Mario Kart 8 was the highest selling Wii U game, the shining star of a console that was terribly received due to poor marketing and little third party support. Despite this, Mario Kart 8 still managed to sell a very respectable 7.5 million units. It seemed like a no-brainer for Nintendo to port over the game to its new hybrid console, the Nintendo Switch.

As with all ports of older games, new features had to be added. For instance, all the DLC from the Wii U version is available at no extra charge for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This includes characters, kart parts and tracks. There is a whopping total of 48 tracks in this game, and coming from someone fresh who never owned the Wii U, I can say they are the most diverse and enjoyable tracks I’ve ever played in a Mario Kart game. There are antigravity sections in a lot of them; adding an interesting new dynamic to how you play. The antigravity sections mean mad map design, leaving you to gaze in awe at the spectacle in front of you before the race starts. Tracks from older games make a comeback as always. I'd say most of them are a decent selection. However, I did miss ‘DK Mountain’ from Mario Kart: Double Dash and ‘Maple Treeway’ from Mario Kart Wii.

My main gripe with the game is that all the unlockables are limited to kart parts and just one extra character. Everything else is available to you right off the bat. This takes away from the games longevity, but I understand them doing it, so as to not burn players who’d already unlocked everything through playing the Wii U game.

The main reason for players who owned the Wii U game to pick up this version, is the re-vamped battle mode. Nintendo listened to consumer feedback and ditched the battle mode from the previous game, which had you battling it out awkwardly on normal racing tracks, and replaced it with a true arena-style format, akin to Mario Kart 64. There are 8 battle arenas to choose from and five modes: Balloon Battle, Shine Thief, Coin Runners, Bob-omb Blast and Renegade Roundup (a brand new battle mode created for this game).

New characters include King Boo, Dry Bones, Bowser Jr. and the increasingly popular Inklings from the Splatoon series. You can now hold two items for the first time since Mario Kart: Double Dash, though it’s odd that you can’t switch between them, as this would’ve led to further levels of tactics while racing. A third level of power slide has also been added, making it harder to fully master drifting. Mario Kart has never been as accessible either, as you can toggle on and off motion controls, auto acceleration and smart-steering (an option which ensures you don’t fall off the track).

The online lobby system gets you into matches fairly quick but is still convoluted. There is still no easy way to communicate with friends, but this seems to be inherent in all of Nintendo’s online games. Hopefully this is made easier in the next Mario Kart instalment.

Despite this, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is easily the best game in the franchise and I am excited for what comes next. With tracks from The Legend of Zelda, Splatoon, Excitebike, F-Zero and Animal Crossing, as well as the introduction of Link and the Inklings as playable characters; I am eager to see whether the next game will be more like a ‘Nintendo Kart’ rather than a ‘Mario Kart’.