Video: Here's A Look At The New Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Tracks - Direct Switch Footage

For some reason it still won’t let me play the tracks even though I preordered with NSO, anyone know why that is?

@PARK1755 It releases at midnight (all timezones).

@PARK1755 I don’t think it’s out in North America yet. If your not in North America, idk. I’m in Australia and it’s not working for me yet, so it’s probably best just to be wait .

I'm not in hurry to play the DLC.
I will wait for several months later to buy the DLC.
My gaming hype currently is on other machines as I still build their games library. (PS3, PS4, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, etc)

Yeah ...Checked out all the tracks at midnight ...I personally think they look REALLY bad ...and honestly play really bad as well. Keep in mind this is entirely my opinion, but my heart literally sank lower and lower from one track to the next. Haven't played Tour (and never will) but these are clearly ripped straight from that with only marginal improvements. Flat one- colour textures, low poly models, very basic and flat track design (shockingly so compared to 8's excellent base selection). Sad to say I got completely heartbroken after finishing both cups. I'm the biggest Mario Kart fan there is and 8 Deluxe is my second most played Switch game, but this is just one of the cheapest- feeling first party content I've ever seen from Nintendo. I completely get why it's so cheap now, the quality is basically non- existent. I guess the value is still there, though ...For me, however, this was just a shocking disappointment of a first impression. I hope and pray future tracks will look and play way better than these, moving closer to Mario Kart 8's AAA quality and just art style in general.

Again, just my opinion. If you love it, I'm happy for you.

@PARK1755 I'm having the same issue

Ninja Hideaway looked crazy. Looked forward to playing that. The Paris one seemed a little confusing, but I'm sure I'd pick it up. I also don't play at 200cc typically, so that probably doesn't help. I also really loved the Tokyo one. I'm really excited to play

Nice to see how the final lap changes the routes in Paris Promenade and Tokyo Blur! PS: Ninja Hideaway is awesome!

For those struggling to play the tracks, I noticed I had to close and open the game again, and a box came up stating it would connect to the internet to check if the user could play the DLC. The main button was start software, but you need to click Check

It’s got me back in to Mario kart 8 deluxe after years and I’m real rusty

I have the same problem. I have the expansion pass but can't play the tracks . I closed the game, and opened it again - no pop up box and no option to check if I can play the DLC.

I can see the tracks in the cups but can't play them.

Shambles.

These tracks all look really good to me. Not low effort at all.

Only had time to play the first cup…there really is a serious lack of graphical sheen in all of those tracks. I honestly didn’t think I would mind them being pared back visually considering the breadth of content you get for the money but yeah…I realised playing them that the spectacle of the tracks in MK8 and attention to detail in them really did elevate that game to something properly special. Still fun, happy for more tracks but it’s a huge shame the same attention wasn’t given to these ones as the ones in the main game/original DLC.

I think it looks really nice. It's definitely a more cartoonish style, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. What matters to me is how they play.

@norwichred If you're in North America, they're not out here yet.

The courses don't look as bad as they did in the trailer, but it's still not great.
Taking game from 2014 and giving it DLC in 2022 is always going to look weird...but using models from a mobile game and changing the art style is just confusing.

I hoped that it was decently priced because they would make their investment back easily, but it seems more like a budget/time issue.

@WaveBoy lmao my feelings exactly

I think they look fine or at times good in motion. I think the biggest issue is the grass, it doesn't look right at all and for that reason Shroom Ridge and Toad Circuit are by far the worst looking ones and the ones with little to no grass are the best looking tracks.

@Ade117 I have a UK account but I live in Dubai

@WaveBoy The entire reason they're so unpolished is because these are just stages made for Mario Kart Tour, not for Mario Kart 8. They're only really making this DLC to sell people on NSO Expansion Pass, and will put these courses in Tour for free down the line probably.

Well, I’ve been racing on them and having fun.

And yeah, just because they are in the game, doesn’t mean they will let you race them. Each time zone will have a time when it will allow you to play them.

For my time zone, it was 10 am in the morning. The game had already updated, and the tracks were there, but you couldn’t play them until after 10 am.

So for those of you in later time zones, there will come a point when you will be allowed to play them. But as of now, the game has been updated, but the pass that allows you to play them itself isn’t out yet.

I don’t care if the grass is detailed or not in Mario Kart of all games. I’m racing fast not staring at cartoony textures while I’m playing. There is the new GT racer if I want racing with high end aesthetics anyway.

