Mario Kart 8's New DLC Tracks Now Available To Preload Ahead of Launch
The preload for the first wave of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC is live for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members. The DLC is part of the Booster Course Pass, which will release 48 tracks over six waves of content, which are expected to keep launching until 2023.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe launched in 2017 and it quickly became the Nintendo Switch's best-selling game, a position it holds to this day. The game is a remastered version of Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U, which includes all of the DLC content, as well as some new additions, including a revamped Battle Mode. Nintendo surprised the world during the February 2022 Nintendo Direct, when it revealed that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would be receiving DLC tracks, even though the game had been available for five years without any major updates. This shocked many fans, as rumors that Mario Kart 9 was going to be announced had been circulating, yet Nintendo still isn't done with the current Mario Kart game.
Wave 1 of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Booster Course Pass will launch on March 18 and fans can now download the new content ahead of time. According to the official Nintendo UK Twitter page, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers can preload the Wave 1 DLC now. This can be done by visiting the Booster Course's page on the Nintendo eShop, which should have a tab for the Expansion Pack next to the option to buy it outright. Selecting this option will start the preload.
While Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will receive forty tracks in future updates, the courses that appear in Wave 1 are broken down into two Cups. The Golden Dash Cup has Paris Promenade (Mario Kart Tour), Toad Circuit (Mario Kart 7), Choco Mountain (Mario Kart 64), and Coconut Mall (Mario Kart Wii). The Lucky Cat Cup has Tokyo Blur (Mario Kart Tour), Shroom Ridge (Mario Kart DS), Sky Garden (Mario Kart: Super Circuit), and Ninja Hideaway (Mario Kart Tour).
The base version of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is already packed with content, so fans who skip out on the Booster Course Pass won't be missing out on anything significant. If anything, the Booster Course Pass is better at selling the Nintendo Switch Expansion Pack than anything else. There were a lot of complaints about the Expansion Pack not being worth the cost at launch, especially as the rollout of N64 and Sega Genesis games that are part of the service has been slow since release. Arguably the saving grace of the service was access to the Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC and the addition of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC to the service has made it far more appealing than it was before.
Wave 1 of the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will be released on March 18, 2022.
Source: Nintendo UK/Twitter