The Best Mario Kart Tracks

Ten courses ranked by how many controllers were thrown at them, inverted.

Entries
10
Category
Games
Updated
  1. A sunny country race track through green fields with a cow standing in the road and a red barn behind.

    10. Moo Moo Meadows (Mario Kart Wii)

    Nintendo · 2008

    The first course in the Mushroom Cup, a pleasant country loop with cows wandering into the road and moles popping out of the grass. Nothing about it is hard, which is the point. The track everyone has played more than any other, without choosing to.

  2. A twisting race track shaped like a figure-eight Möbius strip floating above a castle garden.

    09. Mario Circuit (Mario Kart 8)

    Nintendo · 2014

    A figure-eight that twists into a Möbius strip with anti-gravity, so part of each lap is driven upside down over the rest of the lap. It sounds like a gimmick and plays like a showcase for the whole game. The plainest name in the series, given the least plain track.

  3. Broken slabs of road sinking into a lake of lava inside a volcano, fireballs arcing overhead.

    08. Grumble Volcano (Mario Kart Wii)

    Nintendo · 2008

    An active volcano where chunks of track sink into the lava as the race goes on, so the lap you learned is gone by lap three. Fireballs rain down throughout. Most courses get harder because of the other drivers. This one gets harder because of the ground.

  4. A cargo plane's open rear door above a snowy mountain, a race track winding down past a dam and pine forest.

    07. Mount Wario (Mario Kart 8)

    Nintendo · 2014

    No laps. You drop out of the back of a cargo plane and race one long run down a mountain, through a dam, a forest and a ski slalom to the finish. It is the closest Mario Kart has come to a point-to-point rally, and you will not miss the laps.

  5. A race track running along the branches of a giant autumn maple tree, red leaves falling everywhere.

    06. Maple Treeway (Mario Kart Wii)

    Nintendo · 2008

    An autumn race along the branches of a giant tree, with Wigglers stomping across the course and a cannon that launches you into falling leaves. It is the prettiest track Nintendo ever built, and also one where a large caterpillar will flatten you.

  6. A muddy dirt track with steep jumps inside a giant stadium at night, a low wall with tire marks over it.

    05. Wario Stadium (Mario Kart 64)

    Nintendo · 1996

    A muddy dirt bike track of jumps and hairpins, and the home of the series' most famous shortcut: with a precise hop over the first wall you can skip most of a lap. Speedrunners finish it in seconds. Everyone else watched them do it and kept driving.

  7. A wooden barrel cannon aimed up the side of a smoking volcano with a rope bridge across a jungle gorge.

    04. DK Mountain (Double Dash!!)

    Nintendo · 2003

    A barrel cannon fires you to the top of a volcano, then you race back down past rolling boulders and over a rickety rope bridge. The cannon shot is the best ten seconds of the game, and you spend the rest of the lap trying not to fall off a cliff.

  8. A tropical shopping mall atrium with escalators, potted palms and toy cars parked on a rooftop lot.

    03. Coconut Mall (Mario Kart Wii)

    Nintendo · 2008

    A race through a tropical shopping mall, escalators included, with a theme that went viral in 2020. Its 2022 Mario Kart 8 return swapped the moving cars for parked Shy Guys, fans revolted, and an August patch made them do donuts. Democracy works.

  9. A tiny oval race track inside an amusement park, a roller coaster looping overhead and a spiked shell circling the track.

    02. Baby Park (Double Dash!!)

    Nintendo · 2003

    A tiny oval inside an amusement park, run for seven laps so every shell anyone fires comes back around eventually. There is nowhere to hide and no strategy beyond surviving. The shortest track on this list and the one that has caused the most shouting.

  10. A translucent rainbow road with star-shaped guardrails spiraling through deep space, a chained iron ball rolling down it.

    01. Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 64)

    Nintendo · 1996

    The longest course in the series by time, at two minutes or more per lap, with star-shaped guardrails, neon pictures in the sky and Chain Chomps rolling down the track. Mario Kart 8 had to cut it into one lap in three sections. A six-minute race, by design.

Honorable mentions

  • Four colored block towers connected by ramps and bridges, deflated balloons scattered across the floor.

    Block Fort (Mario Kart 64)

    Nintendo · 1996

    Not a race track but a battle arena: four colored blocks stacked into towers with ramps and bridges, where four players pop each other's balloons. Countless sleepovers ended here, with somebody camping on the top floor and refusing to come down.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A narrow pixel rainbow road with no railings zigzagging through black space, a stone block with spikes hovering over it.

    Rainbow Road (Super Mario Kart)

    Nintendo · 1992

    The original, narrow and twisty with almost no railings and Star Thwomps that spin you out on contact. One wrong turn and Lakitu fishes you back out of space, again and again. It started the most beloved tradition in the series and should not be played.

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