Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass - Wave 4

The grand finale of Wave 4 is a bold, brand-new Yoshi's Island! It's an incredible original track that is a complete homage to the 1995 SNES classic, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It manages to fit references to dozens of iconic characters and locations from that 16-bit masterpiece into its loop, and it's honestly the best such track Nintendo has ever made! It's pure delight from end to end for anyone who's ever played that game. [Issue #65 – May/June 2023, p. 24]

Mario Kart 8 is the reliable assurance of fun for any evening with friends and it is by far the best arcade racer across all platforms.

Wave 4 delivers more of that sweet racing goodness to this near-perfect game. It’s hard to criticize something so fun and fresh; in fact, the only obvious negative is that we’re now down to the final two waves. Let’s see what’s next.

Wave 4 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass is arguably the best to date, featuring serious glow-ups to fan favorites. The inclusion of the new Yoshi’s Island track would have been more than enough to steal the show, but the rest of its roster this go-around most certainly strives for greatness.

With the brand new course Yoshi's Island in all of its nostalgic charm, plenty of familiar tracks, and a few more Mario Kart Tour courses, Wave 4 of the Booster Course Pass provides a ton of kart-racing fun that anyone will thoroughly enjoy.

And because she’s finally making her debut in Deluxe, this review will be all about Birdo.

Wave 4 has continued to deliver, and as each and every wave before it, the courses lifted from Mario Kart Tour are fun additions, particularly with branching paths, alternative routes and reversed laps. It is particularly exciting to see new characters returning and having Birdo on the roster is certainly warmly welcomed. Yoshi's Island stands out in Wave 4, not only for being a new and original track but also for unique musical themes and being such a varied course overall. Subtle changes to DKs Snowboard Cross, Waluigi Stadium and Mario Circuit all make improvements on their original counterparts and Riverside Park looks fantastic. This is an enjoyable set of tracks and adds to what is an already fantastic package from other waves of the Booster Course Pass.

Best wave yet, I can’t wait for wave 5 and 6. My favourite course in this wave has to be Yoshi’s Island.

Bad and mediocre tracks. Except for Mario Circuit and Singapore Speedway, which aren't unbearable.

Way too many mario kart tour tracks from a failed game that are way too confusing and the majority are awful. the rest of the tracks are fantastic

Wave 4 is the definitive proof that Nintendo has given up on quality control. While fans were distracted by the return of Birdo, the actual tracks are a masterclass in corner-cutting. Half the cup is comprised of "City" tracks from Mario Kart Tour—Amsterdam Drift, Bangkok Rush, and Singapore Speedway—which are basically flat, lifeless corridors that change routes every lap just to hide how boring the actual layouts are. The textures on the GBA Riverside Park look like they were painted with a wet sponge, lacking any of the environmental detail or lighting that made the 2014 base game actually look good.Even the "fan favorites" aren't safe. DK Summit and Waluigi Stadium are just upscaled mobile assets that look like plastic toys compared to the gritty, detailed motocross vibe of the original Wii and GameCube versions. The only "new" track, Yoshi’s Island, is a blatant nostalgia trap that uses 16-bit references to mask the fact that it’s a short, simplistic loop.Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds treats its tracks like cinematic events, while Wave 4 treats them like a chore. Nintendo didn't "boost" the game; they just dumped a bunch of low-res mobile waste into a $25 bucket and told us to be grateful for the scraps. It’s an insulting downgrade that makes the base game’s 2014 graphics look like they’re from the future.

Escalating tension and anger, that’s what I got after playing this game. The random algorithm for opening lucky boxes has been tampered with, resulting in a situation where when you are in the lead (1st), the lucky box only gives you coins and bananas (coins have a higher probability), no defensive items, which then leads to being attacked from behind and losing your position. Feels like a waste of money and time on this thing.