How to pre-order the new 'Mario Kart 8 Deluxe' DLC for 48 additional racetracks
BEEP BEEP: The new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass will add 48 additional courses to the Nintendo Switch game across six content waves in 2023. As of Feb. 11, you can get access to each wave as it's released by signing up for a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership ($49.99/year) or pre-ordering the DLC through the Nintendo eShop ($24.99).
It's no Mario Kart 9, but we'll take what we can get at this point.
This week's Nintendo Direct showcase revealed that the bestselling Switch racing game Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will soon get nearly 50 additional courses in the form of a paid DLC. The so-called Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass will come in the form of six content waves of eight courses each throughout 2022 and 2023 (so 48 tracks total) and bring support for both local and online play.
The complete roster is still TBA, but Nintendo has confirmed that the DLC will include remastered tracks from past Mario Kart games for the Nintendo 64, 3DS, Game Boy Advance, and Wii, plus a selection of courses from Mario Kart Tour (a 2019 mobile release). The first wave arrives on March 18 with Paris Promenade, Toad Circuit, Coconut Mall, Choco Mountain, Tokyo Blur, Shroom Ridge, Sky Garden, and Ninja Hideaway.
You can get access to all six waves as they're released by either pre-ordering the DLC through the Nintendo eShop for a one-time fee of $24.99 or by signing up for a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription for $49.99 a year. The latter also unlocks the Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise DLC as well as a handful of Nintendo 64 and SEGA Genesis games with added online play, which is a pretty stellar deal, but bear in mind that you'll lose access to all of that content as soon as you stop paying the membership fee. (In other words, buy the Mario Kart DLC separately if you want to keep it forever.)
If you don't have a copy of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe base game yet, hustle on over to Amazon or Walmart. Both retailers had it on sale for $49.94 at the time of writing, which is just over $10 off its usual retail price of $59.99.