New Mario Kart 8 DLC races onto the scene

Mario Kart is in the top three of the video game industry’s most beloved and one of most long lasting video games. The first iteration of Super Mario Kart was released in 1992. Since then, 13 more Mario Kart games have been released, each one selling well and becoming beloved by the Mario Kart community. As of December 2021, the Mario Kart series has sold over 164.43 million copies worldwide (vgsales.fandom.com).

In March of 2022, Nintendo released the first wave of their DLC tracks. Once all the waves are released, the amount of courses will double from 48 to 96 courses in total. Currently released is the first eight of these waves, and the fresh new content has been a great addition. While the majority of people have enjoyed the new tracks, they aren’t without their faults.

The new tracks actually aren’t being made specifically for Mario Kart 8. They are being made for the game Mario Kart Tour, a mobile app that was not well received by the community. Since the tracks are being ported over from Mario Kart Tour, the graphics are noticeably different from the base tracks of Mario Kart 8. The new tracks have a much more simplistic, less detailed style that can clash with the eye if they are not what you are used to.

However while the new tracks may lack in graphics, they make up for it in gameplay and nostalgia. The new tracks bring the Golden Dash Cup which includes tour track Paris Promenade, 3DS track Toad Circuit, N64 Track Choco mountain, and Wii course Coconut Mall. Along with this is the Lucky Cat Cup which has the tour track Tokyo Blur, DS track Shroom Ridge, GBA track Sky Garden and Tour track Ninja Hideaway.

Golden Dash Cup, while a great cup, seems to be the lesser of the two. While Paris Promenade is the first track in the game to include the track itself changing in the third lap, it’s not the only one to do so in the DLC. Toads Circuit is simple, boring and is widely viewed as the worst of the eight new tracks. Choco Mountain is a personal favorite of the cup and combines fun music, falling boulders and an old favorite track into a great rejuvenated experience.

The final track of the cup, and perhaps the most anticipated of the entire DLC, is Coconut Mall. Coconut Mall is perhaps Mario Karts most well known tracks of all time and the hype for it was at an all time high. But when playing the track, you realize it’s not the classic version of the map with the coconut mall look we all know and love, but an updated version. The cars you drive by on the track that once moved in past games are standing eerily still. The updated music is fun to listen to as well, however it overall did not quite live up to the hype and nostalgia leading up to the release.

Secondly is the Lucky Cat Cup. The cup consists of Tokyo Blur, which is very similar and equal to Paris Promenade. What makes this cup though is the consistency of its other track. Both Shroom Ridge and Sky Garden are fresh, interesting courses that work well with the lesser graphics, play with a feel of engagement with no stretch of it being too boring, and it has several fun little skips. Which for a more experienced player can be all the difference between a good and a great track.

The star of the show is the Tour track Ninja Hideaway. Ninja Hideaway is the most vibrant of the new tracks with its vivid bright pink trees and beautiful Japanese style buildings. It’s also the most interesting as instead of a single path with some shortcuts, Ninja Hideaway is a collection of interwinding paths that meet up, split apart, and all end up at the same place. It offers the unique experience of being able to pick a different track every time you play, while still interacting with all of the other racers on the track.

Overall, these new DLC tracks are a great addition to the game. Sure, they may be favoring quantity over quality but sometimes that’s okay! When all is said and done the amount of courses will be doubled in the game, and since the DLC costs less than half of the base game for double the content a little decrease in graphics is a fair enough price to pay. The DLC is just meant to be some fun additional content to engage the fanbase until the next Full Mario Kart game is released, and it does it’s job to perfection.