Raymond Wong

Reviews

Mario Kart 8’s Booster Course Pass is essential DLC for parties

Nintendo’s DLC for everyone’s favorite Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch is too fun not to own.

Not just for kids

Anybody who thinks Nintendo only makes “kid” or “family” games has never played Mario Kart. Real ones know this game is intense. Really intense.

Just your typical Mario Kart party... (you def wanna turn up the sound).

Mario Kart 8 launched in 2012 on the ill-fated Wii U and was later ported to the Nintendo Switch. Since then, the game has sold 50 million copies worldwide. No doubt countless relationships and families have broken up over blue shells.

Chesnot/Getty Images News/Getty Images

If your Mario Kart parties aren’t filled with F-bombs like ours, you’re doing them wrong. (🔊 on)

Despite being several years old, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe shows no signs of slowing down. New DLC is keeping the game fresh until at least 2023 with the Booster Course Pass.

48

Total tracks included in the Booster Course Pass.

Nintendo has released two cups for the DLC — Golden Dash and Lucky Cat — each with four remastered tracks. With things looking better, we gathered the Input squad, local and remote, to race and (ahem) trash talk.

The eight new tracks are remakes from past Mario Kart games, spanning Nintendo 64, Wii, Game Boy Advance, DS, 3DS, and the mobile game Tour. There’s also a new “Ninja Hideaway” course that is an absolute wrecker of a track. But a few courses really hit us with nostalgia...

Everyone’s favorite Coconut Mall from Mario Kart Wii returns.

Ninja Hideaway will frustrate everyone.

Is it even possible to not wanna rage quit on this course?

Never drink and drive in real life. Drinking and karting on your home couch? Perfectly fine so long as you’re legal. (We’re all adults here at Input and this is how adults play Mario Kart!) Things... naturally got really heated.

(The faces of the nicest Mario Kart players on the planet, who would never talk sh*t. Never.)

What happens in Mario Kart stays in Mario Kart

All jokes aside (we’re still friends... for now), the Booster Course Pass is a lot of fun and makes an aging game fresh again. The current two cups are only the start. With more “waves” of cups to come, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch has a long future ahead.

So is the Booster Course Pass DLC worth $25?

The consensus is an emphatic...

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