ribbon road!
so much love!

Are we talking about the same game? The one with 48 different tracks and 35 playable racers plus Mii (which has at least a dozen costumes unlocked with amiibo, at this point I've lost count)? Dozens of karts, tires, and gliders for hundreds of potential combinations? 200cc?

The Battle Mode you're asking for certainly wouldn't qualify as "new" content by your standards, so I have no clue what you're getting at here. It seems like the primary complaint about Battle Mode is that there are no arenas unique to the mode -- meanwhile, Double Dash and DS offered six Battle Mode arenas while MK8 has eight. Even if they are repurposed levels, the content is there. It seems way better than what was available in MK Wii as well. And I can't believe you're trying to sell me on this idea that 16 extra tracks -- most of them brand-new considering that several of the retro tracks were completely overhauled -- don't make up for the absence of 4-6 arenas to play Battle Mode in while the mode is still available on 8 tracks.

Of course I'm only talking about what you get on the disc, so same number of tracks, and while there are more characters, the selection lacks variety and some staple characters, so at most it's line-up overall is not significantly better that MKWii's. A sad thing is, despite having way more vehichle parts, there are actually fewer different possible stat totals than in MK7. They also screwed up the stat balance making the already inherently inferior lightweights much worse.

The problem is Mario Kart's 8 Battle mode is worse than in any previous Mario Kart game and MK8 has no new features to make up for it, only slighty expanded on modes from past games, thus it will be forever lacking in comparison to them. Re-purposed race tracks do not equal full fledged battle arenas and multiple modes to play on them so trying to say MK8 has more battle mode content is laughable.

Looks fantastic; so often add-on content (even back before the days of DLC) feels like just that; tacked on rather than a cohesive part of the package, and overall just not as good. The extra missions in the PS2/Wii versions of RE4 come to mind, for instance.
But with MK8, the extras not only feel right at home, but at least going by the first pack, are just as great as the on-disc stuff.

Also, this may be the graphics geek in me talking, but does anyone else feel like you can notice Nintendo getting better with the engine from the original content through to this latest DLC?

I love the music and the tracks look awesome! Can't wait to play it when it comes out.

I didn't say MK8 has more battle mode content than previous entries, just that the mode is still present and has a decent amount of variety, so you need not laugh on my account.

Looking exclusively at what's on disc would be folly, since the game has received a couple of completely free updates in the year since its release, most notably adding 200cc. Additionally, the paid DLC is priced so low it can't be ignored. Even if one of those packs was on-disc and the other cost the full $12, it would be a very attractive price for what you'd get. The game costs $72. For that you get an overabundance of content compared to previous entries.

Pray tell, who are these "staple characters" who didn't make the cut? No character who had appeared in three or more of the seven previous console entries has been left out of the fun. I hope you're not referring to King Boo or Birdo as "staples" just because they were in Double Dash and MK Wii, and to bemoan the absence of Bowser Jr while complaining that the roster "lacks variety" would be pretty silly, considering the Koopalings. The only regrettable cut here is Diddy. Anyway, as I said before, the characters themselves are fairly irrelevant. Unlike Smash Bros where even clones have slight differences to make them unique in some way, the characters in Mario Kart are just masks worn by a handful of weight classes. There's plenty of variety in MK8 for that.

I think your statement that MK8 sans DLC has the "same number of tracks" as previous entries is funny. MK8 comes with 32 tracks. Super Mario Kart had only 20; MK64 had 16. Super Circuit had 40 tracks, but 20 of them were recycled from the SNES original with almost no changes at all, in stark contrast to the completely redone retro stages of MK8. These three games had only four battle tracks apiece and only one 'mode' to play on them, so they lacked the depth of that mode you wish for in MK8, and I find your assertion that MK8's battle mode is the worst in the history of the series to be a gross exaggeration. Back to business, Double Dash had only 16 tracks, same as MK64.

Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7 have the full 32 tracks that MK8 has on-disc, but both of these games were also criticized for their disappointing battle modes. The only Mario Kart game in the series that has what you're asking for -- the full 32 tracks plus a broad variety of battle mode (and other extra) content is Mario Kart DS.

That's the game we should be comparing Mario Kart 8 to, then. Now look at what 8 loses from DS in battle modes, and what it gains in additional characters, items, the entire kart customization system, 200cc, and online functionality. Compare the work that went into the retro tracks on DS -- several of which were actually scaled down from 64 or Double Dash tracks -- to the effort bleeding out of the remasters in Mario Kart 8, many of which are completely unrecognizable next to their original appearances and which are for all intents and purposes entirely new tracks.

Is it even close? Sure, if you heavily prioritize extra modes and single-player content over the traditional Grand Prix and VS modes. But from a different perspective one could just as easily see this other content in MKDS as an attempt to compensate for its badly gimped online features.

i can't believe they brought back Baby Park.  especially when Excitebike is already in the game.

anyway, the way things are going it looks like we're headed for a Nintendo Kart next game. 

I don't think there's any way Nintendo is stopping DLC for their most successful Wii U game. I wouldn't be surprised if they continue for the rest of the gen.

I agree though. Battle Mode should get an overhaul. I'd also like for my boo King Boo to return.

If they bring E. Gadd. as well. :p (Although I hate him in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon)

I also want Diddie, Dixie, Cranky and Funky Kong tbh. :p And King K Rool... Him the most, he'd stand out so much.

I really don't know why we have 3 Peach clones but not one of these... Ditch all the baby characters except Mario & Luigi. Get rid of Metal Mario and Pinkgold Peach as well.