Nintendo Direct surprised us all in various different ways, but this announcement might have been the biggest surprise of all.

For months, we’ve heard speculation that Mario Kart 9 is deep in development and an announcement was due imminently. Nintendo had other plans, however, and have instead announced a huge Season Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, full of remastered tracks.

Taking us to the end of 2023, there will be 6 waves of content, featuring 8 courses in each, with the first arriving on March 18th.

We don’t have a full track list yet, but so far we know tracks will include Choco Mountain from Mario Kart 64 and Coconut Mall from Mario Kart Wii. There’s also a few tracks confirmed from Mario Kart Tour – Paris Promenade and Tokyo Blur. All of these will appear in Wave 1.

We also know tracks from other classic Mario Kart titles, like Double Dash, Super Circuit, DS and more will arrive over the course of the expansion pass.

The Booster Course Pack is ridiculous value at $24.99, or if you already own Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, you’ll get it included in your subscription at no additional cost. Sounds like Nintendo worked out the value proposition.

While this all but rules out Mario Kart 9 on Switch, there’s a ton of reasons to get excited about the content to come. It certainly seems like the Booster Course Pack will take the place of the Super Smash Bros Ultimate Fighter Passes which have been the subject of so much speculation these past few years.

More details as we get them.