I have no idea why, but for some reason, every time I play one of Tour's tracks, I nail it, I’m not even close at being the best Mario Kart player at my friend group but I always land first in those… never in my life I’ve been so disappointed for being good at something.
This was actually the very first thing I played this year, going through all the cups with some friends on the night of January 1st, however, I decided to hold on talking about since I knew I wanted to get gold and experience them myself alone ‘cause I l knew that playing one after the other in one night while having a laugh will pals would be a completely different experience from slowly taking the courses in and playing them all in other while trying out the online and even more of the co-op, and boy oh boy was I right.
One thing I’ll give the Booster Course Pass as a whole is that is a joy to play through with friends, I mean duh, this is Mario Kart after all, but still, compared to other games in the series or even base Mario Kart 8/ 8 Deluxe, this is one of the few times where it feels wrong to not play at least three or four cups in succession when being with some pals. At first, I thought the reason for it was simply because of the novelty of the but after playing this whole thing in order I see the hold this can have; it’s almost addicting playing this whole thing, and ironically, I feel partly of that is because how poorly it starts off.
Wave 1 of the DLC is the single most underwhelming Mario Kart experience I’ve ever had; the track selection is mediocre at best and actually baffling at worst, visually it’s a far cry from the base experience —tho that can be said about the whole DLC or at least most of it, but it does get better as it goes on so there’s that—, some of the changes in the returning courses either don’t make anything to make them more interesting or at times they are for the worst, and to be completely honest, they couldn’t have picked a worst selection of courses from Tour to start things off, the first impression they give is abominable… but it actually gets real good real fast.
I imagine those that paid for the DLC day one must have had the sour taste way longer, but as someone that played the whole thing at its complete state, it’s super surprising just how much everything improves, to the point that by Wave 3 and onwards, the only Cup I’d call ‘’weak’’ is the Cherry Cup, and even then, it’s still pretty fun at times.
The selection of returning tracks gets better and better, the visuals and specially the sounds are even more of a joy with each passing cup, hell, even tho I started this review mocking them, some of the later Tour tracks were pretty stellar! And we even get some new playable characters which, in my opinion, round the roster perfectly, and I couldn’t be happier to finally see ma boi Wiggler playable again, and we finally have Petey and King Boo in the same game again! The boys, together at last!
The new courses couldn’t have surprised me more for the better oif they wanted to; there are some on the weaker side like the Ice Cream one, but Yoshi’s Island alone is probably in my top 5 of favorite tracks in general, and hell, as much shade as I’ve thrown Wave 1, Ninja Hideaway isn’t that far off either, and it alone makes the first two cups much more bearable.
The joy of returning to the Rainbow Courses of old, seeing so many new places and the returning ones given some pretty amazing changes (running on the rails of Kalimari Damazy was simply amazing), there’s something in here that shows nothing but care and passion, and makes me wish they could have had more time in the oven from the start, ‘cause most of this is truly excellent.
There are still flaws; it relays too much of city courses, every GBA course remake feels like a flip coin between it being the best thing ever or total bullshit, there are some major omissions while also other tracks that would have benefited from some changes… but at the same time, no other collection of tracks has left me and my friends wanting for more, to play more, to see more great courses or the promise of better ones in future cups.
At worst is middling or disappointing, but at best is stellar and pure fun, kinda makes me wish we also go more Battle Courses honestly, we got a entire race course based on a bathroom, so imagine the possibilities!
Also, now that the URSS is canon in the Mario Universe, by proxy that means all bootleg Mario games released on the Dendy also are. Sorry, I don’t make the rules, Somari will appear in Mario Kart 9 for sure…
This was actually the very first thing I played this year, going through all the cups with some friends on the night of January 1st, however, I decided to hold on talking about since I knew I wanted to get gold and experience them myself alone ‘cause I l knew that playing one after the other in one night while having a laugh will pals would be a completely different experience from slowly taking the courses in and playing them all in other while trying out the online and even more of the co-op, and boy oh boy was I right.
One thing I’ll give the Booster Course Pass as a whole is that is a joy to play through with friends, I mean duh, this is Mario Kart after all, but still, compared to other games in the series or even base Mario Kart 8/ 8 Deluxe, this is one of the few times where it feels wrong to not play at least three or four cups in succession when being with some pals. At first, I thought the reason for it was simply because of the novelty of the but after playing this whole thing in order I see the hold this can have; it’s almost addicting playing this whole thing, and ironically, I feel partly of that is because how poorly it starts off.
Wave 1 of the DLC is the single most underwhelming Mario Kart experience I’ve ever had; the track selection is mediocre at best and actually baffling at worst, visually it’s a far cry from the base experience —tho that can be said about the whole DLC or at least most of it, but it does get better as it goes on so there’s that—, some of the changes in the returning courses either don’t make anything to make them more interesting or at times they are for the worst, and to be completely honest, they couldn’t have picked a worst selection of courses from Tour to start things off, the first impression they give is abominable… but it actually gets real good real fast.
