THEY DOUBLED THE ORIGINAL GAMES SIZE AND IT'S AMAZING! The only issue is that the graphics aren't as good as in the base game but that's like a small issue. Still easily one of the best expansion passes of all time.
Only marred by the absurd number of Tour courses and minimal new courses. If you like Mario Kart and have any nostalgia for any of the previous games, this is a must play.
(The Wii Rainbow Road on 200 cc really had me in its grips for like an hour and a half lol.)
(The Wii Rainbow Road on 200 cc really had me in its grips for like an hour and a half lol.)
They Remembered Rosalina's Ice World exists...I am truly shooked.
i've gotten wild amounts of value out of my time with this dlc & expect to continue building upon my times in each of the new 48 tracks in the future. similarly with the base game, time trials offers me so much to work toward, in finding that perfect build & hacking away each possible millisecond in order to get what feels like a good pb.
graphically, its clear which courses came in 2017 & which came more recently, with blander textures & less "lived-in" spaces. this gripe could cover for the feeling that the track choices weren't the best - a disguised feeling of poor tracks actually revealed to be tracks that weren't taken care of as they could've been. tour tracks are a welcome addition as somebody that hasn't played tour, though.
graphically, its clear which courses came in 2017 & which came more recently, with blander textures & less "lived-in" spaces. this gripe could cover for the feeling that the track choices weren't the best - a disguised feeling of poor tracks actually revealed to be tracks that weren't taken care of as they could've been. tour tracks are a welcome addition as somebody that hasn't played tour, though.
What started off weak slowly became amazing. While pretty much all the courses featured are ripped from Mario Kart Tour, playing them in Mario Kart 8 is so much fun!
Every course picked plays wonderfully in 8. There are some issues however, the most obvious one is the graphical quality in waves 1–3, but waves 4–6 almost look as good as the main game. Halfway through the DLC, Nintendo just started adding new characters.
The Booster Course Pass makes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe not just the best Mario Kart game, but one of the best games of all time. I could not wish for a better send-off to one of my favourite games of all time.
Every course picked plays wonderfully in 8. There are some issues however, the most obvious one is the graphical quality in waves 1–3, but waves 4–6 almost look as good as the main game. Halfway through the DLC, Nintendo just started adding new characters.
The Booster Course Pass makes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe not just the best Mario Kart game, but one of the best games of all time. I could not wish for a better send-off to one of my favourite games of all time.
It’s hard to fumble Mario Kart. Fun and thriving settings along with catchy music is an immediate sell, and this DLC absolutely accomplishes this. Fumbling a few courses along the way, the overall result was enough to revive the game, keeping me engaged for many months.
Most of these tracks frickin blow. At least it got me playing Mario Kart again, but dang this was pretty disappointing considering what we got.
This might be the most valuable DLC of all time. Nintendo had every opportunity to charge $60 to essentially double the size of the game, but $25? I would've payed $25 for Wii Rainbow Road alone! I'm very irresponsible with my money.
I decided to blitz through the entire Booster Course Pass now that it's all out, I feel whelmed. Now don't get me wrong, the value that you get out of this DLC is insane, doubling the track count of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. However, there is that poorly textured elephant in the room, everything looks so cheap. It is quite obvious that these tracks are just upscaled tracks from Mario Kart Tour. Due to that, all these courses stand out so much when compared to the base game. Quality does improve as the DLC waves go on, but they never meet the same standard as base tracks.
Track selection is also quite all over the place. These selections don't feel like a best of and more like they randomly selected tracks to include in here. Quite of few bland retro tracks like Toad Circuit and Sky Garden. Some tracks are even butchered like poor poor Coconut Mall. However, the original tracks from Mario Kart Tour, excluding most real-life locales, are pretty good; highlights being Yoshi's Island, Squeaky Clean Sprint, Rome Avanti, and Ninja Hideaway. The new characters are a nice bonus too, although characters don't really interest me anywhere near as new tracks. Although, I do really like wiggler returning from Mario Kart 7. They're so darn cute with their hunchback gamer posture while riding the wiggler bike and turning red when getting hit.
I overall enjoyed this DLC, it doesn't really bother me. I do appreciate that a lot of courses from Mario Kart Tour are being preserved in a Mario Kart with good gameplay. Especially, since we all know Mario Kart Tour will be rendered completely unplayable one day, such is the way of modern mobile games. My main takeaway after playing all of these tracks is that I just want a new Mario Kart. I've been playing Mario Kart 8 since it came out back on the Wii U and I'm just kinda sick of it at this point.
