So I just found out a couple days ago that the first of the two DLCs is out ... and has been for almost three weeks. I don't know if they were just incredibly quiet about releasing it or if I just wasn't paying attention - I swear none of the multiple newsletters they've sent out this month made any mention of it. I looked up the release date back in early November and it was set as "End of November 2014," but lo and behold, I Googled it again over the long weekend and found out it had launched on the 11th. Whatever.
Interestingly, the new courses aren't sorted by new vs. old - the "retro" cup has two old courses and two new ones, and the "modern" cup has GCN Yoshi Circuit in addition to three new courses. Here are my thoughts after playing with the new content a bit:
Egg Cup:
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GCN Yoshi Circuit: A nice HD updating of the course, although it doesn't have a lot that stands out about it gameplay-wise, which makes me curious as to why this one was picked, especially since it was already in Mario Kart DS. As with the MKDS version, the shortcut from Double Dash that requires jumping off the outer edge of the track into the underground tunnel is absent. The jump shortcut at the early hairpin turn now sends you through a waterfall.
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ExciteBike Arena: It looks and feels like a modernization of the courses from ExciteBike, as it's meant to. There's supposedly some randomization of course elements every time you play, but I haven't played it enough yet to notice.
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Dragon Driftway: I don't think this course was advertised at all. It sends you into anti-grav as soon as the race starts and doesn't go back to normal until right before the end of the lap, giving it the highest ratio of anti-grav to regular driving in any course to date. The entire course takes place on the back of a giant Chinese dragon statue/building, entering its mouth at the start and ending by driving off its tail. It's not one of my favorites personally, but I think that's only because video game depictions of traditional Chinese architecture have never really "clicked" for me. It's a very different theme for a Mario Kart course, that's for sure. Among the courses in this pack, it's probably one of the most heavily decorated.
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Mute City: The F-Zero course. Similar to Dragon Driftway, it shifts to anti-grav right from the get-go and stays that way until the end, although there are parts where you're clearly rightside-up where anti-grav simply doesn't go away for some reason. There are stretches similar to the repair strips in F-Zero which will boost your coin count, meaning you can get to 10 coins within 10 seconds of leaving the start line, which feels a little OP, but whatever. There are billboards in the city depicting Captain Falcon saying "Show me your moves!", which is awesome.
Triforce Cup:
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Wii Wario's Gold Mine: There's an anti-grav section right at the start of the mine, and the Shy Guy miners from Shy Guy Falls make an appearance. Otherwise it seems to be pretty close to the Wii version, aside from the all-around visual upgrade. Stretches of it have an almost TF2-esque vibe visually.
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SNES Rainbow Road: As with GCN Yoshi Circuit, I'm confused as to why they picked this one, but even moreso this time around because it was in
the previous Mario Kart game. (And also Super Circuit - it has been in literally half of all non-arcade Mario Kart games to date!) At least it looks nice, being set in the sky over a neon-lit nighttime version of Dinosaur Land similar to N64 Rainbow Road's city, and having some really nice lighting effects on the Thwomps. Still, its presence feels redundant and the remixed music is sadly a bit lackluster. Personally I'd rather have seen GBA or GCN or DS Rainbow Road. Oh well, maybe in DLC #2.
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Ice Ice Outpost: Another unadvertised course. It's fairly bland - just two curvy paths that stay close to each other and sometimes break to make one pass over the other. Nothing at all about it stands out, sadly. Probably the weakest of the courses in the pack. It feels either incomplete or like it was once planned for the main game's first cup.
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Hyrule Circuit: The Zelda course. It runs through the castle and the surrounding landscape. The music is the classic LoZ theme, because that's the only song ever used in Zelda crossovers apparently (seriously, someone please name a non-Smash Bros. Zelda crossover that did not use this tune). It replaces the coins with Rupees and has custom SFX for them, as well as replacing the item roulette noises with the sounds for opening a chest in Zelda. Thematically it's very strong, but I feel like I'd like it more if I actually played Zelda.
I think LoZ fans will appreciate it.
The new characters are a mixed bag. Tanooki Mario and Cat Peach have new lines separate from their non-costumed counterparts, and Link has grunts similar to Smash Bros. None of them seem to have distinctive performance differences from anyone in the core roster. Mario's horn is the cape spin sound from Super Mario World, but Link's horn is an out-of-place brass-section hit and Peach's horn is a cringe-worthy failure at imitating a cat's meow. Link's proportions are such that he has to squeeze awkwardly into the karts the same way Waluigi does, and his exaggerated facial expressions can reach CD-i levels of hilarious if you catch them at just the right moment.
The new vehicle bodies are pretty nice-looking. The Tanuki Buggy is a Jeep-like offroader with a striped spare-tire case on the back; the iconic B-Dasher that originated in Mario Kart DS and reappeared in Mario Kart 7 re-reappears; the Blue Falcon sadly doesn't get a massive speed boost, but it hides the wheels inside so they aren't super-obvious; and Link's bike is humorous to look at, apparently being made out of shields.
Overall I'm a little disappointed: the new courses are simplistic in their design, and whatever gimmicks they may have don't shine through very clearly. The music is also not so great compared to the core game's soundtrack. The characters are just reskins + Link, but the new vehicles are nice-looking.
