Introduction
Basic information
Developer Name: Nintendo
Full Name: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Release Date: April 28, 2017 (Switch version)
Released on: Nintendo Switch
Cross Play: No
Initial thoughts
When Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was released on the Nintendo Switch, it came with all the bells and whistles from the original Wii U version—and then some. From revamped battle modes to a staggering roster of characters and tracks, it immediately became the definitive way to experience Mario Kart.
There’s no denying that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is polished, gorgeous, and outrageously fun. But even in all its glory, there might just be too much of it—especially when it comes to the number of characters and tracks. It’s a buffet of kart-racing mayhem, and while that sounds like a good thing (and often is), it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Still, both me and my wife were interested!
Story and setting
Plot overview
Let’s be honest—Mario Kart doesn’t need a story. You pick a character, a kart, and race through wild, imaginative tracks. That’s the charm. But Mario Kart 8 Deluxe does a fantastic job creating varied and creative worlds that bring a sense of character to each track. From rainbow-colored highways in space to Twisted Mansion’s eerie corridors, every course tells its own little story through the environment.
World building and immersion
The world-building comes through in the vibrant tracks, detailed backgrounds, and subtle environmental storytelling. The inclusion of tracks from other franchises—like The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, and F-Zero—adds a welcome layer of Nintendo fan service that expands the Mario Kart universe in fun and unexpected ways.
Character development
There’s no character arc here, but the sheer variety of playable racers is staggering. Too staggering, actually. With so many variants of Mario (Tanooki Mario, Metal Mario, Baby Mario, etc.), it starts to feel bloated. But the crossover characters like Link, Inkling Girl/Boy, and Isabelle are delightful surprises.
Emotional impact
The real emotional draw here is victory… or sweet, sweet revenge. There’s nothing quite like blue-shelling a friend on the final turn, or clutching a win with a last-second mushroom boost.
Rating for story and setting
I have visited multiple aspects of the story and after some thought and objective thinking, I rated the story and setting with a 7.
Gameplay and mechanics
Core gameplay mechanics
The core gameplay remains as tight and fun as ever. Drifting, item usage, boosting, and cornering all feel extremely responsive. The anti-gravity segments introduced in Mario Kart 8 are still impressive and change up the flow of each race in subtle but meaningful ways.
Difficulty and balance
AI can be aggressive on higher difficulties, and items can sometimes make races feel a little too chaotic. But there’s always an element of skill behind the madness, especially in time trials and online matches.
Pacing of the game
Each race is fast and snappy, but when trying to tackle the entire collection of tracks and cups, it can feel a bit long-winded. With the Booster Course Pass, the game now includes 96 tracks—which, while generous, can be a little too much to casually digest.
Innovation and uniqueness
While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel (pun intended), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a refined and polished experience, with mechanics honed to near perfection. The updated Battle Mode is a huge improvement from the Wii U version.
Controls and user interface
Controls are intuitive and customizable. The inclusion of smart steering and auto-acceleration options makes it even more accessible for younger or less experienced players.
Microtransactions
None! Just one DLC expansion that adds more tracks, not loot boxes or currencies.
Rating
After combing through many of the mechanics, the pacing and other factors of this game, I rated the gameplay and mechanics with a 8.5.
Graphics and art style
Quality of graphics and art direction
The game looks absolutely stunning on the Switch. From shimmering water effects to detailed track environments, it’s one of the best-looking games in the Mario franchise. The art direction pops with color and charm.
Technical performances
Smooth as butter. Whether in handheld or docked mode, performance remains stable at 60 FPS during races—even in split-screen.
Environment and design uniqueness
Every track is brimming with personality. Whether it’s classic courses like Wario Stadium or newer ones like Electrodrome, each one offers something unique. The remastered tracks from older games are particularly well done.
Rating
It took me some time to give the graphics and art style an objective rating. There are many things to consider, but ultimately, I rated this section with a 9.0.
Sound and music
Music score and how it contributed to the game
Phenomenal. The music has been fully orchestrated, with energetic and diverse tracks that perfectly match the chaos and whimsy of each course.
Sound effects quality
Item usage, engine roars, drifting, and audience reactions all sound great and help build the excitement.
Voice Acting
The voice clips are iconic. There’s something eternally satisfying about hearing Wario yell Wahaha! After stealing first place.
Rating
After a lot of consideration, I rated the sound and music section with a 9.
Replayability
Game Length and content volume
Tons of content—too much, maybe. You’ll never run out of things to do, especially with online multiplayer and all the additional tracks.
Extra Content
The Booster Course Pass adds dozens of classic and new tracks. There’s also a decent amount of kart customization and unlockables, although progression is very light.
Replay value
Extremely high, especially in multiplayer. Online play, time trials, and local party races make it a go-to game for pick-up-and-play sessions.
Rating
After thoughtful consideration, I decided to rate the replayability and game length of Mario Kart 8 with an 8.
Suggestions and comparisons
Suggestions and feedback
Trim down the character roster. There are too many redundant variants.
Organize tracks better—navigating through 90+ courses feels messy.
More original new tracks, rather than remakes.
Comparisons
Compared to Mario Kart Wii, the controls and visuals are superior, but Wii arguably had better track diversity. Compared to Mario Kart DS, 8 Deluxe is more polished but doesn’t quite capture the same level of challenge.
Personal experiences and anecdotes
It’s hard to beat the joy of playing this with my wife. Cursing, and laughing at every green shell and banana peel. The sheer unpredictability of races keeps the fun alive. That said, we also had moments of track fatigue—when every cup has four races, and you’re pushing through eight cups in a row, it starts to blur together.
Rating
Taking in all the personal experiences with Mario Kart 8, I give it a personal rating of 9.
