Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Guide - Tips, Hints, Tricks And Unlocks

Max love for this game!

My preferred play option is the Wheel - Auto-Accelerate and Steering Assist were turned on by default - even in single player...easy enough to turn them off from the pause menu - look out for a little antenna sticking out the back of your Kart if you don't want them on!

Tips for getting started: Play the first one

I don't need your stinking tips.
Im out, Smell Ya later.

I can't wait to get home from work and get Kart Racing!

The wheel is awesome, ride the fringe, drift like a maniac, mushrooms can boost out of blue shells, coins are key to consistently winning, know when to go risk/reward racing line, boosts get you through off road sections, bump into others in anti-grav, learn how to expertly tighten/loosen drifts, draft at the right opportunities, stretch out each boost, tap the lip of jumps to extend glides, hops can provide little corrections and bypass obstacles, tricks are cheesable with tilt controls, dolphin diving can be crucial, slick drifting will make you hero in battles, discover all sorts of shortcuts and know when to use them, you're never out of it, you can win with the wheel.

Finally: if you want true MK skills, don't ignore Time Trials! Improving your times will forge and temper those fundamental skills.

@123akis Yes, there is a MKTV menu where you can watch and edit highlights of the last 12 races.
I don't think you can save or share them in any way tho.
Right now it's just a good tool for taking screenshots.

@ACK I was a pro with the wheel on Wii, even online. I had that gold wheel by my name. Never used it on Wii U, just used pro controller. Maybe I'll give it a shot on Switch.

Yeah, that automatic steer-assist thing is stupid. (I guess, unless you're completely new to racing games.)

A good way to tell if it's been automatically switched on for you is that you'll see a little antenna coming out the back of your kart (like it's an RC). It blinks yellow when the steer assist kicks in.

@Destron Right on, I've been putting up top tier times in Time Trials over the years with the wheel in both Wii and 8. Analog and everything is fine, but tilt offers increased range of control, better traction, easier tricks, etc., which are actually significant benefits beyond the simple joy of tilt steering. I am worried about launching items backwards without the Wiimote's d-pad, however...

Anyway, despite what jaded gamers claim, the wheel does have competitive merit. Similar in a way to Splatoon (which finally proved the point with gyro aiming), if you can maximize tilt skills you'll find a higher ceiling.

@SmaMan
Think about small kids or people who has NEVER ever play Racing games in their life before. They will feel disinterest if they keep bumping on the road or falling from the tracks. Smart steering is kinda like a first guidance for them to understand how to play Racing games without seeing bumping each other or being on the Last place oftenly (How do they enjoy the game if they always being on Last Place oftenly, sees the other players being on First or better place ? )

@SmaMan While I can see the essentual utility in certain circumstances, I am incredibly annoyed that it is turned on by default... (At least give a pop-up window ti turn off/on the first time you race!)

I know when I go to friends' houses to jam on their Switch, I will inevitably find them all to have that stupid antenna on the back with barely any awareness of their own derpiness. They're going think I'm some sort of MK magician with how I zip around the track unhinged...

Man, in vanilla 8 I already had to severely handicap myself to make our local races competitive...

@Anti-Matter I sort of agree in principle, except in practice I've found my kids more than suited to the time-honored tradition of Nintendoing games by being thrown in the deep end. (Obviously that's how I learned, zero assistance beyond being told to "go outside" — and look how I turned out...)

My son (three at the time) was soon able to get golds on 50cc in vanilla 8. Now at 7 he is pretty skilled in all platformers, racers, Smash Bros., Splatoon, etc... Pretty much the same for his younger sister (6), who is pretty masterful at all Kirby games herself. Except she requires more help and truly hates to lose...

A certain amount of hand holding is essential, but more to encourage enjoyment than anything. Like learning to swim, you'll never fully learn with a life preserver but most kids would be discouraged if you dropped them in deep water with no assistance.

Like all good parenting, you really need to know the individual person and attempt a suitable balance for each one.

As for auto-steering, I mostly see it useful for forcing people into multiplayer matches when they aren't familiar. I would suggest almost everyone turn it off in single player, though.

For anyone interested. If you're a Prime member, you can get MK8 Deluxe for £34.99. Just use the code VG5OFF40 at the checkout. I ordered mine earlier. Figured it'll not go cheaper than that for years, if ever.

So many ads

@SmaMan The steering assist is worthless to many and maybe even most, but it's a gamechanger for me. I used to hate racing with my kids (ages 3, 5 & 7) because it would take them so long to finish (even on 50cc plus I hate racing on 50cc), now they can finish mid pack and they have more fun racing with me even though I'll always pick 150cc or 200cc.

@SmaMan Actually this is another reason I'm buying this game again. When my family sits down to play games together my daughter is often left just sitting there watching because she is a tad young to really grasp how to play the game and when we do let her play she often gets frustrated that she isn't doing so well. These features will remedy that and I absolutely love that she will be able to enjoy herself while spending time with the family.

