Favourite Mario Kart Retro Cup Track?

One of my absolute favourite things about the newer Mario Kart games is the inclusion of the Retro Cups, which feature courses from previous Mario Kart iterations. When compared to the originals, some of these updates and redesigns have been fantastic. In my opinion, several of these can be considered to be amongst the very best tracks in the entire Mario Kart series. I think the flying, underwater and anti-gravity bits add a lot to some of these tracks.

So, we're looking at the Retro Cup tracks that have been included in Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8. There's 64 in total; which is your favourite?

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Rainbow Road (N64) in Mario Kart 8 is the best-looking thing on the Wii U, in my opinion. I always felt it was a brilliant track to begin with, but it's much more gorgeous, dangerous and competitive in it's latest outing. I love it - definitely my favourite Mario Kart Retro Cup track.

I was going to come in and say Rainbow Road N64, not just for the general updates to the track, or the fantastic reimagining of the background music, or even the first in-game appearance of the Nintendo Hype Train, but the way the finish line unfolds itself- coupled with the fact that you're gliding at that time, if you win on that track, it feels like an event.

I'm a big fan of the Mario Circuit tracks as for me they give you purest form of racing in the MK series but my favourite would have to be Mario circuit 3, it may be simple compared to other tracks but I just love sticking to the perfect racing line & it has that classic mushroom boost short cut into the last straight.

Ooh, tough choice.  I guess that this can be broken down into two parts - the tracks which have always been good, and the tracks which are good now.

For the courses that have always been good, I'd have to say Wii Maple Treeway from MK7.  Maple Treeway has always been one of my favourite circuits, and I was ecstatic when they brought it back.  For updated courses, I'd say DS Wario Stadium from 8.  I remember it as a rather dull dirt course, which has been made into something much more exciting by the simple additions of glide, water and zero-G segments.  (Honourable mention to MK7's SNES Rainbow Road and its rippling trickable track.)

Incidentally, MKDS had Block Fort and MKWii had an updated Skyscraper, so those are my choices for the battle arenas.

On the flip side of the coin, Wii Grumble Volcano was a rare misstep in MK8.  It was almost unupdatable, and was as rubbish as it had been in Wii, despite the pretty volcanoes in the background.  GCN Mushroom Bridge from MKDS gets the wooden spoon for dodgiest update: the reduced number of cars made it seem much less exciting.  (Dishonourable mention to Wii Koopa Cape from MK7, which replaced the exciting underwater lightning tunnel out of F-Zero with a dull slow sub section.)


64 Rainbow Road's an odd one for me.  It's absolutely beautiful, and I really wanted to like it, and it's obviously much better than its tedious-as-heck forebear, but the one-lap-becomes-three thing made it seem too short to be truly epic.  Circuit 3, on the other hand, is uninteresting unless you're really keen on perfecting your racing line.  I'm not.

Totally agree with   about Grumble Volcano. Hate it. Hate it hate it hate it.

As for my proper answer, I think I'm going to for Donut Plains 3. It's almost not the same track - the fact that water is no longer a massive disadvantage means that the key design feature of the track doesn't exist (Special Cup tracks on the original Super Mario Kart are brutal). But it just about feels like it's that track you played in the mid 90s, but doesn't look out of place in the shiny Mario Kart 8 World. It makes me want all the original 20 tracks to be updated in the same manner.

Grumble all you want Grumble Volcano isn't that bad of a track.

Jimbob wrote:

As for my proper answer, I think I'm going to for Donut Plains 3. It's almost not the same track - the fact that water is no longer a massive disadvantage means that the key design feature of the track doesn't exist (Special Cup tracks on the original Super Mario Kart are brutal). But it just about feels like it's that track you played in the mid 90s, but doesn't look out of place in the shiny Mario Kart 8 World. It makes me want all the original 20 tracks to be updated in the same manner.

That would be so absolutely brilliant if they done that.

shanks wrote:

Grumble all you want Grumble Volcano isn't that bad of a track.

Agreed.

It would probably be a lot better if the aesthetic was... well, anything other than what it is.  As it stands, it's like a track set in one of those grey-brown FPSes that Yahtzee et al. complain about ad nauseam. Unrelenting brown rock and yellow lava, and a tedious soundtrack to match that was one of two retro course themes not to get an upgrade in MK8.

You see all that comes last for me and by that I mean the tracks design comes first, its also the one unique course in MK as it changes lap to lap & keeps you on your toes.

The changes aren't particularly interesting though! Bits of the track fall away, leaving lava pits. Big whoop. They're not even particularly challenging either - and for you purists, do they even change the racing line? I just keep driving straight ahead, and they don't affect me.

As for track design, I'm sure it's okay, but given that it lacks the "purity" of the Mario Circuits, I don't see that it does anything that the Rainbow Roads or Bowser's Castles don't. And they manage to be interesting with it.

balladeer wrote:

They're not even particularly challenging either - and for you purists, do they even change the racing line?

I've found they make you pay attention to the line even more than other tracks do, I'm just saying I don't get the hate for it, there are far more boring tracks in the series than grumble volcano.

It's certainly not a favourite of mine but it also isn't one to moan about when voted for.