The Best Mario Kart Stages We’ve Not Had As Retro Tracks

Summary

• Wario Stadium from Mario Kart 64 hasn’t returned since its debut, despite several spiritual successors.
• Broken Pier from Mario Kart: Super Circuit offers a haunting experience and could benefit from an update.
• Mushroom City from Double Dash is a fan-favorite city-themed course long overdue for a return.

The Mario Kart series has introduced hundreds of tracks for racers to compete on throughout its run, and many of them became fan favorites. Starting with Mario Kart DS, the series would bring back courses from previous games as bonuses for longtime fans of the series. Sometimes, these courses would feel exactly as they did in their original games, and other times they would have some alterations to catch up to changes in the series since their debut.

However, not every course in the series had the chance to appear more than once. Despite their absences, fans continue to yearn for their return, and if Nintendo follows through, it’s possible their wishes will be granted one day.

7

Wario Stadium

Wario’s First Course Spawned Many Successors

The original Wario Stadium made an impact in its sole appearance in Mario Kart 64. The extravagant sports stadium owned by the greedy Wario was presumably intended for motocross racing, but the Mario Kart crew was easily able to adapt it as their own. It is the second-longest course in the game, and has many sharp 180-degree turns that players have to master, as well as dirt hills that can either send characters flying through the air or slow them down.

It is the only course from 64 to have not returned to the series since its debut. Instead, it was replaced by a number of spiritual successors, like Wario Colosseum and Waluigi Stadium in Double Dash, and a redesigned Wario Stadium that debuted in Mario Kart DS. However, the simplicity of the often-overlooked original may one day get a chance to be revisited.

6

Broken Pier

A Haunting Experience on Handheld

Broken Pier, as its name suggests, takes place on a wooden pier that’s falling apart on a lake. The stage is enhanced by its haunted atmosphere, with its nighttime setting and a volcano with an evil face across the lake visible to the players. Characters traverse across the pier in three laps, while avoiding the Boos coming in their direction. They are also able to cross narrow wooden bridges as a shortcut.

A remake on a future Nintendo Console could do wonders for this stage. For example, the lighting can be made darker to make it feel more like players are racing at night. An underwater section could also be added, with more scary elements beneath the lake, such as water monsters or buried treasure. And who wouldn’t want to see the volcano erupt in the background?

5

Mushroom City

Rush Hour In The Mushroom Kingdom

Based in a large city at nighttime, Mushroom City sees racers go across a figure-8 shaped track three times going both on and under an overpass bridge. This stage has several unique gimmicks, including incoming vehicles karts need to avoid, a four-way intersection that provides multiple pathways for the stage, and open pits in the elevated sections that kill characters who fall into them.

Mario Kart has its fair share of city-themed courses, so it’s a surprise this hasn’t been given the chance to reappear. Seeing the city redesigned in HD would be a sight to behold, as would characters using new strategies to navigate the course in case of any redesigns to it. As one of only a handful of Double Dash courses to not reappear since the GameCube, this fan-favorite is long overdue for a return.

4

Wario Colosseum

Double Dash’s Hardest Track Should Come Back

First debuting in Mario Kart: Double Dash for the GameCube, this track is a Wario-themed track based upon the Roman Colosseum. It has a reputation as one of the most challenging courses in the series, with several difficult turns that players have to make. Its centerpiece is a spherical cage in the center where characters constantly have to steer their karts to make sharp turns and avoid bottomless pits, with one large ring-shaped pit near the very end standing out the most.

Due to its complexity and length, this course took two laps to complete as opposed to the usual three. Perhaps difficulties in porting and redesigning the assets have kept it from appearing in future Mario Kart installments, but fans are hopeful that one day it’ll get a chance to re-appear.

3

Figure-8 Circuit

A Simple Track That Anyone Can Master

Figure-8 Circuit isn’t a particularly complex track. As its name suggests, it is a figure-8 shaped racetrack, and because it is the first track in the Mushroom Cup, it is a simple starter course without any unique gimmicks. Characters start at the spectator stands, then race across a grassy area containing common Mario items like pipes and blocks.

Figure-8 Circuit has a large legacy as it became the basis for the Mario Kart-themed stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but has not reappeared in an actual Mario Kart game since its Mario Kart DS debut. While it may not be the most exciting stage to bring back as a retro track, fans of Mario Kart DS will likely be pleased to see it return one day.

2

Toad’s Factory

A Unique Setting That Deserves More Spotlight

A large factory owned by Toad, this Mario Kart Wii track is very memorable for its unique setting and gimmicks. The factory contains hydraulic presses that would knock out anyone crushed by them, moving platforms that, if missed, could cause characters to fall, conveyor belts that move item boxes across, and an outdoor section with a mud pit that slows players down. Each gimmick required strategy to get across, and that’s what made the course a fan favorite for many.

Despite that, it is the only course in that game exclusive to Mario Kart Wii outside its character circuit and Bowser’s Castle variants, and because of that, it’s generally the most wanted course from that game to return in future installments. There was a lot of speculation regarding its return in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Booster Course pass, but it never came to fruition.

1

Wuhu Loop

Mario Tours The Wii Sports Island

Based off of the island featured in Wii Sports Resort, Wuhu Loop is a standout course in Mario Kart 7. Unlike most normal courses, which have characters travel three laps across one racetrack, this is an extra-long course divided into three sections, a distinction only shared by that game’s version of Rainbow Road. Along the way, players will see locales from Wuhu Island from the original game.

Characters start off in the town center, then go down a paved road across the island. A similar course called Maka Wuhu is also featured, with the main difference between the two being that the latter is set at sunset and goes down a dirt path. Given the Wii Sports brand was discontinued in the Switch era, it is not particularly likely either of them will return, but it’s not impossible Nintendo gives their past history another look.