{"id":126975,"date":"2022-08-04T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-135510"},"modified":"2022-08-04T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T20:00:00","slug":"soapbox-all-i-want-from-mario-kart-8s-dlc-is-more-tracks-like-baby-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2022\/08\/04\/soapbox-all-i-want-from-mario-kart-8s-dlc-is-more-tracks-like-baby-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Soapbox: All I Want From Mario Kart 8’s DLC Is More Tracks Like Baby Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Baby<\/a>
Image: Nintendo Life \/ Gemma<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As someone who gets paid to have opinions about video games, I have to check myself a fair bit. Do I love a particular game because I’m blinded by nostalgia? Am I kinder to a particular genre because I have a soft spot for it, even if some of the games are a bit pants? Are there developers who I’m willing to forgive for their decisions because my emotions towards them? We all have various biases, it’s true.<\/p>\n

But when it comes to Baby Park, I know<\/em> I’m right.<\/p>\n

Yes, I’m very attached to Mario Kart: Double Dash!!<\/a> on the GameCube, because I loved the GameCube, and I played it to death. I think it’s got the best gimmicks (two drivers, unique items) and some of the best tracks (DK Mountain, Dino Dino Jungle), but I can be persuaded that I’m wrong on both those counts<\/a>, because there are plenty of excellent contenders elsewhere in the Mario Kart series. But you absolutely cannot fight me on Baby Park. I will not budge.<\/p>\n

\"Gamecube<\/a>
Best Mario Kart game, right? \u2014 Image: Nintendo Life \/ Zion Grassl<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baby Park is brilliant because<\/em> it’s a distillation of everything that makes Mario Kart so good. It’s a track that’s stripped down to its barest essence; nothing but you, several other drivers, the occasional item, and seven laps in which everything is up for grabs. You have to be not only good, but near-perfect to come in first \u2014 or just lucky, which is far more likely in the chaos of shells and bananas that Baby Park causes.<\/p>\n

Those hairpin turns require a mastery of the drift-boost, and there’s always a chance that someone who’s technically<\/em> in last place, despite only being a couple of seconds behind, can get one of the rubber-banding powerups and kick you into the dirt at any time.<\/p>\n

Other Mario Kart courses are marathons \u2014 three laps of careful driving, memorising shortcuts but knowing when not to use them, and keeping an eye on who’s ahead of and behind you \u2014 but Baby Park is something between a sprint, a hurdle race, and an obstacle course. It’s a fascinating mix-up of what Mario Kart is all about, and… it’s honestly quite weird that we haven’t seen its like since.<\/p>\n

\"Baby<\/a>
Don’t show my car insurance provider this picture \u2014 Image: Polygon<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s not that we haven’t had course innovation. Mount Wario, for instance, is a long, linear, single-track course from start to end with no repetition, and that’s sort of the opposite of what Baby Park is all about. Instead of a tight, fast race that’s over in a matter of minutes, Mount Wario is a much longer test of skill. There’s more course to memorise, and moments where the race can be turned on its head by a single shortcut or collision.<\/p>\n

Then, there are the courses that change, like Grumble Volcano, which crumbles and shrinks after every single lap. Suddenly, your wide corners are too dangerous, and you have to be much more concerned with avoiding lava than with finding the perfect line. Hyrule Castle and Thwomp Ruins let you unlock shortcuts via a series of hard-to-pull-off tricks, making the race partly about good driving and partly about hoping you can claw back the lead. And Piranha Plant Slide (known as Piranha Plant Pipeway in British English, which I didn’t realise was a regional name) is a masterpiece of “OH GOD THIS IS TOO FAST”-ness that separates the Mario-men from the Baby Mario-boys.<\/p>\n

\"MK8<\/a>
Love it or hate it, Grumble Volcano is definitely creative \u2014 Image: Mario Kart Wiki<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We’ve even had roughly a billion re-imaginings of Rainbow Road… and while I think they’re all fantastic, and I love the iterative nature of Rainbow Roads across the Mario Kart series, I’m wondering… what would it look like if another<\/em> course had the same treatment? A course like… wait for it… Baby Park<\/em>?<\/p>\n