All 145 Mario Kart Tracks (so far) ranked pre-Mario Kart Tour... (Excluding the GP arcade games)

NinTylo

NinTylo

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MarioWiki
NinTylo
My Top TEN
(if using one track per type/category)​

  1. N64 Rainbow Road
  2. Big Blue
  3. Dino Dino Jungle
  4. Yoshi Valley
  5. Music Park
  6. Airship Fortress
  7. Waluigi Pinball
  8. Electrodrome
  9. Wario Shipyard
  10. Dragon Driftway

ALL TRACKS
(Put together)​

  1. N64 Rainbow Road
  2. 3DS Rainbow Road
  3. Big Blue
  4. GCN Rainbow Road
  5. DS Rainbow Road
  6. Dino Dino Jungle
  7. Yoshi Valley
  8. Music Park
  9. Airship Fortress
  10. Waluigi Pinball
  11. Electrodrome
  12. Wario Shipyard
  13. Dragon Driftway
  14. Animal Crossing
  15. Koopa Troopa Beach
  16. Rosalina's Ice World
  17. WU Bowser's Castle
  18. Mute City
  19. Ribbon Road
  20. Dolphin Shoals
  21. Cloudtop Cruise
  22. Mount Wario
  23. Wild Woods
  24. Dry Dry Ruins
  25. Koopa Cape
  26. Wii Bowser's Castle
  27. DK Jungle
  28. 3DS Bowser's Castle
  29. Piranha Plant Slide
  30. Yoshi Desert
  31. Yoshi Circuit
  32. N64 Wario Stadium
  33. GCN Bowser's Castle
  34. N64 Bowser's Castle
  35. Wario's Gold Mine
  36. DS Wario Stadium
  37. DS Bowser Castle
  38. Tick Tock Clock
  39. Lakeside Park
  40. Wario Colosseum
  41. Delfino Square
  42. GBA Rainbow Road
  43. DK Mountain
  44. Rock Rock Mountain
  45. Neo Bowser City
  46. Mushroom City
  47. D.K.'s Jungle Parkway
  48. Choco Mountain
  49. Toad's Turnpike
  50. Grumble Volcano
  51. Sweet Sweet Canyon
  52. Maple Treeway
  53. Bone-Dry Dunes
  54. Cheese Land
  55. Hyrule Circuit
  56. Daisy Cruiser
  57. Wii Rainbow Road
  58. DK Summit
  59. Shy Guy Bazaar
  60. Waluigi Stadium
  61. Maka Wuhu
  62. Wuhu Loop
  63. Ice Ice Outpost
  64. WU Rainbow Road
  65. Water Park
  66. Peach Gardens
  67. Super Bell Subway
  68. Shy Guy Falls
  69. Sunshine Airport
  70. Toad Harbor
  71. Thwomp Ruins
  72. GBA Bowser Castle 4
  73. GBA Bowser Castle 3
  74. Sky Garden
  75. GCN Sherbet Land
  76. Snow Land
  77. Kalimari Desert
  78. Coconut Mall
  79. Twisted Mansion
  80. Toad's Factory
  81. Desert Hills
  82. Royal Raceway
  83. Cheep Cheep Lagoon
  84. Cheep-Cheep Island
  85. GBA Bowser Castle 2
  86. Frappe Snowland
  87. N64 Sherbet Land
  88. DK Pass
  89. Koopa Beach 2
  90. Dry Dry Desert
  91. SNES Bowser Castle 3
  92. Donut Plains 3
  93. SNES Bowser Castle 2
  94. SNES Rainbow Road
  95. Mushroom Gorge
  96. Daisy Hills
  97. 3DS Mario Circuit
  98. Moonview Highway
  99. Shroom Ridge
  100. Luigi's Mansion
  101. Cheep Cheep Beach
  102. Excitebike Arena
  103. WU Mario Circuit
  104. DS Mario Circuit
  105. Mario Kart Stadium
  106. Mushroom Bridge
  107. Riverside Park
  108. Baby Park
  109. GCN Mario Circuit
  110. GBA Bowser Castle 1
  111. Shy Guy Beach
  112. Vanilla Lake 2
  113. Koopa Beach 1
  114. Peach Beach
  115. Sunset Wilds
  116. Vanilla Lake 1
  117. Donut Plains 2
  118. SNES Bowser Castle 1
  119. Choco Island 2
  120. Donut Plains 1
  121. Yoshi Falls
  122. Moo Moo Farm
  123. Moo Moo Meadows
  124. Toad Circuit
  125. Daisy Circuit
  126. Mario Raceway
  127. Wii Mario Circuit
  128. Luigi Raceway
  129. Mario Circuit 4
  130. Mario Circuit 3
  131. GBA Luigi Circuit
  132. GBA Mario Circuit
  133. Mario Circuit 2
  134. GCN Luigi Circuit
  135. Choco Island 1
  136. Peach Circuit
  137. Wii Luigi Circuit
  138. Mario Circuit 1
  139. Banshee Boardwalk
  140. Broken Pier
  141. Boo Lake
  142. Figure-8 Circuit
  143. Ghost Valley 3
  144. Ghost Valley 2
  145. Ghost Valley 1
 
