Just like Nintendo promised, the first batch of Mario Kart 8 DLC goodness has finally arrived today. And boy does it look exciting.
I've only just managed to get my Wii U properly updated and ready to race, but Mario Kart players have been posting breathlessly about the new stuff since the earliest hours of Thursday morning. People really seem to enjoy playing as Link from The Legend of Zelda. In the words of one Reddit user: "Oh my god, Link is so good."
Shocking, I know. But if you still aren't a Zelda believer, maybe this GIF will help you see the light:
Guys. He's doing his little sword-slicing animations on boost jumps! He's even making that cute half-grunt, half-bark sound he makes in all the Zelda games!! This is actually happening!!!
Ok, ok. I need to slow down before I get carried away. I almost confused a standard green shell attack with a new melee move this morning:
Chalk it up to wishful thinking on my part.
Mario Kart 8's new DLC is bringing some other great-looking stuff to the table in addition to Link and his trusty new steed, so let's not forget about that either. There's also two other characters—Tanooki Mario and Cat Peach—and 8 new racetracks.
GameXplain has a great (albeit lengthy) video showing all the stuff new content in action:
For those of you who aren't YouTube-compatible at present, don't worry. We've got you covered too, thanks to this gorgeous imgur album by insectanalyst:
Dragon Driftway looks cool:
The return of Excitedbike has got Cat Peach pretty...excited:
I know exactly how you feel, Cat Peach.
Here's the Hyrule-themed track:
The colors!
The F-Zero track looks particularly delightful:
Somehow this game is bringing even more Rainbow Road realness:
Of course, Wario's looking pretty cocky now that he's got a whole 'nothing racetrack to his name:
Ok, I can't take it anymore. I'm gonna go start playing. I'll have more to say this afternoon.
To contact the author of this post, write to yannick.lejacq@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq.