Nintendo revealed some of Wave 4 from the Mario Kat 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass DLC, with a brand new circuit and the return of a fan favourite Mario character to race as. Wave 4 will be released this spring.
While Booster Course Pass is built up primarily of tracks and courses that have been remastered and remade for the all-conquering Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a few brand new tracks have also been sprinkled into the mix as well. Wave 4 will include Yoshi’s Island, a brand new Yoshi-themed circuit that looks to have some interesting features like summonable stairs.
And if you want a new character to play as, then Birdo will be making a return, having first appeared in a Mario Kart game with the GameCube’s Mario Kart: Double Dash. Similar to Yoshis, she can be different colours, and not just the character’s default pink. The characters in Mario Kart 8 are purely cosmetic, but it’s great to see Birdo’s return.
This will be the fourth of six waves of DLC, with the pass adding a whopping 48 courses to the game, and putting rumours of Mario Kart 9’s development to one side (for now). Each wave features eight tracks (two cups) with the release schedule spreading them out across 2022 and 2023. It’s a wealth of new tracks to race, costing £22.49 / €24.99 to purchase. However, if you subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online: Expansion Pack, then it is bundled in with your sub. That’s quite a sweetener when you’ll need Switch Online in order to play these tracks online anyway.
Mario Kart 8 is a truly unstoppable entry in the ever-popular kart racing series. With the Nintendo Switch now the third-best-selling games console of all time at 122 million consoles, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been able to plough ahead to a staggering 52 million copies sold – and that’s before counting the Wii U original’s sales. That’s already well ahead of the 37 million copies of Mario Kart Wii that were sold, and makes it the sixth best-selling game of all time.
That’s just stunning.