(obligatory "you're missing the arcade tracks" post)

Blue=Love
Green=Like
Gold=Neutral
Orange=Dislike
Red=Hate

Choco Mountain
Wario Stadium (64)
Royal Raceway
Bowser's Castle (64)
Cheese Land
Cheep-Cheep Island
Sunset Wilds
Ribbon Road
Yoshi Desert
Lakeside Park
Baby Park
Mushroom City
Bowser's Castle (GCN)
Waluigi Pinball
Shroom Ridge
Wario Stadium (DS)
Rainbow Road (DS)
Coconut Mall
Maple Treeway
Dry Dry Ruins
Bowser's Castle (Wii)
Shy Guy Bazaar
Music Park
Piranha Plant Slide
Neo Bowser City
DK Jungle
Rosalina's Ice World
Sunshine Airport
Dolphin Shoals
Electrodrome
Bowser's Castle (Wii U)
Dragon Driftway
Mute City

Koopa Beach 1
Koopa Beach 2
Mario Circuit 4
Bowser Castle 3 (SNES)
Bowser Castle 2 (SNES)
Vanilla Lake 1
Vanilla Lake 2
Koopa Troopa Beach
Kalamari Desert
Frappe Snowland
Mario Raceway
Shy Guy Beach
Boo Lake
Bowser Castle 2 (GBA)
Sky Garden
Snow Land
Bowser Castle 3 (GBA)
Bowser Castle 4 (GBA)
Luigi Circuit (GCN)
Mushroom Bridge
Mario Circuit (GCN)
Dino Dino Jungle
Luigi's Mansion
Delfino Square
Mario Circuit (DS)
Airship Fortress
Toad Factory
Koopa Cape
Moonview Highway
Mario Circuit (3DS)
Rock Rock Mountain
Wario Shipyard
Rainbow Road (3DS)
Water Park
Twisted Mansion
Mount Wario
Ice Ice Outpost
Hyrule Circuit
Wild Woods
Animal Crossing
Super Bell Subway
Big Blue

Mario Circuit 1
Mario Circuit 2
Mario Circuit 3
Donut Plains 1
Donut Plains 2
Donut Plains 3
Bowser Castle 1 (SNES)
Ghost Valley 1
Ghost Valley 2
Rainbow Road (SNES)
Luigi Raceway
Moo Moo Farm
Toad's Turnpike
Sherbet Land (64)
Peach Circuit
Riverside Park
Bowser Castle 1 (GBA)
Mario Circuit (GBA)
Luigi Circuit (GBA)
Broken Pier
Rainbow Road (GBA)
Peach Beach
Dry Dry Desert
Daisy Cruiser
Waluigi Stadium
Sherbet Land
Figure-8 Circuit
Cheep Cheep Beach
Tick-Tock Clock
Peach Gardens
Bowser Castle (DS)
Moo Moo Meadows
DK Summit
Wario's Gold Mine
Daisy Circuit
Rainbow Road (Wii)
Toad Circuit
Daisy Hills
Wuhu Loop
Bowser's Castle (3DS)
Mario Kart Stadium
Sweet Sweet Canyon
Thwomp Ruins
Toad Harbor
Shy Guy Falls
Cloudtop Cruise
Bone-Dry Dunes
Rainbow Road (Wii U)

