With Nintendo announcing that new tracks will be coming to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe starting in March, Keybug and I thought it could be interesting to develop a list of tracks that we'd like to see in this run of DLC. Both of us came up with five tracks separately, which is why you'll see some tracks twice. The only rule we had was that they had to be from the games listed in the announcement (not that it was a severe limitation, neither of us have much experience with the Arcade games). For convenience, we've also listed what game the track originally came from in brackets ("(7)" for example means the track came from Mario Kart 7). With that said:
Keybug's #5: Wuhu Loop (7)
For my list, I tried to focus on what the new mechanics in Mario Kart 8 could bring to these older tracks. An outlier in this would probably be Wuhu Loop (also known as Wuhu Island Loop), as there's not much that can be done with it when it comes to Anti Gravity. This circuit is, after all, a loop you're meant to jog in Wii Fit, and Mii's can't walk on the roof. One of the big things to help this track would probably be fixing its broken shortcut, but that should be a given. If you want to practice for the track, though, play Wii Fit. Get some exercise in.
Keybug's #4: Maple Treeway (Wii)
Maple Treeway is just an iconic track to drive through, and there isn't much to improve on it. Sure, you could add anti-gravity to sections of the race, but that may ruin the track's simplicity. The only thing Mario Kart 8 can bring to this track is the HD visuals and audio, which I'd be absolutely ok with. So why fix what isn't broken?
Keybug's #3: Waluigi Pinball (DS)
The chaos that could come from anti-gravity in this track. Some say that Waluigi is a chaotic character by nature, and the speed you could get from anti-gravity in the main table and the ball track after the launch could give this a feeling similar to Baby Park. With the added speed, the pinballs themselves could also be given a speed boost, encouraging players to keep the momentum going or be crushed by the giant metal pinballs.
Keybug's #2: Kalimari Desert (64)
One of the ways Mario Kart Tour expands its tracklist is by remixing the tracks already in the game, adding new paths and obstacles. Kalimari Desert was always a track that could benefit from such a design, thanks to the train tracks being drivable but risky thanks to the train riding on them. Some people believe that the Tour original tracks could include some of the remixed versions as randomly selected layouts, like Excitebike Arena in Mario Kart 8. If that's true, something similar could work for Kalimari Desert. If that's not possible, making the train track a challenging but very rewarding shortcut, along with adding boosts on top of the train if you manage to land on it with the glider, could also help give this N64 classic some modern touch-ups.
Keybug's #1: Koopa Cape (Wii)
Koopa Cape is a beloved track from Mario Kart Wii and one where you could do one of a few things to bring it up to Mario Kart 8's features. For example, anti-Gravity along the track would be easy, a section in the pipe would be a great fit to keep the speed going, and one along the river could make that high-speed section even more intense. In Mario Kart 7, they cut the pipe in half and filled it with water, including a glider section right before the river. A mix of any or all of these would be interesting to see, but even if they play it safe and keep it close to what it was in Wii, there's still a lot of enjoyment to be found in it.
Blaster's #5. Bowser's Castle (Wii)
I'll admit there is a lot of bias with my list. While I have played most Mario Kart games (the only exceptions being Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart Super Circuit and Mario Kart Tour). Nostalgia, and me focusing more on courses already well made, rather than thinking about how new mechanics can be incorporated, is what made up my list. While Mario Kart 8's Bowser's castle does come close to dethroning this beast, there's something so satisfying about the half-pipe section with Mecha Bowser shooting fireballs at you, something thrilling about narrowly missing the fireballs as you go from one jump to the next that makes this track so memorable for me. Considering that 8 Deluxe already has three Rainbow Roads (something I would love to expand on, but more on that later), nothing is stopping them from adding in more Bowser's Castle tracks. Plus, it would be more engaging than remaking SNES and GBA Castle tracks.
Blaster's #4. DK Mountain/ DK Snowboard Cross (Double Dash/ Wii)
"But wouldn't these conflict with Mount Wario?" No, just because something is set on a mountain doesn't mean it'll clash with Mount Wario. While both these tracks are great already, I think Anti Gravity could add a lot to both. In the case of DK Mountain, it may help bring back its lost charm from Mario Kart Wii because while the weight in 8 is even heavier than Double Dash, the speed from Anti Gravity could help with the air time especially on the initial Alpine section of the mountain. On the other hand, it could also lead to some sabotaging, as both Mountain and Snowboard Cross are known for Mushroom based shortcuts over pits; getting an Anti-Grav speed boost right before they make the jump could throw opponents off, giving you the advantage.
Blaster's #3. Maple Treeway (Wii)
This is a track I'm torn on because if the theory of these tracks being ported from Mario Kart Tour is true, then this could be a very disappointing track. I love the look of Maple Treeway, both the Wii and 7 versions of the track look great for the hardware, and there's something so relaxing about driving around a tree in Autumn. It has the potential to look gorgeous on the Switch, especially if Wild Woods is anything to go by. However, from what we've seen of Wave 1, the tracks look like a downgrade compared to the details of the first 48 tracks. Perhaps these are still Work in Progress textures, but I could be setting myself up for disappointment if it's indicative of what's to come. Hopefully, we see a return of the rope bridge, and I find it more entertaining than a glider section.
Blaster's #2. Rainbow Road (Wii/ 7)
I can't choose between these two. It was pretty hard to narrow it down to five tracks (Sorry, Wuhu Mountain Loop and Airship Fortress), but trying to pick out of these two was impossible for me. I love both tracks for different reasons. They're excellent tracks, just like a good Rainbow Road should be. The deceptively hard turns on the Wii version, driving on and around planets in 7, the beautiful music for both of them, there's very little separating these two in terms of quality, and seeing what can be done for them in 8 Deluxe just makes me more excited for these new DLC packs.
Blaster's #1. Waluigi Pinball (DS)
Predictable? Yes. Many people rank this track high on their lists of great Mario Kart tracks, and it's easy to see why. A Kart racing game, to me at least, is at its best when the tracks you can drive on go as far as they can on stylization, letting you move in and around things you never thought would be possible to drive on. For example, a road made entirely of light, a castle flooded with lava, through a giant Maple Tree, and in this case, inside a massive pinball table. Though I think this concept could be improved with a more chaotic pinball table, it doesn't change the fact that this is still a fun track to drive through, and the music used is without a doubt one of the best track themes in Mario Kart. Though I hear people calling the song used in the announcement trailer a remix of Coconut Mall, I struggle to hear it as, at best, it sounds like a cleaner version of the Wii song. Still, if the Mario Kart Band is off the table because of Covid, I would gladly take the Smash Bros remix of Waluigi Pinball.
I want to quickly mention Wario Colosseum from Double Dash, as it's an honourable "sixth spot" that we both came up with, and once, we don't hear many people talk about it. While it's not a track that I've personally played, it looks like a fun track to drive through, and its potential in Anti-grav mode could make it even better. Time will tell if any of these do make it into the game, though.
