The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe esports scene is thriving 6 years after the game’s release. What keeps the competitive scene so enraptured? 

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, released in April 2017, has entered its seventh year upon launch, but the esports community that formed around it is still very much alive and thriving. In this article, we ask Japan’s top player Kusaan about what keeps the game’s competitive community so hooked. 

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (MK8DX) is a Nintendo Switch title based on Mario Kart 8. It expands on the original game with further battle and difficulty settings, additional tracks and characters, as well as overall balance and gameplay improvements.  

In the game’s competitive scene, tournaments are organized regularly both within Japan and internationally, mainly via MKCentral. Aside from tournaments, players also compete in the MK8DX Lounge, an unofficial rating battle system through which players compete day and night, aiming to rank higher and higher. What keeps the MK8DX competitive community so passionate for the game even after all these years? We ask Kusaan, the captain of the Japan team, who has participated in the community for years and holds the highest ranking of “Grand Master.” 

The synergy of a seasoned community and a stream of new content 

The first factor Kusaan attributes the game’s popularity to is a big and well-timed update the game received. In February 2022, the “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass” was announced. This update includes the addition of 48 remastered circuits to the game. The new courses are being released in groups of 8, through six “waves,” and in each of the waves, large-scale updates related to characters and vehicles are being carried out as well. 

At the time of this writing, the title contains a total of 88 courses, 40 of which have been added through the Booster Course Pass updates up until now. The courses are also rich in variety, including courses whose structure changes slightly with each lap and sectional courses where players don’t make laps in the first place.

Speaking of adjustments to characters, at a certain point, the combination of Waluigi and Wild Wiggler, the “Waluigi Wiggler” combo, had been considered the ultimate combination in the game, becoming so popular that battles with all 12 Luigis weren’t a rare sight at all. But with the frequent updates, characters such as Yoshi, Birdo and Daisy gradually came to take the spotlight. Players also got more vehicle options to choose from, such as Inkstriker, Teddy Buggy and Mr. Scooty, making the game a lot more vibrant and attractive. The various updates no doubt played a big part in reigniting players’ passion for the game. 

Kusaan also mentions livestreams as a big part of what keeps the game’s competitive scene so lively, with people gathering to watch and cheer on various players streaming their own games. The main battleground for MK8DX is online competition, which is a unique point considering large-scale competitions for FPS games such as Valorant and fighting games such as Street Fighter are mainly held offline. Thanks to competition being held online, it kept on strong even with COVID going on, and it has allowed for tournament and Lounge players to create a tradition of holding personal streams.  

The competitive scene in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is quite long-standing too, and the level of competition has been rising throughout the years, which is also what contributes to all the excitement. “The 6-on-6 rule adopted at the Mario Kart World Cup 2023 held in July of this year and other events has deepened the coordination between players and the level of strategizing for each course,” says Kusaan. The large-scale updates that brought everyone’s attention to the game, combined with an existing veteran competitive community, seems to be what has kept excitement for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe going strong. 

Exhilarating teamplay born from the game’s rules 

The competition in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe differs in a few rules from the usual online competition. First of all, in a single match, there are 12 races to run. If a team is mostly clustered in the back, they can choose a course rich with shortcuts and spots that will allow them to turn the tables, while if they are clustered in the front, they can choose a course that allows an easy break away after securing the lead. Sometimes, teams choose the course that their highest-ranking member is best at. In this sense, competition starts at the selection stage, before the race commences. 
 

It is also important to note that, although there are two-person teams, six-person teams, etc. in MK8DX competition, only rules for individual battle apply, as opposed to rules for team battle. Normally, team battle rules make sure you don’t suffer from friendly fire or get caught up in your teammate’s attacks, but this also means that items control the outcome of the game heavily. 

Therefore, in order to maintain a more competitive dynamic, MK8DX games are played as individual competition, and the outcome is decided based on the total points earned by the team members. According to Kusaan, this unique rule also contributes to the game’s appeal, as it creates a need to coordinate between players and judge the correct timing to use items. 

During team competition, the team members participating in the race continuously talk to each other, reporting on ally and enemy scores, which items they currently have and when to use them. This especially goes for items such as Lightning, which affects all players except for the player who threw it, including allys. Teams will aim for the timing at which all of their members have items that make them immune to Lightning to turn the tables on the enemy team. Watching this kind of coordination go on is quite exciting. 

Incidentally, a large-scale Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tournament approaches. The Mario Kart Worlds 2023 tournament is an invitation-based international championship scheduled to take place from December 9 to 17 this year. There will be 16 teams participating in total, 8 being international and 8 being from Japan. And all of them were chosen based on their performances this year, so it’s expected to be a high-level tournament. 

Thanks to a variety of factors and a skilled and passionate community, the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe esports scene continues to thrive even seven years after the games release. With large-scale tournaments scheduled going forward, it seems that the momentum will not slow down. 

Written by. Amber V based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-10-23 09:49 JST)