Top 10 best tracks of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

The newest Mario Kart is out today on Nintendo Switch and we’ve already given it a 10/10 score in our review. We also named it the best game in the series, not to mention one of the best multiplayer games ever made. But with so many tracks to choose from which are the best? Everyone will have their own opinion but these are out top 10 picks, along with a look at the eight new Battle arenas that are exclusive to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

10. Dolphin Shoals

The idea of your kart being able to drive underwater is a relatively new invention for the series, and one not every fan is always happy about. But Dolphin Shoals totally sells the idea, and the fact that most of it is spent underwater works really well. Especially when you emerge from sea towards the end and you suddenly realise the music has been muffled the whole time – only to blare into life as you snake through the final third and glide down to the tense final stretch where you’re dangerously exposed to everyone else racing for the finish line.

9. Baby Park

Most fans consider the GameCube’s Mario Kart: Double Dash!! to be the worst game in the series, but at least one good thing came of it: Baby Park. Unusually, you have to complete seven circuits of this course and it’s just a simple oval. A really short oval. One where it’s almost impossible not to get hit by someone else, and where starting to lap the backmarkers almost becomes as dangerous as dealing with your more serious rivals. It all ends up a glorious disaster of shouts and recriminations, and is easily the best track to play with other people in the same room.

8. Super Bell Subway

One track that almost made this top 10 is the Mario Kart 64 course Toad’s Turnpike, where you have to race through traffic on a motorway. This one seems to be very much inspired by that old classic, except you’re racing against tube trains instead of other cars. Obviously that’s not a fight you’re going to win if you hit one, so you have to constantly keep in mind where they are and which of the multiple routes you’re going to take through each section of the course. It’s also one of only three tracks (the others are Excitebike and Animal Crossing) that don’t have any anti-gravity sections.

7. Mute City

Unlike previous games, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe features a lot of characters, tracks, and vehicles inspired by other Nintendo titles. That includes two based on futuristic racer F-Zero, which hasn’t had a new game in over a decade but has two race tracks in Mario Kart 8. This is the best one: a stunning looking sci-fi city where the rules of the game are adapted slightly so that you collect coins by driving over special strips, instead of picking them up individually. The real F-Zero is famous for its blistering speed and playing this at 200cc is as close to the real thing as we’re ever likely to get again.

6. Ribbon Road

Our favourite of the new DLC tracks, the course design itself isn’t very complicated but the setting of a kid’s bedroom means either they’re giants or you’ve been shrunk down – creating one of the most unique-looking tracks in the whole game. What really makes it though is that the track is literally a ribbon, and not only is the road texture subtly different but parts of it are constantly undulating up and down. If you’re really good you can get a little speed boost from cresting each bump, so a last minute win is never out of the question.

5. Toad Harbour

Over the years, as the graphics have got more realistic, there’s been more and more Mario Kart tracks that have been based in something that looks more like the real world. This one is pretty obviously inspired by San Francisco, with the steep hills and tram cars getting in the way. Although it does feature more driving on walls than is usual for the city. But that mixture works perfect in the game, with a complicated start as you zip past the docks and then through the city streets and down a final stretch filled with turbo boost pads and an alternative route you’re never sure is quicker or not.

4. Mount Wario

Not every track in Mario Kart 8 is a three-lap race. There’s also a few that are just one long course with a beginning and end, and this is the best of them. It starts off with a little micro-cut scene of everyone jumping out of an aircraft onto the snowy slopes below. All of this is accompanied by a very James Bond-esque soundtrack, that gets even more epic as you race through a dam, a thick forest, and then finally onto a ski slalom course. Trying to keep your position as you tear down that last straight, terrified you’re going to get hit by a shell at the last moment, is Mario Kart at its most thrilling.

3. Moo Moo Meadows

Our highest-rated retro course. It’s a revamped version of a course from Mario Kart Wii, which in turn was a remake of Moo Moo Farm from Mario Kart 64. There’s good reason why the course has been around for over 20 years, and the winding bends that open up to wide fields filled with tunnelling moles is just as much fun to race through now as it’s ever been; especially with the wonderfully upbeat soundtrack. The best bit though is all the cows, which get more and more in the way every lap and make you feel horribly guilty if you hit them with a shell.

2. Cloudtop Cruise

The Switch might not be the most powerful console around but somehow all the courses in Mario Kart 8 manage to look stunning anyway, especially this one. It even has the best soundtrack as well, inspired by a similar-looking level in Super Mario Galaxy. The track starts off in the clouds, as you race along a giant beanstalk, one of Bowser’s airships, and then onto a giant metal strip that, quite understandably, keeps getting hit by lightning. There’s a shortcut across the beanstalk’s leaves towards the end, but mess the jump up and you can find victory snatched away from you right at the last moment.

1. Sunshine Airport

Although it’s almost impossible to pick just one Mario Kart track as the best, this wins simply because it manages to turn the most boring, miserable location imaginable into a kaleidoscope of colour and movement. It helps that it’s a really well-designed track too, as you squeeze past the baggage machines, race across the wings of an aircraft, and fly through the air to the finishing line. It’s easily the most fun you can have an airport, and literally so if you actually take your Switch to one and play from there.

Battle mode courses

Battle mode is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s biggest new feature

All of the racing tracks in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe were in the original Wii U version and its DLC, but the major new addition in Deluxe is the revamped Battle mode. Here you’re not trying to beat anyone to the finishing line but fight them in arenas using your power-up items. The eight arenas are all new for Mario Kart 8, although three of them are loosely based on ones from previous games.

Battle Stadium
Although it’s set in the same opening stadium from the main game this is actually quite a complex course, with lots of criss-crossing tracks and little screens to hide behind. It is one of the best courses but maybe not the ideal one to start on.

Sweet Sweet Kingdom
Another course that’s very easy to get lost in, with lots of small buildings (well, giant cakes) getting in the way and an elevated area you can jump down from. It’s also not necessarily the best starting arena for new players, but perfect for stalking victims when you get the hang of it.

Dragon Palace
This is a good place (or rather palace) to start, in that it’s a much more open map – or at least it is once you realise you can smash through the screen doors and get outside. The second floor is reached via two long, sloping ramps which leave you very vulnerable if someone’s chasing after you.

Lunar Colony
Another relatively simple open-plan arena, with only a few covered areas at the edges. The snag is the craters though, which can block your line of sight when trying to aim. They can be a benefit too though, if you remember to press the right shoulder pad as you clear them and get a little free turbo boost.

Wuhu Town
Based on a 3DS battle map, that was in turn inspired by the town from Wii Sports Resort, the layout here is all right angles, as you drive between the streets laid out in something close to an American grid system. Don’t forget you can take a shortcut through the basketball court though, which many people don’t notice.

Luigi’s Mansion
The most complicated course and definitely not for beginners. It takes place on three separate levels and is very easy to get lost in if you don’t know where you’re going. Cowards should bear in mind that many players forget to go to the top level, so that’s a good place to camp out.

Battle Course 1
This map is based on an original Super Mario Kart course from way back in 1992. That makes it a good place to learn the ropes, as there are no stairs or multiple levels – just a few short ramps. That makes it’s very hard to find anywhere to hide though, so just make sure you keep on the move.

Urchin Underpass
Based on the Splatoon map of the same name, although it seems complicated at first the two sides are actually mirror images of each other and lead to a large open area in the middle. The whole arena is covered with patches of coloured ink on the floor, so be careful as one will slow you down slightly and one will give you a small speed boost.