Ranking the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Tracks: Wave 5 - Article
by Evan Norris , posted on 14 July 2023 / 7,324 Views
I know a lot of Switch owners are desperate to play the next mainline installment of Mario Kart, but I'm having trouble saying goodbye to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The slowly-unfolding parade of DLC courses over the past 16 months has been a lot of fun, and has helped me fall in love with Deluxe all over again. As we near the end of the "Booster Course" expansion pass, I find myself unwilling to let go.
What makes the upcoming separation particularly daunting is that each DLC batch seems to improve upon the last. The eight courses in Wave five, taken together, are marginally better than those in Wave four, which were already the best. Plus, this most recent release comes with three new playable racers: Petey Piranha, Wiggler, and Kamek.
As usual, I've ranked the eight new tracks, after testing them over the last few days. The list below begins with the weakest and ends with the best in show. Any completionists out there are welcome to check out my rankings for Waves 1, 2, 3, and 4, to see how my opinions match up with their own. Please enjoy!
#8
Athens Dash (Mario Kart Tour)
Like Wave 4 before it, Wave 5 features three city courses from Mario Kart Tour. As you'll see, the results are inconsistent. The least interesting of the lot — and the least successful track of the current Wave — is Athens Dash. It's not bad by any means; it's just less inspired and eventful than the rest. Although this Mario Kart 8 Deluxe version enjoys a visual upgrade over its original incarnation, it still comes off as a bit plain. It also starts off slowly, despite the appearance of several historical artifacts, including the Parthenon, the Theatre of Dionysus, and Hadrian's Arch. The good news is that Athens Dash gets better as it goes on, thanks to an exciting final upward climb toward the Acropolis, with spherical boulders crashing all over the road.
#7
Los Angeles Laps (Mario Kart Tour)
I almost feel bad ranking Los Angeles Laps so low. It's truly not a testament to any major failing on the part of the track, apart from its theme music, which is unexpectedly mediocre; it's just because the remaining courses are more complete or memorable. Indeed, there's a lot to like about this west coast spotlight: ramps and a half-pipe along the beach, a partially underwater turn underneath a pier, and — coolest of all — an aerial journey over a major league baseball park. The course starts to run out of steam once it hits the oil derrick pumps of the Inglewood Oil Field, but it hits the landing on the Santa Monica Pier.
#6
Sunset Wilds (Mario Kart: Super Circuit)
Loyal readers of this article series know I've been bearish on the Super Circuit tracks through each and every wave. That changes today. While I'm not ready to give Sunset Wilds the top spot in Wave 5, I am prepared to call it the best Game Boy Advance course in the DLC so far. The track layout is simple but elegant, with several interesting interruptions to keep you engaged: muddy pools, dash panels, and oblivious Shy Guys wandering across the road. The old west backdrop, with its tents and tall pillars of wispy smoke, elevate the experience, as does its dusky yellow skybox. Weirdly, Sunset Wilds no longer shifts from sunset to nighttime on the final lap — the major calling card of the track. Nintendo, what gives?
#5
Daisy Cruiser (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!)
When preparing for a new wave of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC, I always get the most jazzed for Double Dash!! tracks, since I logged hundreds of hours on the original game in my college years. I was particularly pumped for Daisy Cruiser, which was always in regular rotation in those days. I'm glad to report Daisy Cruiser is still a lot of fun, both in its vacation setting and its track design, which benefits from a dining area with sliding tables and an optional underwater area inhabited by a giant eel. Apart from inner tube Goombas in the opening pool area, which add a welcome wrinkle, the track is mostly unchanged from the version that appeared in Mario Kart 7. As much as I love the original course, I would have liked to see a few more surprises.
#4
Squeaky Clean Sprint
Squeaky Clean Sprint represents the only brand new course in Wave 5, and it's an instant success. Like Ribbon Road, it embraces a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids approach where drivers race in a giant bathroom with bath bombs the size of wrecking balls. Not only is the setting spectacular, due to colossal sponges, shower curtains, and bath towels, but the driving experience is super creative. The best section, by far, is an underwater stretch that starts in a bathtub and continues into the pipes underneath. The track also benefits from a couple of branching paths, one after the toilet and another on the right side of the sink.
#3
Moonview Highway (Mario Kart Wii)
Of all the courses in Wave 5, Moonview Highway is the most thrilling. I don't know if it's the oncoming traffic, the bright city lights, or the multitude of dash panels, but driving along the track, bathed in the soft white glow of the full moon, is invigorating. There are a few important changes here from the most recent Tour version of the track: a major visual refresh with deeper blacks and less saturation; a new ramp section on the left after the starting line; and, coolest of all, randomized dash panel placement on each subsequent play. This final tweak introduces a layer of unpredictability to the track, which only adds to the excitement.
#2
Koopa Cape (Mario Kart Wii)
If there's a "winner" of the Booster Course Pass, apart from those who paid a mere $24.99 for 48 remastered tracks, it's Mario Kart Wii. The DLC has highlighted just how good the track design was in that game, 15 years later. Among the beneficiaries of that expert track design is Koopa Cape, an eye-catching, compelling track with great variety in elevation and driving conditions. You'll start low, climb a cliff, ride a water current forward, and drop several stories into a submerged half-pipe before shooting forward into a waterfall area. While Koopa Cape in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is an excellent course, one wonders if it could be even better if it returned to some of the idiosyncrasies of the original Wii layout, with its longer pipe area and electrified hazards.
#1
Vancouver Velocity (Mario Kart Tour)
Vancouver Velocity is generally considered the very best Mario Kart Tour course, and it's easy to see why. First, the music is absolutely great. It leans on some gusty sounds and icy notes to summon that feeling of winter, but brings in bouncy synth beats and electronic wind instrumentation to keep things upbeat. Second, the atmosphere is excellent, due to dense forests of evergreens, snow-capped mountains in the distance, and the aurora borealis in the skies above the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Speaking of that bridge area, it's the standout section in all of Wave 5, in part because it's now, for the first time, in anti-gravity. If there's one flaw to Vancouver Velocity, it's that it gets progressively less interesting as it goes on — sort of the inversion of Athens Dash. The opening suspension bridge section is so darn good that all the subsequent stuff pales in comparison.
Well, that's my take on the fifth Wave of the Booster Course DLC. If you've already experimented with these tracks, sound off in the comments section with your own rankings. And see you next time for the sixth and final Wave!
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My Top Three: 1. Squeaky Clean Sprint 2. Koopa Cape 3. Vancouver Velocity
Did we play the same Athens Dash? Everywhere I look I hear how uninspired or lame Athens Dash is and I genuinely found it to be the best one in the pack. I loved the aesthetic, I loved the diversity of the laps, I loved the music, etc.
No idea why I seem to legitimately be the only one who loves it that much. I do also love Vancouver Velocity but I think Athens Dash is better.
this is so funny bc i think athens dash is one of the better city courses and is certainly better than sunset wilds. vancouver velocity was just alright to me. i would've liked it a lot more if they dropped so much city theming and instead actually brought us into the whistler ski slopes or something more nature-y. a lot of the tour tracks that heavily rely on a city setting kind of blend together for me.
good article man!
Sorry, but Athens is by far the best track of wave 5. Have you ever played it in time trial? It's awesome! It's way more interesting and fun to play than Daisy Cruiser for example.
You missed the chance to make the image's racing place coincide with the position in the ranking.
Believe it or not, I actually thought about doing that! But it was difficult to maneuver myself into the right position AND take the screenshot I was hoping for. Maybe I’ll try it for the final ranking :)
