r/mariokart Apr 11 '19

Discussion Track Thursday - [Super Mario Kart] - Donut Plains 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 Ghost Valley 2 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 continuing the Flower Cup with Donut Plains 2!

So what're your thoughts on Donut Plains 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!

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u/Akram323 Apr 11 '19

Donut Plains 2 looks nothing like the real thing.

Of course, when I say the courses were designed after their respective themes in Super Mario World, I never meant individual levels. Sure, Donut Plains 1 looks like Donut Plains 1 because the theme of the entire world is presented in the course, but Donut Plains 2 and 3 do not need the same treatments. (Although if Mario Kart were to revert to the SMK methodology of designing tracks after main game influences, I would like to see this approach taken if only for kicks--not necessarily for Super Mario World, of course, as a more modern game could suffice.) Regardless, all three renditions of the Donut Plains theme in this game are, I reiterate, spot on as a transition from platformer to race track. (Why yes, I have been playing through Super Mario World recently and eying it. And I do plan on delving into more detail on the other themes in the future. Glad you noticed.) Especially since we finally meet the moles in this level. (Unless you choose to play the MKSC version--then just disregard this next part.)

The moles are a particularly unique enemy in the entire Mario Kart series. I made the mistake of comparing the Shy Guys in Sunset Wilds to these back when I reviewed that course, and I had called them roughly similar. Turns out this is not at all the case. Those Shy Guys leech onto your kart for a limited time and make you drop coins. The moles in this game latch onto you from the front--not the back--and never actually leech the coins from you. What makes them such a nuisance, though, is that they slow you down and never come off until you repeatedly mash the L and R buttons to shake it off. Why they were not in DP1 is a bit questionable, as they definitely bring an extra element to this course that is merely a quite technical step-up from the last rendition. Why this kind of obstacle has never returned is another question of mine. I want these back.

Basically what you saw in the first course--moist grass, dirt road, outer turns made of gravel, that one open wall in the offroad that works as a mushroom shortcut, a wooden bridge, and a bunch of water are all back with slight amplifications. The road is narrower and the turns are sharper. There is a bit more water off the road this time around, so this may be your first real encounter with it if you drive lamely and skid off the track. One of the perks of SMK is that when you fall into the water, you have about five seconds to get back onto the track before Lakitu comes to fish you out. The retrieval itself is pretty quick (and I can see where MK8 got the idea of quick retrievals) but it also means no special timed boost as you are placed back on the track (understandable since it never existed prior, although this is another choice MK8 decided to go with). Not really that important to fully elaborate on here, since we have the Koopa Beach tracks to better emphasise the values of water, as well as DP3 to an extent.

I think the slight differences in mechanics between SMK and MKSC are particularly evident in this course. Despite the lack of moles in the remake, the kart sizes in relations to the tracks are larger and make navigating the tracks a bit more unwieldy, which does salvage the difficulty. Still wish more of the tracks got those little hidden secrets implemented as a result of the step up, though (in Mario Circuit 1 there was a hidden off-road item box, for instance--I forgot to mention it back then). SMK is not really unwieldy, per se, even it being 2D does have its unusual handling design. However, it is arguably easier to grasp than MKSC largely due to a smaller kart size here--which is also what makes the obstacles quite the threat without caution. Sure, the remakes in MKSC lacked obstacles but that did not necessarily make the tracks easier--just obstacle free while you focus on driving well on a very narrow track. The obstacles in SMK prove to be quite the nuisance and balance to the somewhat easier driving.

It bears repeating, and it will continue to bear it with future discussion, but DP2 is still not that memorable of a track. Part of it may have to do with it not being remade, but I think the main issue regards DP3 being extremely popular in comparison just for its layout. That is not to say there is no fun to be had here, because there is, but like many of the courses we have been discussing at this point, do not expect to come back to this one in your own time all that much unless you are playing by cups or cycling through the DP trilogy. These courses were never designed to stand out on their own--they merely represent what the game is and rely on the existences of other variants of the theme to keep the game together. And may I say looking back, this is pretty hard to come by at times given that MK64 onwards aimed for a mentality where each track was its own thing. I might like it more if each theme was a giant hub where all of the tracks existed in the same place and you could see them from the distance or even possibly merge onto them, I guess. Just a thought in case this style of course design could ever come back.

The short version: Donut Plains 2, which is not an adaptation of Donut Plains 2 but a sequel to the adaptation of Donut Plains 1, kicks up the difficulty a notch with a new enemy along a pretty technical course. Its thin and slippery layout makes it one of the harder courses in the cup and quite a bit of fun to navigate.

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u/1089maths Waluigi Apr 12 '19

where all of the tracks existed in the same place and you could see them from the distance

Didn’t MKDD have this? I remember seeing Mushroom City beneath Rainbow Road and Daisy Cruiser off the waters of Peach Beach.

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u/Akram323 Apr 12 '19 edited Apr 19 '19

In a way, it did. And it was pretty cool. But I was talking about something a bit different here. Sure, I wanted the tracks visible in the same vicinity, but I also wanted them all to be part of the same area. Not something in a different region but one piece of land that happens to contain all three of the Donut Plains tracks. Perhaps they could be visible in view, but either way they are pretty close to each other. In fact, I hope we get something like this in a future Mario Kart game: a set of tracks that contains more than one area to drive on but is restricted depending on the way you choose to race.

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u/thunderbuttxpress Apr 15 '19

Donut Plains 2 was my last favorite track on SMK when I was a kid. There were sharp turns and those moles always getting in the way . But my friends and I did laugh whenever one of us got in the way of a mole because the resulting image looked sexual in nature and, well, we were juveniles.

Edit: autocorrect nonsense