Mario Kart (Series) | Question

[Moonface]

I've never played it mostly because I just doubt it feels good to play any racing game purely with a touch screen.

For anyone curious to see some of the new tracks in the first pack that comes out tomorrow, some regions got it early and put up some footage:

If you don't want to watch any of it so as to go in 100% blind, I can say that none of the videos feature any anti-gravity, and so I expect none of the tracks will since this is 4/8 of them. However, the two from Tour are incredibly good and complex even with the lack of anti-gravity so at least the exclusion of the mechanic hasn't harmed the track quality at all by the look of it.

[Mr EliteL]

Watched the Coconut Mall one as I know what that track was like in MKWii, and yup looking good even without any anti-gravity. Not bothered by it, as the other three as you say don't either, it's OK with me. I won't be buying this right away, will wait for a bit or however long. Could've sworn the cars at the end before the finish line moved originally but I might be remembering wrong.

[Moonface]

If it got ported from Tour maybe the cars don't move because it's too much to process in that game due to being on mobile? I guess an easy way to tell would be if any other tracks lack moving objects.

[Moonface]

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass Wave 2
The second wave of courses for the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass have been revealed, and are as follows:

• *NEW* Sky-High Sundae
  
• N64 Kalimari Desert
  
• SNES Mario Circuit 3
  
• Wii Mushroom Gorge
  
• Tour Sydney Sprint
  
• DS Waluigi Pinball
  
• GBA Snow Land
  
• Tour New York Minute
  

The second wave of course will be released on August 4th.

[Karo]

To be honest I'm always happy to see a new N64 course being brought back to the game those courses are so very classic to me. XD

[Moonface]

To be honest I'm always happy to see a new N64 course being brought back to the game those courses are so very classic to me. XD

Do you have MK8D Karo? Or any plans to ever get it if you don't?

[Mr EliteL]

I suppose it's been half a year since the first wave, so the second being here now is cool. Still haven't bought the Pass or played MK8D...should really. Ah, no GC course but a new one instead. Uhh...would rather have a Tour be omitted here, or perhaps they'll omit one track from one past game each Wave.

[Moonface]

I suppose it's been half a year since the first wave, so the second being here now is cool. Still haven't bought the Pass or played MK8D...should really. Ah, no GC course but a new one instead. Uhh...would rather have a Tour be omitted here, or perhaps they'll omit one track from one past game each Wave.

I forget if MK8D let's you do private lobbies online but if it does we should set up a session to play online. If anyone else here is interested in that then do tell!
I don't have the pass yet, but I might consider it if a community night happens since only one person has to own the DLC for everyone else in the lobby to play it.

Speaking of the pass, Coconut Mall from the first wave got updated:

If you're like me and wasn't sure what changed, the Shy Guy cars on the final part of the track now perform donuts every so often instead of just being parked stationary at the side of the road.

[Mr EliteL]

Looks like there is private rooms for friends online. I'd be interested in playing, need shake the rust off though. Haven't played in so long now. Should be worldwide as MKWii was at least. Pretty neat if it requires just one to own the DLC to play them, I'll still buy it though whenever I do.

Ah thought the track got an update via patch as if there was something wrong with it, but just obstacle being changed slightly to make it more of a danger, nice.

[Moonface]

Should be worldwide as MKWii was at least. Pretty neat if it requires just one to own the DLC to play them, I'll still buy it though whenever I do.

Having seen Barb playing MK8D on Twitch recently with viewers private lobbies are worldwide, but just require the host having everyone in their friends list so they can be invited. The host is the one who must own the DLC for everyone to play on it too.

I just watched this video by Digital Foundry highlighting the quality difference between MK8D's tracks and the tracks of the Booster Pack:



I've always known the quality difference was notable, but this video is good to see some of the more subtle differences or just get some good comparison shots. For roughly 50 cents a track I'm not surprised by the differences the video shows, but I wish we were able to get the tracks at the quality of MK8D because they would look so insanely good. Maybe we'll get lucky and some of them will go to MK9 with the changes needed to bring them closer to the rest of the track lineup that game will have.

[Mr EliteL]

It's a shame the quality is sub-par but it is ton of tracks being added so I'm not surprised by it quite frankly. Not sure if I'll be too bothered when I do get to play on the Booster tracks, yes it will be noticeable but should be able to get by. Would mean I'd enjoy the original tracks Deluxe released with a bit more I guess. Would matching quality but less tracks have been more suitable? Perhaps, but they've gone this route instead to give that much more life back into MK8D.

[Moonface]

I think even if the visual quality matched there would still be issues with the Tour exclusive tracks because they were designed for one hand touch screen controls on mobile, which means they're incredibly wide and don't seem to feature turns that are as difficult as the rest of the tracks, regardless of whether they're base game or DLC.
Of course that would be really minor if every other issue the video mentions was resolved, but the overall effort makes more sense to put into MK9 and there's probably a skeleton crew doing these DLC tracks anyway, which tends to be quite common with games getting DLC a while after release when the same studio is obviously working on something new at the same time. I know Uncharted 3 was running on something like less than a dozen people when it was just getting cosmetic DLC and those experimental maps that featured no texture work.

[ShiraNoMai]

MK9 is vaporware at this point. I hope they're using that team to make something beyond the realm of just a standard Mario Kart but who knows. We've already passed the 8 year mark with MK8 this past May. How much longer?

The courses, while obviously lower quality, are still fun in that "here's a different thing to play on because I've already exhausted the rest of the them 100x over" way. Their wider girth I actually sometimes find to be a little too hard to read directionally sometimes? Like I won't know where I'm going in certain courses cuz there's too much of a wide path for me to recognize where they want to naturally lead the player down to the next bend/corridor/whatever.

[Moonface]

MK9 is vaporware at this point. I hope they're using that team to make something beyond the realm of just a standard Mario Kart but who knows. We've already passed the 8 year mark with MK8 this past May. How much longer?

I expect MK9 is just being saved for the successor to the Switch. There's no incentive for Nintendo to make a new entry on Switch when MK8D is still one of the top selling games on the platform and is clearly why the game is getting all this DLC into the end of 2023 instead of a new entry.

Their wider girth I actually sometimes find to be a little too hard to read directionally sometimes?

You heard it here folks, Shira doesn't like that wide girth.

[Mr EliteL]

Yeah there was Tour and the...home version, what's it called again since MK8. I know they're not main instalments and going beyond 8 years for the next when 7 and the initial 8 were only 1 year apart is looking too long. Wii was '08 meaning it was 3 years until 7. Before that was DS in '05, DD in '03. So from DD it's 2, 3, 3, 1, then now 8+. If Deluxe is included it's another 3 year gap then 5+. There's got to be something surely coming after DLC courses. Not right after, but perhaps that's to keep MK8 alive for however long before MK9 is finally about on the next console as MKs tend to release towards the beginning of a new Nintendo console's life. Huh wait, so DD-8 9 years so we'll be looking at 9 years for MK9. Wow, 5 games in the first 9, possibly 1 in the next 9, damn games are so lasting way longer now.