Ranking the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Tracks: Wave 3 - Article
by Evan Norris , posted on 11 December 2022 / 4,696 Views
What better way to celebrate the holidays than with another wave of "Booster Course" tracks for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? December 7 marked the release of the third wave, which means we're now halfway through the multi-stage launch of remastered DLC tracks, which began in March of this year and continues through to the end of 2023. Ultimately, the Booster Course add-on will deliver 48 tracks, on top of the base game's 48.
This third batch is, arguably, the best so far, helped along by two strong showings from Mario Kart Tour and two stone-cold classics from previous games in the mainline series. Below I've ranked each track from the third wave, starting with the weakest and ending with the most indispensable.
#8
Peach Gardens (Mario Kart DS)
Peach Gardens was never what you'd call a paragon of stellar track design, but its original DS incarnation was pretty enjoyable. The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe iteration, however, leaves something be desired. Based on the Tour version, it loses or softens its flowery hazards and turns the slightly claustrophobic hedge maze area into a wide-open leisurely park. Like Kalimari Desert, this new iteration ends with a lap variant, which sees racers heading in reverse through the gardens. It's a neat twist, but not enough the elevate what remains a very vanilla course. On the bright side, the music remains great.
#7
Rock Rock Mountain (Mario Kart 7)
Unlike Peach Gardens, Rock Rock Mountain remains virtually unchanged from its Mario Kart 7 days. The problem is the track was never that spectacular to begin with. Don't get me wrong: the setting and premise are both inviting, and the early cave area with stone columns and low-flying Swoops is great, but you simply spend too much time gliding instead of driving.
#6
Boo Lake (Mario Kart: Super Circuit)
If you jumped right from Boo Lake in Super Circuit to the version in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe without watching the transition in Mario Kart Tour, you'd have trouble wrapping your head around the changes. Like Snow Land before it, Boo Lake has undergone a massive transformation while still retaining its original course shape. It now takes place atop an actual lake instead of a bottomless pit, and features a brand new anti-gravity underwater section, which is one of the highlights of the entire wave three. Regrettably, like all the tracks based on Super Circuit designs, it's over too quickly.
#5
Merry Mountain (Mario Kart Tour)
Merry Mountain might not be the best track in wave three, but with two weeks left until Christmas, it's certainly the most engaging in terms of theme. With its candy canes, wreathes, decorated trees, and wrapped gifts, it evokes the winter holidays in a big way. Apart from its lovely trappings, the track succeeds thanks to an early branching path over an elevated train track, a half-pipe with double item boxes at the apex of the mountain, and a snowy downhill section.
#4
London Loop (Mario Kart Tour)
It's not as visually appealing as previous city courses like Paris Promenade or Sidney Sprint, but London Loop drives quite well. It helps that the action never gets stale, thanks in large part to three unique laps based on variant tracks from Tour. The first lap features a diverging path in Leadenhall Market, followed by a gradual curve guarded by a Chain Chomp, followed by a drive over Tower Bridge with its opening and closing bascule. The second lap starts with an S-curve through St. James' Park, patrolled by yet another Chain Chomp. On the third and final lap, those Chain Chomps have broken loose and cross areas of the street in unpredictable ways.
#3
Berlin Byways (Mario Kart Tour)
Last time, I awarded Sydney Sprint top prize for best city course so far in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC. Well, it's time to crown a new king: Berlin Byways. This track has it all: urban areas, wooded areas, alternative paths, hazards, and three unique laps. What's especially enticing about Berlin Byways is the way in which the track intersects at certain moments with traffic, in the style of Mushroom City from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. But by far the most impressive part of the track is the final lap, which includes Thwomps underneath the Brandenburg gate and Whomps that fall right out of the Berlin Wall into the street. It's something to see.
#2
Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 7)
Every Rainbow Road course is special, but some are more special than others. That's certainly true of the Mario Kart 7 installment, which appears in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe based on its Tour version. It was the first Rainbow Road to feature a single lap divided into three sections, and it breaks from tradition by allowing players to drive off road — on the rings of Saturn and on the surface of the Moon, no less! Some changes to the original are good, like anti-gravity on the Moon, but others, like the flattening of high-banked turns, are not. One thing that is unquestionably great, however, is the track's graphical face-lift. This is now one of the prettiest courses in all of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which is saying a lot. The rainbow road itself is a shimmering curtain of watery iridescence. To quote The Old Man in A Christmas Story, "it's indescribably beautiful."
#1
Maple Treeway (Mario Kart Wii)
Maple Treeway has been one of the best Mario Kart courses for 14 years, and nothing in the past decade has done anything to change that. This incarnation feels a bit like the ultimate version of the Mario Kart Wii classic, since its borrows interesting elements from everything that came before — the half-pipe from Wii, the glide ramps from 7, and the fantastical art direction from Tour — and raises the ante with better-than-ever graphics. The layout of the course remains superior, due to a nifty shortcut early on, leaf piles that eject mushrooms when struck, a wide open area at the tree's summit guarded by Big Wigglers, and three alternative routes just before the finish line. It's a blast, from beginning to end.
And that's my take on the third wave of the Booster Course DLC. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe owners: how does it mesh with your own list? Sound off in the comments section with your thoughts!
