Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Wave 4 Update Brings Balance Changes And Five New Character Slots

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has updated to Version 2.3.0, in anticipation of the release of its Wave 4 Booster Pass DLC.

As reported by Video Games Chronicle, the DLC adds Birdo as a playable racer, as well as eight courses from previous games.

As revealed on Nintendo’s official website, the new courses are as follows:

Fruit Cup

• Tour Amsterdam Drift
• GBA Riverside Park
• Wii DK Summit
• Yoshi’s Island

Boomerang Cup

• Tour Bangkok Rush
• DS Mario Circuit
• GCN Waluigi Stadium
• Tour Singapore Speedway

This is also the first time that Nintendo is adding a playable rider to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe via the Booster Pass, but it probably won’t be the only time.

The character select screen has adjusted so that Birdo is part of a new column with five additional spaces, marked ? for now.

Nintendo has already stated that “Returning characters from the Mario Kart series will be added in future waves.” So, sorry to disappoint the Crash, Blinx, Gex, Croc, Goemon, Tak, Kao, and Bubsy fans out there, but there won’t be any guest characters coming to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Two more waves remain for the Booster Pass DLC, so those slots will actually be filled out quickly enough.

Now, also of note is that this update rebalances existing characters, and that is regardless of if you have the Booster Pass DLC or not.

Basically, nearly all the characters have seen a one point speed stat increase, for their ground, water, air, and anti-gravity speed stats.

The characters who did not get this stat increase are Metal Mario, Pink Gold Peach, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Roy, Wario, Dry Bowser, Bowser, and Morton.

Beyond that, some of the lighter characters have also received boosts for their mini turbos. This rebalance seems intended to even the playing field for advanced players.

If you are a high level player on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, you most likely use one of the heavier characters, like the characters we named above. These characters do not accelerate as quickly, but have the best speeds out of all the characters. This means, if you’re good enough, you can patiently build up to your top speed and then just dominate the race course.

So, all these new changes were made to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so that those heavy characters and the high level players that use them have just that much more of a harder time playing.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is available now exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. The Booster Pass DLC is available as a separate single purchase, or as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass.