Mario Kart 8 Deluxe update lets you choose custom items

Wave 3 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass is out today, bringing eight more classic Mario Kart tracks to the obscenely popular kart racer. But that’s not all, as a surprise free update has landed that lets you pick your power-ups in races.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe update lets you choose custom items

As Nintendo explains in a Twitter post, the update adds an option to select which items appear in offline VS Races and certain online modes.

If you’ve wanted to make a race in Mario Kart with only Blue Shells for maximum chaos, you now can.

Alternatively, you can race with no items at all for the first time in a Mario Kart game or randomise them like before.

In Team Races and Battles, you can also allocate specific items to each team. It’s a welcome update, although choosing items arguably removes the unpredictability that makes Mario Kart so fun (and frustrating).

Wave 3 DLC out now

The update arrives alongside the Wave 3 Booster Course Pass DLC, out now on Nintendo Switch.

Available as part of the Booster Course Pass, Wave 3 adds eight classic tracks: 

• Maple Treeway (Mario Kart Wii)
• Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 7)
• Boo Lake (Mario Kart Super Circuit)
• Berlin Byways (Mario Kart Tour)
• Rock Rock Mountain (Mario Kart 7)
• London Loop (Mario Kart Tour)
• Peach Gardens (Mario Kart DS)
• Merry Mountain (Mario Kart Tour)

In total, the Booster Course Pass will add 48 tracks by the end of 2023. The Booster Course Pass costs £22.49/$24.99 or is included with the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription at no extra cost.

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