StarTopic Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass |ST| Doubled Dash!! [WAVE 6 AVAILABLE NOW]

[BassForever]

I didn’t say otherwise? But he’s less relevant and less of a main character than other Kongs like Diddy, Dixie, Cranky, etc., so it’s bizarre to see him on the roster of a Mario Kart game (not even a Donkey Kong game, but a Mario game) before Diddy and Dixie. It was weird in Mario Kart Wii, but again, I chalk that up to the developers picking him as the game’s out-of-left-field joke character (à la R.O.B. or Honey Queen) due to fitting the biker aesthetic. But now that Dixie’s been introduced to the series in Tour, it would be incredibly weird to get him in over her.

He was also playable in Mario Super Sluggers. I think you're looking at MK Wii in a vacuum and not considering the time in which it released. The DK franchise was in a rut post Rare and was rudderless until Retro stepped up with Country Returns (a game neither Dixie or Funky appears in). Nintendo was seemingly playing around with the idea of merging the Mario and DK properties back into one hence the amount of DK characters who appeared in Mario spinoffs around that time, along with the Mario vs DK series taking off.

 

[Thunder84]

New Funky Mode also might play a role in things, he’s definitely one of the bigger faces of DK this generation

 

[Jahranimo]

Are these tracks in the online rotation?

 

[zumaddy]

Finally was able to play, first impressions are I feel like this is the most unbalanced wave.

Half are bangers (Waluigi, DK, Singapore, Yoshi's Island) but the other 3 made very little impression on me and I got lost in Bangkok due to signage issues. I feel the other waves had a bunch of good to decent tracks with one or two clear winners, while this yo-yos up and down.

 

[zumaddy]

Are these tracks in the online rotation?

Yep, just played Mario Circuit.

 

[RochHoch]

Diddy, Pauline, and Petey feel like hard locks

A lot of options for the last two. Kamek, Funky, Wiggler, King Bob-Omb, Dixie, Chargin Chuck, Honey Queen.

I guess they could be Monty Mole or Hammer Bro too, but I don't expect them. Dunno if I'd expect more than one kong either, definitely not three, at least.

 

[Tye]

He was also playable in Mario Super Sluggers. I think you're looking at MK Wii in a vacuum and not considering the time in which it released. The DK franchise was in a rut post Rare and was rudderless until Retro stepped up with Country Returns (a game neither Dixie or Funky appears in). Nintendo was seemingly playing around with the idea of merging the Mario and DK properties back into one hence the amount of DK characters who appeared in Mario spinoffs around that time, along with the Mario vs DK series taking off.

A lot of characters were playable in Mario Super Sluggers, including other more important Donkey Kong characters than Funky who were actually main characters that had playable roles in the main series Donkey Kong games like Diddy, Dixie, and even Tiny, plus the main villain King K. Rool, all of which are more important Donkey Kong characters than Funky, who was just an NPC who didn’t have a playable role in non-spin-offs until Tropical Freeze’s Switch port—and that likely only even happened due to his popularity skyrocketing thanks to his inclusion in Mario Kart Wii. And, like, I’m aware that we get NPC Mario characters in Mario Kart and other Mario spin-offs all the time, but that’s generally after we have the main playable cast and main villains in the game already like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, etc., and it feels really weird for the same to not be true of Donkey Kong characters, too. I know they’re all extended Mario universe characters, but why have a relatively minor DK NPC like Funky in before Dixie, Cranky, K. Rool, etc.? It’s just bizarre.

 

[zumaddy]

Diddy and Petey feel confirmed, Funky quite likely, one other Mario character and then the last one is gonna be a crossover cameo or someone weird.

 

[AlwaysOnDeck]

So they still haven't added the ability to switch items.

 

[VolcanicDynamo]

A lot of characters were playable in Mario Super Sluggers, including other more important Donkey Kong characters than Funky who were actually main characters that had playable roles in the main series Donkey Kong games like Diddy, Dixie, and even Tiny, plus the main villain King K. Rool, all of which are more important Donkey Kong characters than Funky, who was just an NPC who didn’t have a playable role in non-spin-offs until Tropical Freeze’s Switch port—and that likely only even happened due to his popularity skyrocketing thanks to his inclusion in Mario Kart Wii. And, like, I’m aware that we get NPC Mario characters in Mario Kart and other Mario spin-offs all the time, but that’s generally after we have the main playable cast and main villains in the game already like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, etc., and it feels really weird for the same to not be true of Donkey Kong characters, too. I know they’re all extended Mario universe characters, but why have a relatively minor DK NPC like Funky in before Dixie, Cranky, K. Rool, etc.? It’s just bizarre.

I think the easier answer for "why Funky Kong?" is A) they needed a big character for MKWii and B) they had a DK model ready to go that works with karts and bikes, Funky has the same proportions, should be easy enough to build off of him. Don't think it was a joke so much it was the easy choice that filled the right niche at the right time. Mario Kart Wii didn't need more middleweights, all of them were reused from Double Dash!!, so that rules out Dixie, since she;'s the same size as the middleweight Diddy, and the other, larger DK cast was probably not as easy to use in comparison.

Then after that? I guess priorities changed. Diddy wasn't even in 7 or 8, let alone the others, so...

 

[ngpdrew]

Birdo just now being in this game is such a Mandela Effect thing for me. Could've sworn Birdo handed me my ass online years ago.

Glad this has omission has been corrected.

 

[Tye]

I think the easier answer for "why Funky Kong?" is A) they needed a big character for MKWii and B) they had a DK model ready to go that works with karts and bikes, Funky has the same proportions, should be easy enough to build off of him. Don't think it was a joke so much it was the easy choice that filled the right niche at the right time. Mario Kart Wii didn't need more middleweights, all of them were reused from Double Dash!!, so that rules out Dixie, since she;'s the same size as the middleweight Diddy, and the other, larger DK cast was probably not as easy to use in comparison.

Then after that? I guess priorities changed. Diddy wasn't even in 7 or 8, let alone the others, so...

Yeah, I get why it likely happened in Mario Kart Wii aside from the bike stuff, including his similarities to Donkey Kong making him easy to add plus the fact that he was a heavy character, but the circumstances are different now, so there’s really no good reason to bring him back in MK8D over Dixie Kong (or Diddy Kong, but we all know he’s gonna get in). In MK8D, we actually need more medium-weights than heavy-weights right now, and porting either over from Tour shouldn’t be much different in terms of difficulty and resources required.

Also, while I know Funky was the easier option and fit with bikes more, they could have gone with K. Rool as another heavy character for Mario Kart Wii and things would have been so much better…

 

[Thunder84]

who was just an NPC who didn’t have a playable role in non-spin-offs until Tropical Freeze’s Switch port—and that likely only even happened due to his popularity skyrocketing thanks to his inclusion in Mario Kart Wii.

I know they’re all extended Mario universe characters, but why have a relatively minor DK NPC like Funky in before Dixie, Cranky, K. Rool, etc.? It’s just bizarre.

This is kinda contradictory, no? It doesn't really matter what Funky Kong's status was however many years ago. As of right now, he's one of the big faces of the Donkey Kong franchise, and has arguably the strongest ties to Mario Kart besides Donkey Kong himself with how popular he was in Wii. He was an NPC when Wii came out, but now he's a playable character, right up there with the other Kongs. I don't think he's any less important than Dixie or Cranky given the current state of the DK franchise, and he's definitely way more relevant than K. Rool. Given that he's a huge Mario Kart fan favorite, I'd say he makes more sense as an addition than Dixie, at least as of right now.

 

[MondoMega]

I'd throw Funky into the guaranteed pile alongside Diddy, Pauline and Petey. The Booster Course Pass has been revelling in Wii content; it'll have the largest selection of tracks sans Tour and 8's originals; and Birdo, Diddy and Funky were the three Wii veterans that didn't make the cut in 8 Deluxe. Looking around online Funky seems to be the most demanded addition now that new characters are on the table, and i'm pretty confident Nintendo will have anticipated that response.

