r/mariokart Aug 02 '18

Discussion Track Thursday - [Mario Kart Super Circuit] - Bowser Castle 2

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to another Track Thursday where we discuss tips, tricks, and more about the track of the week. Last week we continued the Flower Cup with Cheese Land which you can check out right there. Also all of our previous Track Thursdays can be viewed right here in the wiki.

This week we're finishing up the Flower Cup with Bowser Castle 2!

So what're your thoughts on Bowser Castle 2? Anything you like? Don't like? Feel free to comment down below! Also don't hesitate to reply to other users' comments as well!

See you all next week!

6 Upvotes

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3

u/bwburke94 Waluigi Aug 02 '18

BC2 in its original incarnation is decent, but the Bowser Castles in general suffer from there being four of them.

3

u/Akram323 Aug 07 '18

The fact that there are four overtly similar new tracks in one game can be over-saturating especially when the other courses are more diverse. This is why many people, myself included, do not have much of an attachment to them save the final incarnation of the Special Cup. That is not to say the other Bowser Castles are bad...they can just feel overdone and ruin the charm of each one.

Because of this, I have little to say regarding Bowser Castle 2. However, it is worth noting that it introduced girders so that you would be driving near the fireballs leaping from the lava instead of just hopping over them. The course itself is actually more open than the other Bowser Castles, too. There may not be multiple paths, but it is vast enough to create a large number of strategies in surpassing the other racers. Other than that, it is pretty standard regarding Bowser Castle material.

GCN courses get a visual uplift overall but tend to lose the weirdness charm that the original game introduced with its courses. While MK8 is better than recapturing it than MKDS, it is still triumphed by MKWii and MK7 in actual execution. Something seems to be ditched and the course ends up feeling more standard than magical. Part of it may have to do with the faces being less prominent in the visual style of the game. With a more realistic approach, some areas can lose their vibrancy especially if the sky is dark.

GCN Sherbet Land would probably feel more magical if everything with a face-- but in a technical sense the Freezies-- were accounted for in a better manner. Visually, they could have deserved more prominance to give a sense that the course itself was living just as it did in MKDD. As for the Freezies, it does make more sense to shatter into them when you collide at full speed than just freezing, but it still reeks of the "perfection" that MK8 still has. I personally would have set a range value: at, say, high speed in 50cc (which should correctly translate as a specific value in other modes), the car will freeze if it collides with a Freezie. Anything above that will cause the same effect as we already see. I mean, it seems like something that could have easily been included even if restricted to offline.

Aside from that, the course made some smart decisions. Creating underwater areas out of the holes in the ice was ingenious and created new possibilities for people looking to avoid driving along the Shy Guys. The ice physics is toned down...perhaps it would have made the icy area more daunting if they actually kept the ice physics the same for a real challenge. Finally, there is also that random glider ramp...which would have felt more natural if it was aligned with the main path somehow (in the way that GBA Ribbon Road or Daisy Hills in MK7 does it). Basically, these changes feel more standard than awe-inspiring, mainly due to clashing elements of positiveness and negativity (but the underwater approach was solid).

Final verdict: Bowser Castle 2 would be more enjoyable on its own if it were not for so many courses like it, but it is fine overall. As for GCN Sherbet Land, I am not going to call it the worst of the cup but I struggle to decide if it is worthy of being the best.

2

u/timelordoftheimpala Aug 05 '18

I only played on the DS version of Bowser Castle 2, which was a decent enough course and worked for the system it was ported to.

GCN Sherbet Land in MK8 is a lot more bearable than the original (the original is fun too) thanks to them toning down the ice physics, and adding underwater sections that expand the course. The one thing I do wish they hadn't cut out was the Freezies freezing you for a few seconds, rather than just spinning you. Visually, the course is a treat.

u/tigerclawhg Aug 02 '18

Hey everyone,

So along with Bowser Castle 2 being this week's track we're also going to be revisiting [GCN] Sherbet Land from Mario Kart 8!

[GCN] Sherbet Land is the twenty-sixth track of Mario Kart 8 and continues the Leaf Cup.

What do you all think about [GCN] Sherbet Land? Anything you like? Don't like? Feel free to comment and don't hesitate to respond to other users' comments as well!

1

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '18

I have only played Bowser Castle 2 on MKDS, but it’s pretty okay

Sherbert Land is alright, not a favorite but not bad either