Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Predictions
What a surprise! Nintendo announced in its February 2022 Direct, that 48 remastered courses from the entire Mario Kart series will be added to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as a DLC! Yes - 48 new courses! That’s double the course options we currently have in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Nintendo Switch. The additional content will be released in 6 waves of 8 courses from March 18, 2022 until the end of 2023.
For this blog post I drove along the Super Mario Kart franchise memory lane and asked myself which courses I would like to see a remaster for. This exercise was quite fun and I’m happy to share my thoughts with you. But before we get to that, let’s quickly talk about the Booster Course Pass in general.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass: Rent or Buy?
Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members can play these newly-added courses as they are released at no additional cost. Non-members need to purchase the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass on its own from Nintendo eShop.
I’m a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack member. But my preference is to own the DLC courses - rather than just accessing it via my online subscription. So my strategy is that I will ‘rent’ the content while being an active subscriber to the Expansion Pak of Nintendo Switch Online, until it’s clear if Nintendo might release in 2024 a physical ‘Mario Kart 8 Ultimate’ or ‘Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’ game that contains the base experience and all the content from the Booster Course Pass. All on cart! In case Nintendo announces that there aren't any plans for a physical release, I will buy the Booster Course Pass digitally to own the DLC on my Nintendo Switch. We don’t know how the future for the paid subscription service Nintendo Switch Online looks, but we know that digital content might not be available forever in the digital times we live in.
Some thoughts about a potential physical release for the Booster Course Pass:
In my mind, such a release can only be considered as fan service and might solely be interesting for collectors who would double dip here. It’s very likely that every Nintendo Switch owner in 2024 has Mario Kart 8 Deluxe* already in their library. But who knows: Maybe the Nintendo Switch is still selling strong in 2024, and gamers would be interested in grabbing a Mario Kart game that was initially launched 10 years ago, 2014 for the Nintendo Wii U, re-released as port for Nintendo Switch in 2017 including all paid DLCs for Wii U and additional features such as new characters and more options for the battle mode, and now wrapped up with 48 remastered courses and what else the Booster Course Pass will bring (maybe even new characters such as Diddy or Funky Kong?), in 2024?
I would be definitely interested in buying such a physical ‘Super Mario Kart 8’ or ‘Super Mario Kart 8 Ultimate’ release for my game collection in 2024. And in 2025 a Mario Kart X might be around the corner anyways ;-)
Booster Course Pass Predictions - What Courses Should Be Remastered?
That’s why you are here! I looked into all existing 145+ courses from the Mario Kart IP and present to you the courses I think a remaster is very likely. Nintendo already revealed 8 courses, so they are 40 new courses that I’ll make an educated guess for.
Some insights into my thought process how I came up with with my predictions:
1 - A very few courses, such as the original Wario Stadium from Mario Kart 64, have not been remastered in the entire franchise. I think there is a high likelihood that we will see such courses.
2 - I predict that each wave will be accompanied by 1 course off Mario Kart Tour, plus I added a special, Holiday season dedicated course - totaling 6 Mario Kart Tour courses. Although wave 1 already contains 3 Tour courses, I don’t think Nintendo sticks to this as Mario Kart Tour courses would be over-represented in the Booster Course Pass otherwise. As you can see below: For my predictions I tried to pick equally from all 8 Mario Kart games, so that the course selection is well-balanced across all systems.
3 - In a similar manner I considered that most of the Nintendo characters will have at least one of their trademarked courses and that there aren't for instance several Wario branded courses in a wave.
4 - Further I tried to predict which waves will come during what season of the year - and puzzled in accordingly courses that are focusing more on a summer or winter theme. My assumptions are the following:
5 - Due to nostalgic reasons I try to keep the appearance of the race course close to the original appearance as we know it from the original Mario Kart version when the course appeared for the first time.
6 - Last but not least: I asked myself which courses are more suitable for Mario Kart 8 features, such as anti-gravity, or would work well for extended diving or gliding sections.
But let's let talk courses now! Let’s start with the 8 courses that we already know and continue with the remaining 5 waves - and predict: Cup by cup.
Cup 1: Golden Dash Cup
PARIS PROMENADE - Mario Kart Tour
TOAD CIRCUIT - 3DS
CHOCO MOUNTAIN - N64
COCONUT MALL - Wii
Cup 2: Lucky Cat Cup
TOKYO BLUR - Mario Kart Tour
SHROOM RIDGE - DS
SKY GARDEN - GBA
NINJA HIDEAWAY - Mario Kart Tour
Cup 3: Turnip Cup
NEW YORK MINUTE - Mario Kart Tour
LUIGI RACEWAY - N64
Wii - TOAD’S FACTORY - Wii
AIRSHIP FORTRESS - DS
Cup 4: Propeller (Mushroom) Cup
KOOPA TROOPA BEACH - N64
DAISY CRUISER - GCN
LAKESIDE PARK - GBA
MAKA WUHU - 3DS
Cup 5: Rock Mushroom Cup
SINGAPORE SPEEDWAY - Mario Kart Tour
FRAPPE SNOWLAND - N64
MUSHROOM GORGE - Wii
RAINBOW ROAD - DS
Cup 6: Power Moon Cup
VANILLA LAKE 1 - SNES
WARIO COLOSSEUM - GCN
SHY GUY BAZAAR - 3DS
MERRY MOUNTAIN - Mario Kart Tour
Cup 7: Berry Cup
BERLIN BYWAYS 2 - Mario Kart Tour
ROCK ROCK MOUNTAIN - 3DS
DINO DINO JUNGLE - GCN
KOOPA CAPE - Wii
Cup 8: Boomerang (Flower) Cup
D.K.’S JUNGLE PARKWAY - N64
MUSHROOM BRIDGE - GCN
WARIO SHIPYARD - 3DS
BOWSER CASTLE - DS
Cup 9: Feather Cup
LONDON LOOP - Mario Kart Tour
DELFINO SQUARE - DS
DK MOUNTAIN - GCN
SUNSET WILDS - GBA
Cup 10: Double Cheery Cup
PEACH BEACH - GCN
MARIO CIRCUIT 2 - SNES
MAPLE TREEWAY - Wii
KALIMARI DESERT - N64
Cup 11: Super Acorn Cup
VANCOUVER VELOCITY - Mario Kart Tour
LUIGI’S MANSION - DS
BOWSER’S CASTLE - 3DS
RAINBOW ROAD - Wii
Cup 12: Spiny Shell Cup
WARIO STADIUM - N64
DK SUMMIT - Wii
WALUIGI PINBALL - DS
RAINBOW ROAD - 3DS
So what do you think? Do you agree with some of my 40 course predictions? Which courses are you most looking forward to? Have the most fond memories of? Which courses do you want to see in the Booster Course Pass?
Happy to learn more about this in the comment section!
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