The last character could go so many ways though. Kamek was cut from 64 and vanilla 8 so out of anyone I think he deserves a shot; Hammer Bro would come with the other Bros as alts for a distinct gimmick; King Bob-omb and Chargin' Chuck made it into Mario Golf so maybe they have a shot here; you could keep going with just about any of the characters Tour has available (or even the ones we know are coming down the pipeline like Luma). I don't think it'll be a guest character though; Tour has been avoiding crossover content thus far and I don't anticipate that'll change. It'll look weird and wrong and we'll just have to deal with it.

---

Mostly unrelated; does anyone know what the character select looks like if you don't own the Booster Course Pass? Curious to see it.

 

[Deleted member 2]

So they still haven't added the ability to switch items.

Why would they?

 

[Clov]

Thanks to @Josh5890, we have the Wave 4 poll up now! Pick and choose your favorite course. I expect a massive landslide for Yoshi's Island!

As for the Wave 3 poll...

Unsurprisingly, 3DS Rainbow Road won in a landslide!

Boo Lake was robbed!

 

[Tye]

This is kinda contradictory, no? It doesn't really matter what Funky Kong's status was however many years ago. As of right now, he's one of the big faces of the Donkey Kong franchise, and has arguably the strongest ties to Mario Kart besides Donkey Kong himself with how popular he was in Wii. He was an NPC when Wii came out, but now he's a playable character, right up there with the other Kongs. I don't think he's any less important than Dixie or Cranky given the current state of the DK franchise, and he's definitely way more relevant than K. Rool. Given that he's a huge Mario Kart fan favorite, I'd say he makes more sense as an addition than Dixie, at least as of right now.

He may be popular now, but he’s absolutely not more important to the Donkey Kong series than characters like Dixie Kong or King K. Rool… I guess it all depends on how important that is to the Mario Kart developers, though. Personally, it would be bizarre to me for them to add Funky over Dixie, especially when they made a big deal about Dixie being added to Tour.

 

[Neverx]

BTW do the two upward facing piranha plants do anything on Waluigi Stadium? I don’t see how they can hit anyone, not sure why they changed it from the GCN and Wii versions

 

[VolcanicDynamo]

Boo Lake was robbed!

Boo Lake was a pretty great course, yeah. The track I was surprised the most by in Wave 3, in a good way, Love the song that it came with, too!

 

[Jahranimo]

Yep, just played Mario Circuit.

Yesssss thanks, gonna hop back in soon.

 

[xghost777]

I said it in the other thread, but I think we get Pauline and Petey for Wave 5 (the latter for Piranha Plant Cove) and then in Wave 6 we get Diddy, Dixie, and Funky alongside the new DK course. All three characters are popular and Nintendo is seemingly bringing back DK in a big way with the movie, theme parks, merch, and a new game.

 

[Phendrift]

Finally was able to play, first impressions are I feel like this is the most unbalanced wave.

Half are bangers (Waluigi, DK, Singapore, Yoshi's Island) but the other 3 made very little impression on me and I got lost in Bangkok due to signage issues. I feel the other waves had a bunch of good to decent tracks with one or two clear winners, while this yo-yos up and down.

I feel like it is not talked about enough how disorienting the city tracks can be with their changing laps and routes.

I feel scared to bring it up because I haven’t seen anyone else lol.

 

[VolcanicDynamo]

I feel like it is not talked about enough how disorienting the city tracks can be with their changing laps and routes lol

I feel scared to bring it up because I haven’t seen anyone else

You're not wrong. I still remember playing Paris the first time and having such a hard time wrapping my head around it and making wrong turns because of the switching. I think some of the later tracks have been better, but I haven't gotten a chance to play Wave 4 yet (late work day!).

 

[Phendrift]

He may be popular now, but he’s absolutely not more important to the Donkey Kong series than characters like Dixie Kong or King K. Rool… I guess it all depends on how important that is to the Mario Kart developers, though. Personally, it would be bizarre to me for them to add Funky over Dixie, especially when they made a big deal about Dixie being added to Tour.

