Waluigi Pinball.
I think I will be replaying Mute City quite a lot... at least until Nintendo just announces a new F-Zero already.
I'll be playing this dlc day one, though I haven't taken the opportunity to preorder both packs yet. I'll probably do that before Thursday. Looks epic!
Mute City to me is easily the most impressive looking track shown so far.
SNES Rainbow Road however was a really pointless choice.
I think this one was a result of development reasons rather than being a handpicked choice. It would be quite quick and easy to port Rainbow Road from 3DS to Wii U. Its the simplest most basic course in the whole series. I would have had the central U turn be raised instead of staying flat.
@AlexOlney
Link has the the same classification as Bowser or as Donkey Kong? Anyway, I've pre-purchased the bundle since the announcement. I'm looking forward to Yoshi's and Falcon's circuit.
@sinalefa Nope, anything and everything
So we have 3 Rainbow Roads... My god, why not just cash in on another Mario Kart or just make a new franchise and make it all RainBow Roads. Of all tracks, I hate those the most.
Bring on Mute City and Hyrule!!!
Mute City, Dragon Driftway and Ice Ice Outpost look really good too.
Hope there's lots of Easter Eggs.
Got it all pre-ordered! 8 stages AND Link is insane!!!
Safe to say I am all in with this DLC except for the reskinned characters of course. Do we really need more Marios and Peachs? Why not Birdo, King Boo or Diddy Kong! We get ANOTHER Rainbow Road and still no Battle Mode stages?! (i'm sorry, i'll keep asking for this until Nintendo responds)
DLC of the year, seriously! The amounf content for less than $15 bucks if you purchase the bundle is SO GOOD! Ahhh the coolest thing is that we're just 3 days away of playing this awesome new tracks! Y'all better buy this DLC so we can play it online without problems. It's so cheap so there's no excuse to buy it,
Preordered. About time, too.
@AdanVC It's been confirmed that you get to choose between with DLC and without DLC in the lobbies for worldwide/regional. No-one knows how tournaments will be affected though.
Ooo, I can't wait to play as Link and Tanooki Mario. Cat Peach however, I really don't care for, and that's coming from someone who likes Pink Gold Peach! I'm really surprised at Link being a Heavy class racer though, I guess it 'cause he's a tall character like Waluigi or Rosalina.
is there any footage that anyone has found of lcy lcy outpost? i wanna see what it looks like
@BlackSpy
Man, you are way of base in my opinion...
WARIO'S GOLD MINE!!!
Looks splendid. Now that I know Link is heavyweight, I may finally change character from the god that is Wario. The child within me will miss his farting though....
Really hope to see Delfino plaza in the May DLC.
Wario's Gold Mine and Hyrule Circuit!
I am looking forward to this DLC, although I am a little bummed that Diddy and Birdo did not make it back through DLC.
But tracks look fun, although I did notice something.
Mario Kart 8 seems to be going to the record of having the most Rainbow Roads in a single game. So far, we have the Mario Kart 8 version, the N64 version that's in the retro cup, and now the SNES version.
I do love the Rainbow Roads, but do we need three in a single game? At this point, the SNES one kinda looks bland compared to its N64 and MK8 counterparts.
Still like the DLC, and I'm looking forward to it, but three Rainbow Roads like overkill at this point.
@Caryslan - Well, there are people who wanted a Rainbow Cup in Mario Kart. I personally don't like that at all but maybe having 3 of them in one game will please them. SNES Rainbow Road looks nice and simplistic.
Does anybody know when is the last point you can get both for £11 ? (Is it only if it is a preorder or not ?).
@unrandomsam
I think it's a pre order offer, so I would assume November 12 is the last day you can get the deal. So, no later than Wednesday...
@Dave24 @whodatninja
Sorry to hear you guys aren't fans of Rainbow Road. I couldn't be more thrilled to have the SNES version included, seeing as we now have the top 3 iconic and memorable Rainbow Road courses of all time in one game.
Besides, for $11 we're getting half a game's worth of content. Even if you hated 50% of every course in the DLC pack, there still would be no room to complain.
just wait... dont spend your.... money.... SMASH BROS WII U IS KILLING ME!
@unrandomsam @JaxonH There's no date limits listed on the eShop. It's simply the price of the DLC(s).
I think the reason they had a pre-purchase campaign for this is to get as many as possible to have the DLC on day 1, so the online players wouldn't be affected that much by players who don't have the new courses.
I CANT BUY ANYTHING THANKS TO SMASHES DAMN PRICE!
