Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Review

Loading up the start menu mid-race allows you to customise these options and turn them off, and whilst they’ll be an absolutely fantastic addition for a lot of wannaba Karters who don’t neccesarily have the dexterity or skill to keep up with the rest of the family, it’s an odd option to have turned on as standard.

Multiplayer:

Mario Kart 8 DX obviously sings in multiplayer during normal races – this is a fact and it really doesn’t need repeating. It’s splitscreen perfection. Instead, it’s in its battle mode where vanilla MK8 suffered the most – it was a cobbled together mess of an idea that I don’t think many players took to – but DX sees the triumphant return of classic, arena based battle mode, and its likey with this inclusion that returning players will get the most bang for their buck.

Now, you can’t fault Nintendo for overcompensating here. Instead of simply bringing back standard battle mode to the gleeful cries of the masses, they’ve iterated and added a slew of extra options and modes, beefing this up to Mario Kart’s best versus inclusion to date. I grabbed a couple of friends and worked my way through each wildly different twist on the arena-based face-offs, and found them all to be absolute corkers. With this much-needed fix, Nintendo have elevated MK8 from one of the greats to THE great. This is now the Kart Racer to beat. For all you wannabe contenders out there, all I can say is good luck.

Presentation:

Mario Kart 8 DX is beautiful in every way. From the detail rich character models and the massively diverse roster to the expressive, distinct, colourful courses, MK8DX is an absolute treat for the eyes. This deluxe version also bumps the title up to 1080p at an unwavering 60 frames per second, and the effect is breathtaking. I understand a lot of what I’m saying might seem hyperbolic, but I really am as smitten as I seem with the visuals here.

The music is also killer, with every course enjoying fantastic songs (and final lap, hyped up versions of each) that are endlessly hummable long after the Switch is turned off. Also to be applauded is the wildly diverse, instantly recognizable sound effects, which make sure you’re always able to tell exactly what is about to hit you – giving you the desperate chance to prepare accordingly.

Conclusion:

If you couldn’t already tell, I’m a big fan of “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe“. It’s strange to think that before Mario Kart 8, I wasn’t a huge fan of the series. I’d dabbled, of course, but I never dived as deep into the series, both on my own and with friends, as I did with MK8. This deluxe edition simply beefs up that already incredible package and irons out any flaws or absences the original had. If you’ve never played MK8 before, you owe it to yourself to grab Deluxe as soon as is humanly possible.

Even if you’re a veteran who thinks they’ve seen it all, I promise you that DX has enough tricks up its sleeve to surprise even you. Gentlemen, start your engines.