Mario Kart 8 Deluxe gets new patch as DLC talk reignites

For the first time in two years Mario Kart 8 on the Nintendo Switch has a new patch but what is it for and is there any hope for more DLC?

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold over 35.39 million copies on the Nintendo Switch and, despite the success of Animal Crossing, is still the console’s best-selling game – and probably always will be.

However, like most Nintendo games, it hasn’t had any DLC or significant updates since it was first released in 2017. In fact, this week is the first time it’s had an update in almost two years.

On the face of it the update seems extremely mundane, but with E3 coming up it’s got many fans wondering whether this might be a prelude to more DLC.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is an enhanced port of an older Wii U title, which bundles in the base game and two slices of DLC that were originally available separately.

There’s never been any suggestion from Nintendo that there’d be more DLC, but there have been minor updates that have added things such as support for Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 03 and the Nintendo Switch Online app.

According to the patch notes all the new update does is fix an issue that caused tournament points to be reset and another fix that stops match history with friends from resetting.

Those aren’t anything fans have been up in arms about so why they’re being addressed only now is, like most things Nintendo does, a bit of a mystery.

There’s almost infinite scope to add more tracks and characters via DLC but in terms of hard proof, for plans of more content, there’s nothing.

The other big question is whether there’ll ever be a Mario Kart 9 on Switch. Traditionally each console only gets one Mario Kart game but since Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is technically a port that means there hasn’t been a dedicated Switch Mario Kart yet.

Either option would be welcomed with open arms by fans, but if Nintendo is planning anything new it’s keeping it very secret.

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