The original Mario Kart 8 on Wii U is now over 10 years old. Since then, it’s been re-released on the Switch as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and its Booster Course Pass DLC wrapped up last year. In honor of the original game’s release, we asked a few SmashBoards writers to do a collab article discussing our favorite aspects of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
For an idea of how this works, feel free to check out our Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon retrospectives if you haven’t already. With that said, here’s a deep dive into what each writer talked about:
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Favorite Characters
@NintenRob
Rosalina and Baby Mario are my favourites and were my go to characters when Mario Kart 8 first launched, but over time I have found new favourites to join them, such as King Boo, Link, Petey, Kamek and Pauline.
@Zerp
When Mario Kart 8 came out on the Wii U I’d always play Wario and Waluigi. Then when it got ported, I continued playing them but alongside Toadette and Isabelle. I’d alternate between them all pretty regularly. And to this day I still play them, just not as often as a certain someone else.
You see, once the Booster Course Pass Wave 5 came out, something changed. And that something is Wiggler! I mean, they’re a giant caterpillar on a kart/bike/atv, get super mad when hit, and are definitely the silliest character in the game. How is that not the perfect racer?!
Perkilator
When I first got the game for my 18th birthday back in 2018, I played Link with the Champion’s Tunic simply because he looked cool. I didn’t even know how good his stats were, I just liked having Breath of the Wild content in the game. Nowadays, I alternate between him and Villager Girl. The latter primarily because of how cozy I feel by playing as her. Between the sound effects and animations, I’m always in a good mood when I play as Villager Girl.
But of course, in joint third is Funky Kong, so much so that I changed my profile pic to honor him. I mean, how could you not love him? I don't think I need to explain why Funky Kong is such a good characters. I'm mostly just glad he was in Wave 6 of the Booster Course Pass. #RidetheWave.
@NintenRob
For pure gameplay feel, I'll usually aim for something akin to the meta or a similar feeling. Rollers with something like Clown Car, Pipe Frame, AirShip, Biddy Buddy, ect. Those high acceleration parts. But if I want to look stylish, Flame Rider with retro off-Roader. Looks cool and still feels pretty nice.
@Zerp
For the tires and gliders I consistently pick Rollers + Flower or Cloud. As for the Kart, I switch it around depending on my character. That said I do gravitate towards a couple options usually. For heavier characters like Waluigi and Wiggler I generally favor the Teddy Buggy and Ink Striker. Both are basically just off-brand versions of the Yoshi Teddy meta, with more weight and speed for the trade off of worse mini-turbo and acceleration.
For lighter characters like Toadette and Isabelle I tend to go with the City Tripper. Why? No real reason, I just like the super slim frame. Well, that and also because everyone plays Biddybuggy or Mr. Scooty with them. This way I get a couple originality points in turn for a slightly worse vehicle. Totally worth it though in my opinion, Biddybuggy is wider than I’d like and the City Tripper has infinitely better aesthetics than Mr. Scooty. And as we all know, aesthetics are the most important stat of all!
Perkilator
I usually do kart combinations based on how visually pleasing they are. If the stats just so happen to feel good, then great! I use it even more. For Link, I go with the Master Cycle Zero, Ancient Tires, and Paraglider. Not only because they’re cool on their own, but also because they have fair stats. For Villager Girl, I use the City Tripper, Leaf Tires and Paper Glider. Again, mainly because of decent stats and generally being visually pleasant. If I want to be a little stylish while playing as Funky Kong, then I use Flame Rider with Off-Road tires and the Plane Glider. It's pretty much the next best thing to Flame Runner from Mario Kart Wii, along with generally suiting Funky's style.
Favorite Courses
@NintenRob
With 96 tracks, picking one absolutely favourite is hard, but I do want to shout out Shroom Ridge. A generally unremarkable course in DS really left an impact on me here with just how nice it is to drive on. And the music is phenomenal. Others I enjoy include DK Mountain, Sydney Sprint, Mount Wario and Luigi's Mansion (battle course).
@Zerp
That’s a difficult question, I’m a huge fan of a lot of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s tracks. Like, off the top of my head Kalamari Desert, Wii Rainbow Road, Mount Wario, Squeaky Clean Sprint, Yoshi’s Island and Waluigi Stadium are all among my favorite tracks. And I don’t just mean in the game, I mean the whole series because they’re that good. However, if I had to pick one track there is a winner. It’s Maple Treeway! I adore the autumn aesthetic and the music is a great fit. But, what really stands out for me is the immaculate track design. Between time trials and races Maple Treeway always seems to be the one I enjoy playing on the most.
