Mario Kart 8

The Mario Kart franchise is a very versatile and accessible game series. Want to relax after work without having to read too much or learn new game mechanics? Play Mario Kart to decompress. Feeling burned out from that huge, sprawling, open-world game that you’ve spent over 60 hours on? Revisit Mario Kart for a couple of hours instead. Got some friends coming over and you want a fun group activity? Pop Mario Kart in for a good laugh.

I’ve played pretty much every Mario Kart release, to varying degrees, but the one I’ve put the most hours into is Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U (and its enhanced port for the Switch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which I would argue counts as the same game). The gameplay is largely the same as previous instalments but with a new gimmick – anti-gravity – and a selection of new characters and kart customisations, a few of which are taken from other Nintendo properties, such as The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon. The visuals, however, are leaps and bounds beyond earlier entries in the series. Yes, there’s still a cartoony aspect – this is a Mario game, after all – but now you can see the grain on the roads, the wet-slick look of surfaces that have just been rained on, and even the wiggling of Mario’s moustache.

But I’m not going to dwell on why I think Mario Kart 8 is awesome. That much should be obvious to pretty much everyone who plays the game. Instead, every week, I’m going to look at one or two tracks from the game – not to analyse the shortcuts or best racing lines, but to look at the worldbuilding, the theming, the hidden details, and the callbacks to earlier Mario titles. And since I’m including all of the additional tracks from the Booster Course, that’s almost 100 tracks to get through! This is going to take a while…

Well, let’s get started. The first track of the first cup (the Mushroom Cup) is Mario Kart Stadium. As its name suggests, this course takes place in a giant autodrome stadium, packed with excited spectators. A giant Mario statue stands atop a huge tower, overlooking the action. The track may be a simple one, with wide roads and soft corners, but it’s a great place to learn the ropes and practice drifting. It also nicely introduces players to the new anti-gravity mechanic – yes, this time round, every kart and bike has wheels that automatically reorient themselves, allowing Mario and his pals to stick to the track, no matter which way up they are.

Mario Kart Stadium is a track that is simply themed around racing itself. Unlike many other tracks in Mario Kart, this one really feels like an actual, official racetrack – a colourful, exciting motorsport arena where competitive racers come to prove themselves. A big city with tall skyscrapers is visible in the background. It looks more like a place that would exist in the ‘real world’ rather than in the whimsical Mushroom Kingdom – but the green Warp Pipes scattered on the grassy and sandy corners of the track remind us that this is still firmly in Mario’s world.

There are several racing teams competing in Mario Kart Stadium, as evidenced by the giant board on the side of the track. These teams include Lord Bowser, the Yoshi Runners, and Luigi Gusters (the latter being a reference to Luigi’s Mansion and the Poltergust 3000 vacuum cleaner, which he used to suck up ghosts). Each team has its own pit stop, along with its own trucks, equipment, and supporters in the crowd. There are also lots of fun advertisements around the perimeter wall of the racetrack. Normally, you’re zooming along too fast to take much notice of them, but if you slow down a bit, you might see that Bullet Bill sponsors the Time Trials, for example, and that Bowser apparently sells oil.

With all the cheering spectators, enormous replay screens, bright lights, and expensive equipment, Mario Kart Stadium effectively conveys the idea that Mario Karting is a big deal in this game’s universe – the equivalent of our Olympic Games, perhaps. Thanks to the nighttime aesthetic and the fireworks in the background, I envision this track being the opening ceremony of a grand, televised championship event – a precursor to all of the chaos and wackiness to come.

Next time, we look at Water Park, a partially submerged theme park with quite a few hidden details to find.