Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Booster Course Pass has gone live, and as you might recall, there are a few different ways to experience this new DLC expansion. Here's the breakdown:
1. The first option is to buy it. When you purchase the Booster Course Pass, you'll get access to six waves and 48 courses for $24.99 USD / $32.99 CAN / £22.49 up until the end of 2023.
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2. The second option is to purchase Nintendo Switch Online and the Expansion Pack. If you sub to this service, you'll be able to access the Booster Course Pass content in single-player, friends, wireless play and local play.
3. Last but not least is the option to not buy the Booster Course Pass or sub to Nintendo's Switch Online Expansion Pack service. As long as you have the standard Switch Online subscription, the Wave 1 courses will still appear in the 'Random selection' when playing Global or Regional races with other players online. These courses will be added to the online rotation from 21st/22nd March.
Our question to you is - how will you be playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Booster Pass content? Vote in our poll and leave a comment down below.
Comments (95)
Upgraded my family subscription to an expansion pass yesterday for it.
It's about time we get something for MK8. Yes, I will be buying!
I have the expansion pass but will buy it at the end of the switch’s life cycle
I love this DLC already but it really disappoints me that is isn't the same quality as base game. I would have happily paid more.
I have bought the booster pack. I may grab the expansion pass in the future but I'm still not sure.
I have the expansion pack so I'll have access to it that way. Super excited to play the new tracks.
Bought the pack... still waiting for it to be available in America though.
The quality of the DLC doesn't match with the full game, so I'd rather not spend the asking price for it. They completely destroyed mechanics of some of these courses, and the style clashes with the style for the base game, as they remastered these all so they could backport them to Tour.
I preordered it, but unfortunately, I'm in the US so I have to wait until 6:00 PM tomorrow, which is a whole day away still. Pretty unfortunate, but I'll live.
i think if we keep getting $25 dlc bonuses for NSO expansion, itll finally be worth subscribing to the expansion for me. itll could even be a good test run on trying all the dlc in games without outright buying them all
i bought the dlc, but its weird they didnt give a proper release date for it. random parts of the world are getting it before others
I will play using my Expansion Pass and then purchase it later so I have it unlocked.
I can’t be the only one without an expansion pack who hasn’t yet purchases the Booster Course Pass, but I’d considering it (and at the same time not considering the expansion pack).
Where is this option? I feel like a lot of us won’t be able to participate in this poll as-is.
Pre-ordered that (expletive) very soon after the direct.
I sold MK8 Deluxe years ago after playing it to death (and on the WiiU before that). I'm not going to re-buy the game PLUS the DLC. Just not worth it to me.
I'm thinking about it. Pre-pandemic, I would constantly bring my party game filled Switch to gatherings with friends, but we didn't often touch Mario Kart. So I'm intrigued, but I don't know if it'd get any use. And I don't have the expansion pass because it's still a ripoff
I’ve got it with the service for now, but I think I’ll purchase it outright at a later time, such as if I’m not gonna use the expansion pass, so I still have access to it
Yes. Was an easy purchase for how many tracks I get. Glad MK8D has some more life again after Chocobo disappointment
I'm not getting roped into an overpriced subscription service just so I can rent some DLC.
it's more consumer friendly just to pay the $25 extra one-time and be done with it.
Yep got that Expansion pack so insta access!
Eventually. We don't play much MK8 these days. Though I guess that could change if I were to get the Booster Pack. But at the moment, I have other stuff in my backlog I plan to play. My next purchase will most likely Nintendo Switch Sports
I'll buy it eventually, maybe after Wave 2 or 3.
Why bother anyways? $50 is way too much. Nintendo being greedy at this point.
Why isn't everything at lower prices nowadays?? Why's everything so costly now than it was 20 years ago? $5-7 in gas, usually $50-100 a week in groceries, and everything else is pricey.
Only if the quality be like the base game. if not, i won´t buy this DLC. I´ll never pay for expansion pack, because I don´t like N64 games and i won´t never pay to rent DLC.
