At this point, it's not outlandish to say that Nintendo’s financial stability and cash reserves may be entirely thanks to Mario Kart. Give the people the go-karting that they want, Nintendo has proven, and fans will never stop buying this series. So many copies of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have sold for Switch, in fact, that it’s exceeded a 2.5-to-1 ratio of software to hardware – and that’s at full retail price, rarely marked down.
So it’s weird to suggest that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has reached the end of its apparent life, concluding a nine-year journey that couldn’t even be stopped by the disastrous Wii U. MK8D’s Booster Course Pass DLC program recently concluded and brought the content tally up to a whopping 96 racetracks – double what shipped on the original Switch cartridge. The results should probably land on 2023 best-of gaming lists by sheer sales figures alone; barring that, let’s break down what the DLC got right and wrong, and why it points to a more conservative Mario Karting future.