I feel Funky is more important in going towards an “everyone is here” route for MK8D alongside Birdo, Diddy and Petey. That there would cover MKDD’s and MKW’s entire rosters (except Paratroopa which… lol)

Dixie can be a selling point for the next MK.

 

[Thunder84]

It is interesting how the two city tracks Nintendo's held onto for the longest will both have the simplest routing. Vancouver should only have minimal route overlap, while Los Angeles shouldn't really have any at all.

You'd think those would be prioritized to ease people into the changing routes, but instead they're the last two left.

 

[Phendrift]

I said it in the other thread, but I think we get Pauline and Petey for Wave 5 (the latter for Piranha Plant Cove) and then in Wave 6 we get Diddy, Dixie, and Funky alongside the new DK course. All three characters are popular and Nintendo is seemingly bringing back DK in a big way with the movie, theme parks, merch, and a new game.

Is there any chance PPC is saved for Wave 6?

I was thinking next wave could be the DK focused one with the new DK track and only add Diddy and Funky (I’d love Dixie but I could see Nintendo 3 Kongs/6 characters feels like a lot).

Then PPC for wave 6 with Petey alongside two others.

 

[psilex]

I feel like it is not talked about enough how disorienting the city tracks can be with their changing laps and routes lol

I feel scared to bring it up because I haven’t seen anyone else

I always have a problem with the arrow signs. It's like my brain takes a second longer to process it compared to a regular wall ahead of me.

 

[Thunder84]

I was on team Piranha Plant Cove for wave 5, but I'm gonna shift gears and say wave 5 is the DK blowout. Diddy, Funky, and a Donkey Kong Country themed track. Also swapping out DK Mountain for Daisy Cruiser for obvious reasons.

 

[xghost777]

Is there any chance PPC is saved for Wave 6?

I was thinking next wave could be the DK focused one with the new DK track and only add Diddy and Funky (I’d love Dixie but I could see Nintendo 3 Kongs/6 characters feels like a lot).

Then PPC for wave 6 with Petey alongside two others.

I mainly picked Wave 5 for Piranha Plant Cove since it’s the only new track available now. It still has another route to be added, but personal speculation here, I imagine that’s done ahead of time and they just choose when to release it.

I’m also thinking DK Mountain is in Wave 5 so while the big DK character drop makes sense to me it isn’t like a hard thing either.

 

[Phendrift]

I was on team Piranha Plant Cove for wave 5, but I'm gonna shift gears and say wave 5 is the DK blowout. Diddy, Funky, and a Donkey Kong Country themed track. Also swapping out DK Mountain for Daisy Cruiser for obvious reasons.

Yeah I think it makes sense like that.

Wave 5 will only have one new course like wave 4. So I expect that, like with Yoshi’s Island, it’ll be something that hasn’t come to Tour yet so it’ll be brand new and create buzz. DKC track makes perfect sense

Wave 6 will have THREE new non-city courses, so PPC will be one alongside another brand new buzz-creating one. Maybe NDC with Pauline.

 

[Phendrift]

Man could you imagine Wave 6 having a New Donk City course and Pauline along with 2 other characters as well as Wii Rainbow Road. What a way to go out with a bang lol

 

[Tye]

I feel Funky is more important in going towards an “everyone is here” route for MK8D alongside Birdo, Diddy and Petey. That there would cover MKDD’s and MKW’s entire rosters (except Paratroopa which… lol)

Dixie can be a selling point for the next MK.

Why? Dixie Kong is also a Mario Kart character as of Tour (which is where we’re getting all this DLC content from in the first place), so why is she any less important to have than Funky Kong? And it’s not going to be an “Everyone is here!” thing anyway, because we’re only getting six more characters. Dixie’s just as valid as Funky for MK8D DLC, plus she’s a medium-weight character which we need more of in MK8D than heavy-weight characters right now (and we’re almost certainly getting Petey Piranha as a heavy-weight, anyway), plus she’s a female character which is always nice to have more of (I’m genuinely shocked that more people on here aren’t rooting for her over Funky for that reason alone, given how representation-focused roster discussion tends to get for other games), so why not? Never mind the fact that she’s a more important character to the Donkey Kong series with more main character, playable roles than Funky.