Ghost Valley 3
DK's Jungle Parkway
Banshee Boardwalk
Yoshi Circuit
DK Mountain
Wario Colosseum
Desert Hills
DK Pass
Mushroom Gorge
Mario Circuit (Wii)
Grumble Volcano
Cheep Cheep Lagoon
Mario Circuit (Wii U)
Excitebike Arena

Choco Island 1
Choco Island 2
Yoshi Valley
Rainbow Road (64)
Rainbow Road (GCN)
Yoshi Falls
Luigi Circuit (Wii)
Maka Wuhu

Super Mario Kart: Overall mediocre tracks that are generic as hell. None of them particularly stand out to me, and almost everything that game did was outclassed by later installments.

Mario Kart 64: Also has a lot of mediocre and lifeless tracks. It's a step above Super Mario Kart but its outclassed by its racing contemporaries of the time. Also houses the worst track in the series, Yoshi Valley.

Mario Kart Super Circuit: Has plenty of very fun and great tracks. It's the last 2D installment, but its tracks are a major upgrade from Super Mario Kart, being filled with much more life and variety than what we see. It's a shame that devs wasted the game's variety for retro tracks on the most generic tracks like the circuits and Bowser Castles though.

Mario Kart Double Dash: Mixed bag mostly. Has some great tracks, has some bad ones, a bit of mediocre ones.

(Unranked) Mario Kart Arcade GP series: I haven't played 2 and DX in a while, but I did like some of tracks they had to offer, namely Rainbow Coaster / Rainbow Downhill, the Bowser's Castle courses, Waluigi stadiums with the dinobots, Bananana Ruins, Diamond City, and the Yoshi Parks. Their tracks aesthetics look very nice and I wish we could play in them in the console releases.

Mario Kart DS: Had some pretty good tracks overall. Some of them were one of the series best even.

Mario Kart Wii: Has some very, very weak and mediocre early game tracks like the typically terrible and generic circuit tracks, but has great Star Cup and Special Cup tracks.

Mario Kart 7: Has a lot of strong tracks. I would have liked and loved all of their Star Cup tracks if Maka Wuhu wasn't there being a terrible track overall. Did we really need another Wii Sports Resort track, even? Wuhu Loop was fine enough.

Mario Kart 8: There are no tracks that I particularly hate in this one, has a lot of strong tracks. I do dislike Mario Circuit and Excitebike the most, but for the former's case I tend to dislike the circuit tracks since they tend to be utterly generic and boring.
 
While I have N64 bias for N64 Rainbow Road, it is not the greatest course. Way too overly long, and sections just made it way too short. But it looks beautiful and it's great.

But I'm going to continue with my N64 bias and say Royal Raceway is my favorite. There's enough turns to make it no so dull, but not too much that makes it overly difficult to control on. And there's a big jump. Gotta love the big jumps. Peach's Castle Grounds being able to be explored in the N64 original is a nice place, and the MK8 remake is spectacular.
 
I don't have a problem with overall track length. You can make a good, long track, provided that it's nice and very detailed the entire way through and fun to play, with a lot of variety, such as 3DS Rainbow Road. In fact, one of my issues with Mount Wario and Big Blue is that they're far too short, and they last in like, 1 minute in 200cc speed.

