Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Booster Course Pack is now live, adding the first eight of what will eventually be 48 fresh courses to the game. Quite the statement considering the game is now five years old, and the only real way Nintendo could avoid more questions about when there will be an entirely new Mario Kart game. The first wave introduces tracks from throughout Mario Kart's history, including Mario Kart Tour.
One of the most popular tracks added in this batch of eight is Coconut Mall. First introduced in Mario Kart Wii, racers are tasked with whizzing around a mall at high speeds, even having to drive up moving escalators. However, those escalators have been modified for the new version of the track, and early indications suggest Mario Kart stalwarts aren't that happy about it.
The escalators have been replaced with ramps, one that will speed racers up and another alongside it that will slow them down. In the original version of the course, both escalators looked the same, one going up and one going down. There are three sets with racers needing to alternate between them for a speed boost. However, adding red and green arrows eliminates the element of chance, or knowing which escalators to aim for if you're a more experienced racer.
“The way they changed the escalators to these super telegraphed steep ramps that would not exist anywhere except for a Mario Kart track is pretty hard to overlook,” one player tweeted. Other changes include some of the driving Miis you needed to avoid being removed and the ones towards the end of the track being replaced with Shy Guys. More evidence that Miis might not be long for this world after they featured very little in Nintendo's Switch Sports preview.
The good news is Coconut Mall and the rest of the tracks look pretty good. There was a fear among some players following the Booster Course Pack's reveal that the tracks would look more like something from a mobile game as opposed to some on the Switch. If you've bought the pack or are subscribed to NSO's Expansion Pass, you can use the tracks now. If not, they will be added to the online rotation from March 21 providing at least one player has access to them.