I'll be buying this yes once I get home this evening. I haven't played Mario Kart 8 online in quite a while so I'm pretty rusty. I used to play it online every single night during the Wii U era upon getting home from work. I've only played online now here and there as my interest in the game dwindled due to playing it so much. Hopefully this DLC will reignite my interest in the game again.
I'm one of the 10 Switch owners who doesn't have Mario Kart 8 yet. I have it on the Wii U and it's fine there, but this DLC blitz is making me reconsider.
I have the expansion pass. But I'll buy before end of life.
bought it 4 hours ago
Will enjoy it on online rotation for now, but if the expansion pass becomes even better value in the future, I may be tempted to upgrade
The tracks look much better than they did in the trailer! Definitely some work has gone into them!
Bought it. But kinda disappointed. Looks nothing like the base game. Flat and rough textures all over the place. What is going on Nintendo?
I'll wait until we see some of the other tracks. MK8 is already a more than complete game, and I spent a lot more time with it on Wii U than I have on Switch. If they add in a couple tracks that I'm really nostalgic for, then I'll probably grab it.
I am now assuming Nintendo is going to keep adding large DLC every 6 - 12 months on well established games as part of the expansion pass - so I'm going to go ahead and bite. I feel it is worth it now and will continue to add value over the year.
My $20 NSO subscription ends this week coincidentally so I’m going to renew with the expansion pass. I still play Kart a lot to this day with my buddies plus I just recently got back into Animal Crossing. I also want to play some N64 titles like Paper Mario and Mario Golf so upgrading just makes sense at this point for me.
Mario Kart 8 is alright and all but I don't like it that much to warrant a dlc purchase.
I don't even play the game that much, only with friends.
I'm not getting it just yet, because I might want to upgrade.
@KingBowser Inflation is definitely one reason
Playing it through the expansion pack and while the courses are fun, I'm also disappointed with the graphics in these courses. Especially Toad Circuit looks bad, like, how did they even think that was okay? It clashes with the rest of the game so hard.
Then again, Mario Kart 8 has had a slight bit of history with cut corners. Base game on Wii U had an incredibly lackluster battle mode. Every DLC cup trophy, including the ones that came on Wii U, have all had a generic model that they all share amongst one another with just a different cup logo. And then there's the characters.... which we're not even getting any new ones for here.
When you think about it, it's actually a little embarrassing.
@KingBowser
It is only 25 dollars.
@Yanina If rumors are accurate then the DLC is being developed by Namco, though fair complaint.
Got it thanks to the NSO expansion pack, would buy it later on when needed.
I’m convinced all these stages are being made for MK9 and released early as DLC for 8, so I expect to play them whenever 9 rolls around. Also not a major MK fan, so I can shrug it off if my prediction is wrong.
Already paid for it when I pre-ordered it.
Not yet. I would have preferred a new game instead of another update to a now almost 10 year old game. The antigrav mechanic never really wowed me either.
Getting the booster pass
Upgraded my subscription to the Expansion Pack yesterday, and have been playing F-Zero X most of the time. God that game is so good! I'm taking the big gamble that one year of the EP will give you permanent ownership of the MK8 DLC, rather than just "access" to it. Worst case scenario is I paid $26 AUD for a year of playing N64 games, and I'll try the Animal Crossing DLC too. I'll won't renew the subscription to see what happens. I wasn't using the base subscription much already. Then I'll considering buying the DLC outright.
I'm surely buy it, but not now, I'll wait for at least 3 course packs to be released.
You can pick up the dlc for £16 in the UK from online retailers. Totally worth that.
@Woodyshoe who’s selling it for £16 in the UK
I would love to buy this dlc but that would also mean spending £50 on a game I already have on Wii u.
25$ for a dlc that worth 119kb. Something is wrong here.
I only ever play MK online so I've no need to pay extra for it.
@Lord
CDKeys are selling a download code for £16.79. They also have decent discounts on NSO subscriptions.
Bought the DLC as I dont have NSO because its not worth it.
