Winning Gold in the game’s Grand Prix cups unlocked one of 14 characters at random, meaning you had to play through these sequence of courses at least 14 times to get every racer. When all you want to do is play a new game with friends, explaining what you haven’t unlocked is a painīut Mario Kart 8 on Wii U had a pretty silly way of unlocking characters, one that was more time-consuming than anything else. And Mario Kart 8 Deluxe still has plenty of that for people who like to show off how good they are at collecting coins, the game’s primary unlock method vehicle parts remain locked. In lieu of achievements or trophies, Nintendo games’ unlockables feel like quantifiable proof of impressive accomplishments. Spending hours doing myriad tasks to unlock basic characters can be fun, sure. It’s with other people, and we just want to choose our favorite characters and favorite tracks as soon as possible. When I play a new Mario Kart for the first time, it’s usually not by myself.
Although Mario Kart is fun to play alone, the optimal experience is playing with a group of friends, pelting your most confident one with three red shells in a row at just the right moment, ruining their first-place lead. Aside from a single color variant, every character is available from the start, as are the game’s best courses and every new thing that double-dippers would want to try out.
That includes 42 different racers, five of them exclusive to the Switch game 48 different racing tracks and the return of a complete Battle mode, which was nixed from the Wii U game. Unlike the Wii U version - or most multiplayer-centric games - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe comes with pretty much all the content already unlocked. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is one of Nintendo Switch’s first great party games, and there’s a big reason why.