I imagine those that paid for the DLC day one must have had the sour taste way longer, but as someone that played the whole thing at its complete state, it’s super surprising just how much everything improves, to the point that by Wave 3 and onwards, the only Cup I’d call ‘’weak’’ is the Cherry Cup, and even then, it’s still pretty fun at times.
The selection of returning tracks gets better and better, the visuals and specially the sounds are even more of a joy with each passing cup, hell, even tho I started this review mocking them, some of the later Tour tracks were pretty stellar! And we even get some new playable characters which, in my opinion, round the roster perfectly, and I couldn’t be happier to finally see ma boi Wiggler playable again, and we finally have Petey and King Boo in the same game again! The boys, together at last!
The new courses couldn’t have surprised me more for the better oif they wanted to; there are some on the weaker side like the Ice Cream one, but Yoshi’s Island alone is probably in my top 5 of favorite tracks in general, and hell, as much shade as I’ve thrown Wave 1, Ninja Hideaway isn’t that far off either, and it alone makes the first two cups much more bearable.
The joy of returning to the Rainbow Courses of old, seeing so many new places and the returning ones given some pretty amazing changes (running on the rails of Kalimari Damazy was simply amazing), there’s something in here that shows nothing but care and passion, and makes me wish they could have had more time in the oven from the start, ‘cause most of this is truly excellent.
There are still flaws; it relays too much of city courses, every GBA course remake feels like a flip coin between it being the best thing ever or total bullshit, there are some major omissions while also other tracks that would have benefited from some changes… but at the same time, no other collection of tracks has left me and my friends wanting for more, to play more, to see more great courses or the promise of better ones in future cups.
At worst is middling or disappointing, but at best is stellar and pure fun, kinda makes me wish we also go more Battle Courses honestly, we got a entire race course based on a bathroom, so imagine the possibilities!
Also, now that the URSS is canon in the Mario Universe, by proxy that means all bootleg Mario games released on the Dendy also are. Sorry, I don’t make the rules, Somari will appear in Mario Kart 9 for sure…
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.
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.
Nintendo puts out one (1) half-decent wave and people take the masks off about pretending the other waves were good LOL get real.
Full old review (still applicable)
Full old review (still applicable)
The last wave is here. This DLC started poorly, the visuals looked like a port from MK Tour, and then one thing happened that usually doesn't happen. Nintendo listened to the fans.
Now, they didn't go back and fix what had already been put out (the grass in toad circuit pains me) but they did bump up the quality for the last 3 waves. We got a few original courses alongside slightly better visuals, and they eventually decided to expand the roster too. The last wave even includes a music player.
That's not to say the DLC is awesome, it still has many flaws in each wave, but I think that it is better than it could've been. Imagine 6 waves of MK Tour ports and no new characters... shiver. at least the DLC turned around near the end. It's not bad, it's not great, but at least Nintendo listened to our collective criticism.
...I just wish we got Mario Kart 9 instead.
Now, they didn't go back and fix what had already been put out (the grass in toad circuit pains me) but they did bump up the quality for the last 3 waves. We got a few original courses alongside slightly better visuals, and they eventually decided to expand the roster too. The last wave even includes a music player.
That's not to say the DLC is awesome, it still has many flaws in each wave, but I think that it is better than it could've been. Imagine 6 waves of MK Tour ports and no new characters... shiver. at least the DLC turned around near the end. It's not bad, it's not great, but at least Nintendo listened to our collective criticism.
...I just wish we got Mario Kart 9 instead.
It is certainly nice to have more options for courses to play, and for the most part they are well designed, however the courses in the Mario kart 8 booster pass do not match the polish and visuals of the courses in the original game. many of them are simply ripped from Mario kart Tour, and its a bit jarring to see them back to back with the base game courses.
With the addition of the DLC it's easy to say that Maro Kart 8 is the best in the series for the sheer amount of content.
It could always be better, but I would highly recommend giving the DLC a download if you haven't already.
It could always be better, but I would highly recommend giving the DLC a download if you haven't already.
Funky Kong saved my life #ThankYouFunky
Didn’t have the best of starts, but ended up turning out very solid. I played it all at once and thus, it felt like I was playing an entirely new game. Great roster additions, so now it’s got all the missing characters people wanted except for ROB and the fetish bee, and even Pauline and new colors for Birdo. It definitely isn’t as pretty as the base game, but god. It’s fun. And for its price? It’s a hell of a lot of content, and while I think they could have lightened on the Tour content, it’s also content I never got to play as I didn’t touch that game. So, yeah. I would say it’s pretty damn good for what it is. What started slightly rough evened out in the end. Rosalina’s Ice World still sucks ass 12 years later though.
Um ótimo pacote das diversas pistas antigas da série, não tem a mesma qualidade do jogo base por serem exportadas do Mario Kart Tour, jogo mobile com objetivo de ser simplificado, mas ainda são agradáveis de ver e jogar, algumas pistas são confusas mas principalmente as waves depois da 1° ficaram melhores, além da adição de novos personagens, roupas de Mii e até fases novas dedicadas pro Pass, acho que vale a pena.
