After the total awesome of Mario Kart 8’s wave 4 of new tracks, here we have the much-anticipated wave 5. And this batch of new tracks is good.
Just as well Nintendo hurled this lot in as the penultimate set of new tracks as we’d like wave 6 to be a total humdinger. There’s nothing wrong with wave 5, it’s just a good batch as opposed to a great one.
Rev up your bloody engines, then, and see what’s in store for you.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Wave 5
Okay, so the new tracks are spread across the Cherry and Feather Cups:
- Los Angeles Laps (Mario Kart Tour)
- Sunset Wilds (Mario Kart: Super Circuit)
- Koopa Cape (Mario Kart Wii)
- Vancouver Velocity (Mario Kart Tour)
- Daisy Cruiser (Mario Kart: Double-Dash!!)
- Moonview Highway (Mario Kart Wii)
- Athens Dash (Mario Kart Tour)
- Squeaky Clean Sprint (New)
As you can see, Nintendo is continuing its approach to updating old tracks in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe gravity-defying format.
Some of the tracks are from Mario Kart Wii, with the excellent Koopa Cape being a real highlight now. It’s a fabulous track, twisting and turning its away around waterfalls and all sorts of other guff.
There’s also a totally new track in the form of Squeaky Clean Sprint that features a giant rubber duck and a great fun underground water maze type bit.
As a new offering, it’s a fun addition to the game. Just not quite up to the level of a total classic like the Yoshi’s Island track from wave 4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X08UaPll4LA&ab_channel=GameXplain
The one issue with these waves is Nintendo’s insistence the Mario Kart Tour tracks be adapted for the Deluxe experience.
Those tracks are designed for mobile phones, so aren’t exactly ideally suited to how Mario Kart 8 plays. Some of them are just a bit flat and dull.
Their inclusion across the waves feels like a bit of filler from Nintendo, rather than providing brand new tracks or classics from older games (such as Bowser’s Castle from Mario Kart 64, which we’re hoping appears in wave 6).
Despite this minor niggle, we must say the majority of the new tracks breathe new life into this all-time classic of a gaming experience.
Mario Kart 8 launched on the Wii U in May 2014, meaning the title is rapidly heading for its 10th anniversary. That version, alongside the 2017 Deluxe edition update for the Switch, have shifted over 50 million copies worldwide.
It’s been a colossal hit for Nintendo, but as the Switch’s lifecycle comes to an end we’re expecting Mario Kart 9 announcement in the not too distance future.
Enjoy these waves whilst they last, then, as they make for a fine swansong to one of the best games we’ve ever played.
