Mario Kart 8’s Booster Course Pass is a Great Value, But Leaves You Wanting a True Sequel

wccftech.com:

Nintendo has certain got plenty of mileage of Mario Kart 8. The gravity-defying racer was originally released back in 2014 on the humble Wii U, then got a “Deluxe” Switch re-release in 2017, ultimately selling a slightly ridiculous 65 million copies (and counting) in its near-decade on the market.

More recently, Nintendo has tried to give Mario Kart 8 Deluxe an extra shot in the arm with the release of the Booster Course Pass, a collection of 48 additional tracks released piecemeal in six waves throughout 2022 and 2023. The final wave of Booster Course Pass content recently dropped, so now seems like a good time to look back at the DLC in its entirety. Is it a trophy-worthy addition or as much fun as a red shell up the tailpipe? Drift on down for my thoughts…

Note: This is an opinion piece and, thus, not as detailed as a full, scored review would be.

The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass draws from the franchise’s entire history, offering remade and remastered tracks from every Mario Kart to date, along with six all-new originals. It also includes a few other bits and bobs, like new characters and Mii outfits, but that’s not really the expansion’s focus. While it’s nice to see a wide array of content, playing through all the courses, you pretty quickly get a feel for which Mario Karts were the best and which maybe weren’t quite to snuff.

While tracks that come from, say, the SNES, Gamecube, and 3DS entries are reliably entertaining, those lifted from Mario Kart Tour, the recent mobile entry in the series, don’t fare nearly as well. Unfortunately, there are more tracks from Mario Kart Tour packed into the Booster Course Pass than from any other individual game. Don’t get me wrong, most of these tracks aren’t bad, but