Mario Kart 8 – How to unlock Gold Mario and all Gold Kart parts
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Edition continues to be one of the most popular games out there, offering an unrivaled multiplayer experience with a great balance of skill and luck. It continues to sell incredibly well, many years after its release.
Whether racing locally or online, there’s surely nothing more impressive than zooming around the track in full gold. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Edition not only allows you to unlock Gold Mario, but you can fully kit a Gold Kart with golden parts, making for a sleek and prestigious design.
We’ve got everything you need to know in our golden guide below. Here’s how to unlock Gold Mario and how to unlock all Gold Kart parts in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
How to unlock Gold Mario in Mario Kart 8
Gold Mario is unlocked by winning all Grand Prix cups on 200cc. This does not include DLC tracks, so you will need to win the standard 12 cups.
This is probably the hardest requirement of them all, as 200cc takes a bit of getting used to. The most important tip is given to you by the game itself – braking is crucial. Familiarise yourself with each course and take on the tight corners by braking at the same time as drifting, or you will slide off the track.
Unlocking Gold Mario is a purely cosmetic endeavour. He is simply another colour for Metal Mario, and has identical stats. Once Gold Mario is unlocked, find Metal Mario in the character select screen and move across to the beautiful golden colour.
Unfortunately, no other Mario Kart 8 characters can be unlocked in gold (there is Pink Gold Peach, of course).
NOTE: In the very unlikely event you don’t have access to 200cc, you need to update your Mario Kart 8 software.
How to unlock the Gold Kart
The Gold Kart is unlocked by winning all cups on 150cc and Mirror with at least one golden star.
This means you have to collect at least 54 points over the course of the four races. The minimum requirement on each Grand Prix is to come 1st, 1st, 1st and 3rd or 1st, 1st, 2nd and 2nd.
Again, this only applies to the standard cups and doesn’t require any DLC. Do this on all 12 standard cups and the Gold Standard Kart will be yours.
Winning on 150cc counts towards 100cc and 50cc, but winning on 200cc does not count towards 150cc.
Basically, just keep competing on Mirror and 150cc until you get a star on each. You only need one star, but the menu looks so much better by getting all three stars, earned by coming first on every race.
How to unlock the Gold Glider
To unlock the Gold Glider in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, you must collect 5,000 coins.
This is a large number to amass, but it actually ties in nicely with the above requirements for Gold Mario and the Gold Kart.
You will need to complete at least three variations of every cup for these other gold unlocks, which is at least 144 races. It’s likely to take multiple attempts, and with a potential 10 coins per race you should get a big head start on this one.
Otherwise, simply keep competing in races until the coin tally ticks up. The best track to grind coins is probably Baby Park, which can be completed quickly. Set items to Mushrooms only to make it even faster.
NOTE: If you are playing on Wii U, this requirement is increased to 10,000 coins.
How to unlock the Gold Tires
The Gold Tires are unlocked by beating every Staff Ghost on every Time Trial track at 150cc.
There are actually 200cc ghosts in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so this one isn’t as hard as it could be. The task will be fairly time-consuming one but another positive is that the coins here will count towards the Glider.
Simply go through each standard (non-DLC) course one by one until you emerge victorious.
Which order should you unlock everything?
There’s no requirement to unlock things in any particular order, so you can tackle them however you want. However, my recommendation is to follow this unlock order:
- Gold Kart by completing all Grand Prix courses on Mirror and 150cc to learn each course
- Gold Mario by winning every Grand Prix on 200cc, which will be tough but will significantly hone your skills
- Gold Tires by beating all Staff Ghosts on 150cc Time Trials – after getting used to 200cc this should be relatively straightforward on 150cc
- Gold Glider by collecting 5000 coins – you should be well on your way by now, or may have already unlocked it during the above endeavours
Are the Gold unlocks good?
The best part of unlocking Gold Mario and all Gold Kart parts is how great they look, but are they actually any good?
The Gold Kart has a +0.5 speed and +0.25 weight advantage, but loses out in acceleration. This makes it a good kart to use once you get going, but struggles at the starting line and whenever you get hit.
It’s a similar story with the Gold Tires which also bolster speed and weight at the expense of acceleration. This time the acceleration suffers a bit more, but the weight advantage is more pronounced.
The Gold Glider is probably the least important of the three, where most gliders have very similar stats which don’t come into play as much. However, the glider basically mirrors the above pros and cons with strong speed and weight but poor acceleration.
As already discussed, Gold Mario is a copy of Metal Mario, who is a heavy character with the same strengths and weaknesses as the gold parts. That means impressive speed and weight mixed with poor acceleration and turbo and average handling.
Ultimately, everything in Mario Kart 8 is pretty balanced and each setup can shine in the right circumstances. If you really like the look of the gold kit, then you should be just fine.
That’s our full Mario Kart 8 Deluxe guide of how to unlock Gold Mario and how to unlock all of the Gold Kart parts. This should give you everything you need to become a gold-plated Mario Kart champion.
