Top 20 Greatest Mario Kart Tracks of All Time

Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 20 Mario Kart Tracks.

For this list, we’re looking at the most memorable, playable and/or entertaining courses in these go-kart-style racing video games.

What’s your favorite Mario kart track? Be sure to sound off in the comments!

Only someone as greedy as Wario would own a mining operation as extravagant as this! Although, we'll let him have it because it makes for a pretty thrilling course with its roller-coaster-esque design. While the first half of the track isn't much to worry about, the real chaos occurs midway when you find yourself driving alongside the fortified mine carts. Running into these could cost you the race if you're not careful, but in "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe", you can use them to boost your way through, leaving everyone in the dust. Plus, that catchy tune makes Wario's Gold Mine a favorite for anyone.

How nice to see an old dog like "Mario Kart" pay tribute to one of the oldest racing franchises. Based off of the NES game "Excitebike," Excitebike Arena sees racers drive around a pretty straightforward course consisting of ramps, zippers, and mud. However, it isn't this simplicity that gets the track on this list. What makes Excitebike Arena so special is how the layout of the track changes every time you load in. Now, it is obvious that the same segments are rearranged, but it's enough to keep you on your toes.

Is this really a race track or is this actually a ride at a water park? We’re more inclined to believe the latter as Koopa Cape turns the race into a thrill ride that will have you soaked! After jumping ramps and avoiding goombas, drivers will land into a rushing river that boosts your speed before plummeting you down a large green pipe. Inside, you’ll get to experience the race underwater and blast past Cheep Cheeps and electrical spinners. As soon as you get out, you get to witness a massive waterfall that lies just behind the finish line. It’s almost surprising the Wii managed to put on a spectacle such as this!

Who knew racing through an airport could be such a grand experience? Sunshine Airport is either one of the coolest or clumsiest courses put together as you’ll be speeding through baggage claim, runways, and even inside a plane! On top of that, there’s a part in the course where as you’re descending, a plane flies over your head! Whoever gave clearance clearly wants you dead, but then again, whose idea was it to hold a race at an airport currently in operation? Cool concept, but may not be the safest thing. Still… it’s cool!

The Koopa King has had the pleasure (or resentment) of using his multiple castles for Mario and company to drive through. Of them all, the Bowser Castle from "Mario Kart 64" stands out for its more horrific atmosphere. With its ominous music, dark corridors, and maniacally laughing Thwomps, many children who played this probably didn't sleep given how haunting the experience was in the beginning. While the track was toned down a bit for "Mario Kart Wii", it is still a challenging course that can break or burn you! So, tread lightly!

Yes, this pain in the warp pipe from “Super Mario 64” returns to be a pain in the “Mario Kart” series, but we’re not saying that’s a bad thing. If you’re looking for a challenge, Tick-Tock Clock is filled with moving parts that could disrupt your driving, knock you off the track, or send you into a stray banana peel or green shell. Although, there are a few areas where you can use the hands and gears to boost you closer to the finish line. In short, Tick-Tock Clock may give us a hard time (sometimes, more than we’d like), but we can’t deny that it’s an inventive and memorable location in the “Super Mario” franchise.

Notice anything peculiar about this track? Yep, it’s outlined in the shape of a Yoshi! However, this course isn’t as friendly as the adorable green dino, and we’re not just talking about the few Piranha Plants that inhabit the area. Yoshi Circuit holds a few sneaky shortcuts to cut your time, but those racing with a little more honor will find a ton of turns that might be tricky to land. You’ll find yourself constantly drift-boosting. Go too fast, though, and you could be bumping into a wall. It’s a track that seems so simple yet turns out to be a little tougher than we anticipated.

“Excitebike” wasn’t the only classic Nintendo racing series to get a respectful nod from “Mario Kart.” Released as DLC when “Mario Kart 8” was on the Wii U, Big Blue made its way from the “F-Zero” franchise and onto the Bell Cup as its final course. Ooooh, the adrenaline came rushing through our veins as soon as the music came on! In true “F-Zero” fashion, this version of Big Blue provides an exhilarating experience with zippers, tight turns, and corkscrews, and you can do it all in the comfort of a Blue Falcon. And to top it all off, the results screen theme is replaced with the one from the first “F-Zero” game, and they did the same for the equally thrilling Mute City track!

It isn’t as complex as the other tracks on this list, but Kalimari Desert holds a special place in our hearts. Is it because of the simple cruise through the desert? The smooth, Western-style music that evokes the visual of a cowboy riding into the sunset? Nah, it’s seeing all those fools get hit by the trains!!! It’s a riot being the only one to escape the rail crossing just as the train approaches and hearing the cries of every victim who found themselves at the end of a cowcatcher!

It's arguably the hardest course in “Mario Kart 64,” and not for the reasons that would make a course hard. It isn’t hard solely because of the porcupines that inhabit the most inconvenient spots or the giant egg that can squish you towards the end. No, it’s hard because of how the course is divided into different paths. It’s so complex that the N64 couldn’t tell who was actually in first. And so, everyone’s placeholders are replaced with question marks! Luckily, this got sorted out in “Mario Kart 8”, and the track got a tad wider and a little less littered in porcupines.

