Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: DLC wave 3 in the test – again only mediocre …

You can finally breathe deeply, dear Mario Kart fans, because Nintendo has pity on you: As announced some time ago, there will be another one in time for Christmas fresh stretches for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch as part of the so-called Booster Track Pass! That means you’ll be there in time for wintry holidays and family visits Slope replenishment in the most successful Mario Kart of all time. Two cups, each with four tracks, are now available on the Nintendo console for anyone who bought the Season Pass for around 25 euros in the eShop or subscribed to the Nintendo Switch Online + expansion pack for around 40 euros per year.

We met just minutes after Release of the new 3rd wave DLC tracks behind the virtual wheel and the eight new tracks on the Switch tried out. After the rather disappointing first and the already much better second wave of DLC, we are of course hoping for a further increase in quality this time – and that’s exactly what Nintendo has delivered this time with the strong selection of tracks alone. As long-time Mario Kart fans, we are happy that there are new tracks at all. But is Nintendo taking advantage of this courteous gratitude once again?

These are the new routes of the 3rd DLC wave

the eight new tracks of the 3rd DLC wave come from various older Mario Kart games, including the mobile game Mario Kart Tour, which is available free of charge for Android and iOS devices. new in Booster track pass in December 2022 are Leafy Forest (Mario Kart Wii), Rainbow Boulevard (Mario Kart DS), Buu Huu Valley (Mario Kart: Super Circuit), Pavement of Berlin (Mario Kart Tour), Mountain Path (Mario Kart 7), Peach’s Castle Garden (Mario Kart DS), London Tour (Mario Kart Tour) and mountain gift giving (Mario Kart Tour).

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: DLC wave 3 on Nintendo Switch in the test – again only mediocre … (4)

Source: PC Games

This means that half, namely a total of 24 DLC routes, of the booster route pass for the switch have now been released. A further 24 pistes will be added over the course of 2023 in three release waves of eight routes each. By the end of 2023, the total number of tracks in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will grow (buy now €47.99 ) up with it 96 slopes on. But let’s take a closer look at the new routes of the newly released third wave of DLC.

Unfortunately, the first of the two new DLC cups, the rock cup, is a weak entry into the third wave of the booster track pass, A problem that is already known from the two previous waves is revealed again: The city routes from Mario Kart Tour, in this case the London Tour, are simple not made for the “real” Mario Kart, but were originally designed for a mobile game with completely different requirements.

It’s nice that the route changes a bit in each of the three laps, but the The route is just too simple and hardly offers any variety. The nice scenery of the English capital is of little use if the actually short time of a Mario Kart race stretches like chewing gum. There is a lack of any underwater, flying and anti-gravity passages and the track proportions are very different from the “normal” Mario Kart tracks. Pity, more adjustments when porting from Mobile to Switch could certainly have helped and made the London tour more exciting.

The second route in the Fels-Cup looks much better, buu huu valley, originally over 20 years ago for Mario Kart: Super Circuit Released on the Game Boy Advance. Anyone who played the game back then would only recognize the DLC route by its name and route, because everything else was done massively revised and stingy with new features like underwater passages do not. There’s one for that orchestral soundtrack on your ears, reminiscent of dark, atmospheric scenes from films like Harry Potter. Very beautiful!