@Anti-Matter
Uhh yeah, that's why I made sure to include the phrase "I guess, unless you're completely new to racing games."

For playing with your little uns who've it's understandably a great handicap, but turning it on by default (and seemingly at random) is not necessary, and in fact, annoying.

Excuse me for going off-topic, but has anyone else noticed that the pro controller makes a noise, everytime you pick up a coin? I havent read anywhere that theres a speaker in the controller, but I just played the game muted, and it is without a doubt a real gamenoise (if thats a word). Great game btw.

Gotta love Amazon's great method of not selling too many copies. I love getting my copy on time and not having to wait until monday!

@callekjar HD rumble uses speakers for its rumbles. Put the controller (or Joy-Con) near your ear while playing and you will hear it.

I feared a little when I opened the box and saw drifting and items were assigned to L and R not ZL and ZR, before quickly realising both work. It's much more comfortable to hold the Z shoulder buttons down let's be honest.

Bit annoying to hear steering assist and the like gets turned on by itself. Annoyingly the steering assist is ON be default when you start the game and it doesn't tell you about this new feature (or any, in fact...could do with a 'what's new' guide on the menu screen) so after a few races I realised I was being directed away from obstacles and found out how to turn it off.

Tip #1 Buy a Nintendo Switch

Tip #2 Buy a copy of Mario Kart Deluxe

Pro Tip: Tip #1 and #2 can be done at the same time.

I played the battle mode online today and I learned that I need to play a few more rounds to get my skills back up to snuff.

There's a 4th way to play:

Holding a controller one in each hand. With the motion controls on, you can use the analog stick to control, and motion sensing to fine tune. It seems odd to me that anyone would choose to connect their controllers together, when you can have one in each hand with your arms comfortably positioned any way you like.

@The8BitLego Thanks! I used a lot of brainpower to figure that out yesterday

Nintendo has trashed the online part of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. I'm an experienced player, I have already finished this game at 150cc Gold.
Now if I play online I always get last or near.
Is it possible that a game aimed at all ages have became so challenging? When playing Mario Kart 8 on Wii U I finished generally 4th, sometimes win, etc. Now always last? Max 6th? Are all those players dragons? And steering assistance does not really change anything for me, maybe it do change for the others, I don't know. Though I know that I bought this for online especially and it's now trash. Not happy.
It's a mess. If I were a pigeon I would not saying anything, but I started with games far more challenging than this in my life.
All people became dragons... ok.

I think I'll buy this one too. The odds of it being available at a discount seem very low.

@Tetsuro I'm surprised it's taken you this long to realize how hardcore MK can be... With fire-hopping removed in MK8D it should be easier to compete with the very best, though.

First, I'm not clear whether you are using Smart Steering or not, but if you are--turn it off, immediately. It will only hinder your ability to learn the best shortcuts and drive the best lines...

Anyway, I've won or come in second in every race I have played online vs randoms so far. That's using tilt + the new wheel, which is quite a change for anyone used to the old Wii Wheel, specifically if you used the trigger for drift. (I need to be able to switch the shoulder buttons! My hands don't deserve this!).

That said, items come into play a little more now, so you will not win as consistently without impeccable driving. Practically ignoring items and riding the best line will get you a lot farther in MK than most think. If you can ace time trials you will be hard to beat no matter what. Also, maybe the stats have changed a bit, so try various kart setups rather than your old faithful.

Anyway, keep at it, you're probably just rusty.

@ACK I tried any setup: balanced, speed, acceleration, etc.
I don't understand why since I'm experienced. I don't take shortcuts generally, I'm very clean in trajectories (worse results by using turbo after Drift/R), though I see many people doing zig-zag and having such good acceleration. And my kart seem so slow.
Also lot of times I get target 3 or 4 times in a row. It's a mess, single player is far more cleaner.
Point is: how are all those players so good when with the Wii U I generally got everytime in the first 4?

@Tetsuro Well, MK does have a very low barrier to entry yet extremely high skill ceiling. In that sense, the I suppose the elite are warlocks who conjure dragons and control them with their very will..

Still, keep in mind the game has only been out for a day or so. Anyone you run into online is more likely to be a pretty hardcore fan relative to when there is a much bigger player base in a few weeks from now. It's likely a high percentage of current players were fairly high-level MK8 players who lapsed over the past year or two, now coming back into the fold.

Consider also that MK8 sold low compared to tradional MK levels. Anyone who mastered 7, Wii, DS, or DD will be able to adapt those skills to 8 pretty quickly even if they are unfamiliar with the tracks. Those are possibly another significant hardcore market to jump back in with MK8D.

