Future Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass courses leaked by leftover music files

The second wave of new DLC tracks for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has only just dropped, but determined dataminers have already managed to glean some fascinating tidbits from its code. The developers seemingly left tiny audio snippets of several upcoming DLC tracks hidden away in the code, presumably figuring that even if anyone did find them they would be too brief to spoil the identity of the future additions.

Of course, as we all know, the Internet is full of people who will happily take on such a challenge. According to Twitter user Fishguy6564 and YouTuber BL, who both cite YouTuber recordreader as their source, the leftover prefetch files — which load before the music itself starts — reveal the identity of 15 upcoming courses, including the whole roster for Wave 3. In an impressive display of detective work, the prefetch data, which all amounts to snippets of audio only a second or two long in each case, has mostly been matched to specific tracks from previous Mario Kart games.

As a result, it looks like Wave 3 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass will include Mario Kart Tour’s London Loop, Berlin Byways, and Merry Mountain; Mario Kart DS’ Peach Gardens; Mario Kart Super Circuit’s Boo Lake (or possibly Broken Pier); Mario Kart 7’s Rock Rock Mountain and Rainbow Road; and Mario Kart: Double Dash’s Waluigi Stadium.

There are plenty of other tracks revealed for Waves 4, 5, and 6 as well, although Wave 3 is the only one that appears to have had its entire lineup revealed. As with all leaks and rumors though, even those seemingly rooted in data and code, the presence of these prefetch files in Wave 2’s code isn’t an ironclad guarantee that these will be the next lot of DLC courses. Currently Waves 3 to 6 don’t even have specific release dates beyond a plan to have them all out by the end of next year.