Mario Kart 8 has jumped from the Wii U to the new Switch, and gained the word "Deluxe" at the end of the title. What does that mean? A whole lot of little changes, the most significant of which is what you have to unlock and how you go about doing the unlocking.
In the past, you had to race and rank in order to unlock the next Cup to compete in and to unlock other players you might want to enjoy. This time all of that stuff is unlocked already, which means you can pick the character you want to race as and the Cup you want to race in out of the box, and instead focus on unlocking more important things.
Here's what you need to know!
Unlocking Karts, Tires, and Gliders
In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, you start off with access to the following equipment:
Karts
- Standard Kart
- Steel Driver
- Circuit Special
- Sneeker
- Streetle
- Standard Bike
- Comet
- City Tripper
- Standard ATV
- Splat Buggy
Tires
- Standard
- Monster
- Roller
- Slim
- Off-Road
- Sponge
Gliders
- Super Glider
- Parachute
- Parafoil
- Plane Glider
In order to unlock more Kart, Tires, and Gliders, you need to race in the Single Player Grand Prix mode. During each race of a four course Cup in the Grand Prix, you have the ability to collect up to ten coins before you cross the finish line. If you have collected 30 or more coins by the end of a Cup, a new item will be available to use in your next race.
If you have collected more than 30 coins by the end of a Cup, those coins are added to your total collected coins in your profile. If you have collected more than 30 extra coins over the course of several Cups, that rollover amount will count towards your next unlock.
Here's everything you can unlock this way:
Karts
- Pipe Frame
- Koopa Clown
- Mach 8
- Cat Cruiser
- Tri-Speeder
- Inkstrider
- Badwagon
- Prancer
- Biddybuggy
- Landship
- Sports Coupe
- GLA
- W 25 Silver Arrow
- 300 SL Roadster
- Blue Falcon
- Tanooki Kart
- B Dasher
- P-Wing
- Sport Bike
- The Duke
- Flame Rider
- Varmint
- Mr. Scooty
- Jet Bike
- Yoshi Bike
- Master Cycle
- Wild Wiggler
- Teddy Buggy
- Bone Rattler
Tires
- Slick
- Metal
- Button
- Off-Road
- Wood
- Cushion
- Blue Standard
- Hot Monster
- Azure Roller
- Crimson Slim
- Cyber Slick
- Retro Off-Road
- GLA Tires
- Triforce Tires
- Leaf Tires
Gliders
- Cloud Glider
- Wario Wing
- Waddle Wing
- Peach Parasol
- Flower Glider
- Bowser Kite
- MKTV Parafoil
- Hylian Kite
- Paper Glider
You can unlock one other Racer, Kart, Tire, and Glider for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Gold Set.
- To unlock Gold Mario: Earn First Place in all of the 200cc Cups. Gold Mario replaces Metal Mario when done.
- To unlock the Gold Standard Body: Earn a Star Rank in every Cup in the Mirror Grand Prix.
- To unlock the Gold Tires: Beat all of the Staff Ghosts in every Time Trial race.
- To unlock the Gold Glider: Collect 10,000 coins in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