Track selection is also quite all over the place. These selections don't feel like a best of and more like they randomly selected tracks to include in here. Quite of few bland retro tracks like Toad Circuit and Sky Garden. Some tracks are even butchered like poor poor Coconut Mall. However, the original tracks from Mario Kart Tour, excluding most real-life locales, are pretty good; highlights being Yoshi's Island, Squeaky Clean Sprint, Rome Avanti, and Ninja Hideaway. The new characters are a nice bonus too, although characters don't really interest me anywhere near as new tracks. Although, I do really like wiggler returning from Mario Kart 7. They're so darn cute with their hunchback gamer posture while riding the wiggler bike and turning red when getting hit.
I overall enjoyed this DLC, it doesn't really bother me. I do appreciate that a lot of courses from Mario Kart Tour are being preserved in a Mario Kart with good gameplay. Especially, since we all know Mario Kart Tour will be rendered completely unplayable one day, such is the way of modern mobile games. My main takeaway after playing all of these tracks is that I just want a new Mario Kart. I've been playing Mario Kart 8 since it came out back on the Wii U and I'm just kinda sick of it at this point.
I'm not one to blindly want 'More' from something, and I actually quite like endings.
Racing games are my one exception though. With them, I love 'more'. I'll take anything, dude. Courses, cars, characters, music, whatever. With racing games I tend to rack up triple-quadruple digit hour counts with ease, because they're what I play to get my mind going when I need to draft a story or a review or yet another piece of Honkai Star Rail fanfiction. 'More', then, benefits me in multiple ways.
And what game was begging for more than Mario Kart 8? A game so excellent it's borderline ubiquitous and so popular that describing it is a waste of words. MK, after all, did make Kart Racers into an accepted subgenre.
The Booster Course Pass, then, is more. More courses and more characters. There's really not much of a need to say much else, honestly. Quality is consistent with the base game and its own DLCs (back on the Wii U), though I would've liked more anti-gravity tracks personally. And hey, there's an added bonus of having Tour tracks, meaning you don't need to play a bad mobile game to experience some otherwise stellar course design.
Really, in an age where DLC tends be to deceptive, marketed vaguely/not at all or just plain bad, this pass stands out for being decidedly upfront. The developers promised to double the amount of courses in MK8 and they did that with no catches, and even threw in 8 new playable characters to boot - though I exclusively play Daisy, so they're moot to me.
I don't have a funny signoff for this one. I really like racing games, dude.
Racing games are my one exception though. With them, I love 'more'. I'll take anything, dude. Courses, cars, characters, music, whatever. With racing games I tend to rack up triple-quadruple digit hour counts with ease, because they're what I play to get my mind going when I need to draft a story or a review or yet another piece of Honkai Star Rail fanfiction. 'More', then, benefits me in multiple ways.
And what game was begging for more than Mario Kart 8? A game so excellent it's borderline ubiquitous and so popular that describing it is a waste of words. MK, after all, did make Kart Racers into an accepted subgenre.
The Booster Course Pass, then, is more. More courses and more characters. There's really not much of a need to say much else, honestly. Quality is consistent with the base game and its own DLCs (back on the Wii U), though I would've liked more anti-gravity tracks personally. And hey, there's an added bonus of having Tour tracks, meaning you don't need to play a bad mobile game to experience some otherwise stellar course design.
Really, in an age where DLC tends be to deceptive, marketed vaguely/not at all or just plain bad, this pass stands out for being decidedly upfront. The developers promised to double the amount of courses in MK8 and they did that with no catches, and even threw in 8 new playable characters to boot - though I exclusively play Daisy, so they're moot to me.
I don't have a funny signoff for this one. I really like racing games, dude.
Guys, they doubled the game, for half the price. You don’t even to buy it, but you totally can if you want to. And the courses are the best. It’s amazing.
The quality drop compared to the base game is really noticable. Some remade courses are even worse than their decade old original version. Driving on these courses is still a lot of fun.
Banger DLC that increases the amount of tracks in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to a ridiculous amount. I love it.
the value here is insane, but how the fuck am i gonna time trial 96 tracks
I HATE DYNAMIC COURSES I HATE DYNAMIC COURSES I HATE DYNAMIC COURSES
special forces agents surround me pointing booster pack courses at me "Look! Peach Gardens makes you do the last lap backwards! And Kalimari Desert takes you inside the train tunnel now!"
special forces agents surround me pointing booster pack courses at me "Look! Peach Gardens makes you do the last lap backwards! And Kalimari Desert takes you inside the train tunnel now!"