As for completing Mario Kart Wii’s roster…why does that matter? We’re not gonna get the rosters of any other Mario Kart game (whose rosters aren’t already all in MK8D) completed—like you said, no Paratroopa from Double Dash!!, plus we won’t get R.O.B. from DS, or Wiggler and Honey Queen from 7, or DK Jr. from Super, and certainly not all the new characters from Tour, so…why does having all of Mario Kart Wii’s characters matter? Why should that take priority over getting some characters from Tour? And why wait for the next Mario Kart when those characters would make perfect sense to include now? It’s not like there won’t be other characters that can be added for the next Mario Kart—not only other characters from Tour, but brand new characters as well. There’s no point in them holding back adding characters from Tour, especially when the entire Booster Course Pass is literally all about bringing over content from Tour…

 

[Boyfriend]

initial placement thoughts, i think this is a pretty good wave overall. might actually be my favorite so far

S
Bangkok Rush - This course is just so vibrant and you cover so much different every lap as you weave in and out of segments from the other laps, love it.
Waluigi Stadium - I've never much cared for this track or halfpipes in general, but the new antigrav sections that you get to by utilizing them well elevates all of it, plus it just looks damn good

A
Yoshi's Island - It's a pretty basic course when all's said and done, but it's thematically excellent and it's a lot of fun to zip around
Riverside Park - It's still a far cry from Ribbon Road or Cheese Land but this is the first GBA course to feel like it's attempting to reach those highs again. The Ptooeys are a nice new touch and weaving around them makes for a fun change of pace
Mario Circuit - simple, but tons of fun to drive on. the returning fire plants keep the early part of the track a little more engaging which is nice, and the new forest section is at least a visual pleaser. wish the wiggler was active before the third lap though, the back section isn't much but drifts in the first two laps.
Singapore Speedway - i'm still feeling this one out. it's a basic point to point, but might be the most aesthetically pleasing city course overall. All the sections are nice enough, but it never does anything exciting like Bangkok is constantly throwing at you for all 3 laps

B
DK Summit - I don't really like halfpipes and this course is all halfpipes. It's fine, though.
Amsterdam Drift - a little too simple to drive on compared to the other city courses, kind of wish they kept the branching paths in the canals section, but the reverse section is pretty neat.

 

[Phendrift]

Why? Dixie Kong is also a Mario Kart character as of Tour (which is where we’re getting all this DLC content from in the first place), so why is she any less important to have than Funky Kong? And it’s not going to be an “Everyone is here!” thing anyway, because we’re only getting six more characters. Dixie’s just as valid as Funky for MK8D DLC, plus she’s a medium-weight character which we need more of in MK8D than heavy-weight characters right now (and we’re almost certainly getting Petey Piranha as a heavy-weight, anyway), plus she’s a female character which is always nice to have more of (I’m genuinely shocked that more people on here aren’t rooting for her over Funky for that reason alone, given how representation-focused roster discussion tends to get for other games), so why not? Never mind the fact that she’s a more important character to the Donkey Kong series with more main character, playable roles than Funky.

As for completing Mario Kart Wii’s roster…why does that matter? We’re not gonna get the rosters of any other Mario Kart game (whose rosters aren’t already all in MK8D) completed—like you said, no Paratroopa from Double Dash!!, plus we won’t get R.O.B. from DS, or Wiggler and Honey Queen from 7, or DK Jr. from Super, and certainly not all the new characters from Tour, so…why does having all of Mario Kart Wii’s characters matter? Why should that take priority over getting some characters from Tour? And why wait for the next Mario Kart when those characters would make perfect sense to include now? It’s not like there won’t be other characters that can be added for the next Mario Kart—not only other characters from Tour, but brand new characters as well. There’s no point in them holding back adding characters from Tour, especially when the entire Booster Course Pass is literally all about bringing over content from Tour…

I mean I’m not necessarily rooting for her over Funky, I’m just trying to think of what Nintendo would prioritize. I’d prefer Dixie over him too.

