Nintendo shocked fans with the announcement that Birdo was coming to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of the Booster Course DLC Pass. Birdo will be part of Wave 4 of the pass, arriving in Q2 2023 for the game. Fans assumed Booster Course Pass would only include brand-new tracks because the previous waves only had tracks. But that won’t be the case, and Birdo won’t be the last DLC character. A press release revealed that returning characters from the Mario Kart series will be added in future waves.
Business Wire shared the official press release for the Nintendo February 2022 Direct. The press release reiterates what was revealed during the Direct but clarifies that more returning characters from the Mario Kart series will be added in the remaining waves for the Booster Course Pass. No other character was listed in the press release other than Birdo. The phrasing of “returning characters” suggests any characters added to the game will be from previous entries, not new characters who’ve not been playable before. Birdo was a playable character in Mario Kart since Double Dash on the GameCube and was last seen in the series in Mario Kart Wii.
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Though Mario Kart 8 Deluxe features a robust 40+ roster that features a plethora of characters that includes Inkling, Link, and Pink Gold Peach, many fans believe the game is missing a lot of past characters. Birdo was one of those characters fans felt was absent, and Birdo’s return in Wave 4 finally fills in the void in fans’ hearts. Players hope other missing characters will return in future waves, including Diddy Kong, Pauline, and Petey Piranha.
Even though Mario Kart 8 is almost nine years old, the game continues to be updated by Nintendo and is the highest-selling game for the Nintendo Switch. The Booster Course Pass was announced in February 2022, and it includes a whopping 48 remastered tracks from the series’ varied history, spread across six waves. Custom item settings were incorporated into the game for free on December 2022.