Liking these tracks and it’s just the first batch. Ninja one is my favorite one so far

@Vix Glad I found your post. I thought I am alone with that opinion. I am also a bit surprised how the graphics turned out compared to the original batch.

@WaveBoy All of them are in Tour's style.

Plays and looks fine to me.

Is it me or this look a little short when comoared to the old ones? Could be thst hes playing o 150 or 200 cc?

Having played the new courses, they don't look out of place. I would say that Choco Mountain and Shroom Ridge don't have that zing of the originals. I guess it's the change in driving mechanics that makes them feel less technical and "racey". Those from the Wii and 3DS era translate really well, while my the Tour ones are hit and miss. Not fussed with Paris, while Tokyo Blur is good and Ninja Hideaway the best of this wave. Sky Garden, from the GBA, like most from that era, translates really well and feels new because it's been so radicalised compared to its 16-bit origins.
PS: Don't expect a challenge from these courses! I got 3-stars on the second attempt of cup 1 and first attempt cup 2. Nintendo really need to bring in an ultra hard mode, sort of like when playing online.

Overall I'm quite happy. The tracks look better than expected, though I agree with the person who said the grass texture is just fugly. I really hope they replace it via a patch, but that seems ulikely knowing Nintendo. My biggest complaint is that you can't play them online yet! Seriously Nintendo? I have no interest in racing against the boring ass bots.

@HalBailman "PS: Don't expect a challenge from these courses! I got 3-stars on the second attempt of cup 1 and first attempt cup 2. Nintendo really need to bring in an ultra hard mode, sort of like when playing online"

Remember the cups are likely to get progressively harder like in the main game, so these are probably on the easier end.

Personally I'm liking the more cartoony less realistic look, reminds me of the Mario Kart of old

Just did a morning run.. paris is lovely (3 different laps like tokyo), coconut great as well.. ninja is complex.. haven't found the best route yet... The toad circuits are the only downers...

@VoidofLight Actually the end versions are quite ok.. biggest difference to tour is now there are textures on the tarmac which makes it fitting in ok.. just the toad tracks are boring.,.. (and ofcourse they could have made coconut mall really amazing and shiny.....).. Paris looks lovely though..

And Tour has a different business model so 'for free' is not really the case.. (and it's not like you just select and play the track you want in tour anyway)

Noticed a lot of people mentioning the bad graphics. Look closely at them and compare to World Tour. They are basically ports of those versions.
Gee thanks Nintendo for the lazy tracks.

Is it just me or are those Yoshi and Toad spectators way too tall?

I played some of the base game courses again before playing the new DLC to get a good comparison and I really don't get the 'bad graphics' comments. The new courses looks gorgeous, bright, vibrant and everything runs as smooth as expected. If you stop on track you'll notice some low textures etc but that's the same in the base game. To say these are lazy ports etc is just naive. They've done as good a job with these DLC courses as they did remastering previous series courses in the base game.
Overall these new courses they look and play as good as any other courses in MK8. If you came in having never played MK8 before you wouldn't noticed the difference, because there isn't any!

I don't understand the graphics complaining. First of all they look fine. Secondly, it's Mario Kart. People aren't really paying attention to the scenery.

@braincandy101 I’d have agreed with you before playing the DLC but after playing these tracks and then going to the ones in the base game…no, they really do feel so much less alive and it does lessen the experience overall. The base tracks are packed with so much detail and just a joy to watch as you race and Mario Kart isn’t so fast (aside from 200cc) that you can’t pay attention to that stuff. These look fine, but the base tracks look excellent- it’s a big downgrade and it’s understandable for people to be disappointed in the gulf in quality. Personally I’m disappointed but the price and quantity of tracks you get for that price makes it hard to be too critical- if it cost significantly more or we were getting significantly less and this was what we got I wouldn’t be happy but what they’re offering is fair and I’ll take it.

I haven't played Mario Kart 8 in ages and honestly didn't notice the graphics being an issue when I dived into the dlc.

Only when I saw Alex and Felix's video talking about it, and showing direct comparisons, did I think oh yeah, I see their point.

That said it's not the biggest issue. It would be nice if they were polished up but I doubt that will happen.

Can't wait to play all the new battle courses..!!

I will wait for 2 or 3 more sets to release before I play more. Besides the ninja level these were just excruciatingly boring compared to the old levels. The graphics are noticeable but I'd have easily looked past that if these were actually fun. I don't even see the point in half of these being released at all, they're just shorter flatter versions of levels we already have.