Last words
Pros
- Extremely fun and chaotic racing
- Stunning visuals and smooth performance
- Refined mechanics and tight controls
- Massive variety of tracks
- Crossover characters are a fun addition
- Great battle modes
- Catchy, fully orchestrated music
- No microtransactions
Cons
- Too many tracks can be overwhelming
- Character roster is bloated with clones
- Lack of a proper single-player mode or campaign
- Online matchmaking can be slow at times
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a chaotic, beautiful, and addictively fun experience that feels like a celebration of everything the series has accomplished. While it can be a little too much in terms of sheer content, and the character roster could use some trimming, there’s no denying that this is the most feature-rich and polished Mario Kart to date. Whether you’re playing alone, with friends, or online, it delivers a high octane party racing experience every time.
FINAL RATING
8
Please let me know what you think of Mario Kart 8 in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
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It is actually a very fun game. But running this on emulators and mods they game is insanely fun. Add hundreds of courses from different creators.
i remembered chocobo racing in psone
Oh, I remember that one!
Has there ever been some kind of single player campaign in a Mario Kart game? I know Sonic Racing kind of did it in the past, what I liked.
I would probably rate it a little lower, probably a 7, I don’t have the ability to buy Switch online, and no friends to play it with, (the game itself is pretty repetitive also, so even if i had friends I’d play something like smash instead) but yeah.
SUPEEER SMAAASH BROOOTHEEEERS!!!
Mario Kart DS had a mission mode.
My only experience with Kart Racing games was Crash Team Racing back on the PS1, so I can’t say much about Mario Kart itself, but it’s good to see that the series is still going strong! 🙂
You really should try playing it!
Mario Kart. One of the most chaotic games to play with friends. Im glad you enjoyed it!
We indeed enjoy it!
Quite simply, this is a must for fans of fun and competitive racing.
It indeed has a big competitive element!
It’s a good game that has maintained the same fun factor since the first generation.🐑
Yeah, fun by killing each other!
A series that has been around for a long time. Despite everything, each game is a success.
I really like this one and the one from the DS!
Mario Kart 8 received a score of… 8!
Not sure if I played any other Mario Kart than the N64 one, and I hold only great memories of it. Nintendo just loves releasing (multiple) sequels of their successful franchises.
Lol, they kind of want to get rid of numbers now, like Mario Party, and Mario Kart!
The stuff you list in the cons feels like standard stuff that always seems to happen when a game gets it’s x-installation. “We need something more that makes it different from the last one… Okay, more characters, more tracks. They feel like copies? We can’t do anything else…” something like that… But overall it does look a lot of fun.
It is indeed a lot of fun, but yeah, they are moving on to Mario Kart 9 now!
Awesome review! You really nailed what makes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe so much fun
I am glad you liked the review!
Sounds interesting. I only really played Super Mario Kart but was not that good in it 😀
(you forgot one pro: Waluigi is a playable character 😉 😀 )
Oh, Super Mario Kart was indeed fun!
This game is extremely fun, especially when played with family and friends, I can literally sit and play this game for hours if there’s a group of friends or family playing with me.
Yeah, this game is a time sink!
This game was awesome! I loved playing it with you and this also makes me wanting that new Mario Kart game more.
(We don’t race against each other, it is us two against the NPC, happy marriage is no blue shells to the other).
I have to agree! It was a lot of fun, and I am very excited for the new Mario Kart!
Looks like all around lovely racing game. I like that it have a lot of content. What about cars are they different in how you drive them, some different parameters? And second question would be about what you said in comperisions, how those tracks could be more diverse exactly? Looks like the only real game minus i found from review and also this sorting maps in menu. Now going to video 🙂
The tracks are fun, but there are too many of them. Each car has different stats, as does each driver. It is a very fun game, but a bit too much on a small scale.
Seems a good game, but I prefer the ones that are focused on single player
I can understand that!
I would have given it more than an 8 on average; it’s a great game! I agree with the online aspect; they should improve it.
The online aspect, too bloated, that is what lowers the rating a bit.
I’m hyped to play Mario Kart 8
Yeah, you should play it!
This is definitely one of the best Mario Kart games, and even racing game in general! I’d say Mario Kart Wii is very close too! The tracks are beautiful, it runs really well and there’s so many fun shortcuts you can pull off and tricks to learn! Playing online is always easy since so many people play!
I am very interested in Mario Kart World (Aka, Mario Kart 9.)
I wanna play mario xD its been on my mind since a while haha
That is because there are so many Super Mario reviews!
Love the series and must catch up with the modern entries 🙂
Yeah, you should!
The Battle Mode looks insane!
Insanely dangerous!
I need to try out some of those crazy tracks
There are a lot of circuits!
What can I say, it’s Mario Kart!
> With so many variants of Mario (Tanooki Mario, Metal Mario, Baby Mario, etc.), it starts to feel bloated.
Hmm, I somewhat disagree with the bloated feeling, I think it’s nice to have those variants… I agree it looks bloated on the character selection screen, I think it would have been nicer to have them as a skin/appearance selection instead of making them entirely different characters (except maybe the baby variant, but the others are just a “disguise”).
I think the only thing I dislike about this game is the price!
Also, interesting that there isn’t a solo/campaign thing. I mean, I already kinda guessed; but what’s that Thank You image for, then? Isn’t it for beating the game? (That’s a Screenshot of the Week right there!)
I think making them a skin or alternate appearance would have worked wonders. I hope they do that in the next game. There is the Grand Prix, but it is not really a story. The thank you is received at the end after playing all cups and beating them for first place.
The Battle Mode is amazing! I like review.
I am glad you like the review!
Battle mode rocks. I never knew Mario Kart could be this fun. I wonder if each Mario Kart game is unique
Each Mario Kart is unique!