Fans of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe now have confirmation of how many new DLC characters will come to the game thanks to the release of Wave 4 of the Booster Course Pass. Ever since Birdo was announced as a new character last month, many have speculated what other new characters, if any, would be coming to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.After nearly four years of fans wondering if more courses and characters would be added to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Booster Course Pass was announced to be bringing 48 courses to the game across six waves. After the most recent Nintendo Direct showed that Birdo would be coming to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe alongside a new course based on Yoshi's Island, fans had more reason than ever to be excited about the prospect of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe getting more characters from previous Mario Kart games or brand new characters altogether. With today's release of Wave 4 of the Booster Course Pass, the updated character select screen has given some insight into these new characters. There are now five empty character slots underneath Birdo, confirming that at least five new characters will be added to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This seemingly disputes a previous Mario Kart 8 Deluxe character leak which listed 14 different characters as DLC including Dixie Kong, King Bob-omb, Pauline, and Kamek. With only five available character slots in the current Booster Course Pass, it appears that not all these characters will be added unless another form of DLC is announced at a later time.
Mario Kart fans and online creators quickly took note of these empty character slots and went to social media to speculate on which characters could be added. Some popular requests for new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC characters include Funky Kong, R.O.B., Petey Piranha, and Diddy Kong, all of which were previously playable in past Mario Kart games. These characters would fit in particularly well as Birdo was playable in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart Wii, and Mario Kart Tour.
With the Booster Course Pass, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is now in a similar position that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was when it comes to the inclusion of legacy content. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate famously included nearly all characters and stages from previous Super Smash Bros. Games. Through the Booster Course Pass, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe could follow a similar tactic especially as Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack and the recent Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC bundle have helped make these new courses easily accessible. With the current Booster Course Pass slated to add new courses and characters throughout the rest of this year, fans will not have to wait too much longer to see what else awaits Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is available now for the Nintendo Switch.