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While there are some blockbuster titles arriving in stores this week, we suspect we're not alone in looking forward to one thing above all else — Mario Kart 8 DLC. The Legend of Zelda x Mario Kart 8 includes eight tracks, three characters and four vehicles, and we think it's an absolute treat.

The good news is that it's available now, ahead of the usual Nintendo Download update time. At the time of writing there are two Mario Kart 8 downloads active in Europe, and we suspect that'll also be the case in North America.

Update to Version 3.0

If you have standby updates and downloads enabled this may have automatically downloaded to your system already, and will be installed — or finish downloading — when you load the game. This update adds amiibo support, with the Start (+) button now loading an amiibo menu on the home screen of the game. It's here that you can scan compatible figures to unlock Mii Racing Suits.

The Legend of Zelda x Mario Kart 8 DLC

Once you boot up the game it notifies you that your DLC content is ready to download. You can either wait for it to download the 687MB file (that's the UK size), carry on playing or leave the game. If you do tell it to download in the background you'll need to reboot the software when it's complete in order to access the content.

When playing online, meanwhile, you can choose a setting to only join lobbies with other DLC owners, ensuring the new tracks will cycle around; in general the game is quite generous at offering a new track in the majority of rounds.

The download ran a little slower than normal on our UK unit, possibly because plenty of gamers are trying to access it at the same time. Good things come to those that wait...

Are you excited about this DLC and update, or are you lucky enough to be playing the new tracks right now? Let us know.