All said, give it time to sell and the skill level online will spread out to a much greater degree. In the meantime, please don't use smart-steering unless you have to, keep mastering your drifts, try to learn some reliable shortcuts (time trials helps), and pop into battle mode when racing gets you heated.

In the end though, if your enjoyment of MK is strictly derived from victory then maybe you'll struggle to find bliss in the online space, to put it lightly.

@Tetsuro It did occur to me also that the influx of items seems to enhance the fray. If you can't jump in front early, it's going to be more chaotic in the middle of the pack. The only way to mitigate this is by either expert driving technique or fortunate and effective item use, or both.

This was always my concern with double items... Great for battle mode, but a borderline nuisance for racing. In this case, we can only embrace the crazy, I guess.

@ACK I found the problem, now I'm cheating too and I am usually in mid tier (6th).
Still I think Nintendo destroyed online by making the game unfair, and I have found the culprits:
1. Assist steering made the weak better. In fact now I too use it and never fall or just take more risks since I'm rewarded. It added randomness.
2. Double items increases the crashes. CPU il less likely to pick them up, while humans strive for it. More randomness added, and sometimes even tops gets last if very unlucky.

So only top stay top since they have an advantage by knowing every technique plus every shortcuts (except if very unlucky), while normal drivers (like me) just can't prove their precise driving and gets mixed along with weak drivers and in the end it's about randomness.
No, I don't like this, I prefer the more fair single player mode where I disable everything and win just for my ability instead of 'no one can fall', 'no one can slow down if taking risks'.

They just f* online and it's not right to justify it. Tops stay tops, normals and weaks now are the same. If it's just luck how can it be fun?

I'm thinking of picking up a set of wheels today but am still concerned about the ability to fire items backwards. I know a few posters on here have asked the same, so is there an answer yet?

@Talkshowhost You can launch items everywhere with the stick. I don't see why you should not with a wheel.

How would I motion gesture for the item to fire behind me though?

@Talkshowhost Hold down on the control stick and press SL. Alternatively, hold up to launch, say, a banana forward. Works quite well, but definitely not as easy as the d-pad with a Wii Wheel.

I do love the joycon wheels, actually disregarding tilt they are equally useful as a joycon shell with their big, chunky triggers. Very comfy.

That said, the Wii Wheel trained me to use the left trigger for drifting and with MK8D we are stuck using SR, which is far less intuitive and kills my right hand after awhile.

Another big annoyance is that for some reason they don't turn off the turning on the control stick while using tilt... Why not is beyond me, but this could interfere for some I imagine. And it would be so much better to have the option to flick up or down on the control stick to launch items. Still love the tilt controls, though.

Slightly related, but I wish Nintendo would support one-handed joycon play. Would be a boon for people without use of an arm.

@Tetsuro You may be right, though we still need to see how it all shakes out over time. I was never really on board with the double items partially for that reason, really elevates the struggle of the fray.

However, there is value to bringing players on a more even ground. Anyone with a family or who frequently invites guests over for couch multi understand this intrinsically. Stratified competition is not much fun, the people on top have easy victories and those on the bottom have dire experiences, so it's really hard sometimes to encourage people to play together when they know the result going in. It's far worse if no one in your house wants to play than continually losing online.

Ultimately, there is no perfect way to balance all this out, and in attempting, some playstyles will be either buffed or needed to some effect. With MK8D, fire-hopping is gone, but there are now purple boosts. That will slow down the very best and possibly allow for different tactics to compete at the highest. Smart-steering and more items will generally boost the lowest skilled players to a suitable, if unspectacular level though they will never be able to beat a middling player who utilize aspects like freeform shortcuts and advanced drifting that are unavailable with smart steering. It is certainly possible that the mid-level players will suffer a bit, but its definitely better to help the worst players along than heavily cap the skill ceiling.

For me, a lot of the fun in gaming comes from growing your skills and climbing the ladder. The best way to facilitate that is with a firm challenge propelling you forward to learn new skills and further hone the ones you rely on. If we stay stagnant, we are just a speed bump on the road for those behind us.

Argh, I need to reiterate that we need the ability to swap "drift" and "use items" for SR/SL, as well as turn off control stick steering when using tilt!

This is unacceptably cruel treatment of wheel players. The inhumane demands upon their hands needs to be rectified!

Also, the mamsy-pamsy masses deserve the option to switch accelerate to a trigger for their pampered hands.

@ACK Well single player is still somewhat good. There is nothing really to unlock, kart parts are only aesthetics. I don't get the 10 sincerely, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe fall short on many aspects. Though, while not perfect, it's still a great game.
This edition is the less hardcore, the Mario Kart for the masses, fine since is a port. Still happy to have bought it, I missed the one before.
I'm ok for nerfs and buffs of techniques, but they have really changed the field this time.

P.S.: I changed to gyro controls (without the wheel) and it seems even easier, Joy-Con sticks lacks precision unfortunately.