From middling to a decent package. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass is Nintendo's five-year late response for DLC for the most successful Mario Kart. It started off underwhelming with the first wave with subpar tracks, or classic tracks that have been butchered like Coconut Mall. But as every wave released, the better the Booster Course Pass got with more fan-favorite tracks and new characters that satisfied fans. Wave 6 is the best in the package as they brought in the most meat compared to every other wave prior, and not only this was a great sendoff to the Booster Course Pass, but to almost ten years of Mario Kart 8. It's crazy to think that one of my favorite Wii U games will be turning ten in 2024, and I'm glad this game got a second chance on a more successful console. It's not amazing, but for $25, I think this is worth it.
There is no more addicting feeling than shaving a tiny bit off a time trial, seeing yourself power in front of a ghost, or beating a blue shell. Some of the expansion pass tracks lack polish but there’s enough to provide a welcome addition to an already smart game.
Have you ever wanted Toad Circuit free?
Download Toad Circuit free at ToadCircuitFree.com
If you don't want free Toad Circuit then die.
Download Toad Circuit free at ToadCircuitFree.com
If you don't want free Toad Circuit then die.
Not much to tell here: the new courses and characters are just as much fun as the original ones. As far as I'm concerned, I could play this for all eternity, and I still wouldn't get bored with it!
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.
Half the score for half the effort. Actually unreal people are defending the Tour maps when they either have horrid signage or none at all (Paris???).
Most of the tracks fail to do anything that makes them feel like MK8 content, these would be right at home in MK7 and- oh wait some of these already had community-made versions in CTGP-7. These would be bottom tier even in MK7 and low-tier in CTGP-7.
I also remember now that I'm playing it that it has my 2nd least favorite item meta only behind 64 which is unfair since 64's literally is broken, as in nonfunctioning, on half its courses as well as AI softlocking themselves.
But hey at least it costs less than an actual new Mario Kart would for almost the same amount of content, who cares if it's microwave slop some 16 year old outdid a decade ago with janky level editors made for a game nobody has access to the source code for.
The actual original tracks or any that saw more than a finger lifted to refit them are unsurprisingly the best in the pack so far. Others like Coconut Mall are strict downgrades over their originals.
I dunno. I fell off of 8 and especially 8D at points in my life where I should have sunk my teeth into them until I was splitting bone, for a variety of reasons too long to fit here but I may elaborate in the main game page for MK8/MK8D.
But hey it's a party game, I should just shut up and enjoy the slop because Nintendo put in Birdo so my queer ass can go "so true bestie" every time she honks.
Most of the tracks fail to do anything that makes them feel like MK8 content, these would be right at home in MK7 and- oh wait some of these already had community-made versions in CTGP-7. These would be bottom tier even in MK7 and low-tier in CTGP-7.
I also remember now that I'm playing it that it has my 2nd least favorite item meta only behind 64 which is unfair since 64's literally is broken, as in nonfunctioning, on half its courses as well as AI softlocking themselves.
But hey at least it costs less than an actual new Mario Kart would for almost the same amount of content, who cares if it's microwave slop some 16 year old outdid a decade ago with janky level editors made for a game nobody has access to the source code for.
The actual original tracks or any that saw more than a finger lifted to refit them are unsurprisingly the best in the pack so far. Others like Coconut Mall are strict downgrades over their originals.
I dunno. I fell off of 8 and especially 8D at points in my life where I should have sunk my teeth into them until I was splitting bone, for a variety of reasons too long to fit here but I may elaborate in the main game page for MK8/MK8D.
But hey it's a party game, I should just shut up and enjoy the slop because Nintendo put in Birdo so my queer ass can go "so true bestie" every time she honks.
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.
Nintendo doesn’t have a strong track record with DLC, but even I couldn’t deny that 48 courses for $25 sounded like a great deal. Now that every course is out, I am happy to say the Booster Course Pass gets my personal recommendation, with two minor caveats. First, some waves are better than others and I will briefly discuss each one below. Second, the visuals. While I don’t really care about graphical fidelity, some of the DLC courses have a cartoony art direction that clashes with the realistic style seen in the base game. The fact Nintendo couldn’t be bothered to reuse nicer assets in certain courses reeks of laziness. With that out of the way, let’s dive in!
Wave 1
— Cups: Golden Dash & Lucky Cat
— Score: 5/10
— A very rough start. With one exception, the courses from Tour are quite boring. Cocount Mall was also downgraded compared to the Wii original. The escalators have obvious arrows telling you where to go and the cars at the end move less dynamically. These remove a lot of player reactivity and turn a great course into a merely decent one.
— Worst: Toad Circuit Overly simple track layout and aesthetic. Its “grass” is better described as lime concrete.
— Best: Ninja Hideaway The multiple paths, variety of obstacles, and great theming cement this as one of the best and most creative courses in the whole series. The fact it was from Tour still blows my mind.
Wave 2
— Cups: Turnip & Propeller
— Score: 8/10
— The tracks still don’t look the best, but they are much more interesting than Wave 1. Picking a favorite of the bunch was tough. I love the penguins in Snow Land, the bouncy mushrooms of Mushroom Gorge, and the train in Kalimari Desert.
