Top Ten Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Tracks

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe releases today on Nintendo Switch. Packed with all of the tracks from Mario Kart 8 on Wii U in both base and DLC form, there are 48 tracks total. Which are the best of the best? Well, that's purely subjective, but the mind behind SuperPhillip Central has come up with a list of the top ten Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tracks. These are the most fun to race on, most enjoyable, best themed, most interesting aesthetically or locale-wise, and just plain all-around awesome.

After seeing my picks, which Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tracks do you find the best and most pleasant to race on?

10) Mario Kart Stadium

We begin with the opening track of Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart Stadium, an aptly named track if I do say so myself. Set under a nighttime spectacle of fireworks and cheers, Mario Kart Stadium happens to be an enjoyable and exciting race, something that many first tracks of the Mario Kart series may not register as being. With long curves to enjoy drifting and boosting opportunities, moments where smartly conceived Mushroom boosts can cut seconds off a given racer's time or add to their lead, most Mario Kart 8 players' first taste of the anti-gravity sections the game proudly advertises, and a gliding section at its finale, Mario Kart Stadium is perfect for a beginner while still being entertaining for veterans.

9) Thwomp Ruins

Mario Kart Stadium signals the start of the Mushroom Cup in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Thwomp Ruins is the cup's finale. It takes place in an ancient ruins where on the second lap, the central courtyard opens up its ramp, allowing racers to use its ramp to glide past obstacles like the central body of water and several Thwomps. Yes, as the name suggests, Thwomps make a home here for themselves in these bright and sunny ruins filled with copious vegetation. The ancient carvings on walls and in the tunnels are pleasant and add to the environment. Thwomps aren't the only hazards in these ruins. In the first tunnel, stone gears roll on down in the center of the track, plowing over any racer foolish enough to get in their way. Two gliding opportunities and one final shortcut that offers a great risk vs. reward proposition (a narrow ramp surrounded by a bottomless pit that bypasses the last turn of the ruins) also make for a really fulfilling race to win.

8) N64 Yoshi Valley

A relic from Mario Kart 64, Yoshi Valley is the final track of the Leaf Cup in Mario Kart 8. Like its original version, this Mario Kart 8 iteration of Yoshi Valley features a network of myriad routes through its sprawling canyon, some faster to take than others, but they all lead to the same end point. This end point leads to a series of winding turns all culminating in a circular platform where a giant green and white Yoshi egg slowly rolls along, ready to run over any unsuspecting racer. The faster routes through the network of pathways tend to feature the most dangerous terrain, such as a lack of railways to keep players from speeding off into the valley below. It makes for an exciting race that offers a lot more choice than any other race in Mario Kart series history.

7) Shy Guy Falls

The final race of the Flower Cup, Shy Guy Falls is home to a diamond mine built directly into the face of the mountain. The race takes part high above the ground, where falling can happen when you least expect it (such as an opponent using a Lightning Bolt while you're making a leap over a pit). The eponymous falls have you racing not just up a waterfall, trying to make a perfect racing line that allows you to cross every boost raining down from the falls, but also down a waterfall soon after as well. This latter waterfall leads to the track's sole gliding section, where racers can opt to glide down onto the main track or take a brief shortcut through a hanging cavern. Another shortcut is mere yards away, having racers use a Mushroom to boost between two small stone pillars to bypass one of the track's final turns.

6) Wild Woods

Wild Woods was a part of the second downloadable content pack of races in the original Mario Kart 8. It takes place high up in the canopy of a heavily forested area where a Shy Guy metropolis of hanging houses make their home. Like Shy Guy Falls, racers do a lot of vertical maneuvers, going 100% vertically up the face of walls and the like. Notable pieces of this delightful track include a gliding section over an open chasm where Shy Guys travel across ziplines, a race through the rapids that lead down to a lake filled with boost-plastered lily pads, and two opportunities to take alternate paths. Wild Woods is a ridiculously fun race with a great sense of environmental ambiance to it.

5) Mute City

If Nintendo won't make a new F-Zero entry, at least this taste of the series with two F-Zero-inspired tracks in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will somewhat do... for now. The first of these tracks (Big Blue being the other) takes place in F-Zero's most famous metropolis, Mute City. As you can imagine with the insane designs of the 3D F-Zero racetracks, Mute City is full of crazy curves that are almost entirely in anti-gravity areas. Racers will go upside-down, right-side-up, to the side, underneath, and every which way in this track, while jetting around on the multitude of boost pads that are sprinkled along the track. The finale sees a shortcut opportunity for those with a Mushroom, or they can just take the final jump and meander through the snake-like route leading to the finish line. Mute City's Mario Kart 8 version is a blast to play and is modeled just like a track from F-Zero.

