Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pack Wave 5 Review

You'd be forgiven for skipping this one.

Five outta six!

For a link to the first review, look here. My second review is here as well, as is the third, for your perusal. Last but not least, here’s part four for y’all.

Y’all know the drill - we focus on the new content from our latest release, the penultimate wave in this DLC pack. Two cups, three characters, and a whole lot of fun… right?

First up - our three characters! Making their Mario Kart series debut, it’s Kamek, the wily hooded witch best known for her feature work in the New Super Mario Bros. series of games, as well as two returnees from prior versions of the game: Petey Piranha, coming back for his first playable showing since Double Dash, and Wiggler, who was first playable in Mario Kart 7 and returns once again in this wave of the DLC.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, though, it’s back to business as usual. Cup time!

Our first cup is the Feather Cup, comprised of [Tour] Athens Dash, [GCN] Daisy Cruiser, [Wii] Moonview Highway, and our third original course of the DLC, Squeaky Clean Sprint. Our second cup is the Cherry Cup, made up of [Tour] Los Angeles Laps, [GBA] Sunset Wilds, [Wii] Koopa Cape, and [Tour] Vancouver Velocity.

First, let’s talk about the Feather Cup.

Athens Dash is one of the most poorly-constructed tracks in the entire Mario Kart 8 Deluxe canon - from the off, it’s clear that this was designed with the mobile game’s steering in mind, as many turns essentially require the guided hand of the mobile app to get through without some pretty insane braking, especially on higher ccs. Yes, it’s a pretty face, but it feels like a car stripped out for parts underneath - a barren shell of what could have been.

Daisy Cruiser redeems somewhat here - though there’s that specific kink in the esses that I still haven’t yet worked out how to take the line through, I find myself enjoying this variant on the classic [Character] Circuit format. It’s just unique enough to stay interesting without being overly reliant on quirks, and it drives quite well.

Moonview Highway is yet another case of a failed approach in regards to the Wii tracks - from Wario’s Gold mine to DK Summit to Maple Treeway to Koopa Cape (spoilers, we’ll talk more about that one later in this post), every single one of these tracks loses what luster it did have in the Wii version. For Moonview Highway, that impact feels lessened compared to its original, but half the track getting turned into boost panels is less than ideal for the general enjoyment of this one.

Squeaky Clean Sprint is a cool concept, probably the best of the “originals” that they’ve put out. Unfortunately, I still feel like it’s just not the well-put together. What we’re left with at the end is a track that, like all the other Tour tracks, would play significantly better on Tour - because in that game, there’s assisted steering to keep you roughly on path with these obscene turns - many of which require outright braking to manage on 200cc.

All in all? This wave had a lot of potential on the surface, but this cup might be the worst they’ve put out since Wave 1. So much of the strong qualities of the tracks in here are just squandered into nothingburgers. Moonview Highway is half a track, you can’t turn on Squeaky Clean Sprint, and Athens is so unnecessarily convoluted you’d think it’s Zeus’ family tree.

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That leaves our second cup - the Cherry Cup.

Los Angeles Laps would have probably been more aptly called Route 66 Raceway or something, because it highlights a range of environments that to me feel more suited to, say, West Texas in conjunction with the Santa Monica Pier and I guess a vague allusion to Beverly Hills? For it being a track defined around LA, a place I went to school near for four years, I assumed it would be a little more solidly constructed in terms of pieces of Los Angeles present.

Sunset Wilds is probably the best track in this pack - which is not a roaring endorsement given that it… doesn’t actually depict a sunset? That’d be like Los Angeles Laps not depicting Los Angeles which… oh. I see the issue. Despite that, it’s a fun track, one that keeps things simple without being overtly dull (looking at you, Toad’s Turnpike). I’m fairly sure that the computer racers are allowed 1.5 speed on the last lap because there’s nothing else to explain some of the malarkey that occurs on that game, but hey. That’s Mario Kart for you.

Koopa Cape is potentially one of the largest disappointments in the entire DLC. If you remember it from the Wii version, you likely remember it fondly, in no small part because of the underwater tunnel, a 360-degree section of piping with electric shocking arms rotating perpendicular to the track. It could make or break the race, and it was a delightful element to keep things intriguing. Naturally, they killed it off in this version, making the tunnel a halfpipe for reasons I can’t figure out for the life of me. Bad choice, emblematic of the lasting impact of Tour on Mario Kart.

Vancouver Velocity is pretty much your bog-standard Tour track. That doesn’t make it fun or good, but it’s certainly a pretty decent representation of Vancouver, better than I would say Los Angeles is. I have almost nothing else to say about it beyond that some easter eggs for the 2010 Olympic game featuring Mario and Sonic would’ve been cool.

All in all? Okay, never mind. This is the worst cup since wave 1. I’m deeply disappointed in basically every sense.

On the whole, what’s the takeaway?

This wave is probably the weakest one purely on tracks, but it’s balanced on the strength of the characters. I’m left with a lot of questions heading into our final wave - will we get new karts, wheels, or gliders? Who will be the final two characters? Will they utterly destroy Wii Rainbow Road too?

All that and more, next time on The Gamer Zone!

What’s your track ranking?

I think Sunset Wilds takes this one, followed by Moonview Highway, Daisy Cruiser, Squeaky Clean Sprint, Koopa Cape, LA Laps, Vancouver Velocity, and tailed by Athens Dash. I’m left feeling deeply whelmed by all of these tracks after some pretty extensive examination.

Final thoughts

One wave to go! I’ll reveal my plans for post-DLC video game content at the tail end of the Wave 6 piece, but for now, we’re right at the tail end. Exciting!