When they turn it off you wont be able to play the tracks otherwise
I already had the NSO Expansion pack (because N64 and Animal Crossing DLC), and so I downloaded this DLC as well. I hope they, Nintendo, will keep offerening new DLC in this pack like this.
@1UP_MARIO that’s what I also intend to do
@clianvXAi yea there is something wrong, but with you. What does the byte number say about the afford people needed to create this. And you only got a sixth of the content yet. If you want a price by content it’s a bit more then 0,50€/0.50$ per course. And that’s a good value.
Probably going to buy it but in a few months when a few more waves release.
Since it's part of the subscription, I'll play it that way. Glad we have a family sub and share the costs.
Can we please stop saying the expansion pass isn’t worth it as if this was an objective truth? Than it isn’t. Let’s break it down:
2 dlcs for 25€/$ => 1 year solo sub
13 n64 games (didn’t do the full research but the prices for those range from 10-100€$) => so if you buy then individually some more years of sub.
So just say I’m not willing to buy or I’m not interested or it’s not worth for me and it’s fine.
PS: in a family sub it’s very cheap.
@CharlieGirl yeah, same — they're being pretty transparent with the offer, but I much prefer purchasing my DLC a la Kart
I just bought it. Courses are fun you can still jump off hand rail in Coconut Mall (so boss). When do the tracks become available online?
@Joe-b heck yeah i just bought it
I think I'll wait for all of the DLC to be released and then see if it goes on sale. Ask me again in a year. I am certainly not renting access to the DLC, especially when you are just paying for a promise of what is due to come later in a release schedule.
My basic online subscription renews in September, so I plan to wait until then when the upgrade has more to it and subscribe then. It’ll also give me chance to clear my backlog.
The quality of the tracks doesn’t match the rest of the game which is disappointing
Switch Online subscriber here, so will play it that way.
I will get this eventually with the subscription, but that will happen when the right game or dlc gets released. I am not 100% sure of a full list of what would tempt me is, but definitely goldeneye and maybe 1080 snowboarding.
I’m reluctant as I abhor the practice of paid DLC, and it’s quite expensive for what it is. Sure, it’s cheap enough relative to the content on offer, but the majority of the content is derivative of existing tracks (and I’m guessing that quite a lot will be borrowed from Tour).
Frankly, I would have preferred an All Stars physical release with the original Mario Kart games on a single cartridge (though DS/3DS would probably need some work to accommodate single-screen gameplay), and perhaps save the Tour tracks for Mario Kart 9.
I’m not totally enthused about paying nearly AU$40 for tracks that I’ve already played countless times before over the last 15 or so years.
I’ve sampled the new tracks by playing wirelessly with my brother (who bought the pass) and my favourites so far were the Tour tracks. Coconut Mall didn’t elicit the same warm and fuzzy feelings that the original Wii track did. It just felt so sterile.
I’ll wait for eShop cards to go on sale before considering a purchase.
I never bought MK8D because I had the Wii U version and played it enough during its heyday.
But now there's a whole new game's worth of Mario Kart incoming, I may have to actually get 8 Deluxe... which means that, yes, if I do get the game, I'll need to also get the DLC, otherwise there'd be no point really.
YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES.
I'm a subscriber so i don't need to, but i definitely would.
The expansion pass doubles the game for a fraction of the price.
The value here is bonkers, especially considering just how good of a game MK8 already is.
I will probably buy it eventually, just not right now, money's too tight right now and I got other priorities. But eventually, yeah!
Of.
Course.
0,50€ per track… please.
Some really good ones in there too. Toad Circuit is oldschool drift fun, I like the open feel and wide turns. Getting 3 stars 200cc on Ninja Hideaway is going to take some practice.
@KingBowser well there is a war going on.
I will purchase this soon but am preoccupied with Tunic at the moment. It’s such a wonderful game, and I really wish we could have a physical release of this with the manual you piece together on switch.
Bought the pass but from Shop to for £16.85
I’m content to just play it for a few years probably on my sub to the expansion pack. I mean, I pretty much had my fill of MK8 on the Wii U.
