Mario Kart 8 Deluxe significantly raised the bar for a future Mario Kart 9

With the introduction of the last Content Packthe Additional Routes Pass of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – and, barring any sensational twists, this will also be the final act of the game, at least in terms of new content.

Originally released on Wii U in 2014, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has had an extremely long life cycle, due to the failure and abandonment of the Wii U and the runaway success of the Nintendo Switch; NO Mario Kart had never received significant post-launch support before, let alone such an amount of content that made the game special The Mario Kart greatest of all time, of very large size.

We therefore want to use this moment to analyze and evaluate the additional pass routes in their entirety the arrival point of Mario Kart 8 Deluxeand what his legacy will be for the future Mario Kart 9.

The breakthrough of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

We want to get started our analysis of the Additional Routes Pass. For those who don’t know, this is additional content that can be purchased separately or as a bonus to the Nintendo Switch Online + Add-on Pack subscription (which you can find here). on Amazon), which he brought with him 48 new routes At Mario Kart 8 Deluxealong with some new drivers.

The new tracks were released in several waves between 2022 and 2023 – and now that the last wave, the sixth, has been released, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe can boast the impressive number of 96 routes in his offer.

This is an unprecedented figure for the series and until two years ago no one would have bet on this breakthrough in the game. Mario Kart 8 DeluxeAfter all, it already included the DLC released for the original Wii U version, and since it was released on Nintendo Switch in 2017, no one would have expected new content after five years of silence.

However, Nintendo surprised us, probably also due to the resounding success of the Switch and the resulting temporal distancing of a future Switch 2 and its hypothesis Mario Kart 9.

In fact, it is clear that it was the Content Pass add-on created by a secondary teampossibly consisting of younger developers who have had the opportunity to gain experience with the franchise, while the veterans are most likely already working on the next installment.

This was particularly evident in the first wave of the pass, which presented titles that were significantly subpar compared to the base game from both a technical and design perspective. Fortunately, Things have already gotten better with the second wave of contentand the average level of the slopes has increased significantly.

Almost all of the routes on the pass are replicas of old routes. mostly comes out Mario Kart Tour or from other episodes of the past. If there is little to say about the new titles and the remakes of the old main episodes, it is worth saying a few more words about the treatment of Mario Kart Tour.

Paradoxically, you specify the slopes Mario Kart Tour made a revamped Nintendo Switch All of their flaws are much more obvious. Most of these titles chronically lack personality, a result of settings inspired by the real world rather than Nintendo franchises dissonance it can be seen much more clearly inside Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

These tracks also reveal themselves from a design perspective very limited, because they were obviously designed for a completely different type of game and audience. Most of the titles come from Mario Kart TourTherefore, it is rather simple and difficult for him to suggest interesting ideas.

To be clear, they are still enjoyable to play, the difference in level from the other tracks in the game is simply obvious, with one or two exceptions.

One of the most interesting aspects of these transpositions of Mario Kart Tour It’s the fact that Nintendo tried Keep the different versions of each title alive. In the mobile game, each route actually had variations with slightly different paths; The thing obviously hasn’t been replicated here, but each route is changed each round to allow for exploration of different areas of the map, honoring the different original versions.

Aside from that, that’s why we appreciated the inclusion of the slopes Mario Kart Tour And its importance for the preservation of the game. With the end of support announcement, we also know that Mario Kart Tour will most likely be removed from stores sooner or later. Maybe it’s a distant future, sure, but we know the time will come.

Introducing these leads into Mario Kart 8 Deluxewe now know that the content legacy of Mario Kart Tour it will not be lost. Sure, they won’t be the best tracks ever featured in the series, but it’s still nice to know The developers’ work remains foreverwithin the best game in the franchise to date.

Go beyond the question Mario Kart Tourthe other leads were further enriched Mario Kart 8 Deluxejust do it the richest and most complete episode ever. Of course, there are still some things missing: we are not facing the equivalent of Super Smash Bros Ultimate.

At the same time, however, several fan-favorite tracks have been added, such as Waluigi Pinball and Maple Treeway, which shine here more than ever, not to mention the Wii and 3DS Rainbow tracks, arguably the best versions of this legendary circuit.

In short, after a somewhat slow start, there is the additional pass (found in the physical version). on Amazon) He succeeded Show off your muscleswhich brings titles to the table that can compete in quality with those of the base game, even though most of them are “just” remakes.

All is well: but what happens now?

The legacy for Mario Kart 9

Nine years after its original launch It’s finally time to open the curtain Mario Kart 8. Further twists and turns seem really unlikely at the moment: the Nintendo Switch is entering its eighth year of life and in all likelihood we are close to the start of the next Nintendo console.
And a new console will traditionally mean a papabile Mario Kart 9, Given that the series is one of Nintendo’s best system sellers.

More than ever in the past, for the future Mario Kart 9 it will be a task It’s a big challenge to step out of the annoying shadow of its predecessor. We’re talking about a game that, at this point, has at least ten years under its belt as the main title in the series, in addition to the impressive number of titles within it.

None so far Mario Kart It had had such a long lifespan, and that certainly made the transition from one chapter to the next easier, as each new release was perceived as a natural progression of the series.

On the one hand, in all likelihood Mario Kart 9 will answer a big question: After all, millions of players have been playing the same game for years, with the same physics, the same mechanics and even the same tracks for a long time, so the need for a new episode is certainly felt.

On the other hand, however Mario Kart 9 He will also have to try a little harder than his predecessors. It will be difficult for players to unconditionally accept a title that returns to the classic 32 titles after a 96-title chapter, just as it will be difficult to witness another realignment of the driver roster.

Of course we don’t expect any Mario Kart Ultimate (Including all the tracks and bringing them to the same level of quality would take years of work) but at the same time that cannot be denied Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has raised the baris this Mario Kart 9 he will not be able to ignore this fact.

Fortunately, having brought a good portion of the past titles to the Switch will be worth it They can be easily adapted to the hardware of a future Switch 2, making at least some of the available routes more accessible for the future episode. In short: if previously for a remake of a title it was necessary to work practically from scratch (think of the remakes of the titles of the chapters released for Game Boy or DS), here the developers will find ready-made and much more current bases to work on something.

Another aspect that is difficult to come back to is this Post-launch support. Thereafter Mario Kart 8 After supporting the company for almost a decade in total, it’s hard to imagine going back to the old formula where an episode was considered finished and complete as soon as it hit the market.

Fortunately, the heavy legacy of Mario Kart 8 It also leaves several ideas on aspects that need improvement. The online multiplayer could be made more varied and appealingthat goes beyond the current more basic structure; the battlesWhile they’re improved over the original Wii U version, they’re still not nearly as fun as before Double dash. And despite the return of many pilots, it is still not possible to play as ROB

In summary, There is still room for improvement to the formula. Although, to be honest, e.g Mario Kart 9 We once again trust Nintendo’s ability to amaze us. renew something that now seems to have reached its peak. With Mario Kart 8 it was the addition of antigravity, something no one would have ever thought of for a new episode; We hope to be speechless once again when things get going again.