Mario Kart 8 Characters: List, How to unlock, Deluxe DLC, Weight, Mii & more

The Coronavirus outbreak is causing households all over the world to isolate in order to stop the spread of the disease, but if there’s one positive to take from it, we have plenty of free time to get stuck into our favourite games!

One of those games which we’re loving at the minute is the Nintendo classic, Mario Kart. But more specifically, the Nintendo Switch title, Mario Kart 8.

It combines all the classic courses from the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS with a whole host of new, improved courses.

There is always that tough decision of which character you’re going to have behind the wheel.

Well, here is the full list of all the characters in-game to help make that decision a little bit easier.

How many characters are there?

There are 41 characters in total, some of which have different appearances to choose from in-game.

How to unlock these characters

In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, unlike past Mario Karts, you don‘t need to unlock these characters, they are all - bar one - available from the word go.

Gold Mario MK8
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1st Place! The Gold Mario is for those top tier players only

The one character who does need unlocking is Gold Mario, and that can be done by completing all of the Grand Prix on each of the different difficulties.

Weight Categories

There are three main weight categories for the characters in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Light, Medium and Heavy.

The lighter characters are much quicker of the mark, with high acceleration stats but lower stats when it comes to top speed.

Mario Kart 8 Donkey Kong
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DK! Donkey Kong is one of the biggest characters in-game

In comparison, the heavier characters are slower to get going, but once they do, they are hard to stop.

Light

There are 16 characters who fall into the ‘light’ category.

They are as follows:

  • Baby Daisy
  • Baby Luigi
  • Baby Mario
  • Baby Peach
  • Baby Rosalina
  • Lemmy Koopa
  • Dry Bones
  • Koopa Troopa
Mario Kart 8 Baby Characters
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Babies! The ‘baby’ variations are some of the smallest in-game

  • Lakitu
  • Larry Koopa
  • Shy Guy
  • Toad
  • Toadette
  • Wendy O. Koopa
  • Isabelle
  • Bowser Jr

Medium

The middle of the road guys, they aren’t too big, they aren’t too small. Some might say that they are just right.

There are 12 characters who fit into this weight class, they are as follows:

Mario Kart 8 Mario
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COVER STAR! Mario himself falls into the medium weight class

  • Princess Daisy
  • Princess Peach
  • Yoshi
  • Tanooki Mario
  • Cat Peach
  • Villager

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  • Inkling Boy
  • Inkling Girl
  • Mario
  • Luigi
  • Ludwig von Koopa
  • Iggy Koopa

Heavy

The big boys (and girls)! These are the heaviest characters the game has to offer.

There are 13 of these characters and they are as follows:

mario kart 8 deluxe dry bowser feature
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Dry Bowser! Dry Bowser is a big chap!

  • Donkey Kong
  • Metal Mario
  • Pink Gold Peach
  • Rosalina
  • Roy Koopa
  • Waluigi

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  • Link
  • King Boo
  • Gold Mario
  • Bowser
  • Wario
  • Morton Koopa Jr
  • Dry Bowser

Be yourself

There is one more option - if you don’t fancy any of the 41 characters available - and that is to play as yourself. Well, kind of.

Mario Kart 8 Mii
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Be Yourself! Why not choose your Mii?

You can use your Mii - your own customisable character - as a driver in-game.

So why not strap yourself in and go and get racing today!

Additional Deluxe Characters

The following characters join the cast on the Deluxe Version of the game.

  • Bowser Jr
  • Dry Bones
  • King Boo
  • Inkling Boys (from Splatoon)
  • Inkling Girls (from Splatoon)

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