Now if by some miracle they were to release an all-in-one cartridge later that contains all 96 tracks, I’d buy it in an instant.
I think there needs to be an option on the poll to wait until more tracks are released. I almost bought it weeks ago, but when I thought about it, I would be paying nearly $40 Canadian to have a slow, unsatisfying trickle of tracks over the course of 2 whole years. Since I don't avidly play MK8 anyway, I'm going to wait at least a year for half the tracks to release first, or possibly the whole 2 years to get the full effect of being able to play all the tracks at once.
If I'm being honest, these models of selling content is a major turn off for me. Despite being presumably good value for the cost, the fact that my choices are two types of subscriptions, one if which is guaranteed to cut me off from the content when I stop paying, is distracting. As a matter of fact, any kind of 'season' style deal is just a reminder to that I'm essentially putting money on a bet that current excitement will win over future impatience and distractions.
I wont because they should´ve release a new game that we could buy and own in a cartridge.
Bought it so it would be installed for when i woke up, then realised it was released about 4 mins prior. Safe to say i didnt sleep for the next hour and a half
I don't even have the game itself to this day.😅
Already purchased, and a quick 50cc familiarisation run through before work this morning
Coconut Mall and Ninja Hideout the standouts. Graphically, there are some pretty bland tracks compared to the main game, but after 8 years (WiiU owner before Switch), it's just nice having a reason to play the game again!
Not too excited about potentially a large chunk of the 48 tracks being Tour ports, but let's see...
@KingBowser Game prices did not really change that much, their monetising model did. I still have Perfect Dark on N64 with its original price sticker, 2999 Belgian Francs, which is 75 Euro's basically (or was at the time the Euro was introduced), where high priced standard games are 60 now.
But I won't argue that everything is WAY too expensive today. I've found my ways to live almost 'free', in almost 'freedom', but whenever I really have to go get something, I'm in shock of what it costs, and how people are willing to pay that (even in debt, loans, credit,.. for some of the most absurdly useless stuff really).
@Dimey Played since launch on Wii U as well, don't have a smart phone so never played Tour. It's all new. But when they announced the dlc, I had just sold my MK8 Switch copy... But oh well, sold it for 35, purchased it used for 30 again, so I'm not really complaining.
Hell yeah already purchased! I’ve been waiting for some new Mario kart action for a long time since I’ve practically been playing the same game since the Wii U
Ill wait till there is respectable amount of tracks for that price..
Loving it!
I like the simpler visual style of stages, less clutter.
Plus lots of interesting new ideas, like driving against the other racers on the Paris course. Plus the Ninja course is just crazy!
I'm definitely getting the DLC in some form or another. When this got announced, I was sure it would be in the form of buying just the DLC. The more I think about it though, I'm leaning a little bit more in the other direction of getting this through the Online Expansion Pass. I don't like the idea of losing content if I choose to not renew a subscription, but I'm questioning if I'll still be playing this game long-term, once the thrill of these new tracks wears off.
I've played the tracks now, they're really fun. I'm not mad about splurging the 25 bucks on it!...... And then it hit me : I've already payed for 40(!) more courses as well. I think it's amazing value!! ❤️
I hate to break it to everyone here - but you will all eventually break down and buy the expansion pack. They are going to keep adding things that are harder and harder to refuse. So you might as well get stuff for it now.
Submit.
Any tips to get good again? I have 3starred till half way through 150ccm mirrowed 5 years ago. And then moved on to other games…
But now, I don’t get most of the curves even with drifting. Maybe I played too much CTR?
I still refuse to repurchase anything I already own on the Wii U. Mario Kart 8 is one of those.
@HalBailman I admire your optimism, but there is zero chance that you will be able to keep the dlc. It’ll presumably be something like the way trial game licenses work or I’m guessing the nes/snes games.
@NerdyBoutKirby you could be right - but even if you are you won't play them for another 21 months bare minimum.
Waiting 21 months on a lark bet that isn't even likely...something most people don't care to do for such a paltry sum as $25.
I will go with the booster but im waiting until they are all out.
Not available for the Wii U version, so no.
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