— Worst: SNES Mario Circuit 3 I still enjoy this course for its music and sharp turns, but it is simple and less engaging compared to the others.
— Best: Waluigi Pinball Dodging pinballs while making sharp turns is a blast and the exclusive sound effects are a nice touch.
Wave 3
— Cups: Rock & Moon
— Score: 7/10
— I’m indifferent to half of these courses, but Peach Gardens, Boo Lake, and Maple Treeway are great. Bit of a letdown that the Wigglers in the latter are very easy to avoid compared to Wii.
— Worst: Merry Mountain Nice theme, but feels lacking in obstacles.
— Best: 3DS Rainbow Road The road looks more blue than rainbow, but the multitude of turns, obstacles, and setpieces make this a very memorable course. Easily one of the strongest Rainbow Roads in the series.
Wave 4
— Cups: Fruit & Boomerang
— Score: 8/10
— Originally, I thought this would be my favorite wave, but on further reflection, I think its on par with Wave 2. There are a couple duds like Riverside Park and DS Mario Circuit, but the rest are mostly bangers.
— Worst: DS Mario Circuit Textbook example of unremarkable. Doesn’t attempt anything unique and the layout is very flat.
— Best: Yoshi’s Island Favorite course in the DLC. The remixed music, obstacles, and exclusive sound effects make for an excellent tribute to a fantastic game.
Wave 5
— Cups: Feather & Cherry
— Score: 6/10
— Feather Cup is good, but Cherry Cup might be the weakest in the game. Even Koopa Cape is lukewarm, particularly with its pipe section lacking the water current and electric fans from Wii. This course also alerted me to how terrible the camera can be when tricking off half-pipes.
— Worst: Sunset Wilds The music and dancing Shy Guys are the only positives. Take these away and you’ve got one snoozefest of a track. The sky no longer changing with every lap is a huge slap in the face to Super Circuit fans. If Deluxe’s lighting engine really couldn’t support this effect, why is the course included?
— Best: Squeaky Clean Sprint Driving through a giant bathroom is novel. Couple that with great music and a huge alternate path at the end, and you have a track that begs to be replayed.
Wave 6
— Cups: Acorn & Spiny
— Score: 7/10
— The other waves had higher highs, but most of these courses are solid, if not great. Special shoutout to SNES Bowser Castle 3. On top of being fun to race through, it looks MARVELOUS. I was in awe my first run through it.
— Worst: Madrid Drive Indistinguishable from the dozen other city tracks in the DLC. Rome Avanti’s roundabout turns and Chain Chomps in the Coliseum give it a slight edge.
— Best: Wii Rainbow Road I have a ton of nostalgia for this one, but can you blame me? It was amazing on Wii and this HD rendtition is no exception.
Overall, the Booster Course Pass is a great addition to the best-selling Switch game. This brings the total number of courses to 96. Mamma mia! I honestly have no idea how Nintendo is gonna come close to that number of courses in the inevitable Mario Kart 9 without several years of development and a $70 price tag. However, if we end up having, say, 48 original courses and some major, interesting tweak(s) to the gameplay for $60, I won’t mind. For now though, have fun with more Mario Kart, and if you want to race with me online or just be friends, please send me a friend request on Discord. See bio for more information.
Wave 1
— Cups: Golden Dash & Lucky Cat
— Score: 5/10
— A very rough start. With one exception, the courses from Tour are quite boring. Cocount Mall was also downgraded compared to the Wii original. The escalators have obvious arrows telling you where to go and the cars at the end move less dynamically. These remove a lot of player reactivity and turn a great course into a merely decent one.
— Worst: Toad Circuit Overly simple track layout and aesthetic. Its “grass” is better described as lime concrete.
— Best: Ninja Hideaway The multiple paths, variety of obstacles, and great theming cement this as one of the best and most creative courses in the whole series. The fact it was from Tour still blows my mind.
Wave 2
— Cups: Turnip & Propeller
— Score: 8/10
— The tracks still don’t look the best, but they are much more interesting than Wave 1. Picking a favorite of the bunch was tough. I love the penguins in Snow Land, the bouncy mushrooms of Mushroom Gorge, and the train in Kalimari Desert.
— Worst: SNES Mario Circuit 3 I still enjoy this course for its music and sharp turns, but it is simple and less engaging compared to the others.
— Best: Waluigi Pinball Dodging pinballs while making sharp turns is a blast and the exclusive sound effects are a nice touch.
Wave 3
— Cups: Rock & Moon
— Score: 7/10
— I’m indifferent to half of these courses, but Peach Gardens, Boo Lake, and Maple Treeway are great. Bit of a letdown that the Wigglers in the latter are very easy to avoid compared to Wii.
— Worst: Merry Mountain Nice theme, but feels lacking in obstacles.
— Best: 3DS Rainbow Road The road looks more blue than rainbow, but the multitude of turns, obstacles, and setpieces make this a very memorable course. Easily one of the strongest Rainbow Roads in the series.