It's just like, with pretty much everything about Mario Kart 64, the track has no business being as long as it is. N64 Rainbow Road is a long rainbow-colored road in a featureless void with creepy character heads soullessly staring back at you and unfun, tedious driving segments the entire way through, like you're driving through the Great Plains. The same problems with an overly boring environment applies to Yoshi Valley, which is an utterly dull and dreary course with no point in it having multiple paths as all paths look the same as each other and visually uninteresting with a terrible falling off animation and the game not working properly and keeping track of your positions. I fucking hate Yoshi Valley. It's slightly better in Mario Kart 8 but it's still a course that has no business in having multiple paths when all paths look as dull and dreary as each other.

I mean, look at how awful this shit looks

Mk64yoshivalley2.png


The brown colored poop walls where all paths look the same with random porcupines as generic stage hazards, some indiscreet green hills, and an out-of-place purple sky.
 
Yoshi Valley is just bad if you fall off the road. I like it otherwise.

Now, about Banshee Broadwalk...
 
Paper Ray Trace said:
(obligatory "you're missing the arcade tracks" post)

Blue=Love
Green=Like
Gold=Neutral
Orange=Dislike
Red=Hate

Choco Mountain
Wario Stadium (64)
Royal Raceway
Bowser's Castle (64)
Cheese Land
Cheep-Cheep Island
Sunset Wilds
Ribbon Road
Yoshi Desert
Lakeside Park
Baby Park
Mushroom City
Bowser's Castle (GCN)
Waluigi Pinball
Shroom Ridge
Wario Stadium (DS)
Rainbow Road (DS)
Coconut Mall
Maple Treeway
Dry Dry Ruins
Bowser's Castle (Wii)
Shy Guy Bazaar
Music Park
Piranha Plant Slide
Neo Bowser City
DK Jungle
Rosalina's Ice World
Sunshine Airport
Dolphin Shoals
Electrodrome
Bowser's Castle (Wii U)
Dragon Driftway
Mute City

Koopa Beach 1
Koopa Beach 2
Mario Circuit 4
Bowser Castle 3 (SNES)
Bowser Castle 2 (SNES)
Vanilla Lake 1
Vanilla Lake 2
Koopa Troopa Beach
Kalamari Desert
Frappe Snowland
Mario Raceway
Shy Guy Beach
Boo Lake
Bowser Castle 2 (GBA)
Sky Garden
Snow Land
Bowser Castle 3 (GBA)
Bowser Castle 4 (GBA)
Luigi Circuit (GCN)
Mushroom Bridge
Mario Circuit (GCN)
Dino Dino Jungle
Luigi's Mansion
Delfino Square
Mario Circuit (DS)
Airship Fortress
Toad Factory
Koopa Cape
Moonview Highway
Mario Circuit (3DS)
Rock Rock Mountain
Wario Shipyard
Rainbow Road (3DS)
Water Park
Twisted Mansion
Mount Wario
Ice Ice Outpost
Hyrule Circuit
Wild Woods
Animal Crossing
Super Bell Subway
Big Blue

Mario Circuit 1
Mario Circuit 2
Mario Circuit 3
Donut Plains 1
Donut Plains 2
Donut Plains 3
Bowser Castle 1 (SNES)
Ghost Valley 1
Ghost Valley 2
Rainbow Road (SNES)
Luigi Raceway
Moo Moo Farm
Toad's Turnpike
Sherbet Land (64)
Peach Circuit
Riverside Park
Bowser Castle 1 (GBA)
Mario Circuit (GBA)
Luigi Circuit (GBA)
Broken Pier
Rainbow Road (GBA)
Peach Beach
Dry Dry Desert
Daisy Cruiser
Waluigi Stadium
Sherbet Land
Figure-8 Circuit
Cheep Cheep Beach
Tick-Tock Clock
Peach Gardens
Bowser Castle (DS)
Moo Moo Meadows
DK Summit
Wario's Gold Mine
Daisy Circuit
Rainbow Road (Wii)
Toad Circuit
Daisy Hills
Wuhu Loop
Bowser's Castle (3DS)
Mario Kart Stadium
Sweet Sweet Canyon
Thwomp Ruins
Toad Harbor
Shy Guy Falls
Cloudtop Cruise
Bone-Dry Dunes
Rainbow Road (Wii U)

