Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Expansion Pass gets five new characters

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will receive five new characters in the coming months as part of the Booster Course Pass expansion. In addition, the fourth DLC load for that expansion pass will be available from Thursday, with eight new circuits.

Nintendo suggests that the new characters come from previous Mario Kart games, but doesn’t say exactly which ones. “Two more DLC loads are on the way, with more returning courses and characters from across the Mario Kart series.” The company does not mention a specific number of new drivers in its press release, but five question marks have been visible on the character selection screen since Thursday.

Also from now on the fourth DLC load available, which adds Birdo and eight new tracks to the racing game. Nintendo releases the eight circuits as two cups of four circuits each. Many of the circuits are from old Mario Kart games. Classics such as GBA Riverside Park from Mario Kart Super Circuit, DK Summit from Mario Kart Wii and Waluigi Stadium from Mario Kart Double Dash are coming to the kart game. The game also features three circuits from smartphone game Mario Kart Tour. With Yoshi’s Island, the game also gets a completely new track.

The character screen of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been showing five question marks since Thursday

Nintendo previously announced the Booster Course Expansion Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This is a paid DLC package with 48 extra circuits, which the Japanese gaming giant makes available spread over six ‘waves’. The first batch of eight circuits became available in February last year and included Coconut Mall from Mario Kart Wii, Tokyo Blur from Mario Kart Tour and Choco Mountain from Mario Kart 64. In later waves, circuits such as Mushroom Gorge and Waluigi Pinball followed.

The Booster Course Pass costs 25 euros and is also included in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription. In the near future, two more ‘waves’ will appear, each with eight circuits, which should also contain the new characters.