Yes the BCP is about preserving Tour courses, but it’s also about how convenient it is to bring content from tour.

I’m more than happy to be wrong - but as of now we only have one selection to go off of. And Birdo + the statement of “bringing back characters from past Mario kart games” makes me think that their mindset with the character selection is “hey, we brought back pretty much every past Mario Kart veteran for Tour, why don’t port to 8 the ones who missed the boat when it first came out?” moreso than “let’s bring Tour’s newcomers in!”

As cool as it is that we’re actually getting characters, it wasn’t the focus of the BCP and it feels like this might just be a case of them seeing the opportunity “correct” who was left out of 8 originally. And Funky IS a fan favorite whether you want to admit it or not.

Like I said I could see one Tour newcomer in - but I think it’d be Pauline who was there from the start. I really do think the focus is on the older vets. Based on Birdo’s selection instead of them going for a more exciting Tour newcomer.

 

[Miles.]

Need more time with the other courses before ranking but Yoshi's Island is spectacular. Top 3 in the BCP for me with RR and MT. Looks amazing, plays great, stellar music with the unique sounds, and the nostalgia is off the charts. By far the best Tour course so far.

 

[MondoMega]

I guess having plenty of experience with Tour gives me a leg up on the city tracks. Haven't had much of an issue with them outside of the initial playthroughs sometimes (London and Berlin both threw me for a loop last wave, but this time I didn't have trouble with any of them).

It is interesting how the two city tracks Nintendo's held onto for the longest will both have the simplest routing. Vancouver should only have minimal route overlap, while Los Angeles shouldn't really have any at all.

You'd think those would be prioritized to ease people into the changing routes, but instead they're the last two left.

Los Angeles will be a full section track which makes it very distinct from the other cities. Vancouver could be made complicated if they wanted to try and fit in VV2N instead of resorting to the R route; there's a few unused roads in Tour so we'll have to see on that one. I'm pretty sure saving Vancouver for Wave 6 mostly comes down to VV1 becoming the immediate fan favourite city route in Tour's early life though; have to save the best for last.

 

[Deformed_Lunchbox]

These tracks are so good.
I actually love the Tour tracks. Something about the changing laps makes it hard for me to memorize and turn into muscle memory, so they always feel really fresh to me.

Also, is it just me, or is it faster to ALWAYS avoid half pipes? I avoid it in Maple Treeway and always squeak an advantage.

 

[Boyfriend]

These tracks are so good.
I actually love the Tour tracks. Something about the changing laps makes it hard for me to memorize and turn into muscle memory, so they always feel really fresh to me.

Also, is it just me, or is it faster to ALWAYS avoid half pipes? I avoid it in Maple Treeway and always squeak an advantage.

it's is always slower to take a halfpipe to do a full turn, but on a straight section hitting them at the correct angle and doing a trick is faster than staying on the course

but they also tend to put coins and item boxes above a halfpipe jump so there's always the possibility of reward

 

[xghost777]

I’ve played each new course at least four times so I’m ready to share some initial impressions:

Amsterdam - I like this one a lot. It breaks free of my usual city expectations by now with a drive through the countryside and flower fields and features both hang gliding and underwater segments. The underwater segment is great btw with a lot of up and down movement opportunities. My favorite part though beside the theme variety are a couple of super gnarly turns possible.

Riverside Park - Wow this one looks good. The layout is simple, but it still feels good. I like that the walking Piranha Plants are carrying items which demands a little extra attention to them and the floor.

DK Summit - Love this is finally here! I’m still getting used to this one as I’ve actually fallen down the cliffside a few times since parts of the track are quite narrow. Feels like mastering the half pipes here is more interesting than the Wii version which is exciting. Great course!

