Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Serves Up 48 Remastered Tracks

Nintendo has just announced that 48 new courses are coming to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Revealed as part of the February 2022 Nintendo Direct, these new courses are undoubtedly going to bring a breath of fresh air to this Nintendo fan favorite. During Direct, Nintendo detailed how the courses are going to be released, how much they will cost, and when we can expect to be able to play them.

Most things in life are not free, so it should come as no surprise that the new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe courses are coming straight to the Nintendo Shop under the name of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pack. The pass will cost $24.99 for all 48 courses, which amounts to a seemingly reasonable price of around 52 cents per race track. In addition, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members will gain access to all of these new courses free of charge.

Mario Kart lovers will be able to play the new tracks both locally and online, although keep in mind that playing online also requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Instead of releasing all 48 courses at once, Nintendo will be launching them in six waves of 8 courses, starting from March 18, 2022, all the way through 2023.

Nintendo hasn't specified which courses exactly will be released, but it does mention that some of them will be remastered versions of tracks from previous games. There are two ways to gain access to the expansion, both of which are available right now, even if the tracks will not be released for another month. Users making a single purchase will only have to pay once in order to access all six waves of courses.

If you'd rather make a one-time purchase, simply head to the Nintendo Shop and pre-order the Booster Course Pass for $24.99. However, if you have a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, you will be able to access the content as it's released as part of your $49/year subscription. The downside here is that you may need to renew the subscription in order to play through all six waves of content. On the other hand, the subscription gives access to other DLCs, such as Animal Crossing, as well as Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games.

The Booster Pass seems like a good way for Nintendo to prolong the life of this classic Nintendo Switch title. Many users were looking forward to an announcement regarding an entirely new game, but Nintendo chose to release 48 tracks for the existing title instead. It's possible that the Switch just doesn't offer enough of an upgrade to warrant a whole new game with the same premise, but 48 tracks will certainly fill up a fair amount of time for even the most avid racers. Perhaps Nintendo will hold off Mario Kart 9 until it releases a new console in some vaguely distant future.