Why no Retro (Yoshi Circuit (GCN), Excitebike Arena, Wario's Gold Mine (Wii), Rainbow Road (SNES)) new cup (Dragon Driftway, Mute City, Ice Ice Outpost, Hyrule Circuit) devide like all the other cups?
@jariw I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to pre order this DLC anyways though, I mean it's just such a slamming deal and the tracks are just, muahhh! Perfection.
I'm a huge Zelda fan but Mute city sounds so exciting so I had to vote for that. Don't get me wrong as I'm excited for the Zelda course as well. Can't wait to give all the courses a spin.
So... Am I the only one who notices my guy Shy Guy at 00:36 wearing a blue/purple mask/dress instead of red? If not, can anyone tell me what I missed on terms of color changing options for characters not mii? Besides that, SOOO EXCITE-ED FOR MK8 DLC 💙
@kidwalrus Getting both packs (only possible currently by preorder) gives you 8 new Yoshi and Shy Guy colours.
@Grumblevolcano oh dude thanks! Pretty good marketing strategy cuz I don't even want the animal crossing peeps lol
I think the whole thing looks great, but I am most excited for the excite bike level. Excite bike was actually the very first Nintendo game I ever played and it got me hooked on Nintendo as a company at the time.
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME
@Grumblevolcano
Tournaments will work the same way. Except I read when creating one, in addition to choosing between either 32 or 40 course tournaments, you can opt to create one with ONLY the 8 DLC tracks as well.
@kidwalrus Amiibo support is also coming soon so Mii characters can wear a costume for supported Amiibo like Mario, Fox, Samus, Falcon, Yoshi and Kirby.
@Nico07 still a little skeptical on amiibos but if I have one I'll be sure to scan it or whatever lol
I like 'em all but my top 3 are:
1) Mute City
2) Hyrule Circuit
3) Ice Ice Outpost
And this is why Nintendo should have considered DLC a long time ago. I can only hope that we get packs like this for Super Smash Bros. on Wii U. Maybe 2 characters and 3 stages per pack?
5 new 3 retro. Odd they broke the template of evenly matching them.
Mute City, Hyrule Circuit and Dragon Driftway look sweet.
I need to get this!
As much as I LOVE the idea of racing on all those courses, I sort of want to hear more about Ice Ice Outpost.
Hmmm... I wonder if I should get a Wii U?
Hmmm... I wonder if I should get a Wii U?
I pre-purchased the first day it was available in august. cant wait for mute city!
@SavoirFaire maybe they will have more retro in pack 2
@BlackSpy hoping for cheese land and/or ribbon road in the animal crossing pack
I would hardly call Birdo, King Boo, and Petey Piranha "series staples," but otherwise this was great. Can't wait for these new tracks!!
With the quality this high, they could just keep selling these to me until the next generation Mario Kart comes out...
I stopped playing this for awhile due to other distractions, but I played it with my wife last night and we had a blast. Since we paid for all the DLC the pretty much right when it was announced it feels like a free gift. Can't wait.
I would also hardly say that Diddy Kong has anything to do with Mario, no more than Link or any other Nintendo character.
Oh jeez, I can't decide! It's a three way tie between Dragon Driftway, Mute City, and Excitebike Arena!
I'm most excited about the Hyrule course and Mute City. I preordered this just after it was announced and I do not regret it at all. This is some excellent DLC.
@Diddy_kong You take that back!
I honestly dont get alternate mario and peach costumes, but for the amount of value in this DLC for the cost, I guess I can't be too mad.
I am starting to look at Mario Kart 8 as Mario Kart Infinity. Who knows how many more DLC packs we could get if these sell well. This could be something they do every 6 months for another year or 3
can't hardly w8! this is DLC done right!
That's some nice content here. I admit though I'm not to keen on the new Mario and Peach characters, but 8 new tracks and Link playable? Sign me up. I may not be able to get it day one though.
@Mytoemytoe
Thanks for the link, it should be quite newsworthy if not reported already on Nintendo Life
Im not lying. Im looking foward to SNES RR. But it may be because it simply looks better than MK7 and I love the track itself. Mute city is the close second though.
Also, that SNES RR image is wallpaper material. Why is it to hard to download the image with the biggest resolution here?
I had to go to the lol page source to get it...
@InfernoUprising
No, I'm constantly checking YouTube and I am unable to find anything. It seems Nintendo is intentionally trying to keep some of the tracks like Ice Ice Outpost and Wario's Goldmine under wraps. I guess they don't want to completely reveal everything before the DLC's release.