Wave 4
— Cups: Fruit & Boomerang
— Score: 8/10
— Originally, I thought this would be my favorite wave, but on further reflection, I think its on par with Wave 2. There are a couple duds like Riverside Park and DS Mario Circuit, but the rest are mostly bangers.
— Worst: DS Mario Circuit Textbook example of unremarkable. Doesn’t attempt anything unique and the layout is very flat.
— Best: Yoshi’s Island Favorite course in the DLC. The remixed music, obstacles, and exclusive sound effects make for an excellent tribute to a fantastic game.
Wave 5
— Cups: Feather & Cherry
— Score: 6/10
— Feather Cup is good, but Cherry Cup might be the weakest in the game. Even Koopa Cape is lukewarm, particularly with its pipe section lacking the water current and electric fans from Wii. This course also alerted me to how terrible the camera can be when tricking off half-pipes.
— Worst: Sunset Wilds The music and dancing Shy Guys are the only positives. Take these away and you’ve got one snoozefest of a track. The sky no longer changing with every lap is a huge slap in the face to Super Circuit fans. If Deluxe’s lighting engine really couldn’t support this effect, why is the course included?
— Best: Squeaky Clean Sprint Driving through a giant bathroom is novel. Couple that with great music and a huge alternate path at the end, and you have a track that begs to be replayed.
Wave 6
— Cups: Acorn & Spiny
— Score: 7/10
— The other waves had higher highs, but most of these courses are solid, if not great. Special shoutout to SNES Bowser Castle 3. On top of being fun to race through, it looks MARVELOUS. I was in awe my first run through it.
— Worst: Madrid Drive Indistinguishable from the dozen other city tracks in the DLC. Rome Avanti’s roundabout turns and Chain Chomps in the Coliseum give it a slight edge.
— Best: Wii Rainbow Road I have a ton of nostalgia for this one, but can you blame me? It was amazing on Wii and this HD rendtition is no exception.
Overall, the Booster Course Pass is a great addition to the best-selling Switch game. This brings the total number of courses to 96. Mamma mia! I honestly have no idea how Nintendo is gonna come close to that number of courses in the inevitable Mario Kart 9 without several years of development and a $70 price tag. However, if we end up having, say, 48 original courses and some major, interesting tweak(s) to the gameplay for $60, I won’t mind. For now though, have fun with more Mario Kart, and if you want to race with me online or just be friends, please send me a friend request on Discord. See bio for more information.
The only real downside here is the graphics, aside from that you have a great selection of classic tracks, pretty much every track from tour (not all of them are good but most of them are) and Wiggler the GOAT. If you have mk8d you gotta get this.
Side note: with the base game and the booster course pass combined i think theres a case for mario kart 8 deluxe being a top 10 videogame osts ever made
Side note: with the base game and the booster course pass combined i think theres a case for mario kart 8 deluxe being a top 10 videogame osts ever made
Finally it’s over! Talk about ups & downs in regards to these waves of tracks. While I’m glad that we see many old tracks return along with some new tracks too, some were clearly better than others. So that means we can get a new Mario Kart game right?
(preface: I joined backloggd roughly like in march this year when the course drip feed was in the middle and because of that I thought it would be funny to review the waves individually since there were only like 2 or 3 by then and now there are 6 of those mfers clogging up my played and I don't want to delete them but also want to write about the pass as a whole without just copy pasting all 6 reviews into here so uhhhhh oops)
This was like the most whelming DLC I have ever played for a video game. Not overwhelming or underwhelming, just whelming. What I got was precisely what I expected when I first heard "Mario Kart DLC that doubles the course count for less than half the price of the game, released in waves". Yeah, the visuals took quite a hit in terms of aesthetic consistency, but that's kinda what I expected given the release-wave live-service type structure they decided to crank these courses out through. Doubling the course count definitely gives a fresh breath of air to Mario Kart 8, a game that had grown quite stale to me after the dozens of hours through the past 8-9 years playing on both Wii U and Switch, but something just kinda feels lost in the sauce with this expansion.
One of my favorite things about Mario Kart is the track design and selection, how each course feels less like a racing circuit and more like a theme park ride. Dozens of themed rollercoasters to ride through each with their own gimmicks and setpieces to race through (while obviously avoiding the nonsense that the other drivers throw at you). I feel like the courses in Mario Kart can really shine because of how much polish and effort goes into making each course have its own unique bespoke thrills, and it's the reason why courses from games decades old can still remain fresh in my memory. With this pass taking courses from previous games yet done so in a hasty manner so as not to overvalue the 25 dollar price point as well as to fit in the likely-incredibly-tight wave release deadline schedule meant corners had to be cut, and the polish had to be sanded.
A lot of courses lost most of their core identities from the little things in them that weren't recreated, whether due to janky reinterpretations of features in previous mario kart games that weren't necessarily in 8 like the half pipe boosters, or from conscious track design alterations that make certain courses lose a lot of their edge. You can't fall back down to the earlier part of the track in Choco Mountain. You can't do the cool-ass crevice skipping shortcut in DK mountain anymore. The bob-omb cars in Moonview Highway barely harm you more than an ordinary shell when hit. I think a lot of the changes usually come from courses that were converted multiple times from their original games to something like Mario Kart 7 and then from there to Tour and then from Tour to 8, and it just makes the vibes off just as much on a gameplay level as on an aesthetic level. Which really wouldn't be much of a problem if there weren't already the highly polished original versions of each track that exist as not only a comparison, but really a reference point as how the courses should be.
