Mario Kart 8 DLC update added some surprise character buffs
The latest round of Mario Kart 8 DLC is live, and with it comes a surprise set of buffs for certain characters in the racing game. Nintendo slipped a hint of the buffs in the patch notes, but dataminers dug a bit deeper and found out exactly what happened (thanks, Kotaku).
“Improved the performance of some characters and vehicle customizations,” the patch notes read. What that apparently means in practical terms is that Nintendo gave a slight speed buff to practically every light- and medium-weight racer, along with some tires and karts as well.
Reddit user Meeter_Tweester posted their findings and how they affect certain racers. Every character except Metal Mario, Gold Mario, Pink Gold Peach, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Roy, Wario, Dry Bowser, Bowser, Morton, and large Mii – every character except the heavy ones, in other words – got a one-point boost in their overall speed.
Medium and light racers also got a one-point increase in their mini-turbo speed, while most tires and all karts except the heavy ones received the same buff to their mini-turbo speed.
The move was a pleasant surprise to some fans, who preferred the “let’s buff everyone” approach in the Mario game instead of seeing some of the more popular racers and combinations nerfed.
“Glad they're buffing some of the non-meta vehicles,” one Redditer said. “I was using the b-dasher with normal wheels as rosa earlier and thought it felt a little different.”
“‘Make everything except the problem builds better across the board’ is an extremely based way to balance a game,” another said.
Typically in Mario Kart, heavy karts and racers have a slight advantage over everyone else. While their acceleration is slower, they can reach higher top speeds and tend to leave lighter builds behind. This round of buffs means you have a better chance of keeping up with any build.
That's likely good news for whoever the five mystery characters the update also teased end up being. We're holding out hope for Pedro Pascal joining the ranks.
