Main Course: Our favorite Mario Kart tracks

by Alisha Karabinus { Apr 25th 2008 at 10:30AM }

Mario Kart Wii is only days away -- unless you're lucky enough to be outside of the U.S. and thus already have it -- and our blowout coverage is winding down as our anticipation levels wind up. But what's an entire week of Mario Kart without celebrating one of the most basic elements of the franchise? We're talking tracks, from our old favorites to awesome new experiences. You told us about your favorites ... now come with us on a journey through ours.


		Gotta have a place to race!

Tags: favorites, joystiqfeatures, mario-kart, mario-kart-week, track

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

sketchampm @ Apr 25th 2008 10:45AM

I'm sorry but I absolutely loooved the stages in Double Dash.

Wide Boy @ Apr 25th 2008 11:17AM

Loving Rainbow Road now that I've stopped falling off the track all the time :)

michael @ Apr 25th 2008 1:47PM

There were some key omissions:

SNES:
Koopa Beach 1 - so simple, but it feels iconic
Ghost Valley 3 - all the holes and turns
Mario Circuit 2 - JUMP!!!!

N64:
Luigi Raceway - the first course, first time through, it still reminds me of my first time playing
Wario Stadium - playing the original 'dirtbike track' would have been nice with the bikes...
Kalimari Desert - I know I'm not the only one who drove on the train tracks out of curiosity
Bowsers Castle - the first of many to come, which i think are my favorite courses in the series from this point on. Always so immense, and filled with so much
Yoshi Valley - one of the ones picked for this piece, it's a shame this course didn't get put in.
Rainbow Road - that first opportunity to jump and get incredible airtime!

DoubleDash!!
It's funny that courses are thought of highly in this track, for me the tracks just lacked personality. It's something I've spotted in the Wii tracks that have made me excited for the game - which lacked in this one, but there are a handful of tracks I liked, ironically - all of them in the Special Cup. The first time I played through Wario Colosseum, I just remember thinking it was THE hardest, craziet MK course ever.

MKDS
I never have played the GBA version, I recently tried it, and I had a hard time with the controls. Once you've gotten used to powerslides, and the control scheme from MK64 on, it's hard to go back to the engine built for the SNES and used on Advance. As far as tracks go, from the ones ported over to the DS, I wasn't impressed by them. DS had some great creativity tho, my favorites being:
Waluigi Pinball, Airship Fortress, and Tick-tock clock.
On a side-note, I never understood all the love that Delfino Square gets. It's a nice track, but, it doesn't really appeal to me with having tons of creativity and great gameplay. Just me I guess.

I'm so excited for MKWii tho, it's all that I've been thinking about and reading about for the past month. I'll be picking it up first thing Sunday morning!!!