Crossing Cup
The first track of the Crossing Cup is GCN Baby Park, from Mario Kart: Double Dash on GameCube. Set in an amusement park, it features a small oval track. The track is quite short, but races consist of a whopping seven laps. I wonder why they can’t make SNES tracks with five laps as they were originally intended, yet this one can get seven laps. It’s a pretty fun and frantic course, though. Even if you get way out in front, you still have to deal with other drivers as you lap them, thanks to the short track. It takes place entirely in anti-gravity mode.
Next up is GBA Cheese Land, a retro course from Mario Kart: Super Circuit. The track is made out of cheese, including cheese craters–do some tricks for a speed boost as you jump out of them. There are a couple of chain chomps here, one of which can reach across almost the entire width of the track. About two-thirds of the track takes place in anti-gravity mode. This may be my least favorite of the eight tracks in this DLC pack.
The third track is a new course called Wild Woods. This cool course takes you through a forest, where sunbeams shine through the treetops. You’ll ride on a boardwalk through a village of Shy Guy homes before going down a river, Koopa Cape style. You then cross a pond by racing across lily pads before another boardwalk takes you to the finish line. It’s a beautiful and enjoyable course.
The Crossing Cup wraps up with the Animal Crossing track. It features many characters and sites from the Animal Crossing series, including power-up boxes that are held up by balloons (like the balloon presents in Animal Crossing) and Resetti pops up out of the ground like the Monty Moles in SNES Donut Plains 3. Since I’m a big Animal Crossing fan, I decided to make a video just exploring the track for a while to see some of the details (such as K.K. Slider singing and watching the train cross a bridge). Here is the video: (view on Youtube)
The Animal Crossing track takes place in different season each time you play (unless you play the Time Trial, which will always be summer). Each season has its own look: Winter has snow, snowmen, and northern lights; autumn has piles of leaves you can drive through; spring has pink cherry blossom petals falling down; and summer has green grass and sunny skies. I think the winter season is especially gorgeous. I made a video showing one lap of each season to give you a taste of what it’s like. (view on Youtube)
Bell Cup
The Bell Cup starts off with 3DS Neo Bowser City. The neon-filled city is quite appealing visually, and you race in some fairly heavy rain as well. There is a short anti-gravity section towards the end of each lap. This is one of my favorite tracks in DLC Pack #2.
GBA Ribbon Road is next; it takes place on a miniature track in a child’s bedroom, oddly enough. Some mechanical wind-up Koopa toys are on the track as obstacles to avoid. True to its name, the course takes place on a ribbon track, and in certain parts, the track undulates in the breeze.
Super Bell Subway naturally takes place in a subway station (and on the tracks). You’ll actually drive alongside trains at some points. All in all, it’s a pretty cool track.
The Bell Cup ends with Big Blue, based on the F-Zero franchise. This anti-gravity course has some Toad Factory-style conveyor belts, which can speed you up or slow you down, depending on which one you’re on. The track doesn’t have an overabundance of speed boosts like the Mute City track from DLC Pack #1, so it lacks the extreme speed that made Mute City really feel like F-Zero. Big Blue isn’t a bad track, but it is a bit disappointing in comparison.
200cc Mode
Even if you haven’t bought the DLC packs, a free update brings a 200cc mode that you can enjoy. The 200cc races are fast…very fast. Some tracks are a lot more fun with the extra speed. However, the extra speed makes it hard to control your vehicle (and/or stay on the tracks) on some courses. Even vehicles with tight controls can have trouble making it around corners at that speed. It may take some practice (or even some braking?!) to keep things manageable. But the 200cc definitely makes for some wild, frantic races.
I’ll be uploading more videos of Mario Kart 8, so subscribe to my Youtube channel if you don’t want to miss them. Or if you don’t have the game yet, you can still buy Mario Kart 8 at Amazon.com or elsewhere. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you all next time!