4) Cloudtop Cruise

As the name suggests, Cloudtop Cruise takes players on an adventure through the clouds, from the cloudy pathways at the start of the race to one of Bowser's many airships. The airship that racers spend a brief time on leads to a cannon that launches them into the heart of a lightning storm, where racers can opt to zoom along multiple boosts. This requires timing and precision, as many of the boosts in this darkened and stormy portion of track get hit by intermittent bouts of lightning. Once this anti-gravity section has been overcome by racers, they get launched to the home stretch, where they can opt to take the long but safe way to the finish, or try a courageous shortcut by jumping across the leaves of a beanstalk. Cloudtop Cruise is a wild and rowdy sky high adventure that makes for an exciting and electric start to Mario Kart 8's Special Cup.

3) Bowser's Castle

Let's continue with Mario Kart 8's Special Cup. Traditionally, the Bowser's Castle tracks in the Mario Kart series feature a wide array of dastardly, menacing obstacles and hazards to avoid, whether Thwomps, blazing fire bars as seen in the original Super Mario Bros., and other dangers. The Mario Kart 8 version of Bowser's Castle features an impressive gauntlet of hazards, from giant three-arm fire bars, swinging spiked balls, rolling boulders, lasers at the entrance, and even a monstrous statue of Bowser that slams its fist from one part of the track to the other. The anti-gravity portions of Bowser's Castle are awesome, and the amount of trick opportunities make for a really thrilling and heated (both figuratively and literally) race.

2) Mount Wario

Mount Wario is an aberration compared to every other track on this top ten list. Instead of featuring three leaps, Mount Wario features three segments, all leading to one thrilling adventure down the slopes and face of the titular snowy mountain. Right away, racers drive off the starting gate, the innards of a chopper to land smack dab on the summit of Mount Wario. Then, it's all downhill from there. Literally. An icy section showcasing nice drifting opportunities lead into a cavern filled with rushing water and gliding opportunities. That then leads to the Wario Dam, where racers speed along the side of as water and intermittent boosts rain down. A snowy forested section of trees and logs follow, and then a skiing-inspired third segment faces racers with slalom-style gates, mounds, and tricking opportunities. A riotous race and journey down the snowy mountain, Mount Wario is a fantastic finale to Mario Kart 8's Star Cup and a fantastic race in general.

1) Toad Harbor

This is purely a personal number one choice, as I absolutely love city-based tracks. One of my favorites is Mario Kart DS' Delfino Square, and now Toad Harbor takes the top spot of my favorite Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tracks. This bright and sunny summer metropolis starts out with a marina housing sailboats and an immediate boost ramp that sends racers flying over one of the sailboats docked in the harbor. What follows is a trip through an open-air marketplace that racers can zoom through on street level or above via awnings. This leads to two paths to take, the right one being a slight shortcut. Then comes a section where San Francisco-inspired streetcars travel onto the track. Racers can completely ignore these by traveling along the leftmost wall, though is slower than taking the inside turn. Next, a downhill section of track occurs, where racers can trick off ramps or take to the edges to speed along boost pads. This leads to a final couple of turns before the finish line. Toad Harbor might not have a gliding section or many opportunities to show off Mario Kart 8's anti-gravity central mechanic, but it does offer circuit-based racing that is phenomenal and in a visually pleasing city-based environment.

Rank Up! - Mario Kart 8 DLC Tracks

The second of Mario Kart 8's DLC Packs released a few weeks ago, and now in addition to the 32 tracks already on the game disc, Mario Kart 8 owners also have 16 new and remixed tracks they can purchase. After some intensive research (i.e. having a lot of fun racing on these sumbitches), I have come up with a new Rank Up! where I rank the new tracks from least favorite to favorite! Nonetheless, it's quite important to note that none of these tracks are bad at all. In fact, I like them all, which made putting this in any kind of order a challenge! However, I persevered and have come up with an order that I feel satisfaction with. Let's get to the list of sixteen!

And if you can't get enough kart racing fun, check out my top ten list from yesterday regarding the best kart racing games!

16) Wario's Gold Mine

Wario's Gold Mine returns from Mario Kart Wii, and in that game it was one of my least favorite courses. I mean, lots of rail-less portions of track and eleven other racers to contend with, bouncing you off, is not too much fun. However, with the Mario Kart 8 version, the track is a lot more fun, and thankfully the moving mine carts no longer damage the player who runs into them. Instead, you get a boost from them since they are in an anti-gravity section of the track. The tunnel where the mine carts travel is still an awesome shortcut to take and still requires some skill to achieve. All this makes for a much better ride through the gold mine of everyone's garlic-chomping antihero.

15) Ice Ice Outpost

Similar to Electrodrome in the base game of Mario Kart 8, Ice Ice Outpost features a duo of paths that can be taken. The only difference here is that there are multiple points where the track splits up into two paths. While the shortcuts are fun and require skill to nail, they aren't really worth it in the risk versus reward category. Still, there's a lot of entertainment to be had racing through open mouthed ice caverns, icebergs, freight ships and huts housing Toads to recommend Ice Ice Outpost as a track.

14) Excitebike Arena

xcitebike Arena is a unique track, though not in its shape, as it's a mere oval design .Instead, it's a unique track due to it randomizing the location of its hills, ramps, jumps, and mud pits each time it is raced on. This means that you're in for a different race each and every time, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you are. For me, the track having two huge straightaways makes Excitebike Arena less "exciting" to me, but overall it is still an enjoyable track to race on, particularly in multiplayer skirmishes.

13) Neo Bowser City

In Mario Kart 7, Neo Bowser City wasn't too fascinating of a track, but in this remixed version in Mario Kart 8, it is a very cool race. Seeing the rainfall splash onto the pavement of Neo Bowser City's roads and twisted curves is fantastic, and pulling off some of the more difficult curves on the track successfully makes one feel like a boss, specifically Bowser if we're saying "boss" in Super Mario terms. The final gliding section allows racers to still decide between soaring over the finish line or taking a daredevil trip over the abyss, using an air tunnel to get extra distance before landing back on the track. Though it's important to note that this isn't as easy as it was in Mario Kart 7.

12) Dragon Driftway

I love Dragon Driftway for its Asian setting alone, and the fact that you're racing on a giant stone Gobblegut for essentially the entirety of the race! As a dragon road, you might expect plenty of twists and turns and devilish curves. You'd expect correct, as Dragon Driftway is a very challenging track, especially in 200 cc. That said, the race seems less fitting for the super fast 200 cc and not particularly designed for it. However, if you manage to use the brake intelligently, you might just find yourself earning first place.

11) Baby Park

This is the third Mario Kart game where Baby Park makes an appearance. It originally debuted in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! for the GameCube, where it was a war zone of items, particularly shells, bouncing to and from, causing utter chaos and destruction. It reappeared in Mario Kart DS, but it was severely neutered. However, its next return, this time in Mario Kart 8, offers plenty of craziness thanks to twelve racers all competing on its very short seven lap oval. The fact that the music quickens faster and faster with each passing lap makes the race even zanier!

10) Yoshi Circuit

Yoshi Circuit is one of the only tracks in Mario Kart 8 without any anti-gravity section to speak of. However, the race is still an enjoyable one due to all of the curves both short and long the track features. This is especially prevalent on the spine section of Yoshi (after all, the track is an outline of everyone's favorite dinosaur Yoshi's profile). The lone shortcut (outside of Mushrooming across patches of grass) has racers speeding through a waterfall, across a small expanse of water, under Yoshi's arm. It is a blast to nail that shortcut, and it is a blast to just race on this track.

9) Super Bell Subway

Mario Kart 8 heads underground with its Super Bell Subway track. This track is an elongated figure-eight of sorts, where racers speed through the terminal before heading through the subway system, packed with zooming subways to contend with in addition to other racers. There are plenty of opportunities to use a Mushroom to blaze over the gravel portions of track that would otherwise slow a racer down, as well as places to ride in the rafters over and on top of the subways that patrol the tunnels. It's a very difficult track for me in 200 cc, but with more practice I'll find that I love Super Bell Subway even more than I already do thanks to its design and one particular Easter egg (the World 1-2 graffiti inside one of the subway tunnels).

8) Cheese Land

The developers of Mario Kart went absolutely crazy with the pair of Game Boy Advance tracks for the second DLC pack. While Mario Circuit's GBA version in the base game was flat, save for the anti-gravity U-turn section, the DLC Game Boy Advance remakes are full of undulations and environmental changes to make them feel like completely new races. Cheese Land removes the Mousers that patrolled the Game Boy Advance version of the race and adds two Chain Chomps instead. Also added is a tunnel through a big block of cheese, two shortcuts where racers can use Mushrooms to access, skipping over the final set of turns of the track, and plenty of sights and sounds to behold.

7) Ribbon Road

The second of the remixed and remastered Game Boy Advance tracks is Ribbon Road, taking place in a playroom that resembles something from Toy Story. The track is essentially split up into three portions, marked by their colors-- green, blue, and pink. Whether you're racing along an undulating rail-less ribbon that has plenty of curves to it, dodging Mechakoopas, or soaring past Bowser Toy Car jack-in-the-boxes, Ribbon Road features a lot of new obstacles and hazards to make note of. Both of these Game Boy Advance remade tracks are excellent, but I give the edge to Ribbon Road just for the nostalgia it gives me.