Ghost Valley 3
DK's Jungle Parkway
Banshee Boardwalk
Yoshi Circuit
DK Mountain
Wario Colosseum
Desert Hills
DK Pass
Mushroom Gorge
Mario Circuit (Wii)
Grumble Volcano
Cheep Cheep Lagoon
Mario Circuit (Wii U)
Excitebike Arena

Choco Island 1
Choco Island 2
Yoshi Valley
Rainbow Road (64)
Rainbow Road (GCN)
Yoshi Falls
Luigi Circuit (Wii)
Maka Wuhu

Super Mario Kart: Overall mediocre tracks that are generic as hell. None of them particularly stand out to me, and almost everything that game did was outclassed by later installments.

Mario Kart 64: Also has a lot of mediocre and lifeless tracks. It's a step above Super Mario Kart but its outclassed by its racing contemporaries of the time. Also houses the worst track in the series, Yoshi Valley.

Mario Kart Super Circuit: Has plenty of very fun and great tracks. It's the last 2D installment, but its tracks are a major upgrade from Super Mario Kart, being filled with much more life and variety than what we see. It's a shame that devs wasted the game's variety for retro tracks on the most generic tracks like the circuits and Bowser Castles though.

Mario Kart Double Dash: Mixed bag mostly. Has some great tracks, has some bad ones, a bit of mediocre ones.

(Unranked) Mario Kart Arcade GP series: I haven't played 2 and DX in a while, but I did like some of tracks they had to offer, namely Rainbow Coaster / Rainbow Downhill, the Bowser's Castle courses, Waluigi stadiums with the dinobots, Bananana Ruins, Diamond City, and the Yoshi Parks. Their tracks aesthetics look very nice and I wish we could play in them in the console releases.

Mario Kart DS: Had some pretty good tracks overall. Some of them were one of the series best even.

Mario Kart Wii: Has some very, very weak and mediocre early game tracks like the typically terrible and generic circuit tracks, but has great Star Cup and Special Cup tracks.

Mario Kart 7: Has a lot of strong tracks. I would have liked and loved all of their Star Cup tracks if Maka Wuhu wasn't there being a terrible track overall. Did we really need another Wii Sports Resort track, even? Wuhu Loop was fine enough.

Mario Kart 8: There are no tracks that I particularly hate in this one, has a lot of strong tracks. I do dislike Mario Circuit and Excitebike the most, but for the former's case I tend to dislike the circuit tracks since they tend to be utterly generic and boring.
Click to expand...
Why does it not surprise me to see fans like you hate 64's Rainbow Road? (Eh- no offense) Cause if it can't be considered underrated, then I honestly have to say it's overHATED...
 
It's barren and super long and you can't fall down so it's super easy too. The only obstacle are those slow ass Chomps.
 
El Gran Gordo said:
It's barren and super long and you can't fall down so it's super easy too. The only obstacle are those slow ass Chomps.
Click to expand...
Call me crazy all you want, but for me, concept and length (but mostly the former) trump challenge in a level (be it a racetrack or a battle course in Mario Kart). These are Mario Kart TRACKS/levels - and so if challenge goes too far for me, like with SNES Rainbow Road, then it ultimate makes for one of my lesser favorite levels.

Don't get me wrong - I have criticism for some levels that have next to no challenge (like Grand Finale Galaxy in the original Super Mario Galaxy for example), but nostalgia is kind of a bonus factor for my favoring of classic levels (or just a lot of levels in general). And not that I'm going to disrespect any opinions really, but some tracks deserve a little slack cut for them. ESPECIALLY with that beautifully catchy tune in 64.