Les 4 primeres copes que es van publicar no eren molt allà, encara que només per tindre més Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ja donava gust jugar-les.
Ara... Les següents copes han anat sent cada vegada millors. A banda, encantat del que han fet amb les pistes de Mario Kart Tour, tenint una ruta diferent a cada volta. Només lamente que haja quedat fora un circuit del Tour (i que la Flying Fortress no l'hagen dut).
Un meravellós DLC al que he gaudit traure *** a totes les copes i modalitats.
Ara... Les següents copes han anat sent cada vegada millors. A banda, encantat del que han fet amb les pistes de Mario Kart Tour, tenint una ruta diferent a cada volta. Només lamente que haja quedat fora un circuit del Tour (i que la Flying Fortress no l'hagen dut).
Un meravellós DLC al que he gaudit traure *** a totes les copes i modalitats.
Overall a hell ofa mixed bag.
Best edition's the new characters tbh.
Best edition's the new characters tbh.
nintendo stop thinking we like mario kart tour
I think it was a good decision to double the amount of tracks rather than create a new Mario Kart. The game is awesome and the new tracks made me explore it more, with the same excellent mechanics. Now Nintendo can work on the next Mario Kart for the Switch's successor.
I dislike being harsh on what is an objectively good thing (more Mario Kart), but I'm disappointed in the inconsistency shown with some of these tracks. While the music remains as great as it always is - the muted color palettes and plastic-like textures that make up a majority of the tracks are below the standard set by the main game. Still got more Mario Kart though
Good track selection, fun selection of characters.
The game is 10 years old, the Switch still doesn't have its own Mario Kart and never will get one. Instead they feed you mobile circuit slop with a few actually decent tracks in between to make the 25 bucks seem worth it and people applaud them for it.
Nintendo fell off hard.
Nintendo fell off hard.
[all cups played on 150cc]
While it’s not totally necessary, I’d still recommend reading my MK8DX review if you want to know my thoughts on the base game. It can be found here!
Back in 2022, Nintendo surprised everyone with the sudden announcement that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was getting more content, in the form of the Booster Course Pass! The game had been out for nearly five years by then, and had quickly become the best-selling title on the Switch, so I guess Nintendo finally wanted to capitalize on its success. Anyways, whilst initial reception to the BCP wasn’t great, it does seem like people came around on it as time went on. And now that I’ve played all 48 tracks for myself, what do I think?
Since the gameplay of the Booster Course Pass is basically identical to base Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I might as well start with the most contentious part of the DLC: the visuals. MK8DX had a very polished visual style, using fairly detailed textures to deliver some of the best graphics any Nintendo game’s ever had! By comparison, the tracks in the BCP don’t look anywhere near as good, as their texturing uses flat colours. This is presumably due to the courses being ported over from Mario Kart Tour, where the graphics had to be kept simple due to mobile phones not being as powerful as regular consoles.
Regardless, I think the tracks of the BCP can look nice! Their flatter textures combined with MK8DX’s gorgeous lighting system means that the colours really pop on occasion, and have a sense of vibrancy the base game usually didn’t have (which is fine, those original courses still look lovely).
Despite being ported over from a mobile game, a lot of the tracks are basically untouched in terms of gameplay! In fact, having them in MK8DX’s incredibly smooth engine means a lot of these end up being the definitive versions by default! I also really have to commend Nintendo for picking a lot of the fan favourites, which includes Coconut Mall, DK Mountain, Daisy Cruiser, Waluigi Pinball, 3DS and Wii Rainbow Road, DK Summit and a lot more!
To get more into specifics though, I really like how they handled the courses from Super Circuit. Whilst they’re not all winners (Sky Garden’s layout is really simplified and Sunset Wilds is missing the titular sunset), most of them are fantastic and reimagine these flat tracks with the same level of care as the 3D ones! Boo Lake now has underwater segments, Riverside Park’s got Ptooies and a beautiful sunset, and Snow Land’s atmosphere is lovely!
Since the BCP’s tracks are ported from Mario Kart Tour, it means that nearly all of the original tracks from that game also show up, and they’re… a mixed bag, honestly. The courses you’ll be seeing most often are the ones based on specific cities, which start (and occasionally end) each cup. Reimagining these real-life locations as race tracks is definitely an inspired idea, but their actual layouts can feel very haphazard and irritating to traverse. Despite this, a few of them are pretty fun, with my personal favourites being Sydney Sprint, Amsterdam Drift and Singapore Speedway.