Luckily it's not all complete vibe-killers, as the blander courses manage to make it out mostly unscathed or even improved, as is the case with various GBA and SNES courses that made the jump. They even managed to shake up a few existing courses like Peach Gardens and Kalamari Desert by changing up the course as the laps go on, leading to a fresh take on familiar ground. Some Mario Kart courses are just impossible to mess up, yanno?
There are also plenty of city-themed courses from Mario Kart Tour that were included, and they were mostly quite uninteresting compared to the rest of the track repertoire. They felt more like courses from the Mario Kart Arcade GP series, where the courses are flat and devoid of many hazards, with setpieces mostly being static background imagery rather than dynamically integrated into the course like a lot of the best Mario Kart tracks. Like, how come we just drive under the Eiffel Tower in the Paris track instead of driving up it in zero-gravity and doing a backflip off the top or something? By making the courses just tour you through a cities landmarks instead of committing to a singular one and theming around it, it makes the city courses just feel like basic tourism propaganda from their respective cities, rather than creatively thought-out Mario Kart tracks.
Lastly they threw in some original courses, and while the highest highs in the entire 48 course lineup can be found here through Ninja Hideaway, Yoshi's Island, and Squeaky Clean Circuit bringing fresh course designs and gimmicks with considerable levels of polish (Yoshi's Island in particular being a fantastic tribute to its source game), there are also some absolute dingers thrown in there. Merry Mountain and Sky High Sundae were some of the most uninspired courses I have ever seen, being mostly static boring ovals with not much to really make them remarkable, and Piranha Plant Cove being kinda just meh all around.
As a whole, despite the fact that now the course count in Mario Kart 8 has doubled from 48 to an impressive 96 tracks to race on, it's reached the point of diminishing returns for me. I guess stale bread is still stale no matter how much sauce you may try to cover it in, especially if that sauce is stuff I had before in the past made by someone who had more time to perfect it. I was originally kinda upset that courses like Airship Fortress and Mushroom City didn't make the cut, but honestly maybe it's for the better they get to keep their swag.
At this point, I want Mario Kart 9 to have a course count closer to older titles. Give me only 16 courses in four cups, but make them the most exciting, creative, goddamn FUN 16 courses they could ever possibly conceive. Quantity can only win out against quality for so long.
This was like the most whelming DLC I have ever played for a video game. Not overwhelming or underwhelming, just whelming. What I got was precisely what I expected when I first heard "Mario Kart DLC that doubles the course count for less than half the price of the game, released in waves". Yeah, the visuals took quite a hit in terms of aesthetic consistency, but that's kinda what I expected given the release-wave live-service type structure they decided to crank these courses out through. Doubling the course count definitely gives a fresh breath of air to Mario Kart 8, a game that had grown quite stale to me after the dozens of hours through the past 8-9 years playing on both Wii U and Switch, but something just kinda feels lost in the sauce with this expansion.
One of my favorite things about Mario Kart is the track design and selection, how each course feels less like a racing circuit and more like a theme park ride. Dozens of themed rollercoasters to ride through each with their own gimmicks and setpieces to race through (while obviously avoiding the nonsense that the other drivers throw at you). I feel like the courses in Mario Kart can really shine because of how much polish and effort goes into making each course have its own unique bespoke thrills, and it's the reason why courses from games decades old can still remain fresh in my memory. With this pass taking courses from previous games yet done so in a hasty manner so as not to overvalue the 25 dollar price point as well as to fit in the likely-incredibly-tight wave release deadline schedule meant corners had to be cut, and the polish had to be sanded.
A lot of courses lost most of their core identities from the little things in them that weren't recreated, whether due to janky reinterpretations of features in previous mario kart games that weren't necessarily in 8 like the half pipe boosters, or from conscious track design alterations that make certain courses lose a lot of their edge. You can't fall back down to the earlier part of the track in Choco Mountain. You can't do the cool-ass crevice skipping shortcut in DK mountain anymore. The bob-omb cars in Moonview Highway barely harm you more than an ordinary shell when hit. I think a lot of the changes usually come from courses that were converted multiple times from their original games to something like Mario Kart 7 and then from there to Tour and then from Tour to 8, and it just makes the vibes off just as much on a gameplay level as on an aesthetic level. Which really wouldn't be much of a problem if there weren't already the highly polished original versions of each track that exist as not only a comparison, but really a reference point as how the courses should be.
Luckily it's not all complete vibe-killers, as the blander courses manage to make it out mostly unscathed or even improved, as is the case with various GBA and SNES courses that made the jump. They even managed to shake up a few existing courses like Peach Gardens and Kalamari Desert by changing up the course as the laps go on, leading to a fresh take on familiar ground. Some Mario Kart courses are just impossible to mess up, yanno?