Either way, only a few more days until we're racing on all of them ourselves anyway! I've never been so pumped up for DLC!
Allready pre purchased both DLC's and cannot wait to play this.
But £11.00/$11.99?! thats not even slightly close lol
@TheItalianBaptist Were on the same boat.
Cheese land would be cool.
But Ribbon road has potential to be remade with antigravity. After all, in MKSC, the image depicting ribbon road featured wario on a wavy road
Also sunset wilds in HD would be awesome too.
An almost perfect piece of DLC by the looks of things, except for the character selection they couldnt really have done much more.
SNES rainbow road is so iconic, though, making it so big to allow 12 karts will make the course so much easier
This whole DLC park looks the biz, but it's the Mute City track that's really tickling my nostalgic buttons.
If this DLC gets a lot of love, especially the F-Zero elements then perhaps we will get a new F-Zero game.
Hyrule Circuit looks a bit good.
Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong TF style tracks next DLC please Nintendo. And I want Samus's gun ship as a Kart
I recommend spamming Miiverse with happy comments about Mute City. That way they might realise we want another F-Zero game. Wii U has plenty of life in it to get a new game out.
Looks all great. I've been following MK8 DLC closely since I still play MK8 a lot. The tracks all have quite an appeal, and i haven't played the Wario and Yoshi level before, so that's a bonus for me. Actually really happy to see the SNES Rainbow Road, that track always delivers excitement due to the ability to bump people off the track (MK8 makes great use of that). The characters are somewhat poor but they'll bring more different characters to a race, which is nice for the eye. In this comment section I read somewhere that you're able to choose DLC when going online. hope that's true, because 90% of my MK8 time is spend online, I only play offline when my friends join in, who aren't experienced in MK.
I still haven't got this yet, mostly due to not having internet anymore but I'll be able to pick this up sometime a week after the first pack is released... I hope I still get the different coloured Yoshis, there's nothing to say I won't.
I really really hope to see Wario Coliseum (from Double Dash) in the next DLC with some serious anti-grav upgrades! I'd be disappointed if it's not but O well. I also would love to see a 'Rainbow Cup' which holds 4 of the Rainbow Road tracks currently elusive from Mario Kart 8. Maybe also have the arcade versions of Mario Kart in the next DLC? I hope they're not finished with it yet, they could do a lot with this game!
I hope it all works online without any problems integrating with the existing tracks........
Man Mario kart 8 team, you could've gone with GBA's rainbow road? That is BADLY due for a remake. I digress. The dlc if I haven't said it already is STUNNING. And of course link is a heavyweight, he's huge.
Exite bike, Dragon Drftway, and Zelda are my favorite tracks. This DLC is turning out even better than anticipated...
Don't get the problem people have with cat suit peach or tanooki mario. Peach is a hottie and Tanooki Suit Mario is awesome sauce!
Hyrule Circuit looks beautiful. Hope it's a precursor to what we'll see in Zelda U.
Man, Thursday can't get here soon enough. Awesome DLC for a great price! Just like the New Super Luigi U.
cant wait but now im wondering about the next pack
SOOOOO happy they did SNES Rainbow Road again, just saw it a few days ago briefly but wasn't sure if I saw right, now I see it is confirmed. They had it on 7 which was great and all, but I will probably never play 7 again since I have 8. Can't stand Kart or Smash on a cramped handheld, as impressed as I am by both. Anybody know if the SNES Rainbow Road music will be the same as the original or remixed? I like the new 64 music, but wish I could have the classic music too. I'd honestly use that more. And I wish 64 was 3 laps like it's supposed to be.
@BlackSpy there's always pack 2..
Hyrule circuit and mute city for me!
I really look foreward to Hyrule circuit (because of the zelda look with that little "puzzle" and the rupees instead of coins) and Excitebike arena (because of the changes every time).
DLC looks amazing aside from Tanooki Mario and Cat Peach. I can't wait!
I'll be using the Blue Falcon right away. That was my kart of choice on MK Wii. Hoping it won't be a let down on here.
Perfect. Now all they need to do is remaster Neo Bowser City and MK8 will become the best Mario kart ever!
how and where do you go to pre-order this??
Does anyone know what time the dlc will be available in the uk??
@zslick the Eshop or the in game store,I hope its available midnight
Both Mute City and Hyrule Circuit look amazing. But it still bothers me that they'd include an F-Zero track in the game and have no word on a new F-Zero game.
Any word on if this auto downloads if you pre-purchased?
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