All Articles: Mario Kart 8

That bizarre Mercedes-Benz DLC will soon be available for Mario Kart 8. Nintendo of Japan has announced that an August 27 update for Mario Kart 8 will include three Mercedes-Benz karts and a comprehensive set of gameplay tweaks… including the return of the course map!

Aside from putting the course map back on your television where it belongs, Mario Kart 8’s August update will include a “Last Used Configuration” for each character and kart combination as well as a Scoreboard screen for each user that lists their total number of coins collected and online win-loss records. The update will also include an increase in the stability of online races and the ability for opponents to copy and edit the Mario Kart TV highlight videos.

As for the Mercedes-Benz DLC, the free kart has now become a trio as the car manufacturer has provided players with the GLA, the W25 Silver Arrow, and the 300 SL Roadster. You can see them all in action in the trailer above.

Nintendo of America has yet to confirm when Mario Kart 8’s first update will be available on our side of the Pacific, but it’s likely we’ll receive it around the end of August as well.

[Source: Nintendo Life]

UPDATE: Nintendo of America has announced that the Mario Kart 8 update will be available on August 27.

Mario Kart 8 is an unqualified hit. Nintendo has announced that the latest entry in the kart-racing franchise has sold more than 2.82 million copies since its release in May. Even more astonishing is the fact that it accounts for 64% of all Wii U game sales in the April-June quarter. To make that number even more ridiculous, remember that Mario Kart 8 was released towards the end of May, so it’s only been available for a little more than a month.

While it’s good news for kart-racing fans everywhere, it’s bad news for everybody else. With Mario Kart 8 sucking up all the attention these past few weeks, every other Wii U game in existence could only account for 1.57 copies sold in the past three months.

Nintendo isn’t faring much better on the hardware front. The Wii U checked off about 510,000 console sales in the April-June quarter, bringing the worldwide total to 6.68 million. That’s not bad, but it’s still well behind the PS4 (and Nintendo’s expectations).

Perhaps a packed Fall, which begins with Hyrule Warriors on September 26, will turn things around.

The Mario Kart 8/Mercedes GLA commercial is still as terrifying now as it was three weeks ago. But now, the terror is closer than ever. Nintendo has announced that the DLC will be available in the US this Summer:

We’re planning to release a GLA-Class kart from @Mercedesbenz for #MK8 this summer. Stay tuned for more info! pic.twitter.com/c5Gp886s7e

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 20, 2014

Look at that picture! Mario’s nefarious, wild-eyed and angry expression is only a prelude to his murderous overtures. Like he’s going to pull off to the side of the road and pretend he has car trouble. Then, when someone stops, he’s going to stab them with a hook and shove them into the GLA’s roomy trunk. The 14.9 cubic foot trunk of the GLA has enough space for Bowser, Yoshi, and Princess Peach. With the seats folded down, the trunk expands to 29.5 cubic feet, enough room for Donkey Kong too… if he sees something he shouldn’t have.