There are also plenty of city-themed courses from Mario Kart Tour that were included, and they were mostly quite uninteresting compared to the rest of the track repertoire. They felt more like courses from the Mario Kart Arcade GP series, where the courses are flat and devoid of many hazards, with setpieces mostly being static background imagery rather than dynamically integrated into the course like a lot of the best Mario Kart tracks. Like, how come we just drive under the Eiffel Tower in the Paris track instead of driving up it in zero-gravity and doing a backflip off the top or something? By making the courses just tour you through a cities landmarks instead of committing to a singular one and theming around it, it makes the city courses just feel like basic tourism propaganda from their respective cities, rather than creatively thought-out Mario Kart tracks.
Lastly they threw in some original courses, and while the highest highs in the entire 48 course lineup can be found here through Ninja Hideaway, Yoshi's Island, and Squeaky Clean Circuit bringing fresh course designs and gimmicks with considerable levels of polish (Yoshi's Island in particular being a fantastic tribute to its source game), there are also some absolute dingers thrown in there. Merry Mountain and Sky High Sundae were some of the most uninspired courses I have ever seen, being mostly static boring ovals with not much to really make them remarkable, and Piranha Plant Cove being kinda just meh all around.
As a whole, despite the fact that now the course count in Mario Kart 8 has doubled from 48 to an impressive 96 tracks to race on, it's reached the point of diminishing returns for me. I guess stale bread is still stale no matter how much sauce you may try to cover it in, especially if that sauce is stuff I had before in the past made by someone who had more time to perfect it. I was originally kinda upset that courses like Airship Fortress and Mushroom City didn't make the cut, but honestly maybe it's for the better they get to keep their swag.
At this point, I want Mario Kart 9 to have a course count closer to older titles. Give me only 16 courses in four cups, but make them the most exciting, creative, goddamn FUN 16 courses they could ever possibly conceive. Quantity can only win out against quality for so long.
Courses vary in quality and I swear I'm not crazy for thinking that. The final pack felt weirdly on par with the main game compared to the rest of the packs. You can tell which ones were ripped straight from Tour with little change or graphical enhancement and which ones actually had some improvements made.
Let's be honest, the DLC had a very rough start, with stages essentially ported from Mario Kart Tour and only given new music, but as time passed the next waves became way closer to the ones present in the base game, this meaning ACTUAL grass textures, more attention to detail and even bringing brand new balance changes and features to the table. Here are a few of my favorite tracks in the whole pass:
- Ninja Hideaway
- Waluigi Pinball
- Berlin Byways (BANGER OST BTW)
- Rainbow Road 3DS
- DK Summit
- Yoshi's Island
- Rainbow Road Wii
Also the new characters added are great too: Petey Piranha, Birdo and Wiggler are back again, Kamek finally gets his chance to shine as part of the roster, Diddy and Funky Kong make this game three times better by themselves and even Pauline is an awesome addition to the cast!
Although, I will say this: I never really understood the hate towards Peachette, she literally did nothing wrong y'all 😭
Detouring a little here, we also got some extra thingies as well: Mii Suits with their own stunts, a jukebox, customizable random item mode, the balance changes making the meta stray very far away from the Wiggler Waluigi combo days. The list goes on, it's actually pretty nice QoL stuff all in all.
Oh and a huge RIP to Piranha Plant Pipeline (Tour), the only stage that will become lost media as of now, in case MKT ceases to exist :(
- Ninja Hideaway
- Waluigi Pinball
- Berlin Byways (BANGER OST BTW)
- Rainbow Road 3DS
- DK Summit
- Yoshi's Island
- Rainbow Road Wii
Also the new characters added are great too: Petey Piranha, Birdo and Wiggler are back again, Kamek finally gets his chance to shine as part of the roster, Diddy and Funky Kong make this game three times better by themselves and even Pauline is an awesome addition to the cast!
Although, I will say this: I never really understood the hate towards Peachette, she literally did nothing wrong y'all 😭
Detouring a little here, we also got some extra thingies as well: Mii Suits with their own stunts, a jukebox, customizable random item mode, the balance changes making the meta stray very far away from the Wiggler Waluigi combo days. The list goes on, it's actually pretty nice QoL stuff all in all.
Oh and a huge RIP to Piranha Plant Pipeline (Tour), the only stage that will become lost media as of now, in case MKT ceases to exist :(
Man, I don’t think ANYONE saw this thing coming when it was first announced.
So it’s basically 48 tracks ported right over from Tour, meaning that the graphics aren’t all there, but I never found it as bad as people said it was, they at least put in the effort of tweaking the lighting some. The track selection is, honestly, pretty good! Didn’t get everything I personally wanted (Mushroom City, please come home) but I think it’s a mostly decent selection all around.
Except they didn’t bring back Figure 8 Circuit. They had a second chance to do the funniest thing ever and they missed it. Fair enough, now I never want to see that track again as long as I live.
Also weird that they skipped on exactly one Tour original track. I think I could’ve slept just fine knowing SNES Mario Circuit 2 didn’t get ported over.
