As Heath Ledger's Joker would put it, "If tomorrow Nintendo told the press their exclusive games will never get cheaper than the release date price, nobody panics. Because it's all part of the plan. But when Sony says they're re-releasing The Last of Us Part I at $70, well, then everybody loses their minds!" In other words, only Nintendo could keep a re-release of a 2014 game at full price ($60) and nobody would bat an eyelash.
The first time Mario Kart 8 hit the shelves was in 2014 on the Wii U, which was a really cool game, getting a 88 on Metacritic. The console, however, not so much. Bluntly put, the Wii U was a disastrous product in terms of success for Nintendo. The games weren't the problem, but the hardware was too old and poorly designed to actually be any fun.
The numbers don't lie, because the Wii U barely sold 13.6 million units, compared to the Switch, which is sitting pretty currently, as the second most sold home console in history at 122.5 million units sold.
The previous title was held by the highly successful 2013-launched PS4 with 117.2 million. In case you were curious, the PS2 is king, wearing its crown proudly at over 155 million units. Some might argue that the comparison isn't justified on account that the PS2 was a home console only, whereas the Switch is a hybrid gaming device.
On the other hand, the PlayStation 2 didn't become the undisputed heavyweight champion because people bought it just to play God of War, Gran Turismo, Shadow of the Colossus, and Ico. Sony's console was the cheapest DVD Player on the market by far, so flocks of people started getting one just to watch the Gladiator in 480p.
Now returning to our neck of the karting woods, Mark Kart 8 Deluxe for the Switch came out in 2017 as an enhanced port (some might even call it a remastered edition) of the 2014 Wii U version. With improved graphics and some reworked game design parts, the Deluxe version climbed on top of the Switch most sold games leaderboards and is currently boasting over 52 million copies.
While Nintendo doesn't advertise it as being a Live Service game, it kind of is. This brings us to today's order of business, the latest piece of content that hit the digital stores on March 9. It's uninspiringly called the Booster Course Pass Wave 4, it costs $25, but if you don't own the game, the total hit your wallet will take is $85.
It introduces eight new courses and one familiar character, Birdo, but some players found evidence that four more characters could soon follow. Long-time fans of the series might recognize some of the courses from previous Mario games like the Tour Singapore Speedway, Tour Bangkok Rush, or Tour Amsterdam Drift tracks from the Mario Kart Tour mobile game.
Of course, some other oldies but goldies have made an appearance as well, like the 2001 Mario Kart Super Circuit from the Game Boy Advance era, or the DS Mario Circuit from the... you guessed it, the Nintendo DS console.
In total, there will be six DLCs by the end of 2023, which means that fans can rest assured they won't get bored too quickly. The most interesting part is what Nintendo has planned for the yet-unknown future of the franchise. Could it be Mario Kart 9, perhaps simultaneously launched alongside the mythical Switch 2? I would love to see an announcement like this as soon as possible.
Codrin just loves American classics, from the 1940s and ‘50s, all the way to the muscle cars of the '60s and '70s. In his perfect world, we'll still see Hudsons and Road Runners roaming the streets for years to come (even in EV form, if that's what it takes to keep the aesthetic alive). Full profile
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