What's your honest opinion on purchaseable DLC as a Mario fan?

[Dorayaki]

Yeah I know it's somehow a controversial topic for videogame community. But I'd like to know if Mario fans are open about it.

Let's say, for Super Mario sport series, a typical purchaseable DLC would be expanding more brand new courses and characters. However, by narrow sense it feels like Mario series hasn't really pulled it out in given cases:

*Tennis, Golf and Soccer so far all have playable characters and courses in DLCs, but they're free updates that are considered paid within the original buy. Their base games are also mostly considered inenough without the DLCs to make up.

*Mario Kart 8 is best known for purchaseable DLCs from WiiU era and NS1 era. But still, WiiU era's feature was guest contents, while NS1 era's Booster Course Pack is mostly consisted with throwback contents and returning drivers with few brand new courses. It's hard to tell, if we use higher bar they're both not quite above the expected purchaseable DLC standard.

*Party Jamboree expanded TV mode on NS2, but still no confirm it is able to add new characters and boards.

Personally, I want to say if the base game is properly priced + already had sufficient contents, adding more contents with a reasonable price should be an okay thing. I don't think Nintendo really devote to expansion on on WiiU and NS1 era, so I wish NS2 era to go further.

What about you? Would you open to the ideas of purchaseable expansion in more games? Or you think all Mario titles should try to conclude contents within base game and don't throw us DLCs?

 

[Andy 28!]

I like them! Especially the Mario + Rabbids ones, maybe you want a DLC and the other not and that's fine, the only one I think they should been in the game from the start is the Luigi's Mansion 3 DLC, the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe one is so complete that it can be a new game for apart.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

Paid DLC is fine if the following are met:

1. The base game itself is already complete, and they're not just paywalling off content that used to be in the basegame.
2. The paid DLC is fairly priced, as well as the base game itself. Additionally, the content of the paid DLC is as good as the rest of the game.
3. The paid DLC feels optional, and you don't need it to fully enjoy game. You can have stuff like alternate costumes be in the base game and also have some weird out there ones be paid DLC.

For example, I'm a huge fan of both the Mario Kart 8 DLC waves in the Wii U era. Why? Because Mario Kart 8 already felt like a complete game, and the content offered in the DLC packs were on par with the base game. For 8 dollars, The Legend of Zelda x Mario Kart 8 DLC gave you 8 courses, 6 new car parts, and three new characters (two of those aren't amazing but that aside...). It's a nice balance of content for a decent price, you've got new courses that were made on the same quality as the base game, new characters, and (this is important) new vehicle parts to play with. Same thing about Animal Crossing x Mario Kart 8.

On contrast, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Booster Pass sacrificed quality for quantity, costs 25 dollars, and the only thing you got are 48 new race-tracks, 8 characters, and no new vehicles. It looks like a good deal, but most of these assets were just lifted from Mario Kart Tour, and all of their overall quality suffers as a result, they look like they were designed for an entirely different game. I was so let down by this offering (and I was suffering from Mario Kart burnout) that I didn't even bother really playing on the tracks and just sticking back to the battle mode of that game.

 

[Princess Mint]

I'm not bothered by the existence of DLC as a practice as long as the base game is complete on it's own, but I personally haven't felt the need to purchase DLC.

 

[Fawfulthegreat64]

the example image you give is a downright steal imo. 30 dollars for 4 waves of the exact kind of additions i've always said mario kart should have had a long time ago? i'd pay 30 dollars each for these tbh (assuming they're spaced out enough that it could come out of different income checks). Heck i'd pay 60 for the rpg one. but i wouldn't expect that to be reasonable for most people. 30 for all 4 of those dlcs together though, that's a steal. if people complained about that and then as a result they walked it back for future games and never included these characters again i'd be pretty bitter

but i also didn't think the booster course pass was a bad deal at all. the track count basically doubled and the visuals being more basic was more of a "eh well i wish they looked better but food is food". they still played exactly how you'd expect them to, plus brand new remixed music that WAS completely on par with the basegame. considering 8DX wasn't a new game and was basically just the definitive version of Mario Kart 8 Wii U including its DLC to begin with, i really can't call the booster course "charging you for the rest of an incomplete game". they should have given a discount for the basegame to people who owned 8 Wii U, but that was more a greedy corporate decision related to the basegame itself, not the BCP, which came literally after basically everyone assumed 8DX was old news. Not to mention the BCP is a perk of a NSO subscription, which most fans are likely to already have for other reasons. i have my reservations about subscription models in general but that's a separate discussion from the BCP, and you can still buy it separately if you don't have the subscription.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

Mario Kart World has so many fundamental problems that no amount of DLC will fix that game. They could add all courses from every Mario Kart and it wouldnt matter because it'll be sidewinded by the cluttered 24 racer gameplay (responsible for the overly wide roads), completely ignoring its main draw as opposed to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (the free roam), Knockout Tour, the entire slog that is Grand Prix, the terrible battle mode, the bad sound direction, the awful unlocks, the butchered SNES race tracks, the butchered track design of so many returning tracks, and so much more.

DLC would make the game feel a little bit more complete but it wouldnt certainly get me wanting to play it again.

 

[winstein]

The first ever DLC attempt, New Super Mario Bros. 2's level packs, didn't seem worth it from what I see, and it would be better off to go for the Gold Edition (which is basically the complete edition). If they do re-release New Super Mario Bros. 2, they better include those DLC packs, which I am sure they will, given their track record with including the complete content on re-releases.

Also, shout out to Mario Golf: World Tour, which had an expansion. I am not sure if they skimped the main game to put the meat of the content there, which are basically remade courses from the Nintendo 64 version of Mario Golf, as well as a few new characters. And not to mention, it is cheaper than the standard price, but with DLC, it's only slightly more expensive (it is $30 + $15 for the game + DLC, which is a bit more expensive than the standard $40).

With that said, I think that their paid expansions are fine. Mario Kart 8 definitely was really great, as with its Deluxe and its Booster Course Pass offering a lot of tracks. The Nintendo Switch 2 Editions that are essentially expansions are fine also, even if not all the content were included. I do notice that thus far, every game with Nintendo Switch paid content do not get a "complete edition" price, so for example, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + Booster Course Pass is the price of two. It is certainly fair for them to price it this way, but I kind of wish they did have a game + DLC for the price of one game, even if that's not how Nintendo operate (but Ubisoft does, where the Gold Edition of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle was priced as a single game later in its life).

Thank you for reading.

 

[Salmancer]

Pay more, get more is a pretty sound general principle. Do you like a game? Well, pay more, and you can have more game! Don't like the game? Then there's no reason to want more; you can just not buy the DLC. Essentially, everyone wins. With two caveats.

1. DLC available exclusively through a bundle or Season Pass is annoying. The player should be able to choose which features they want and which features they don't want. Is it harder to design a game where the player can have some but not all of the DLC? Probably. But it should always be an option. Bonuses exclusive to bundles or Season Passes are also bad. They can be available for free through those things, but there should be an option to purchase said bonus separately.
2. When a port or remake with little appeal to people who purchased the original game has DLC, it puts those people in a bind. You want the DLC, because its new content for a game you like, but playing the DLC requires repurchasing the original game with few to no additions. This damages "Pay more, get more" because now you pay a lot more (game + DLC) for not a lot of new content. Failing "allowing the old purchase to be redeemed on the new platform" It would be nice if the DLC were somehow able to be sold separately from the base game so that the DLC doesn't have the negative value proposition. Alternatively, rent the base game or borrow it from a library, which makes purchasing the DLC more reasonable.