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Every Track in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC Wave 2, Ranked

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With the release of the second wave of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC, it’s time to round up the eight new tracks and decide once and for all which is best (and worst) of the new bastch. Just like the first wave, the new wave saw eight tracks added to the game featuring a mix of tracks from older Mario Kart titles and some all-new ones too!

We decided to take our kart for a spin on some of these tracks to get a feel for them. Taking into account things like music, track design and aesthetic, here’s our ranking of all the new tracks, from worst to best.

8. Sydney Sprint (Mario Kart Tour)

There’s not much more to say about this course aside from what can be said for every Tour map. The course layout is incredibly basic, it looks like it was ported over from a mobile phone, and the music is great. Aesthetically it places importance on visual design as much as New York Minute does, but the Sydney theming doesn’t quite have the charm that New York Minute does.

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7. New York Minute (Mario Kart Tour)

Wave 1 saw some surprise inclusions from Mario Kart Tour. While it was an interesting addition to the game, pulling tracks from all over Mario Kart’s history, very little was done to translate these tracks from the simplistic two-lap design for mobile devices. Graphically the courses were just uprezzed versions of the mobile versions with no substantial changes. This holds true with both of the Mario Kart Tour courses added in Wave 2.

New York Minute is more visually interesting than any of the Tour tracks in Wave 1, but still suffers from bland level design. The course does have the most distinctive music track of any of the Wave 2 courses, at least. The same New York stylings of the music of Super Mario Odyssey are replicated here. 

6. Sky-High Sundae (Original)

Sky-High Sundae has the distinction of being the first original course added to the game with this latest wave of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC. Visually it is as impressive as any course built with the game’s newer engine in mind. That being said, layout-wise it’s far too basic. After a bizarrely difficult opening that crams everyone through the middle of an ice cream cone, the rest of the course is not much more than a straight line with difficult areas to drift through. 

5. Mario Circuit 3 (SNES)

Nintendo has made a concerted effort to translate the Super Mario Kart music as faithfully as possible with Mario Kart 8. I don’t think there has been a better example of this than the new SNES Mario Circuit 3. Given the basic nature of the track it is a little surprising this was one of the ones that has been brought forward. The track is distinctive for its ease of chaining drifts together, and serves as a solid map for newcomers to the game to practice mechanics. 

4. Kalimari Desert (N64)

Kalimari Desert is quite similar to Mario Circuit 3, not only in its history as an older track brought forward. Its design is quite basic compared to newer levels, but the desert setting combined with the game’s lighting engine bring some new life to the N64 track. Ultimately, it’s a little sparse (much like you’d expect from a desert), and feels a bit dated in its design.

It does, however, have the infamous train segment, which can cause some mayhem in multiplayer matches, which gives it that leg up over Mario Circuit 3.

3. Snow Land (GBA)

Snow Land is also a fairly simple track layout, but there is quite a bit of charm with its uplifted Switch rendering. The reflections from the ice give it some pop, and the addition of snowmen and penguins dancing or sliding along the track distances Snow Land from other retro courses. It’s no patch on Waluigi Pinball, but it’s the best of the retro tracks that haven’t seen significant reworks.

2. Mushroom Gorge (Wii)

Mushroom Gorge was one of the more memorable tracks for Mario Kart Wii. The different-colored mushrooms that alter movement with either small bounces that can be chained with stunt speed boosts, or launch you in the air and activate your glider, still feel as fun as ever. A welcome addition to the game going forward.

1. Waluigi Pinball (DS)

Waluigi Pinball was one of the more interesting new courses when it was released with Mario Kart DS in late 2005. This is one of the few that implemented some significant changes and improvements with the DLC. The added details to the environment make this course look brand new. The addition of giant pinballs along the track, along with the extra bumpers in the middle stages with changed movement paths make this as hectic as any track in the entire game.

It’s a big improvement on the original, and in contention to be one of the best tracks in the entire game.

All in all, the offerings with Wave 2 are not spectacular. Despite some impressive visual and audio improvements to old tracks, very few of these additions will leave you clamoring to play many of them again. Still, we are not even at the halfway mark for promised DLC to come with this pack. Hopefully Nintendo can better implement feedback as they allow time to pass in between content drops from here. 

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