Mario Kart 8, everyone's favorite kart racing game, is getting its final content DLC next Thursday, adding one last batch of fan-favorite tracks and characters.
Ah, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Mario Kart to end all Mario Karts. Who could've imagined that an almost 10 years old re-release of a Wii U game (remember the Wii U?) would end up being the best-selling game on the Nintendo Switch?
It does help that the game's Booster Course Pass gave it another, well, boost, by adding 48 tracks to the game's already pretty beefy track list over the course of just under 2 years. The final wave of this DLC pack has just been revealed and releases next Thursday, on November 9!
Like the previous DLC waves, this one features 8 remasters of classic tracks from the Mario Kart series as well as a few new additions to the playable character roster. There aren't any completely new tracks this time around, but looking at this list of new tracks I'm sure most people won't mind too much.
Booster Course Wave 6: New Tracks
Here are the new tracks in Wave 6, separated into their respective Cups:
| Acorn Cup | Blue Shell Cup |
| Tour Rome Avanti | Tour Madrid Drive |
| GCN DK Mountain | 3DS Rosalina's Ice World |
| Wii Daisy Circuit | SNES Bowser Castle 3 |
| Tour Piranha Plant Cove | Wii Rainbow Road |
The showstopper in this wave is Wii Rainbow Road, a fan-favorite track from Mario Kart Wii! This also means that MK8D now has 5 Rainbow Roads, oddly enough. Other standouts in this selection are GCN DK Mountain, 3DS Rosalina's Ice World and Wii Daisy Circuit. There are a few tracks from other games that I personally would've preferred over the Tour tracks (Wario Colosseum comes to mind), but overall this is a really solid final batch of tracks.
Booster Course Wave 6: New Characters
Although the Booster Course Pack was originally advertised to only include new tracks, apparently the developers weren't satisfied with that. So they started adding new playable characters into each DLC wave as well! Wave 6 is no exception, adding the following characters:
- Diddy Kong
- Funky Kong
- Pauline
- Peachette
Two monkeys and two princesses make for a strange group, but Pauline and especially Funky Kong have been heavily requested ever since the option of new DLC characters was put on the table.
At this point I genuinely can't think of any characters that are still missing from the roster (Peachette already seems like a stretch), so I'm sure this final batch of characters will satisfy just about everyone.
Booster Course Wave 6: New Features
But wait, there's more! Although it isn't featured in the trailer, Wave 6 apparently also adds two new features to the game:
- A new music player that allows you to listen to any of the game's music tracks at any time
- 17 Mii costumes that were previously exclusive to Mario Kart Tour
I have no idea why the game is getting these last-minute additions beyond "the developers felt like it", but far be it from me to complain about free content! Mario Kart has some excellent music, so that in-game jukebox is a very nice feature.
With Wave 6 finally releasing next Thursday the Booster Course Pack will have literally doubled the amount of tracks in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, expanded its character roster by 8 new and highly-requested characters and added several bonus features. That's a lot of value for just $25! If you'd stopped playing MK8D before any of the DLCs were released now is the perfect time to jump back in, it'll practically feel like a new game!