Oh yeah, and we also got new characters in the back half! Diddy bros, we are so back.
So overall, $25 for 48 new (to this game) tracks, 8 new characters, about a zillion Mii costumes and a sound test is a great deal in my eyes, shoots some life into a game that is somehow almost a decade old and reminds me that time is crumbling all around us. How’d that happen?
Now that that’s over I want 9 on my desk by 2026. And Kirby better be in it this time, I still feel ripped off.
So it’s basically 48 tracks ported right over from Tour, meaning that the graphics aren’t all there, but I never found it as bad as people said it was, they at least put in the effort of tweaking the lighting some. The track selection is, honestly, pretty good! Didn’t get everything I personally wanted (Mushroom City, please come home) but I think it’s a mostly decent selection all around.
Except they didn’t bring back Figure 8 Circuit. They had a second chance to do the funniest thing ever and they missed it. Fair enough, now I never want to see that track again as long as I live.
Also weird that they skipped on exactly one Tour original track. I think I could’ve slept just fine knowing SNES Mario Circuit 2 didn’t get ported over.
Oh yeah, and we also got new characters in the back half! Diddy bros, we are so back.
So overall, $25 for 48 new (to this game) tracks, 8 new characters, about a zillion Mii costumes and a sound test is a great deal in my eyes, shoots some life into a game that is somehow almost a decade old and reminds me that time is crumbling all around us. How’d that happen?
Now that that’s over I want 9 on my desk by 2026. And Kirby better be in it this time, I still feel ripped off.
It successfully revitalised the Mario Kart Online for me. The value on offer here is astounding, the kind we rarely see from Nintendo, whose DLCs are often overpriced for the amount of content on offer imo. With the news that Tour is ending its updates, I'm so happy that these tracks are getting preserved in some form. The Booster Course Pass was also meant to be just new tracks, but they overdelivered, providing new features, mechanical tweaks and new characters. I had a blast with every new wave, seeing what surprise additions they would add.
This biggest issue with it are the City tracks. I like these more than most and would rank some of them among of my favourite tracks ever, with Sydney Sprint being a standout. However, the readability is terrible, even on the best ones, with the giant red arrows that I always end up crashing into. Wish they found a better way to implement this.
This biggest issue with it are the City tracks. I like these more than most and would rank some of them among of my favourite tracks ever, with Sydney Sprint being a standout. However, the readability is terrible, even on the best ones, with the giant red arrows that I always end up crashing into. Wish they found a better way to implement this.
If they only added courses from the Wii this would've been the best DLC of all time
Whilst graphically this DLC isn't the most consistent, with it ranging from straight phone graphics to almost base game level, this is still well worth the value, as it doubles the replay value and will bring me many more hours of playtime. I do however hope this does mark the end of MK8 though, as it's definitely time for Mario Kart 9 to be the new entry on the new system, and the need for a second Booster Course Pass isn't really what the series needs.
What a turnaround! Went from one of the biggest cash grabs from Nintendo to something that’s a bang for your buck. I really loved the new courses as well especially! It was great having fan favorite characters too like Diddy Kong and Pauline. Overall pretty good!
The city courses are so painful because they were designed to be played on-rails in the mobile game.
The rest are good though.
The rest are good though.
Se eu ganhasse uma moeda pra cada vez que a Nintendo se recusasse a fazer um Mario Kart novo, eu teria duas moedas, o que não é muito, mas nem é tão estranho que tenha acontecido duas vezes. Pensar que MK8DX ainda vende que nem água ATÉ HOJE é ridículo - e pra isso, você precisa de um plano ridículo.
Booster Course Pass é um Mario Kart 8.5 e, mesmo que muitas das pistas não tenham a mesma qualidade do jogo base (muito por causa da simplicidade de Tour), ainda é incrível ter o dobro de conteúdo no jogo. Sejam pistas "novas" ou vindas de outros consoles, valeu a pena.
Os caras fizeram o Mario Kart perfeito, foram lá, e fizeram de novo.
TOP 10 COURSES
10. Tour Rome Avanti
09. Tour Paris Promenade
08. Wii Coconut Mall
07. Sky-High Sundae
06. GCN DK Mountain
05. Wii Koopa Cape
04. DS Waluigi Pinball
03. SNES Bowser Castle 3
02. Yoshi's Island
01. 3DS Rainbow Road
Booster Course Pass é um Mario Kart 8.5 e, mesmo que muitas das pistas não tenham a mesma qualidade do jogo base (muito por causa da simplicidade de Tour), ainda é incrível ter o dobro de conteúdo no jogo. Sejam pistas "novas" ou vindas de outros consoles, valeu a pena.
Os caras fizeram o Mario Kart perfeito, foram lá, e fizeram de novo.
TOP 10 COURSES
10. Tour Rome Avanti
09. Tour Paris Promenade
08. Wii Coconut Mall
07. Sky-High Sundae
06. GCN DK Mountain
05. Wii Koopa Cape
04. DS Waluigi Pinball
03. SNES Bowser Castle 3
02. Yoshi's Island
01. 3DS Rainbow Road