Mario Kart fans are used to waiting out entire console generations before they get a new edition of their favorite item-filled racing series. So today's release of the first pack of downloadable content for Mario Kart 8, mere months after the game's May release, is a big departure for the series. It's also a big departure for Nintendo, which is only starting to jump on the DLC bandwagon that other major developers have been riding for years.

Thank goodness the company is finally catching up, because the first bit ofDLC (available now for $8 or as part of a $12 bundle with a second pack, due next May) is the best kind of nostalgic love letter to Nintendo's biggest fans. Every corner of the new content is full of the kind of historical winks and nods to a variety of Nintendo series that would usually seem more at home in thegames.

Some parts of this nostalgia-mining have been obvious since the DLC was first announced in August, with Legend of Zelda protagonist Link as the most surprising addition to the racing roster. Racing around as Link, there is initially a bit of a disconnect seeing his trademark green tunic jammed into a horse-shaped motorbike, surrounding by the trappings of Mario games. And to be sure, Zelda fans will get a nostalgic contact high of recognition when Link lets out his trademark "Hyaaa!" and thrusts his sword triumphantly upward during a jump (complete with the brief flash of a Triforce icon for good measure).

Quite quickly, though, Link blends into the game's background noise, his tunic just a trivial bit of green that you occasionally glance at as you try to make sense of the hectic courses around you. Similarly, racing as Tanooki Mario or Cat Peach feels 95 percent identical to racing as the regular versions of those racers that you didn't have to pay extra to access.

But the new vehicles each have their own distinct sets of stats and racing styles. The Blue Falcon, Tanooki Kart, B Dasher, and Link's Master Cycle all seem tuned for expert-level play to varying degrees, with generally high top speed and low acceleration and traction control. None of them are a revolution in Kart racing style, but it's always nice to have more options to fit any specific playstyle. Plus, you get a cute "tail wag" sound effect when you lay on the horn of the Tanooki Kart, which set off the substantial Super Mario Bros. 3 pleasure center in my brain.

The real reason to buy the DLC, though, is the new race tracks, the vast majority of which lean on Nintendo nostalgia like a pleasant crutch. Three of the eight new courses are outright copies of old Mario Kart tracks. Yoshi Circuit from the Gamecube's Double Dash (and later Mario Kart DS) is still full of quick, tight turns that require planning ahead to navigate efficiently. Wario's Gold Mine from Mario Kart Wii looks better than ever in HD, but it feels a bit weird now that it's missing the sidewall ramps of the original. I'm a big fan of the new version of the original SNES Rainbow Road course, a completely flat, multi-hued plane with radioactive glowing Thwomps that send undulating shock waves through the right-angle turns.

Then there are the courses that step outside of the series' Mario-themed roots to pay homage to other classic Nintendo series. Excitebike Arena is probably the dullest of these, full of long, wide straightaways and a lot of very repetitive Excitebike-style ramps. The Mario Kart-ified version of F-Zero's Mute City is much more thrilling, packed with elegant strings of dash zones and some excellent use of the game's new hover mechanic. The Hyrule Circuit course, meanwhile, manages to capture the wide open feel of Ocarina of Time's Hyrule Field while still being a tight and well-designed race course.

More than the design, though, it's the little touches in these courses that will really set off the nostalgia centers for Nintendo fans. It starts with the music—well made remixes of familiar tunes from the 8- and 16-bit eras—but it extends well past that. Mute City throws in F-Zero-styled electrified walls, arrow-shaped dash pads, and "shield charging" zones that refill your coin count. Hyrule Circuit replaces the coins with rupees and the item sound effects with that of a Zelda treasure chest opening. The designers even manage to shoehorn in a somewhat appropriate cameo from the Master Sword. None of this is central to the core racing feel of the courses, but they're nice touches for players who have stuck with Nintendo over the years.

Past those, we're left with only two completely "original" courses in this first DLC pack. Dragon Driftway is an Asian-inspired course full of beautifully undulating curves and a killer soundtrack. Ice Ice Outpost, meanwhile, frequently splits the track into two narrow strips that corkscrew around each other in unforgivingly tight patterns. With the exception of the Excitebike track, each course is an excellent addition to the game's roster and well worth the roughly $1 aggregate price you'll pay for them (or less, if you buy both DLC packs at once).

Even if the new courses were below par, though, it's still nice to see a Mario Kart game get any new, post-release content. Mario Kart 8 was a relatively solid game when it was first released—save for some major issues with battle mode and online play. There's no reason Nintendo should have to wait until it can re-invent the wheel with a completely new Mario Kart on a completely new console for the company to build on that solid foundation.