And here we have one of the most chaotic tracks to ever appear in the series, and one of the smallest! Racers merely dash around an oval-shaped track, but the danger doesn’t lie in the track itself - the real threat is the other drivers! This is a course where first place will be overlapping several racers, which means they are liable to get hit by almost anything. It isn’t so rambunctious in “Mario Kart 8,” but in “Double Dash” and “DS,” Baby Park becomes an absolute madhouse! Of course, we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Anyone who has played “Double Dash” knows exactly why DK Mountain is so high up. Please direct your attention to Exhibit A - the barrel cannon that sits near the start of the race. This behemoth launches you to the top of an angry volcano where you’ll have to carefully descend while avoiding massive boulders. It gets pretty treacherous to traverse, to say the least, and one slip on the banana peel could send you falling into a pit or off the rickety bridge. So, you best tread lightly and enjoy being hurled to a volcano!

The last thing that the world of “Animal Crossing” needs is the shouting and cursing of friends trying to fight for first place. And yet, Nintendo went ahead and added into “Mario Kart 8,” and what a pleasant, relaxing drive it is! The Animal Crossing track features a variety of characters from the delightful franchise such as Tom Nook, K.K. Slider, and even Mr. Resetti as an obstacle towards the end of the track. What’s even more amusing is how the course changes seasons every time it loads. Summer, spring, fall, or winter, this track is a wonderful adaptation of the series, and it only makes us wish there were more crossover courses.

Of all the courses that debuted in “Mario Kart 7,” this one was, by far, the best. Music Park is exactly what you would assume - an entire course themed around music, and it’s insanely imaginative. There are sections where you’ll race across piano keys and xylophones (playing notes in the process), and giant music notes dance along to the track’s tune. Even the Piranha Plants are jamming out, but that doesn’t mean they won’t take a bite out of your kart. Overall, this course is an outstandingly good time, and you may be thinking about it well after the race!

As we’ve seen on the list, “Mario Kart Wii” has had a wealth of great courses, but none of them came close to being as creative and jaunty as Coconut Mall. This was where players could bullet past shops, using fountains and greenery for jump boosts before exiting to the parking lot. Speaking of which, the parking lot may give you some trouble seeing how the cars can’t decide if they want to park over the zippers or not. At least it gives you a reason to curse out Miis and not get in trouble!

When you start the race off by jumping out of a plane, you know this is going to be good! Mount Wario starts off in this manner and proceeds to send players down an icy mountain filled with tricky turns, ramps, and pitfalls. Drivers will have to make it through frozen caverns and snowy trees before finding themselves in a slalom course in the last third of the track. Grand in its scope and finale, there’s plenty of reason to include Mount Wario in custom tournaments and game nights! Heck, it even makes us want to take a ski trip!

Whoever said Waluigi doesn’t get much love? The guy has one of the best tracks in “Mario Kart” history! Waluigi Pinball is one that’ll have arcade fanatics longing for the days of retro gaming as racers blast through a pinball table, kicking off by throwing them all through the chute! From there, players will enjoy a symphony of 8-bit sounds, neon lights, and massive pinballs that could ruin anyone’s day. Even the item boxes have their sound effects changed to accommodate the pinball theme! If only we could have gotten this remade for “Deluxe”...

Yes, we know we already gave a spot to a Bowser Castle track on this list, but we had to put this one in for a few reasons. For starters, it is the hardest of the Bowser Castle courses, utilizing more tight turns, more fiery hazards, and a colossal Bowser statue that can literally shake a portion of the course. It is also marvelously assembled with its anti-gravity sections and how it jumbles the track together in a chaotic manner only Bowser would appreciate. In other words, it isn’t just a difficult course - it’s a haunting and lethal castle made for a Koopa King!

This list wouldn’t be complete if we had forgotten about Hyrule Circuit. This wasn’t just another excuse to squeeze in one other Nintendo franchise either. Aside from Hyrule Castle and a few “Zelda” characters, Hyrule Circuit is special because of how it evokes the same spirit of adventure - that sense of mystery and curiosity that the “Zelda” games bring. It all shows midway into the course when you must collide with three crystals in order to uncover a ramp that allows you to run into the Master Sword. Needless to say, any “Zelda” fan would be grinning ear to ear from the sight of this!

Look, we simply couldn’t put all of them as separate entries here. At that point, the list would be “Top 10 Rainbow Roads” (hey, there’s an idea). Each one brings something special to the table whether it be through fancy launchers, shooting stars, flying trains, or littering the course with Chain Chomps. What they all have in common, however, is how they make a grand spectacle of your journey in mastering “Mario Kart.” It isn’t just an exceptionally difficult course, but a celebration of your endeavors, and that’s what makes each Rainbow Road so exciting.