Yes, you read the title correctly. It was announced in today’s Nintendo Direct presentation that the second DLC pack for Mario Kart 8 is coming out earlier than expected! It will arrive on April 23 rather than in May as previously expected! We also got some new details about some of what is included in this pack. The Animal Crossing track seen in the image above has seasons. In the Nintendo Direct, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, says that the season will change on this track each time you race. It sounds like this means the season advance to the next season each time you race on this track (or it could just pick a random season each time you race on this track).
While today’s presentation didn’t show much for the other new tracks in this DLC pack, it did, however, reveal that Mario Kart 8‘s Animal Crossing DLC pack will add nine new amiibo costumes for Mii racers (Mega Man, Pac-Man, Sonic, Toad, Wario, Villager, Rosalina, Bowser and Olimar). There was also a surprise added into the mix, but, first, here is the portion of today’s Nintendo Direct presentation that covered this DLC pack:
After the stuff mentioned above was announced, Mr. Iwata revealed a surprise for Mario Kart 8 players, especially those who want to go faster and/or have a new challenge. He then showed a video celebrating the 20 years of the Mario Kart franchise. It was kind of obvious from the start where it was going. It started talking about classes and 150cc having always been the fastest class in the Mario Kart franchise. You can see where this is going now, can’t you? Yes, they are adding a new 200cc class to Mario Kart 8, but it is not part of the paid Animal Crossing DLC pack, nor is it a paid DLC at all! Instead, it is coming in a free update that will launch at the same time as the Animal Crossing DLC pack!
If you thought Mario Kart was crazy before, it’s about to get crazier. 200cc mode will require you to hone your skills a bit, as you will need to get good at going around tight corners quickly. Of course, tight turns are harder the faster you are going, so the new 200cc class could be fairly tricky on some courses. Of course, if you have ordered both DLC packs, then you will have 16 extra tracks to try it out on, six more racers to play as, and some new amiibo costumes for Mii racers (if you own the corresponding amiibos, that is). Either way, Mario Kart 8 is about to get faster, so get ready to put the pedal to the metal on April 23!
Mario Kart 8 is available on Amazon:
