Nintendo have confirmed that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is getting a new character through the Booster Course Pass.

Birdo will be added to the game as a new character in Wave 4, which is an exciting revelation as the character hasn’t been seen since the Wii.

Most excitingly, this appears to be the first of several characters being added to the game. Confirmed via the press release, Nintendo have also revealed “Returning characters from the Mario Kart series will be added in future waves.”

With two further waves to come before the end of the year, that potentially opens the door for at least two more characters. This is actually a surprise as we were initially led to believe there would just be courses coming in new waves.

Who these characters will be is unannounced yet, but this opens the door to other potential returning characters who have previously featured in the franchise.

A new track added in this wave will be Yoshi’s Island. Wave 4 releases this Spring.