Five years after it came to Switch, Mario Kart 8 deluxe is about to get eight new racetracks as part of it Booster Course Pass DLC, and players are already analyzing whether they look deluxe enough. The consensus? There aren’t any, at least not yet.
The new courses go live on March 18th, but some players have already gotten a taste of it by playing online in lobbies in Japan. One of the biggest lightning rods for controversy back when the DLC was first announced was Coconut Mall, a level originally created in Mario Kart Wii.
Some players argued that a rendering of the course provided by Nintendo at the time lacked realistic detail and polish in comparison Mario Kart 8 deluxe‘s existing art style and compares them to the stripped down versions of some of the levels that appear in mobile spinoff Mario Kart Tour.
Earlier this week, however, the MarioPartyLegacy Twitter account discovered changes in the latest version, which made it seem like Nintendo had added more vibrant colors and textures to Coconut Mall since last month’s unveiling of Nintendo Direct. Now some players have seen the level in action and think it looks pretty good, while others have gone through and spotted all the changes from the original Wii version.
For example, the Miis that previously drove cars to ram players now have Shy Guys behind the wheel and don’t seem to move (previously they would hit you and throw you out). The escalators no longer look like escalators, there is a new shortcut where there used to be a ramp, and some players have pointed out missing arches and item boxes at the end of the course. On the other hand, Mario Block art now adorns the walls.
“The coconut has no right to be so damn lifeless,” one fan commented on Twitter.
“This honestly looks better than Twitter is making it out to be,” wrote another. “I can’t wait for everyone to have access to these courses.”
Course recordings sky garden from Mario Kart Super Circuit and Paris promenade from Mario Kart Tour also went online today. Like the Switch version of Coconut Mall, both tiers are crisp, vibrant, and frankly good-looking. Driving 150cc and getting blown up with a blue grenade most players probably won’t think about it like they would if they were hanging on a wall at the Met. For the fans that will be, the levels look like they’ll shake off better than some initially feared, but with some changes to the original design, not everyone will agree.
As in switch sports, Nintendo’s ongoing Mii revisionism seems particularly outrageous to some fans. Miis are now officially retro and a beloved part of the company’s gaming history. On the other hand, Nintendo has probably never been one Priority on preserving one’s heritage.
