This article series is dedicated to Nikena, my Mario Kart rival.
With a new Mario Kart only one day away, it’s a perfect time to revisit Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, perhaps for the final time. Mario Kart 8 has been with us, in some form or another, for over a decade, believe it or not. In that time the track count went from 32 to 48, before ballooning to 96 with the Booster Course Pass DLC. It’s doubtful we’ll ever see a game from the series with so many courses again. To celebrate all 96 tracks, and to bid a fond farewell to what I consider the finest Mario Kart (not to mention the best racing game ever made), I’ve ranked each and every course, from 96 to 1. So buckle up; this is going to take a while.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
#12
Singapore Speedway
Singapore Speedway is the very best city course in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It’s simply a thrill ride from beginning to end. You’ll launch through a cannon, land atop the roof of the Marina Bay Sands, veer through Chinatown, travel across conveyor belts beside the Gardens by the Bay, and glide through Boost Rings over the ArtScience Museum. And you’ll do this all to some of the best music in the series.
#11
Rainbow Road (Wii)
This version of Rainbow Road, carried over from Mario Kart Wii, remains a delightful roller coaster of a track. It’s also fairly loyal to the source material. Unlike a lot of Booster Course tracks, which are too wide, Rainbow Road retains its original narrow layout — which translates to a more challenging and overall better experience. It also retains an important quirk of the course: players burning up as they fall off the track and enter Earth’s atmosphere. Finally, it keeps everything that makes the map so special: the steep downhill opening, the big figure-eight section, the banking curves, the dash panels, the wavy track, the launch star that propels racers through a glistening rainbow tunnel, etc. Rainbow Road is a legend for a reason.
#10
Sunshine Airport
Sunshine Airport is the ideal intersection of creative course design and spectacular set design. The track, which includes tight turns, alternative paths, short-cuts, a glide ramp, and an anti-gravity platform suspended in mid-air, is a joy to drive through. And it’s elevated (pun intended) by the airport theme, which works perfectly. You’ll drive through a terminal, leap over a conveyor belt, drive across wings and through cabins, and, in one of the most breathtaking moments in the entire game, take to the sky directly under an ascending 747-style jet.
#9
Piranha Plant Cove
Piranha Plant Cove is the best of both worlds. It features the three-in-one framework of city courses — whereby each lap comes from a unique variant in Mario Kart Tour — but since it’s not based on a real-world location, the programmers at Nintendo could be as inventive as possible. The result is a wildly-creative track that constantly shifts locations and backgrounds. It feels almost like the setting of an action-adventure game. Things start in the ruins of an ancient civilization, proceed over a deserted island, and finish among shipwrecks and a giant, angry eel. The course’s layout is as successful as its production design. There are divergent paths to test, Thwomps to avoid, and a pivotal shortcut in the third lap to use, if you’re lucky enough to have a mushroom.
#8
Big Blue
Don’t expect to catch your breath in Big Blue until you’ve crossed the finish line. It’s simply a non-stop thrill ride that refuses to let up. Like Mute City, the entire course is set in anti-gravity. Unlike that course, however, it’s split into three distinct parts, instead of three laps. The first section features a road that splits into two paths as well as several conveyor belts. The second section is lined with water, increasing the speed of each racer. The third section brings back the conveyor belts and once again splits into two paths, before running into multiple dirt patches that can be boosted across. It’s fast, it’s furious, and it’s set against a face-melting rendition of the “Big Blue” theme, which features a dueling guitar and sax. Try this one on 200cc and hold on for dear life.
#7
Rainbow Road (N64)
Rainbow Road was a show-stopper on N64 in 1997 and it remains that way decades later, although for different reasons. This version of the Mario Kart 64 classic is now section-based, and takes place above a brightly-lit city at night. In terms of visuals, it would be tough to surpass this remade course. The glimmering yellow lights of the city below, moonlight reflected in the water, the multicolored tiles that make up the road, the flying train ridden by toads who drop coins on the track, the exploding fireworks — all of these set the stage beautifully. In addition, due to some mechanical changes, the course is more dangerous and less tedious than before. There are fewer railings, plus new anti-gravity and gliding sections. Finally, the Chomps now bounce along the ground, creating ripples that can be used by opportunistic racers to perform tricks.
