Building up Mission Mode for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe!

- This post is sponsored by NSA Creators! -

Hi everyone and welcome to a new concept blog! Recently, I've been thinking about a Mission Mode return in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so how it would work! I also had some ideas for some new addition that would make this mode even better than it was before!

Obviously, I'm basing this concept on my own ideas, so I'm not going to concentrate on the probability of this mode to come out. With this said, let's start!

Before starting with some ideas, let's introduce this particular and original mode! Mission Mode was only present in Mario Kart DS, with a layout of 7 levels. Every level has 8 minor missions to complete and one boss fight, each one with a different enemy! Talking about the levels, they were based on different quests to complete in a certain amount of time: some examples are collecting coins, ing through gates, hitting some Monty Moles with green shells, and even completing a track BACKWARDS, while the boss battles were all about hitting the boss with an item, pushing him off the field and winning a race against the boss itself!

This mode was really well appreciated by the fans, but only appeared in one game! However, it was meant to come back in Mario Kart Wii, since there are some files related to this mode and there has been a boss battle event in the past, but then it didn't make it out! So, what if it came to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with a last DLC, or maybe with a brand new Mario Kart? If the first thing happens, the game would be interesting to play again, as for now you can only play online over and over, whereas for the second thing, it would make the next Mario Kart really complete and amazing! For this Mission Mode return I would obviously like to see new mission types, new gimmicks, new bosses as well as some returns from Mario Kart DS! I have some ideas for them, and I'll explain them now!

Firstly, let's focus on mission layouts I want so see again: the concept of collecting coins and ing through gates is clean and perfect for the first levels, to introduce the player to the new mode. Another cool mission concept was completing a track backwards! It seems easy, but there is something about this mission type that makes it tricky and strange to achieve!

A new mission concept I would like to see is a race, but with some particular characteristics that make it different from normal races or grand prix! An example can be a race between Mario and the Koopalings, all teamed up to take Mario down to last place! Another example is a race where you can't fall in second place or less and you have to maintain the first place! The concept of backwards race can be extended to proper races where everyone drives backwards, there's a wide choice of possibilities to make this mode way more fun than it was in the past!

One last example is a race with targets, where you race alone and you have to use green shells to hit the targets while driving, or a mission where you have to complete a track in a small amount of time, and you have to do it quickly because the track falls behind you while time es!

Now let's figure out what bosses could be brought back from the first game and how their fights can be improved! Then I'll tell some ideas for brand new bosses, with their related fights and characteristics!

I imagined Giga Lakitu as the first boss, directly from Super Mario Galaxy 2! His fight works similarly to the game he comes from: the player (who can choose between Mario and Luigi for this fight) spawns in a circular grass arena, with Giga Lakitu waiting on the other side. When he sees the player his cloud starts shaking and the boss fight starts with Giga Lakitu shooting some thunderbolts from the cloud. In the first phase he only shoots thunderbolts or he stops and hits the ground under him with a giant thunder! In the second phase, after one hit, he also starts throwing some closed Spinies which start rolling around slowly and then, in the last phase, he also starts ing around the stage throwing some electric balls under him, which explode at , or after some seconds. To defeat him, the player has to grab the item box and use the boomerang item to hit him with a great precision, and he can only hit Giga Lakitu when he comes down to launch the electric balls or to grab his Spinies!

Chief Chilly is the second boss, returning from Mario Kart DS! In the first game, the battle with him was simple, as you only had to make him fall down in the water for three times while he tried to hit you, so this time I'll make it more interesting!

The stage of this battle will take place in Sherbet Land, on a exagonal platform in the part of the track the next photo shows:

The main difference is that the hole in the water isn't there in this match, and the platform is exactly over where the hole should be. Moreover, you can only choose Waluigi to fight your enemy, but let's talk about the battle: in the first phase, Chief Chilly will walk around quickly and try to catch you, while you have to grab an item box with a Mushroom to make him fall! After doing this, the second phase starts. Chief Chilly returns to the platform, and he will now run quicker, and he can now dodge your hit if you're too close, so you have to aim your "shot" now! After pushung him down again, he returns on the platform furious, but he stomps the platform so hardly that is breaks, and both of you fall in the water under the ice, and the hole is created like this!

In the third phase you have to hit Chief Chilly, who became a ball and started rolling faster than before, when using a Star! This will be hard because Chief Chilly rolls fast, and there are some pillars that block your way too! After hitting Chief Chilly again, the battle ends!

The third boss is not actually one, but it's a team composed of two normal Pokey and a Giant Pokey! The battle would actually be located in a Mario Kart Wii map: Dry Dry Ruins. If you know the track, you know that there is an inside section consisting in a giant bowl with two Pokeys inside. During the race this room starts to be filled up with sand, and that's the mechanic the mission takes advantages of.

For this battle, you can choose between Dry Bones or Dry Bowser to fight the trio. Your objective is to take down every Pokey, and you have to do that with Green Shells! To take down normal Pokeys you will need four hits, while six are required to take down the Giant Pokey in the middle! The battle is obviously time-limited, as the sand will fill up the room and the battle ends automatically when it arrives at a certain height. Moreover, only in this battle, you can be hit only once, because the Pokeys will only move slowly left and right. The battle finishes when you take down every Pokey in the room!

