Kart around the world!
The Nintendo Switch 2 is (finally) coming soon, and with it will be a new installment in the wildly successful Mario Kart series. Mario Kart World is shaping up to be the largest Mario Kart ever made, with new characters, new items, and an entire map that can be explored thanks to new free-roaming mechanics.
That being said, there are still “normal” racetracks scattered throughout the map, with the type of classic Mario Kart-style turns, obstacles, and secret paths that fans have loved for decades. Below is a list of all 32 courses that you and up to 23 other racers will be speeding through, from Mario Bros. Circuit to the vaunted Rainbow Road.
Mario Kart World launches alongside–and exclusively for–the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5. Preorders for the new console remain sold out for now, but preorders for the new Mario Kart game are still available at multiple retailers.
Mario Bros. Circuit
This desert-themed track was the first Mario Kart World track ever shown to the public, as it was teased during the Nintendo Switch 2 teaser trailer in January.
Crown City
This large urban raceway is one of two tracks to appear in multiple Grand Prix cups, with each appearance highlighting a different route around the area.
Whistletop Summit
Mario Kart 64 fans will appreciate the callback to Kalahari Desert here, as Whistletop Summit features a running train that will sometimes pose as an obstacle during a race.
DK Spaceport
DK Spaceport invokes the classic Donkey Kong 25m stage in its design, with multiple ramps shifting the races left and right as they ascend to the top of a hill. The massive mechanical monkey will follow racers up the structure–and maybe throw a few barrels at them too.
Desert Hills
Desert Hills is a remake of a track of the same name from Mario Kart DS. Pokeys routinely walk onto the track as an extra hazard, while the Angry Sun sometimes rain snakes down from the sky to force racers off course.
Shy Guy Bazaar
Shy Guy Bazaar is another course returning from a previous game, this time coming from Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS. This time, however, Mario Kart World’s new free-roam abilities may let us find out what’s going on in that palace in the background.
Wario Stadium
Wario Stadium returns for the first time since its debut in Mario Kart 64–up until now, it was the only track from MK64 that had not been used as a classic track in another Mario Kart game.
Airship Fortress
The race takes to the skies in Airship Fortress, where a fleet of Bowser’s flying ships serves as the racetrack. This track is also a returning course, as it debuted in Mario Kart DS.
DK Pass
While DK Pass has been around for a while–it’s appeared in Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart 7, and Mario Kart Tour on mobile devices–this is the first time the snowy mountain course will appear on a home console version of the game.
Starview Peak
Starview Peak is a brand-new course debuting in Mario Kart World. It’s themed around Rosalina and her Comet Observatory, which players explored in Super Mario Galaxy.
Sky-High Sundae
This delicious dessert course made its Mario Kart debut in the Booster Course Pass of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The Mario Kart World version loses the anti-gravity features of the previous game, which results in a new layout closer to its appearance in Mario Kart Tour.
Wario Shipyard
Wario Shipyard takes racers through a pirate ship graveyard in the middle of the ocean, with spooky skeletal fish swimming through the water as racers pass by. The course originally debuted in Mario Kart 7 on 3DS.
Koopa Troopa Beach
Koopa Troopa Beach hearkens back to Koopa Beach 2 in Mario Kart SNES, with racers driving around the perimeter of a large island. A few new elements and decorations have been added, including a massive Koopa Troopa balloon overlooking the course.
Faraway Oasis
Faraway Oasis is another all-new course in Mario Kart World. This one is themed after an African safari, with zebras, elephants, and other animals roaming the course during each race.
Crown City 2
Crown City 2 takes an alternate route around the massive urban area seen earlier in the gallery, though the exact route and obstacles have yet to be fully revealed.
Peach Stadium
Peach Stadium is the second original course in Mario Kart World to have multiple Grand Prix appearances, following Crown City. It’s located in the center of the game’s map, just south of Moo Moo Meadows.
Peach Beach
Peach Beach returns from Mario Kart: Double Dash on the GameCube. Players will drive over a large sandbar before the course wraps around a seaside castle, which replaces Delfino Plaza from the GameCube version.
Salty Salty Speedway
Salty Salty Speedway–which makes its series debut in Mario Kart World–features multiple canals running alongside the racetrack. Players will sometimes drive over or even into the canals while running the course.
Dino Dino Jungle
Another course returning from Mario Kart: Double Dash, Dino Dino Jungle features a giant yellow T-Rex that racers must avoid, as well as multiple geysers that can erupt right while a driver is traveling over it.
Great ? Block Ruins
Great ? Block Ruins is a course that takes place in the skies above the map. It features mysterious ruins floating above the clouds, with a giant stone question block sitting prominently at the top of the course.
Cheep Cheep Falls
This Japanese-inspired course will see players race through waterfalls and rivers, which run through a village of pagodas and other small buildings.
Dandelion Depths
Dandelion Depths seems to take much of its inspiration from the Steam Gardens of Super Mario Odyssey, with its mixture of natural and bright red metallic structures intertwining throughout the course.
Boo Cinema
This haunted movie theater will send racers into the films themselves, with the surrounding area shifting from full color to a sepia-toned look as players race over massive film strips and through the theater’s screen.
Dry Bones Burnout
Dry Bones Burnout is a volcano-themed course adorned with large bones resembling the titular Dry Bones. The course features a lake of lava that players must glide over or risk falling into the molten muck.
Moo Moo Meadows
The internet’s new favorite racer Cow hails from Moo Moo Meadows, which returns as a classic course for the second straight console release. Cows line the track, and racers can crash into them if they’re not careful.
Choco Mountain
Though Choco Mountain has appeared a few times in Mario Kart history–debuting in Mario Kart 64 and then appearing in Mario Kart DS and MK8 Deluxe–this new version is now themed around Chargin’ Chuck, Mario’s football-playing (or is it baseball-playing?) enemy.
Toad’s Factory
Toad’s Factory is making a comeback for the first time since Mario Kart Wii, and it’s bringing all of its industrial-themed obstacles with it. The course has seen some alternations, however–for one, racers can no longer fall off of the conveyor belts thanks to new fences.
Bowser’s Castle
Mario Kart World continues the tradition of naming a course Bowser’s Castle, but delivering a completely difference experience from past iterations of the track. This new version has a more high-tech theme than its predecessors.
Acorn Heights
Acorn Heights is one of Mario Kart World’s new courses, with the racetrack winding around a gigantic tree adorned with acorns. Skeeters–the gliding bug enemies from multiple Mario games–will appear in some of the course’s waterways.
Mario Circuit
Mario Kart SNES’s Mario Circuit, for many, is the first Mario Kart course they ever raced on. The iconic course returns in Mario Kart World, with this new version combining the SNES’s multiple Mario Circuits into one big course.
Peach Stadium 2
The second Peach Stadium route is slightly different from the previous run, but it will also travel in and out of Peach’s Castle, which sits in the center of the track.
Rainbow Road
The Mario Kart World version of Rainbow Road has not been revealed yet–we only know of it thanks to a tease in the Mario Kart World Direct–but it will appear in its usual place as the final course in the main Mario Kart World experience.
