Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is to get a whole raft of new tracks almost five years on from its initial release.
Amidst rumours of Mario Kart 9 being in development, and straying even further away from the Mario universe, Nintendo hit us with a big dose of familiarity during its recent Direct event.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which launched early in the Switch console’s life in April 2017, is to effectively double the game’s track list over the coming months.
Nintendo announced that it would be adding 48 new tracks in six clusters of eight, kicking off on March 18 and concluding some time before the end of 2023.
It seems these tracks will largely be pulled from previous Mario Kart entries, including the SNES original, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS, and even the Mario Kart Tour mobile game. Nintendo has mentioned Coconut Mall, Choco Mountain, and Tokyo Blur, but there are more to spot in the above video footage.
All tracks will be given a full make over, as you’d expect, with new on-track elements and crisp 1080p graphics.
Interestingly, there will be two ways to access these new tracks. One will be through a one-off payment of £22.49/$24.99. Which, given that this ‘Booster Course Pass DLC’ is effectively doubling the size of the game, isn’t as expensive as it initially seems.
The other method is to sign up to the Nintendo’s premium Switch Online tier, which will grant you free access to the new tracks alongside all those N64 games.
Mario Kart 8 launched in its original Wii U form way back in 2014. By the time the last batch of new tracks arrives, it will have likely been some 9 years since the original launch. That’s some longevity.
