Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass Wave 3 (is awesome)

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Wave 3

After a muted first two outings for Wave 1 and Wave 2 of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s mammoth batch of new tracks, Wave 3 is the real.

90% of the time, anyway, as its batch of excellent new tracks includes some total humdingers in there. As well as the odd dud.

Wave 3 of Mario Kart 8 is a Christmas Delight (innit)

Hell yeah! Once again, there are eight new tracks with this batch across two Grand Prix cups. The first is Rock Cup and features:

Tour London Loop
GBA Boo Lake
3DS Rock Rock Mountain
Wii Maple Treeway

The second is Moon Cup and you get to race around:

Tour Berlin Byways
DS Peach Gardens
Merry Mountain
3DS Rainbow Road

Now, the ongoing thing here is Nintendo is clearly hellbent on adding Mario Kart Tour tracks to Mario Kart 8. Two this time with Berlin and London, adding with the others from the first two waves of new tracks.

The problem is those tracks are designed for smartphones. Not Mario Kart 8’s physics-defying gameplay. So the result is a little bit flat (apart from Merry Mountain).

However, the good news is the other batch of tracks this time out are proper belting! Here’s a look at some of the best ones.

Merry Mountain

One of the best tracks from Mario Kart Tour, this is one we’re chuffed to see arrive on the Nintendo Switch. And just in time for Christmas! Ho, ho, ho!

It’s a steep old time of it, looping back on itself in the process, and we’ve got to see it’s a good old laugh of things.

In the usual 12 player global online matches it’s the usual frantic mayhem and, yes! No complaints here. A welcome addition to the Mario Kart 8 universe.

GBA Boo Lake

This devious bastard is an absolute humdinger. It’s really one of the trickiest tracks in the game and will test your skills to the max.

Anyone familiar with Super Mario Kart on the SNES (1992) will know the original spooky Boo track. Well, this is one of the most complex and advanced variations on the theme.

This adapted Mario Kart 8 version is winding, wending, and you’ll need your drifting skills (and a bit of luck). Even against the computer AI it took us three attempts to finally win the race. Be on your best here. Or die!

Wii Maple Treeway

Adapted from Mario Kart Wii (2008), Maple Treeway was one of our favourites back then. And it’s better than ever now.

It’s another one of those winding tracks that sweeps around kind of like a figure of eight, throwing in lots of autumnal fair (leaves etc.) along the way.

This one is tricky to get right and a real (cliché alert) rollercoaster of a ride. And we bloody well love it.