Rev up those engines, and grab a friend!

Eight new courses for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have just been released!

One of the many announcements from the Nintendo direct that happened on the 9th of February was a DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This DLC will introduce 48 new courses into the game, which are all remasters of races from previous Mario Kart games. However, they will not all be released at once. Instead, Nintendo has opted to release them in batches. 2 sets of 4 races will be released in waves, with the first one already being available, being released on the 18th of March. Nevertheless, let me tell you a bit about this masterpiece of a game.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a Nintendo Switch port of Mario Kart 8, a game released in 2014 on the Wii U. Even with the poor sales of the Wii U, it was still able to surpass 8 million copies, showing Nintendo the potential of this game. Therefore, when the Switch was released the game was ported as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in 2017 to the system. On this far more popular system, the game became a success amongst fans and became the most sold Mario Kart game to date, selling over 38.74 million copies. The port retains most of the core game aspects and features of the original game, but the game's original dlcs came included and the battle mode was revamped. I also believe the game took full advantage of the Switch’s portability, allowing players to host local play lobbies that allowed for more than four friends to play together, a limiting factor of many of the Mario Kart games. Even though it is four years old now, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a Switch game that I would recommend to anyone, as it presents the quintessential Mario Kart experience with some expertly designed old and new tracks.

As mentioned before, this DLC will introduce 48 new courses to the game and will be released in batches of 8 throughout 2022 and early 2023. It can be bought on the Nintendo eshop for $25 USD, R$137 on the Brazilian eshop or comes included in the Switch online expansion pass. These races are all nostalgic, as they are remasters of tracks previously seen on other Mario Kart games and we currently have access to eight of those courses. The eight tracks we currently have access to are Paris Promenade, Tokyo Blur and Ninja Hideaway from Mario Kart Tour, Toad circuit from Mario Kart 7, Choco Mountain from Mario Kart 64, Coconut Mall from Mario Kart Wii, Shroom Ridge from Mario Kart DS, and Sky Garden from Mario Kart Advance. Personally, out of all these courses, the one I am most excited to try out is Coconut Mall, as I grew up with Mario Kart Wii and have many fond and nostalgic memories of this track.

References:

CM30. “You Don't Need the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC to Play the Tracks!” Gaming Reinvented, 13 Feb. 2022, https://gamingreinvented.com/news/you-dont-need-the-mario-kart-8-deluxe-dlc-to-play-the-tracks/.

Cross, Dani. “Here Are All the New Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC Tracks Coming Soon.” FragHero, 10 Feb. 2022, https://fraghero.com/here-are-all-the-new-mario-kart-8-deluxe-dlc-tracks-coming-soon/.

“Mario Kart™ 8 Deluxe for Nintendo Switch™ – Official Site.” Mario Kart™ 8 Deluxe for Nintendo Switch™ – Official Site, https://mariokart8.nintendo.com/.

Nintendo Direct - 2.9.2022 - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhDFA_O7zNg.

Robinson, Posted byAndy. “8 Deluxe Is Officially the Best-Selling Mario Kart Ever.” VGC, 4 Nov. 2021, https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/8-deluxe-is-officially-the-best-selling-mario-kart-ever/.

Sanchez, Miranda. “Mario Kart 8 DLC Getting 8 New Courses Today as Part of Booster Course Pass Wave 1.” IGN, IGN, 17 Mar. 2022, https://www.ign.com/articles/mario-kart-8-dlc-booster-course.

Super Mario Wiki. “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.” Super Mario Wiki, Super Mario Wiki, 17 Mar. 2022, https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Kart_8_Deluxe.

Super Mario Wiki. “Mario Kart 8.” Super Mario Wiki, Super Mario Wiki, 14 Mar. 2022, https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Kart_8.