Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass

The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass is a DLC expansion pack for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, announced during a Nintendo Direct held on February 9, 2022. The pack includes 12 additional cups, for a total of 48 additional courses (bringing the total number of courses to 96), most of which are remastered versions of courses from other Mario Kart games, including Mario Kart Tour. The courses are based on their designs from Mario Kart Tour, with the exceptions of, , and , which are currently absent from said game. However, the courses have received visual improvements and new music arrangements compared to Mario Kart Tour. The pack marks the longest gap between the original release of a Mario game and the release of its DLC, releasing nearly five years after Mario Kart 8 Deluxe did. The pack also makes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe the first Mario Kart game to feature classic courses from games following the original game's release, with Mario Kart Tour and its reappearing courses debuting after 8 Deluxe was initially released.

The pack is set to be released in six waves by the end of 2023. It can be purchased on its own, but is also included in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership. The first wave of the DLC was made available to pre-load on March 15, 2022, and was released on March 18, 2022. For the Tencent release in Mainland China, the first two waves of the DLC were made available on September 26, 2022, with the rest of the waves set to release by the end of 2024. If the player has purchased the Booster Course Pass or currently has a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, a small icon of a Super Star can be seen next to the version number on the game's title screen.

The courses shown in the key artwork use official screenshots and in-game course icons from Mario Kart Tour. Some screenshots of the courses show Paris Promenade and Paris Promenade 3 with barrier fences from that game. The artwork also features an official screenshot of the ninja Shy Guys in Ninja Hideaway, which originated from the Ninja Tour's in-game preview. Some promotional material for Wave 1, primarily the infographic showing all the courses in the wave, also used Tour screenshots. However, since Wave 2, the promotional material uses in-game screenshots from 8 Deluxe for all courses, including Wave 1's.

Several minor adjustments to the courses in Wave 1 were made upon the release of Wave 2, such as their course icons being slightly brighter, and the sand and dirt on some courses now leaving tire marks. Additionally, the final car section in was adjusted, making the cars serve as hazards and move sporadically in random directions (except for Time Trials, in which they remain stationary).

Courses
Each of the six waves features two cups, each with four courses, for eight courses per wave. As of the third wave, there is one course from Super Mario Kart, two courses from Mario Kart 64, three courses each from Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, and Mario Kart 7, eight courses from Mario Kart Tour, no courses from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and one new course. Excluding the Tour courses, DS Shroom Ridge and GBA Snow Land are currently the only courses in the Booster Course Pass that had not previously appeared as classic courses, while Sky-High Sundae is currently the only course to make its series debut in the pass.

Only Mario Kart Tour's city courses are labeled as Tour tracks in-game, as shown by Ninja Hideaway, Sky-High Sundae, and Merry Mountain lacking the Tour prefix. In the Tencent release of the DLC in Mainland China, all courses from Mario Kart Tour, including city courses, lack the Tour prefix, likely due to Mario Kart Tour's unavailability from app distribution platforms in Mainland China.

In the British English version of the game, is known as 3DS Alpine Pass.

Internal content
An alternate version of the key artwork exists in the game's files as of version 2.0.0, showing several currently unreleased courses. This banner also uses official screenshots and in-game course icons from Mario Kart Tour, including icons for T and R/T variants. Several tracks included in Wave 2 appear in this banner, including and Sky-High Sundae, though the  art used within it is not that of. Several more appear, though many are too blurry to be properly identified; however, the starting area of, the snowboarding section of , and the underwater portion of all appear. The banner also had screenshots for Amsterdam Drift and Bangkok Rush before their official reveals for Mario Kart Tour.

Among the game's internal data, there exist prefixes for upcoming courses: "SNES" (denoting a Super Mario Kart course) is allocated to one upcoming course, "GBA" (Mario Kart: Super Circuit) to two upcoming courses, "GCN" (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!) to four, "DS" (Mario Kart DS) to one, "Wii" (Mario Kart Wii) to three, and "Tour" (Mario Kart Tour) to 8. There are also five courses without a prefix. The prefixes were laid out in a set order for each cup, though while the order panned out for Wave 2, Wave 3 was altered, with several courses being moved around and the GCN course being dropped in favor of. It is unknown how future waves will change, or if the number of prefixes for each game will change in the future.

In version 2.1.0, music snippets for many unreleased courses were added to the game's files, including those of all of Mario Kart Tour's new courses up to, as well as all other courses featured in Wave 3 (present prior to their official reveals), , and either or Wario Colosseum (although the former is seen on the banner).

Trivia

 * The pass was once erroneously referred to as the "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pack" on the official North American webpage. This error has since been corrected.
 * The countries of most of the 150cc staff ghosts for Mario Kart Tour's city courses match the cities' respective countries: 's staff ghost is French, 's staff ghost is Japanese, and 's is American.
 * 's is an exception, as its staff ghost is Japanese. This is likely because no staff ghost in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is Australian.