Wave 1 of Mario Kart 8 DLC Is Good but It Could Be a Lot Better

Nintendo released the first wave of DLC for Mario Kart 8 today with eight tracks to play. Some are retro tracks from older games in the series, such as Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart DS, and Mario Kart Super Circuit. Others are from Mario Kart Tour on mobile devices.

The tracks featured in this pack are Paris Promenade, Toad Circuit, Choco Mountain, Coconut Mall, Tokyo Blur, Shroom Ridge, Sky Garden, and Ninja Hideaway.

As someone who hasn't played Mario Kart Tour, racing through Paris, Tokyo, and Ninja Hideaway was a real treat! I loved how the tracks changed each time you completed a lap. It kept things fresh and exciting since I had no idea what to expect. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the rest of the tracks in the pack.

While some were still good, like Choco Mountain and Shroom Ridge, others like Coconut Mall and Sky Garden were a significant downgrade. Sky Garden is way too short and doesn't feel like a complete race track. It's over as soon as it begins.

Meanwhile, Coconut Mall lacks a lot of the charm and charisma of the original version.

Miis are no longer present inside the mall as you're racing through it, making the track feel barren and lifeless, the numerous signs that say, "HAVE A NICE DAY!" "THANK YOU!" and "PARKING" are gone, and the cars in the parking lot no longer move and only serve as obstacles to get in the way. These small details made the course feel alive, and it gave the feeling that you were driving around inside an actual mall. Now it just feels like an ordinary race track.

Coconut Mall in Mario Kart Wii (Top) vs Mario Kart 8 (Bottom)

Finally, there's Toad Circuit, which is incredibly basic and generic. In Mario Kart 7, this is the first course you race on, which is great for a beginner level. However, considering this is DLC that we're paying $25 for, it doesn't work this time.

It seems like Nintendo is focusing more on quantity over quality for this DLC pack. While I'm happy that Mario Kart 8 is receiving a ton of content, we should be getting more creative and intriguing courses worth our money. It's not going to be fun to race on uninspired tracks that have no effort.

Overall, I'm pretty mixed on the first wave of the booster pack. I enjoyed my time on the Tour tracks (especially Ninja Hideaway), but the retro courses are disappointing. Hopefully, Nintendo will listen to their fans in wave two and select super popular tracks within the Mario Kart community like Koopa Cape, Waluigi Pinball, and Maple Treeway.

My Rating: 7/10