Mario Kart 8 Deluxe!

In the wake of the release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I’ve heard a lot of people contend that Mario Kart 8 was the best of the series, and I think they probably have a reasonable point.  I personally feel that it’s kind of hard to name one Mario Kart the “best” out of all of them.  They each have their own unique strengths, but also their individual quirks and idiosyncrasies.  MK8 was and is a really amazing game, though, and quite possibly my favorite of the entire series.  It’s great that it’s come to the Switch., but I vacillated quite a bit on whether I would purchase this new deluxe version.  Ultimately, I bit the bullet as it’s always hard to resist this series.

While there have been several tweaks to the racing side of Mario Kart 8, a revamped battle mode is the most prominent addition, which replaces the Wii U original’s relatively hated and water-downed offering.  This time they’ve actually created 8 new arenas specifically for battle mode, as opposed to what they did on the Wii U which was to reuse the racing tracks from the grand prix.  This alone makes the new battle mode a huge improvement.  In addition, they’ve added several new game types that offer a lot of variety to the player.  To be honest, I haven’t really put a lot of time into battle mode since Double Dash.  They’ve really neglected this part of the series over the years, as it was also less than stellar in Mario Kart Wii.  I’m a huge fan of car combat games, and MK8D’s improvements in this feature have been a great addition, but, to be honest, I still find myself leaning more to the racing side of the game.  There’s just something about the raw adrenaline and speed of the racing mode that gets me hooked.

While the revamped battle mode may be the big new addition to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, they’ve also made some tweaks to the racing mode, as well.  Unfortunately, it’s nothing major, only two changes really stand out.  The first major tweak is that drifting now rewards a third tier of sparks, pink sparks, that give an even greater boost than the blue sparks. The more noticeable change, however, is that racers are allowed to hold two items at a time, similar to Double Dash on the Gamecube.  Unlike DD, though, they can’t switch between the items they’re holding.  Whichever item comes up first must be used first before the second item can be fired off.  

It’s a bit annoying, as sometimes I find myself wasting the “top” item just so I can use the “bottom” item.  I imagine this was a feature that was actually meant to improve battle mode by reducing the amount of time the players have to spend seeking out item boxes, but even so, Double Dash’s implementation offers much more strategic depth.  I’m actually wondering if the reason they don’t let players switch between items is because it would require an extra button, and the game already uses all the buttons available on a single Joycon controller.  

There are a few new characters added to the game, such as King Boo and the Inkling characters from Splatoon, but regrettably there are no new racing tracks added.  The 16 DLC tracks for MK8 on the Wii U are included out of the box, however.  The lack of new racing content is probably the biggest bummer to me.  Historically, there has only been one Mario Kart game per Nintendo console (not including VC), and I guess a big part of my disappointment stems from uncertainty as to whether or not this will be the only MK released for Switch.  I really really hope we don’t have to wait for the Switch’s successor to get new MK content.

Ultimately, I went back and forth on whether I should spend money on MK8D.  I was a huge fan of the game on the Wii U, but I questioned whether MK8D offered enough new content to be a worthwhile reinvestment.  In the end, it came down to my interest in battle mode as a car combat fan, but mainly was due to my desire to retire my Wii U.  When I travel to see family and friends, I often lug the Wii U with me so we can play Smash and MK, as I did with the Wii before it.  Nintendo systems have always been the “party systems” to me, at least since the N64.  Unlike Sony, Microsoft, and all the third parties, Nintendo still puts a lot of emphasis on local multiplayer.  It’s hard to even think of great local multiplayer games from recent times that weren’t made by Nintendo.

 

The Wii U was just super annoying to travel with, however.  Between the gamepad and its charger and the console and its power box and the sensor bar and the extra controllers, it’s all just a lot to have to pack up and carry around.  Worse yet, I got a big scratch on the corner of my gamepad while traveling with it that just drives me crazy.  The Switch, on the other hand, also has a number of pieces to keep track of, but it’s all much more compact and manageable.  I was able to buy a nice carrying case on Amazon that I really like that can fit both the Switch tablet and the dock, as well as extra controllers and cables, and it makes taking the system on the go with me much less frustrating.

Honestly, it’s just been great to play MK8 again, and I’m really enjoying both racing and battle modes.  If you haven’t played MK8 before and own a Switch, I highly recommend it.  For those of us who’ve played MK8 on the Wii U, it’s a harder value proposition, since I don’t think the new additions will necessarily justify a full price purchase for everyone who has already played the game to death.  Regardless, I don’t think it’s a game that will leave any Mario Kart fans unsatisfied.