Yoshi’s Island - This looks, feels, and sounds incredible. Lots of fun details throughout the course including some small stuff like the Piranhas making the noise from the original game and the potted plants being in the castle section. The ? Cloud being tough to grab is cool and I love the energetic course clear theme lol. Verticality is fun!

Bangkok Rush - This one looked cool from Tour videos I saw so I was most eager to check this one. Rush is a good name for this course with a lot of obstacles and gnarly turns spread throughout. I’m looking forward to mastering this one.

Mario Circuit - I was disappointed this wasn’t Airship Fortress and it is our fourth(!) Mario Circuit, but this is one of those quietly very good courses. The turns are fun, I love they made it less flat, and I’m very glad they added the forest section for some good visual variety. Ultimately happy here. Also best pleasant surprise of the pass was that the Wiggler wakes up for lap 3 (or earlier if you camp out and watch him lol).

Waluigi Stadium - So glad to have this back and it was definitely worth the wait! It’s a very fun course already and I love the new half pipe platforms. They feel so cool to access!

Singapore Speedway - Bangkok is very cool, but I think Singapore edges it out as my favorite city track this wave. It’s really colorful and has tons of interesting details. I love that they brought in the life preserver goombas and the turns just feel very good throughout. What a great finale!

So yeah I’m digging Wave 4 a lot. Like Wave 3 before it, no duds at all here. While I’m disappointed we didn’t get an extra surprise like the last two waves, I’m grateful we can see five more characters are on the way. Seeing Birdo join some races is a breath of fresh air after years of a static roster.

 

[Skipper93653]

The time trial scene is VERY upset about the balance changes

 

[xghost777]

The time trial scene is VERY upset about the balance changes

Are karts slower or faster overall? I’m just kind of curious where it breaks apart since the thread didn’t go into details.

 

[Skipper93653]

Are karts slower or faster overall? I’m just kind of curious where it breaks apart since the thread didn’t go into details.

Read this thread for all stat changes

 

[bixente]

Finally was able to play, first impressions are I feel like this is the most unbalanced wave.

Half are bangers (Waluigi, DK, Singapore, Yoshi's Island) but the other 3 made very little impression on me and I got lost in Bangkok due to signage issues. I feel the other waves had a bunch of good to decent tracks with one or two clear winners, while this yo-yos up and down.

Mario Circuit is a banger imo.

I’ve played each new course at least four times so I’m ready to share some initial impressions:

Amsterdam - I like this one a lot. It breaks free of my usual city expectations by now with a drive through the countryside and flower fields and features both hang gliding and underwater segments. The underwater segment is great btw with a lot of up and down movement opportunities. My favorite part though beside the theme variety are a couple of super gnarly turns possible.

Riverside Park - Wow this one looks good. The layout is simple, but it still feels good. I like that the walking Piranha Plants are carrying items which demands a little extra attention to them and the floor.

DK Summit - Love this is finally here! I’m still getting used to this one as I’ve actually fallen down the cliffside a few times since parts of the track are quite narrow. Feels like mastering the half pipes here is more interesting than the Wii version which is exciting. Great course!

Yoshi’s Island - This looks, feels, and sounds incredible. Lots of fun details throughout the course including some small stuff like the Piranhas making the noise from the original game and the potted plants being in the castle section. The ? Cloud being tough to grab is cool and I love the energetic course clear theme lol. Verticality is fun!

Bangkok Rush - This one looked cool from Tour videos I saw so I was most eager to check this one. Rush is a good name for this course with a lot of obstacles and gnarly turns spread throughout. I’m looking forward to mastering this one.

Mario Circuit - I was disappointed this wasn’t Airship Fortress and it is our fourth(!) Mario Circuit, but this is one of those quietly very good courses. The turns are fun, I love they made it less flat, and I’m very glad they added the forest section for some good visual variety. Ultimately happy here. Also best pleasant surprise of the pass was that the Wiggler wakes up for lap 3 (or earlier if you camp out and watch him lol).

Waluigi Stadium - So glad to have this back and it was definitely worth the wait! It’s a very fun course already and I love the new half pipe platforms. They feel so cool to access!

