Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pack Wave 6 Review
It's a marathon, not a sprint, and it looks like Nintendo took that to heart.
This is all of ‘em! For links to our previous review on these, please reference The Gamer Zone, our place to chat about - you guessed it - gaming.
Y’all know the drill at this point. Two cups, four(!) new characters, and the final piece in an arc started two years ago.
First up - our characters! Two of them are returners - it’s Diddy Kong and Funky Kong, characters that fans of Mario Kart Wii in particular were clamoring for. Funky had developed a reputation as the most optimal character for racing, and as such, was pretty much all you saw in Wii circles - but it’s still great to have the both of them back. I would’ve been sad without.
The other characters are new! The first is Pauline - this mayor of New Donk City hails from Super Mario Odyssey, and makes her mainline game debut (though, the way it seems to be, Mario Kart Tour is a mainline game - so we’ll see what’s up with that). The other is a bit of a callback in Peachette, the form of Toadette when she eats a crown power-up in… one of the New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe games - they made that game about fifteen times over, I’m not sure which one happened to feature her.
It’s a great crop, honestly! We got really lucky - I was very concerned that we’d be stuck with one or two great characters on the outside looking in, but Nintendo came through again. The Mii outfits, as well, are a riot - I can be a cow, or a ? block, or a castle (and when you do a trick, the flag pops up out of your head). Incredible content. Also means that my prediction from Wave 4 was correct, even if I did miss two characters (because I thought we’d get 5 instead of 7) - still counts.
How about the rest, though? It’s cup time.
Our first cup is the Acorn Cup, made up of [Tour] Rome Avanti, [GCN] DK Mountain, [Wii] Daisy Circuit, and our fourth original course of the DLC, Piranha Plant Cove. Our second cup is the Spiny Cup, built of [Tour] Madrid Drive, [3DS] Rosalina’s Ice World, [SNES] Bowser’s Castle 3, and [Wii] Rainbow Road.
First, let’s talk about the Acorn Cup.
Rome Avanti sure is a track set in Rome! I do think it’s kinda cool - you run up the Coliseum, and you get to pass so many iconic landmarks on your way - of all the cities to do a Tour track for, this is decidedly one of the better ones. The map is also much more manageable on this course than it is for many other Tour tracks, where many times it feels as though no adjustments were made to account for the change to analog steering from assisted (as seen in Tour). Pretty good! Still a Tour track!
DK Mountain real Wii-heads know. Yes, this course was from the GameCube. No, I did not get to play DoubleDash and have not been able to play it. Just bear with me here. This track ruled as a retro option in the Wii game, and its appearance here rules as well - they’ve done well to maintain the look and feel, and you can see distinct improvements on textures compares to earlier waves. It’s an outright fun course.
Daisy Circuit is simple - there’s a reason it was a first-track in the Wii version of the game, and having it as a third track here definitely doesn’t befit the 1-2-3-4 difficulty scale that I believe Mario Kart cups should be structured considering. They… really haven’t changed much. The shortcut is mildly less OP, as a wooden piranha plant blocks you each lap if you’re the first to attempt it, but it’s still the quicker option. Fun track, not much to say.
Piranha Plant Cove could be sooooo good. It’s still enjoyable - and it’s definitely one of the more challenging courses in the game on 200 - but I feel that most of the map is built on intentional obfuscation rather than skill-based driving. The first time I played it, I had no idea where I was going. The third time I played it, I barely had an idea. The fifth time, I sort of got it - it’s the sort of gut-check that just feels cheap rather than like a legitimate attempt to build difficulty. It’s a testament to the fun of the course around it that it doesn’t land in the bottom half.
All in all? This is really, really good. After a pretty poor Wave 5 - this is quite the rebound for Mario Kart’s DLC. At a time where I’d imagine they’re trying to entice people into buying the game (assuming, somehow, people don’t have it at this point after nearly ten years), they’ve done well with a cup that holds nostalgia and freshness.
That leaves our second cup - the Spiny Cup.
Madrid Drive just feels a little forgettable, honestly. In a stacked release, this faces the unfortunate fate of being bottom on the totem pole - though I do like the ‘driving through a soccer pitch’ situation. It’s a funny little quirk, and redeems a track that doesn’t always feel a ton like anywhere in particular.
Rosalina’s Ice World has the potential to be utterly fantastic - but there’s a real problematic little glitch where on certain vehicles, the camera will swing into a top-down view through the hairpin loop turn - as you can imagine, it’s hard to drive when you don’t have any idea where you’re facing! Huge markdown for that - otherwise, it’s classic fun. Nintendo has always done winter tracks well, I think, and this is no exception.
Bowser’s Castle 3 is really hit-or-miss. I find the speed of the course enthralling at high speeds, but like many older tracks, there’s an inherent simplicity that just doesn’t really click with the modern game. You can only go straight so many times before you start wanting a little more action.
Rainbow Road… here’s my take. The Wii version is the best version on offer. I think it still plays better on the Wii - as will likely be the case for most tracks moved forward - but this is great. Really, really great.
All in all? This is the best cup of the entire DLC and makes a serious case to be the best cup in the entire game.
On the whole, what’s the takeaway?
Well, Nintendo sure knows how to finish. This was a really excellent way to close out the DLC pack, and soothed a lot of the irritation from underwhelming deliveries on earlier waves. It’s not perfect, but this is as good as we’ve gotten, and that’s absolutely got to be noted.
What’s your track ranking?
Rainbow Road. Nothing else matters.
Kidding (kind of) - Rainbow Road is the top dog, but I think it’s DK Mountain, Bowser’s Castle 3, Daisy Circuit, and Piranha Plant Cove in a tight race for 2-5. Rosalina’s Ice World comes 6, Rome seventh, and Madrid rounds us out - but both Tour tracks here are much better than many of their brethren.
Final thoughts
I really love everything that happened with this DLC - aside from it not being a new game, but that can’t necessarily be helped at this point. To double the content available, for half the price - that’s incredible. They brought back old favorites, rejuvenated the scope of the game, and freshened most everything.
It’s been a lot of fun, reviewing these. I’ve not always been pin-point consistent (duh) - but that’s part of the joy of it. Thank you for reading, for following, and for enjoying. It’s been a pleasure.
As I close these reviews, though, I open a new chapter.
Starting with next week’s review of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I’ll be posting weekly reviews of games that I’ve played to (at minimum) story completion and reviewing them. My goal is to help you, loyal reader, determine if these games are worth your while, both from a time and a budgetary standpoint. Stay tuned.