For anyone who thinks the promotional Mercedes-Benz downloadable content, free though it may be, is lame, rest assured that Nintendo has far grander plans in store for proper, premium Mario Kart 8 DLC.
Announced today, Mario Kart 8 will receive two major DLC packs between this fall and next spring. Each pack, estimated to require an install size of at least 1 GB, will contain three additional characters, four new vehicles, and eight extra courses across two cups. The packs will sell individually for $7.99, or in a combo pack bundle for only $11.99. On top of the discounted price, buying the bundle will come with a bonus of eight additional colors for Yoshi and Shy Guy.
Pack 1, to be released this November, will contain new characters Cat Peach (cool), Tanooki Mario (awesome), and Link (yes, finally!). One of the new vehicles has also been confirmed to be the Blue Falcon kart from F-Zero. In Pack 2, which for some reason won’t launch until May 2015 (that’s a large gap between DLC releases), the new characters will include Dry Bowser as well as Villager and Isabelle from the Animal Crossing franchise.
Nintendo has confirmed that classic courses like Wario’s Gold Mine from Mario Kart Wii will be featured in the DLC, in addition to new tracks themed after worlds from Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing, but further details will be announced later.
The opportunity to pre-order the DLC will become available tomorrow, August 27th, alongside the launch of the free Mercedes-Benz content and the planned game update.
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