Singapore Speedway - Bangkok is very cool, but I think Singapore edges it out as my favorite city track this wave. It’s really colorful and has tons of interesting details. I love that they brought in the life preserver goombas and the turns just feel very good throughout. What a great finale!

So yeah I’m digging Wave 4 a lot. Like Wave 3 before it, no duds at all here. While I’m disappointed we didn’t get an extra surprise like the last two waves, I’m grateful we can see five more characters are on the way. Seeing Birdo join some races is a breath of fresh air after years of a static roster.

I agree with this pretty much. Though I prefer Bangkok to Singapore.

 

[Dr_Phishshoe]

The time trial scene is VERY upset about the balance changes

Maybe im just completely oblivious , but in what way is this different than in a normal game discovering a new glitch/segment skip that turns the whole routing inside out.

Yes you have to start over and the former champs may never reach their previous highs, but ...idk everybody gets the same set of new cards...


Edit: from what i saw on twitter many characters, car parts got a speed/mini turbo upgrade?

So? This makes me even more not understanding the rage. More viable characters and parts in my eyes.

 

[Jahranimo]

Damn that sucks, I like to watch the MK8D Time Trials youtube channel off and on.

Why would Nintendo do this?

 

[Skipper93653]

Maybe im just completely oblivious , but in what way is this different than in a normal game discovering a new glitch/segment skip that turns the whole routing inside out.

Yes you have to start over and the former champs may never reach their previous highs, but ...idk everybody gets the same set of new cards...

I agree, I think it's a bit of an overreaction but I do kinda get where they're coming from.

 

[Skipper93653]

Damn that sucks, I like to watch the MK8D Time Trials youtube channel off and on.

Why would Nintendo do this?

They did it to combat the meta by buffing everything but the meta.

 

[xghost777]

Read this thread for all stat changes

This sounds more like giving other characters a chance which I don’t think is a bad thing. I play as Rosalina and she got a .25 point speed boost which is neat I guess.

This kind of reminds me of Smash Bros where Nintendo mostly designs / balances around the majority of casual players rather than the most passionate. I get the disappointment though in that Mario Kart was a static game for years and is suddenly getting subtle, but profound tweaks again since the BCP which is a unique situation for the franchise only Mario Kart 8 has encountered. Not for Time Trials, but the item block rebalance dramatically changed the game where you can’t deny people double items blocks meaningfully any more for example which is still disappointing to me.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Damn that sucks, I like to watch the MK8D Time Trials youtube channel off and on.

Why would Nintendo do this?

Because there was an unacceptable gap in performance for specific sets, so they increased everything else to close the gap.

Quite bluntly, why would I care what the few thousand people actively playing at the WR level have to say about being upset about this? Improving the game for the rest of the fifty million players that have bought the game outstrips whatever imagined rights they thought they had to keep their precious previous WR times by so many orders of magnitude.

 

[Molluck1]

I really didn't know what would be more likely between a new row and the costume fusion, it's finally a new column. I wouldn't have bet on it, there's going to be an intruder on the Koopalings row, and the Mii is no longer in a corner.
Sadly, no costume fusion probably means no new costumes to come.

My bet is :
Wave 5 :

• Diddy Kong
• Kamek

Wave 6 :

• Funky Kong
• Petey Piranha
• Pauline

That would make a lot of sense. For wave 5, a missing recurring character like in wave 4 + a brand new character for a console opus.
Then for wave 6, the two most requested fan favorites + Pauline who is very popular and is also brand new. A perfect finish.

My only hesitation is for Kamek. I think Hammer Bro has a good chance too because it is several characters in one with its skins.
I also think they could do something a little special for the last row since it's a special row, even if they don't seem to care much about the coherence of the roster. In this case, a Mario (SNES) has a chance too, after all they served us a Mario as soon as they had the chance (Tanooki Mario for the Wii U DLC, Golden Mario for the Deluxe version), and it is really original so it could have a place on this special line. But again, I don't think they consider the lines, but it's important to consider all possibilities.
I stay on Kamek, by instinct.