Tour also had a few courses not based on cities, and they’re basically all here too! Whilst Sky-High Sundae and Merry Mountain aren’t the most exciting tracks in regards to their layouts, the rest are fantastic! Ninja Hideaway’s got tons of alternate routes, Squeaky Clean Sprint combines a brilliant concept with some really engaging track design, and Piranha Plant Cove’s an incredibly cool idea that has some fun underwater driving!
Before I get into the criticisms, I really want to highlight two courses in particular, which are some of my favourites in the entirety of MK8DX! The first of these is Bowser Castle 3, an incredible reimagining of a fairly good track from Super Mario Kart! It looks and sounds gorgeous, the unique layout of the original’s kept and expanded upon and it uses antigravity in some very creative ways!
The second course, and my favourite in the game, is a Tour original: Yoshi’s Island. While the layout might be simple and fairly easy, it more than makes up for that with all the fanservice to the game it’s based on! Stilt Guys are wandering around near the start, Poochy makes a cameo, you go through various locations based on the game’s level tropes, and there’s a super cool section near the end where you glide down and can hit a ?-Cloud which spawns a platform that lets you take a shortcut to the finish line!
Alright, now that all my gushing is out of the way, it’s time to critique a few things. For starters, it feels like Mario Kart Wii got a few too many tracks, as over half of it’s originals are present. They’re almost all still fun to race on, but it does feel like there was a bit of a bias towards that game in particular.
Another thing is that some of the choices were just… not very good. Toad Circuit and Mario Circuit 3 are the main ones, but I didn’t care much for Rock Rock Mountain or Rosalina’s Ice World either.
The final thing I’d like to mention is that basically none of the tracks take advantage of MK8DX’s signature antigravity. This might be due to them being ported from MK Tour (a game with no antigrav), but it’s still a bit disappointing. It’s not like the tracks don’t have any antigrav, but it’s never used to the same effect as the base game, and often feels a little bit pointless.
Regardless of the few nitpicks I had, I really liked the Booster Course Pass! The fact it essentially doubles the amount of content for not even half the price means it’s absolutely worth it, regardless of the iffy graphical quality. I think this is definitely going to be enough to hold me over until Mario Kart 9… which will be releasing eventually, maybe…
(oh yeah I had nowhere else to put this, but the new characters the BCP added are very cool, I’m so glad my boy Diddy Kong finally got in)
While it’s not totally necessary, I’d still recommend reading my MK8DX review if you want to know my thoughts on the base game. It can be found here!
Back in 2022, Nintendo surprised everyone with the sudden announcement that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was getting more content, in the form of the Booster Course Pass! The game had been out for nearly five years by then, and had quickly become the best-selling title on the Switch, so I guess Nintendo finally wanted to capitalize on its success. Anyways, whilst initial reception to the BCP wasn’t great, it does seem like people came around on it as time went on. And now that I’ve played all 48 tracks for myself, what do I think?
Since the gameplay of the Booster Course Pass is basically identical to base Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I might as well start with the most contentious part of the DLC: the visuals. MK8DX had a very polished visual style, using fairly detailed textures to deliver some of the best graphics any Nintendo game’s ever had! By comparison, the tracks in the BCP don’t look anywhere near as good, as their texturing uses flat colours. This is presumably due to the courses being ported over from Mario Kart Tour, where the graphics had to be kept simple due to mobile phones not being as powerful as regular consoles.
Regardless, I think the tracks of the BCP can look nice! Their flatter textures combined with MK8DX’s gorgeous lighting system means that the colours really pop on occasion, and have a sense of vibrancy the base game usually didn’t have (which is fine, those original courses still look lovely).
Despite being ported over from a mobile game, a lot of the tracks are basically untouched in terms of gameplay! In fact, having them in MK8DX’s incredibly smooth engine means a lot of these end up being the definitive versions by default! I also really have to commend Nintendo for picking a lot of the fan favourites, which includes Coconut Mall, DK Mountain, Daisy Cruiser, Waluigi Pinball, 3DS and Wii Rainbow Road, DK Summit and a lot more!