Perkilator
Squeaky Clean Sprint AKA Race to Cleanliness AKA Accelerated Toilet. To me, this is the Coconut Mall of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe by a significant margin. Awesome layout, catchy music, creative theme, and did I mention the shortcuts? I always alternate between them on Lap 3 and I’m glad they’re there.
Coming up in joint second place is Ninja Hideaway for the same reasons. I mostly like it for the unique Japanese-inspired music when you start racing on it. And that’s not even getting into the sheer amount of alternate paths within the whole track! It feels more like a stage from a 2D Mario platformer in the best way possible. Basically what I’m saying is, this and Accelerated Toilet should be the standard for Mario Kart course design and overall ambition in the next full Mario Kart game.
Favorite Memories
@NintenRob
Back when it first launched on Switch, I had no WiFi at home, so my only experience playing online was in the shopping centre while I waited for class to begin, one time I was playing Shine Thief, and it was a particularly close match and intense, and when I won, I let out a verbal “YES!!!” This came as a surprise to the guy who was sitting nearby, who congratulated me for winning (meanwhile I was very red)
@Zerp
Probably the Wiggler reveal honestly? I remember at the time everyone was arguing over whether we’d see Pauline or Funky Kong, almost nobody was expecting Wiggler. It was so ridiculously unexpected and it came alongside so much else. Then the update came out and that was also quite great. Definitely very memorable.
Perkilator
I participated in a cross-community tournament hosted by Gaming Reinvented earlier this month. The last race I was part of (I came in 15th overall) was my proudest one, since I came in 1st in that race against all odds. I even made a couple friends via Nintendo Switch Online and so I play against them every now and then.
Hopes for the Future
@NintenRob
ITEMS!!! After ten years this item set is stale. I want new items and lots of them. Take cues from Tour and Double Dash, character specific items. I feel like they want to dial back how frustrating items were in Wii that it feels sterile now. Give me some chaos!
@Zerp
If I could ask for inside drifting bikes to feel more like Mario Kart Wii without completely obliterating the game balance I would. There were plenty of universal changes made to all bikes in 8. But, the really important one was specifically to inside drift. The gist is that they now drift outwards at first, and start drifting inwards once the vehicle starts leaning. Meanwhile in Wii the moment you drift it’s going inwards. So inside drift feels completely different in each game as a result. Unfortunately though, I’d imagine the whole not destroying the balance thing would be a bit of a tall order. I don’t think it’d work out unless they want inside drift to be blatantly better than outward drift again. Quite frankly I can see exactly why they changed it to more of a hybrid drift, even if I enjoy Wii’s inside drift more.
So, with that said what I’ll ask for will be some new game modes. Like, you know what’d be pretty rad? A “garage mode” that lets players make small customizations to vehicle aesthetics. Always felt giving players control over what color their kart/bike is would be nice. I can think of a couple more modes too. For example, Hide & Seek, a reverse cc, challenge time trials that only let you use certain combos, and a solo challenge mode where the speed constantly increases and the goal is to simply not crash. Sky’s the limit really, I’m sure there’s a ton of other fun ideas for Mario Kart modes and I’d love to see some more of them!
Perkilator
I already mentioned how I’d like Ninja Hideaway and Accelerated Toilet to be the golden standard for track design, so I’ll stop there. That said, there is one thing I’d like to supplement that level of ambition: more alternate paths on each lap. This is a byproduct of the way 8 Deluxe adapted a lot of Tour tracks, and it quickly became my favorite aspect of the Booster Course Pass. I guess if I had to change anything about it, it would be the mini-map integration. Since the Booster Course Pass smushed together each variation of certain courses, this makes the mini-map kind of screwy. An easy way to alleviate this would be to have a different color for each path on each lap. Lap 1 would be red, lap 2 would be blue, and lap 3 would be yellow.
Aside from the mini-map issues, the idea of alternate paths on each lap is one that just bleeds creativity in its wake. Bringing that to a full Mario Kart game leaves us with infinite potential for more ambitious track design. For example, there could be a track based on a museum and each lap could take you through different exhibits. This could also be a creative upgrade for certain retro tracks like N64 Moo Moo Farm, where you could finally go on the bridges you drive under. There’s just so much potential for alternate paths on each lap, both on the nitro and retro track fronts.
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We hope you enjoyed us looking back on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe! Here’s to another ten years of Mario Kart goodness, whatever the series does next.
Credits:
Writing:
Perkilator
Editing and Graphics: @Zerp
Special Thanks: Mario Wiki for the "Thank You!" screenshot
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