#6
Ninja Hideaway
Ninja Hideaway is a revelation. In terms of art direction, it’s spectacular, with a fully-realized Japanese dojo complete with water wheel, collapsing ceilings spiked with shurikens, and shy guy ninjas disappearing into thin air. The music is some of the most energetic of the entire series. Finally, there’s the track itself, separated into two main routes that drivers can swap between at several intervals. There’s an elevated route that takes racers across rafters and wooden scaffolding, and a ground level route that weaves through sparring rooms, a water way and, eventually, rooftops. It’s a tour de force.
#5
Thwomp Ruins
For me, Thwomp Ruins is old faithful. It’s a staple of game night and has never, ever lost its luster, even after a decade of racing. It contains an excellent mix of indoor and outdoor driving, along with several viable paths, anti-gravity wall driving, and a couple of critical shortcuts that can change the fortunes of each race. The most exciting part of the track, though, is a rolling millstone that barrels down the road, eventually paving the way for a glide ramp. It’s like something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
#4
DK Jungle
Some remade retro courses in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe feature lots of visual and structural changes, to replace a flaw or gap here and there. Others, like DK Jungle, are too exceptional to change. Indeed, if it weren’t for updated graphics and lighting, and an added anti-gravity section inside the temple, the track would be virtually identical to the one in Mario Kart 7. And that’s a good thing. The track remains a tight, lean, focused affair, with crisp turns, great length, carefully-positioned hazards and dash panels, and a memorable high-risk, high-reward short-cut just before the finish line.
#3
Hyrule Circuit
Racing enthusiasts and Legend of Zelda fans, rejoice. Hyrule Circuit is both a brilliant racetrack and a destination for some awesome fan service. It’s true; Nintendo’s engineers went the extra mile to pay homage to Zelda by replacing coins with rupees and Piranha Plants with Deku Babas, and by adding a rock and roll medley of beloved franchise songs, but they didn’t forget to make a proper track in the process. Thanks to some winding curves, a few tight turns, a hang-glider ride, and a secret shortcut in the main hall of the castle — not to mention all those loving references to Zelda games gone by — Hyrule Circuit is one of the very best experiences in the game.
#2
Bowser Castle 3
Bowser Castle 3 is based on a SNES track, but you wouldn’t know it. Nintendo has completely overhauled its visual identity, mechanics, and layout to the point of making it almost unrecognizable, despite the same basic overhead footprint. It’s perhaps the best remake in the Mario Kart series, and the best track in the entire Booster Course Pass. It is, simply put, a masterpiece. What was once a flat, stony course now has amazing height and texture. There’s a new, welcome verticality to the proceedings, not to mention anti-gravity sections, metal grates, grainy off-road areas, lava geysers, Bone Piranha Plants, and a couple of Thwomps just before the finish line. But the pièce de résistance is the walled area toward the end. You can now drive up and over the narrow walls, completely changing the climax of the track. Finally, Bowser Castle 3 boasts spectacular visuals and a thumping heavy metal arrangement of its classic theme song.
#1
Mount Wario
As with Big Blue and Rainbow Road (N64), Mount Wario eschews three laps in favor of a single lap divided into three sections. And of all the three-section tracks, it’s the most successful. Why? Because the designers at Nintendo gave the course a dramatic arc, complete with incredible music that underscores that arc. The course begins, theatrically, with racers dropping out of a large helicopter. The music is bouncy and cheerful. Then it’s down a frozen mountain, over a raging river, and across the face of a hydroelectric dam. The music speeds up. Then a snowy forest. A frenzied violin solo. Then a slalom. Then moguls. The music swells. Then a final downhill ski to the winner’s circle. The end result is an invigorating, surprising, perfectly-paced track that somehow manages to tell an audio-visual story. It was an instant classic when it debuted in 2014 and it remains, all these years later, the greatest individual track in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Thank you for reading along over the past two weeks, and for leaving comments about your favorite and not-so-favorite tracks. It’s been a lot of fun. And thank you, Mario Kart 8, for 11 years of happy memories.
Full Article – https://www.vgchartz.com/article/464752/ranking-all-96-tracks-in-mario-kart-8-deluxe-part-8/
