Nintendo announced during its most recent Direct that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would be receiving 48 new courses in the coming years. These remastered tracks will be available in the $25 Booster Course Pass and by subscribing to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. However, those who don’t own either can still play these tracks.
Over on the official Mario Kart page, Nintendo revealed that, “Courses from Wave 1 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass can be played from 18th March locally or online in Friends and Rivals races, even if only one player owns the Booster Course Pass or has access to it as part of a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership.” It further notes that Wave 1’s courses will be available on March 22nd in the Random selection when playing online in Global or Regional races.
This practice isn’t really new. Back in the Nintendo DS days, it had DS Download Play which allowed up to eight players to race each other in Mario Kart DS using a single game cart. Wave 1 of the Booster Course Pass will offer eight tracks at launch including Toad Circuit (Mario Kart 7), Tokyo Blur (Mario Kart Tour), Shroom Ridge (Mario Kart DS) and Choco Mountain (Mario Kart 64). There will be six Waves in total with the last arriving in 2023.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is currently available for the Nintendo Switch. It’s sold 43.35 million copies since launching for the console (which exceeds 51 million sales if the original Wii U release is included).