Next up we have Goomboss, and I don't think his fight should be changed much, it is already challenging at the right point, but some adjustaments can be made.

The challenge takes place in Baby Park, which is luckily also present in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and you can choose Toad or Yoshi to fight Goomboss (Toad because he is the character you use to fight Goomboss in Mario Kart DS, while Yoshi because he fights Goomboss to save Mario in Super Mario 64 DS!). The objective is to win the race against Goomboss without being it by some Goombas he'll throw behind during the race! You will have three balloons, so if you get hit for three times you lose automatically! Moreover, Goomboss will become bigger in the 3rd and 5th lap, making him faster. You'll also find some item boxes through the track that will always give one mushroom.

Here's a new boss for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Megaleg! This boss was only present in Super Mario Galaxy, and its battle consisted in walking on it, making sure Bullet Bills were following you, and then breaking a barrier over him. Well, the mechanic involved here is similar, but this time you will race on Megaleg!

You can only choose Bowser Jr. for this battle, and you'll fight on a small round planet with only Megaleg on it! There are also some item boxes that will only give Bob-Ombs the player needs to defeat the boss! When Megaleg activates, many Bullet Bills will be launched and they will start following the player, while Megaleg moves around trying to stomp him! After this, Megaleg will stop moving, and that's when the player should walk on him! Through the way to Megaleg's head there will be many obstacles like moving platforms and pillars that will try to squash the player. When the player reaches the head, he has to throw the bomb in a hole in the middle, and Megaleg will start breaking! In the second phase, Megaleg will launch Bullet Bills and a Banzai Bill, and now they are slightly faster! During the third phase, some parts of the planet will start moving, making the escape from Bullet and Banzai Bills harder!

Also Wiggler returns as a boss in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe! In the first game, the race was held on Mushroom Bridge. Since this track is not present in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I think Toad's Turnpike could be a great replacement, as it's still a Mushroom/Toad based track and has cars in it, but those will drive against you like in Mushroom Bridge. You can only choose Mario to face Wiggler!

Without using any items, Wiggler would always be in front of the player, so there are a few item boxes scattered around the track which have a 70% chance to give a single Mushroom and a 30% chance to give a Star!

In the first two laps, Wiggler races in his normal yellow form, whereas it becomes red and angry in the third lap, this will make him much faster!

And finally, last but not least, the final boss: Fawful. I decided to make Fawful return in Mario Kart since we've been missing him for a lot of time. The battle against him begins with a race between Bowser and Dark Bowser in Bowser's Castle. Dark Bowser has a peculiar item he can use after second lap: Dark Bowser's Shell. It is similar to Bowser's Shell from Mario Kart Double Dash, but it is smaller and slower (otherwise it would be impossible to deal with it). After a win over Dark Bowser, Mario, Luigi and the others reach Bowser to congratulate with him (for the first time), but then Fawful appears behind them clapping slowly, and starts explaining that the race against Dark Bowser was just an introduction!

His fight will take place on a new Rainbow Road Arena, where there are also some Thwomps. Before the fight begins, Fawful unites with the Dark Star, and he becomes the Dark Star Core you will have to defeat! You can choose every character in the roster to fight Fawful.

In the first phase, the Dark Star Core will only use a black ray that will slide around in the circular stage and there are two ways to dodge it: the item boxes will give you a Super Horn to dodge it, or you can try by jumping with the drifting button, but it requires a really good timing. You can hit the Dark Star Core with a Green Shell or a Bomb when it is not attacking with the ray. In the second phase, the ray attack becomes faster, and now the Dark Star can detach from the core and attack with a circle made of stars, that covers most of the stage, and can be dodged only by staying close to the border of the arena. In the last phase, Fawful returns normal as the Dark Star was defeated, and he jumps in a car: the boss battle becomes a race. The Rainbow Arena brings Fawful and the player to N64 Rainbow Road, where the race begins. All you need is beating Fawful, but it will be harder because he will have peculiar items he can use: the Vacuum Helmet (or Headgear) is used to boost his kart to make him faster, but it can also transform into a gun to shoot behind him! After beating Fawful, the mission mode in single player mode will be completed!

The very last thing I want to talk about is a possible online mode that can be introduced in this new mode!

Mission Maker

The first idea is more ambitious, and it's about a Mission Maker feature that makes players create new missions to publish! Obviously I'm expecting it to be a small feature, with only a few amount of items to work with. When creating a new mission, you can decide if it will be a race or a quest, so the type of race (solo, team race, race without items) or quest (defeat a certain type of enemy, through a certain amount of gates) and so on!

Online events

In Mario Kart Wii only one online event was held, and it was the Galaxy Colosseum event. It consisted in a fight against three Topman, in an circular arena composed of rings that detached during time, and players had to push every Topman down.

This event could be brought again in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, as well as new events! Some examples are time trial missions, or coin-collect missions!

A ladder with players' placements should be built as well, with the top 100 players receiving a prize at the end of the events! For the first 10 or 20 places the prize can be a costume, a new kart,a new character, or a new track to try out, whereas for the others minor prizes such as a congratulation postcard or some Nintendo Gold Points to spend on the Nintendo eShop!

Thank you for reading! Let me know if you want this mode too in the comments! :point_down: