Mario Kart has long been a mainstay of the racing genre. But it's far more accessible to those who aren't racing fans simply because the series often plays out more like a battle than a full-blown race. Mario Kart is all about sabotaging your opponents with banana peels or turtle shells - not to see who is a better racer.
Mario Kart 8 launched on the Wii U in 2014. But we all know the Wii U was rather short-lived as it didn't perform well financially. But with the advent of the Switch in 2017, Nintendo opted to bring Mario Kart 8 forward in a Deluxe package to keep the title from languishing on failed hardware.
5 New Items
What would Mario Kart be without items? Well, it'd just be any other kart racer if we're being honest. The items that you can use to sabotage your opponents is the series' bread and butter.
Mario Kart has always been less about the actual racing and more about the luck of the draw when it comes to getting gnarly weapons to "cheat" your way to first place.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe added a few new items. The Boo Ghost makes a return to the series in the Deluxe version enabling players to steal coveted items from their opponents.
Additionally, the stellar Battle Mode (which we'll get to shortly) now includes the feather giving you some verticality when it comes to vaulting over objects. But, perhaps, the greatest addition when it comes to items is the 2nd slot.
That's right, the Deluxe edition offers players a chance to hang on to two items at once unlike the original Wii U version. Furthermore, with the addition of racetrack updates, players can now add rulesets to items, which allows players to select which items they want to appear in the race.
4 New Vehicles
Look are they reallly go-carts at this point? The vehicles of Mario Kart have evolved from your traditional go-cart to everything from motorbikes to replicas of actual automobiles. Mario's iconic kart might still be available, but now he can speed around Mushroom Kingdom in style with a Mercedes-Benz Roadster.
The Deluxe edition adds several new selections including Bowser Jr.'s famous Koopa Clown-mobile and a Buggy fit for the Splatoon kids. Additionally, other vehicles have been added over time including parachutes/gliders.
There's a wealth of customization options and the Deluxe edition has only expanded this feature.
3 Expanded Roster
Every Mario Kart iteration has given us our pick of the Mushroom Kingdom when it comes to filling the driver seats of our karts. Even non-Mushroom Kingdom residents like Donkey Kong and Link have joined in on the fun.
But now, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe offers the most comprehensive roster to date with characters that didn't have the honor of gracing the speedways of the Wii U version. The Inkling kids of Splatoon, Dry Bones, and even Gold Mario are all new additions to this already mega-huge roster.
Following the release of the Deluxe edition, other racers have been added including Birdo and the Breath of the Wild version of Link. There's really no shortage of Nintendo fan favorites when it comes to picking your favorite driver.
2 Battle Mode
Sure, the Wii U version did have a Battle Mode of sorts, but it was rather thin. The Deluxe edition comes with a completely revamped Battle Mode with several game types that will entertain small gatherings of friends into the wee hours of the morning.
The traditional Balloon popping gauntlet returns when players must vie to be the last one standing with a balloon strapped to their kart.
There's also Bomb-omb blast which is exactly like it sounds. Lob bomb-ombs at your opponents in an attempt to blow them sky high.
Renegade Roundup, Coin Runners, and Shine Thief are three other mode types available for fans and the uninitiated alike. Mario Kart has really become something of a party game, but that's not all when it comes to Battle Mode.
These game tops also come with eight new arena-style maps, and a few of these are recreations from the series' past. They include Battle Stadium, Dragon Palace, Lunar Colony, Sweet Sweet Kingdom, Luigi's Mansion, Battle Course 1, and Wuhu Town.
1 New Tracks
Perhaps, Mario Kart's greatest assets are its wild and raucous tracks lined with perils making them a gauntlet to conquer on their own, opponents aside. Mario Kart 8 already came packing the biggest course listing to date, but Nintendo decided they could up the ante by revamping countless classics and releasing them in the Deluxe edition as downloadable map packs even six years after the game's launch.
Now, players can enjoy Choco Mountain of Mario Kart 64 fame or Circuit 3 from the original SNES title that started it all, and each package comes with 8 courses and there are six waves of DLC.
That's right. If you do the math, that's 48 additional tracks on top of the 48 racetracks already available in the base game! There's no shortage of content here.