To get more into specifics though, I really like how they handled the courses from Super Circuit. Whilst they’re not all winners (Sky Garden’s layout is really simplified and Sunset Wilds is missing the titular sunset), most of them are fantastic and reimagine these flat tracks with the same level of care as the 3D ones! Boo Lake now has underwater segments, Riverside Park’s got Ptooies and a beautiful sunset, and Snow Land’s atmosphere is lovely!
Since the BCP’s tracks are ported from Mario Kart Tour, it means that nearly all of the original tracks from that game also show up, and they’re… a mixed bag, honestly. The courses you’ll be seeing most often are the ones based on specific cities, which start (and occasionally end) each cup. Reimagining these real-life locations as race tracks is definitely an inspired idea, but their actual layouts can feel very haphazard and irritating to traverse. Despite this, a few of them are pretty fun, with my personal favourites being Sydney Sprint, Amsterdam Drift and Singapore Speedway.
Tour also had a few courses not based on cities, and they’re basically all here too! Whilst Sky-High Sundae and Merry Mountain aren’t the most exciting tracks in regards to their layouts, the rest are fantastic! Ninja Hideaway’s got tons of alternate routes, Squeaky Clean Sprint combines a brilliant concept with some really engaging track design, and Piranha Plant Cove’s an incredibly cool idea that has some fun underwater driving!
Before I get into the criticisms, I really want to highlight two courses in particular, which are some of my favourites in the entirety of MK8DX! The first of these is Bowser Castle 3, an incredible reimagining of a fairly good track from Super Mario Kart! It looks and sounds gorgeous, the unique layout of the original’s kept and expanded upon and it uses antigravity in some very creative ways!
The second course, and my favourite in the game, is a Tour original: Yoshi’s Island. While the layout might be simple and fairly easy, it more than makes up for that with all the fanservice to the game it’s based on! Stilt Guys are wandering around near the start, Poochy makes a cameo, you go through various locations based on the game’s level tropes, and there’s a super cool section near the end where you glide down and can hit a ?-Cloud which spawns a platform that lets you take a shortcut to the finish line!
Alright, now that all my gushing is out of the way, it’s time to critique a few things. For starters, it feels like Mario Kart Wii got a few too many tracks, as over half of it’s originals are present. They’re almost all still fun to race on, but it does feel like there was a bit of a bias towards that game in particular.
Another thing is that some of the choices were just… not very good. Toad Circuit and Mario Circuit 3 are the main ones, but I didn’t care much for Rock Rock Mountain or Rosalina’s Ice World either.
The final thing I’d like to mention is that basically none of the tracks take advantage of MK8DX’s signature antigravity. This might be due to them being ported from MK Tour (a game with no antigrav), but it’s still a bit disappointing. It’s not like the tracks don’t have any antigrav, but it’s never used to the same effect as the base game, and often feels a little bit pointless.
Regardless of the few nitpicks I had, I really liked the Booster Course Pass! The fact it essentially doubles the amount of content for not even half the price means it’s absolutely worth it, regardless of the iffy graphical quality. I think this is definitely going to be enough to hold me over until Mario Kart 9… which will be releasing eventually, maybe…
(oh yeah I had nowhere else to put this, but the new characters the BCP added are very cool, I’m so glad my boy Diddy Kong finally got in)
Other than too many City courses this is insanely good value.
Un DLC que añade muchísimo contenido al juego, con 48 pistas remasterizadas (las mismas que tiene el juego base), todas con su banda sonora remasterizada y un cuidado sorprendentemente bueno. Gráficamente está a la altura del juego base. Además añade nuevos personajes, cosa que no se dijo cuando se anunció el DLC y que se agradece. En definitiva, estoy muy satisfecho con el DLC y recomiendo la compra a todos los que hayan jugado Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.9/10 (01/2024)
Though incredibly fun courses, the quality drop still floors me. Going from the DLC courses back to the base game just hits you in the face like "woah the trees have texture the grass has texture the world looks cool" where the DLC courses just lack that. The new courses, especially Yoshi's Island and Squeaky Clean Sprint are fantastic, but the ported courses from older games and the tour tracks just disappoint.
Its still Mario Kart though.
Its still Mario Kart though.
Dude regardless of the quality of most of the tracks do you even realize how much stuff is in this? Of course it was worth it. I’d pay $30 just for Diddy Kong.
CTGP-R is still better though.
CTGP-R is still better though.
Needed more GCN tracks
If they only added courses from the Wii this would've been the best DLC of all time
Mushroom Gorge
That’s it.
That’s it.