Mario Kart 8 was an excellent game when it launched last year, but Nintendo seem dedicated to making it even better. Alongside DLC Pack 2, we get a free update containing an entirely new speed class; 200cc. The new DLC adds Animal Crossing folks Isabelle and Villager as well as Dry Bowser to the driver roster, along with eight new or classic tracks and a handful of vehicle bits and bobs. The option to race at 200cc, on the other hand, adds a brand new way to play every track in MK8. If you want all those 3-star gold trophies, you’ve got ten GPs to master all over again – plus two new ones.
As was the case with DLC Pack 1, the new racers add a healthy dose of charm, cuteness and visual diversity to races. Villager can be played in both female and male forms, both as rosy-cheeked and wide-eyed as you might expect. Isabelle is also, of course, adorable. Dry Bowser, the character fans have anxiously been waiting for, has arrived at long last. Now maybe we can get Pink Gold Baby Cat Peach. Really, Dry Bowser is a cool extra character just like those in Pack 1, but why aren’t we getting Diddy Kong or Birdo before obscure variants of characters we already have? Perhaps Nintendo are saving up some obvious choices for later releases. Either way, it’s hard to complain when the two (really three) other characters are great additions.
As for vehicle customisation options, Pack 2 is a bit less exciting than the first. There’s some Animal Crossing stuff, a sports car, and a big scary bone tricycle for Dry Bowser. Everything new matches stats of already existing options, so it is all purely cosmetic. That being said, I like having as many options as possible for the way my kart looks without sacrificing the stats I want too much. Regardless of quality, this isn’t the reason you’d buy the DLC.
The courses are the real meat of the pack, and there’s eight to sink your teeth into. The new Animal Crossing themed track is one of the most interesting additions, albeit a bit plain. There’s nothing too exciting about the track itself, but each time you race on it, you’ll be playing in one of four variations; one for each season. Whether your avoiding snowmen or leaf piles has little bearing on the way you play, but the aesthetic variance is really nice. There’s another Nintendo property themed track in Pack 2, based on F-Zero’s Big Blue. I’m stoked to see that Nintendo are continuing to add F-Zero stuff, especially now with 200cc racing. It’s not a new F-Zero, but it’s probably the closest we’ll get. To me, the convergence of the two series makes more sense than a new game, anyway.
The other two completely new tracks are original concepts. Wild Woods has you sliding around an Ewok style forest village, making your way up and down tree branches and through a secluded Shy Guy community. It’s a beautiful, interesting track with a lot of fun twists and turns to deal with. Super Bell Subway is, well, a subway. You make your way through some twisting tunnels while avoiding trains. A particularly simple concept for an MK track, but one that feels right at home alongside Sunshine Airport and Toad’s Turnpike.
Then there’s four classic tracks, re-imagined for MK8’s unique mechanics. Two of the courses come from the GBA’s MK Super Circuit; Cheese Land and Ribbon Road. Cheese Land is perhaps the blandest MK8 course to date visually, being built entirely of cheese, but a few sharp turns and precariously placed pits make it one of the trickier few. Ribbon Road is one I found especially fun, with some nice spots for big drifts. Interestingly, it takes place on a tiny road built around toys in a kids room; neat! Double Dash’s Baby Park is back, much to my pleasure, and it’s simple circuit is even more hectic now thanks to anti-gravity. Bumping fools for speed boosts around this bad boy is super fun, especially at high speeds. Rounding out the tracks is Koopa City from the 3DS. MK7 felt super slow to me, but I loved a bunch of the tracks; Koopa City being a notable inclusion. Playing through Bowser’s twisty cyberpunk city in the rain at a more exciting pace is absolutely wicked.
As with all of MK8, the new tracks look spectacularly beautiful, with the classic bright and expansive colour palettes you’d expect. Nintendo continues to prove that artistic design and style can easily best visual fidelity; I can’t think of another game this pretty. Of course, the new tracks all have excellent soundtracks too, with the spectacular live band bringing out the best in classic songs, as well as providing some decent newbies.
The more pertinent new content though is the ability to race at 200cc. The constant promotion of 200cc as necessitating braking made me less and less excited to jump in. I love Mario Kart for the feeling of mastering a smooth, precise run of a track, drifting through without fault. Slowing down is the last thing I want to do. After my first play through of each cup at 200cc, I noticed a couple of things. Cutting corners is a much more employable technique than at other speeds. Driving off road won’t cease your drift as quickly as at other speeds, so driving over a bit of grass or gravel is sometimes a bit faster than avoiding it. At the higher speed, hops also take you a lot further, meaning certain corners and obstacles can simply be jumped over entirely. Also, drifting into corners rather than around them makes sense here, much like in MKDS. Drifting to the right is sometimes the best way to turn left without compromising the position of your vehicle.
As much as I enjoyed needing to use these much more complicated techniques, I still hated that I had to brake to make certain corners. Stopping is not fun. Fortunately for me, I had a realisation after this initial playthrough. You can drift AND brake AT THE SAME TIME. This changes EVERYTHING. I had no idea it was possible (it was never needed until now), but it’s this mechanic that makes 200cc mode the most challenging, rewarding, technical and fun way to play Mario Kart 8. Braking while drifting will tighten your turn, but slow you slightly in the process. Finding the smallest possible amount of brake and timing it with the boost at the end of a drift is key in perfecting certain corners. Drifting is the reason Mario Kart is so fun, and a speed that requires you to drift with a whole new layer of depth is very, very cool.
With two DLC packs, an on-screen map and 200cc mode now available, Mario Kart 8 is much bigger, better and more rewarding than it was at launch. If Nintendo continue to support what was already an excellent game with interesting and substantial content as they have been, the potential is near limitless. If you’re not the kind of player who loves to master a track and loves a good drift, 200cc might not be for you, but if you are, you’ll be stoked. Just keep in mind that you CAN drift and brake simultaneously. Either way, DLC Pack 2 offers some great new content for all types of players at a very reasonable price. Mario Kart 8 continues to grow in great directions.
