Gaming There Will Be Blue Shells: Mario Kart (8 Deluxe)

Teaser for Wave 5 coming this summer. Shows of a new course and 3 roster additions: Kamek (Tour), Petey Piranha (Double Dash) and Wiggler (MK7).

 

Wave 5 hits July 12th!



Feather Cup:
-Athens Dash (Tour)
-Daisy Cruiser (GCN)
-Moonview Highway (Wii)
-Squeaky Clean Sprint (MK8D)

Cherry Cup:
-Los Angeles Laps (Tour)
-Sunset Wilds (GBA)
-Koopa Cape (Wii)
-Vancuver Velocity (Tour)

Characters:
-Birdo (med)
-Petey Piranha (heavy)
-Wiggler (heavy)
-Kamek (med)

That leaves 8 tracks remaining for the final wave, Wave 6. It looks like the only remaining city Tour track is Rome, and the only "original" track from Tour remaining is Piranha Plant Cove. So that likely leaves 6 retro tracks to bring back.

 

Probably true, but an interesting coincidence otherwise:

 

Final wave- Nov 9th!



Acorn Cup:
-Rome Avanti (Tour)
-DK Mountain (GCN)
-Daisy Circuit (Wii)
-Piranha Plant Cover (Tour)

Blue Shell Cup:
-Madrid Drive (Tour)
-Rosalina's Ice World (3DS)
-Bowser's Castle 3 (SNES) (let's go!)
-Rainbow Road (Wii) (woo-hoo!)

 

So made time to try to get back to MK8D before the new content drops, so that I can hopefully make some more progress in my 150cc 3-stars run. It took a a few hours but I was finally able to 3-star the Moon Cup, no thanks to the 3rd lap tomnookery that constantly happens on Peach Gardens. And I love Peach Gardens as a track. But, man, I can't recall another course where you will so often lose 1st place to an item attack at almost the exact same, unrecoverable distance from the finish line. There has to be like a 95% failure rate thanks to that.

Granted, it did make me look up shortcuts and practice the level some. Still not able to really pull off the main shortcut with only a mini turbo (just can't get the angle right to survive the grass slow-down), but some of the smaller curb trick spots helped. But, in the end it really just comes down to luck and playing the cups enough times that the random factors eventually fall in your favor (and that you don't get a rare loss on Merry Mountain or Rainbow Road).

Also, this effort has resulted in playing Berlin Byways waaay too much. And, yet, I still drift into that train track gap frequently, gah. Usually don't lose 1st there regardless, but, still, an annoyance. One of these days I want to practice the shortcut jump off of the Whomps. But I need a break from this level now, ha.

Anyways, that means I've 3-starred the entire top row of Booster Course Cups, in addition to all the original cups and 1 of the 4 original DLC cups (gonna polish those off next, so all I have remaining will be the bottom row of BC Cups).

 

Take a Tour down Mario Kart memory lane.

 

Didn't expect to roll new credits for the Booster Course, so that’s neat. Have almost beaten the game. Stretching out the last 2 cups to make it last.

 

I don't think I could ever do that. 3-starring regular 150cc comes down to so much luck in terms of not having random factors cheap you out on a 1st place finish even with the advantages of muscle memory and shortcuts, that I couldn't see taking that muscle memory away and playing that way. Most cups are pretty achievable with a few tries (and I've been acing some of these last few cups on the first go), but a few will absolutely take you several hours of constant trying to 3-star because of tracks that consistently screw you over (i'm looking at you, Peach Gardens and Waluigi Pinball! Arg!).

Mirror Cup is best saved for when you're playing with friends of varying skill level and want to even the playing field by taking away map muscle memory (or letting it work against the best players who'll make wrong turns as they remember how it's supposed to be).

 

Ah, veek-tore-ee!