It helps that this is all shiny surfaces, big colours, and one big blur of balls and ballroom glitz. The swirling colours of this lightspeed-paced level leave no room for some of the criticism aimed - pretty fairly, I have to say - at a few of Wave 1's additions, which frequently showed their mobile development roots. The last course in this cup really needs no further introduction - it is one of the most adored Mario Kart tracks of all time, and it simply looks stunning here. This is peak Mario Kart.Īnd then there's Waluigi Pinball. From here it's a bumpy ride into the train tunnel and another encounter with the locomotive itself which you must swerve to avoid, before a final victory lap out on the sand. Here, the original N64 route is followed until the second lap, where a ramp takes you onto the tracks of the level's infamous train. Not only has Nintendo done a wonderful job on how the level looks - saturated in lens flare from the low sun, the landscape stretching off to dusty mesas in the distance - but it has also smartly tweaked the map's layout thanks to its more recent inclusion in Mario Kart Tour. Mario Kart 64's Kalimari Desert was already a classic, but this version of it surely improves on the original. If you're looking for a simple track to run some time trials on, maybe this is for you. It's still entirely flat, with a sulphuric yellow sky and only the most basic of elements - oil slicks, a final boost pad - to spice things up. There's not much to say about this one - it's a straightforward track from Mario Kart's origins, presented here with few tweaks. This is more or less as good as Tour gets.įrom Tour's newly-designed neon of New York we next turn to the primary colours of SNES course Mario Circuit 3. And as with all Tour tracks, the layout here shifts each lap - leading to a finale with a claustrophobic descent into and out of an underground parking garage. As usual, there's some lovely little touches: water gushing upwards from manholes, stationary yellow taxis. That said, it would take a cold heart not to be warmed by this enthusiastic take on New York nightlife, its swinging jazz soundtrack and well-designed map split between neon streets and the darkness of Central Park. I'll get this out the way now - I am not enamoured with Mario Kart Tour, and the Mushroom Kingdom purist in me bristles at the inclusion of real-world cities.

Up first is New York Minute, a lively track from mobile game Mario Kart Tour's roster featuring a checklist of city landmarks. Watch on YouTube Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's second wave of DLC tracks, available now.

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