6) Rainbow Road (SNES)

Making its third appearance in the Mario Kart series, Rainbow Road is a much wider track than in previous appearances, but don't let that fool you. There are still myriad turns to worry about that skillful racers must overcome without being bumped off the track, one without any rails whatsoever. Then there are the electric Thwomps that slam into the track from midair, creating temporary undulations into it that can be tricked off of for added boosts of speed. Rainbow Road's sole shortcut comes just before the final turn to the finish line, requiring a Mushroom to leap across a chasm in the middle of a quick split path housing Thwomps on both paths. That is, unless you're playing in the 200 cc, where you can just speed over the ramp and make it to the other side with no problem whatsoever.

5) Big Blue

"You got boost power!" The only Mario Kart 8 DLC track that features three sections, much like Mount Wario (my favorite of the races in the base game), Big Blue is notably based on the setting of races in the F-Zero series. Therefore, as F-Zero fans can expect, it features anti-gravity all of the time, with insane curves, plenty of places to fall off from, and rushing water that pours down slides which racers jet across. Like Mount Wario, Big Blue feels like one big, epic, racing adventure, but this time it has a science-fiction feel to it. Just the way I like it. If Nintendo won't deliver unto us a new F-Zero, this and the next track on my list will have to do... for now.

4) Mute City

Big Blue is a part of the second set of DLC tracks for Mario Kart 8. Mute City is part of the first set. It takes place in the sky, like any F-Zero track would, but like Big Blue, it is a wholly original design. The environment is the sole aspect that is Mute City-ish, with futuristic buildings, billboards, and a pinkish purple sky. The road twists like a corkscrew, curves like a snake, and features a huge drop near the race's conclusion, where a smartly used Mushroom can reveal a shortcut just before the drop. Mute City doesn't fully satiate my desire for a new F-Zero, but at least Nintendo realizes and admits the franchise exists.

3) Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing is a very special track in that it actually has four forms, randomly selected each time you play. The only differences are aesthetic, changing in seasonal appearance. What it lacks in anti-gravity, Animal Crossing more than makes up for in nailing the atmosphere and small town feeling of being in an Animal Crossing town. Whether you speed through a grove of trees, encounter Mr. Resetti in the middle of the race, fly over the town's fountain, jet past the beach, or run into a rock (they even drop coins like the real game), Animal Crossing is a track that is enjoyable to race on. Then again, if you've followed me for any extended time, you know how much I love village/city circuit tracks.

2) Hyrule Circuit

The third and final crossover race in Mario Kart 8's DLC tracks, The Legend of Zelda's Hyrule Circuit has racers racing through Hyrule Field before taking a long right turn to a ramp, which takes them over Hyrule Castle's moat. From there, a left turn leads into the castle itself, where hitting three switches will reveal a shortcut instead of requiring the player to drive around the centerpiece of the castle. Racing out of the castle, race participants speed through a short town section before swerving through a valley full of Keese and Deku Babas. Finally, a quick ramp leads to the finish line, successfully taking racers through a quick tour of Hyrule, a race that makes me smile from beginning to end.

1) Wild Woods

This track, Wild Woods, takes racers through a treetop village and the forest canopy along giant tree branches serving as the track, alongside wooden platforms. Shy Guys seem to make their home here, most notably in the portion of track where players glide over a large chasm as Shy Guys swing overhead. Wild Woods is such a sight to behold, and I absolutely love the ambiance it presents players. The design is top-notch, too, offering tricky turns, an opportunity for a shortcut at the homestretch, and a fun water chute that leads to a pond with lily pads sporting boost strips on them. It's such an original track in both design and composition, making it my favorite of the sixteen new tracks that are a part of the Mario Kart 8 DLC.

Rank Up! - Mario Kart 8 Tracks

Mario Kart 8 has been out for almost a month now, so I think it's been long enough to wrestle in my mind which new tracks from the game I love the most and the least. Even after racing on all sixteen tracks over and over, the decision on how to order these races never really became easy, save for a token amount of tracks. Regardless, I finally came to a conclusion on how each track should rank on this special Mario Kart 8-centric edition of Rank Up! What is Rank Up! you ask? It's where a member of staff here orders a selection of items from least greatest to greatest. While we ordinarily dabble in entries of franchises, this is a special occasion for a truly special game.

16) Bone-Dry Dunes

There really are no Mario Kart 8 tracks that I absolutely abhor or even dislike, for that matter. Therefore, Bone-Dry Dunes being the first track on this countdown doesn't make it a poor track by an stretch of the imagination. Full of twists, curves, mounds, sandships full of Toads that toss coins onto the track near the beginning turns of the race, multiple divided paths that meet back into each other before dividing apart once more, a cool anti-gravity section that allows you to ride on the wall of bones, and a glider section that puts players into a cavern being guarded by a giant Dry Bowser skull, Bone-Dry Dunes is one of the more difficult tracks of the Special Cup, especially those last turns!

15) Water Park

Who needs to wait in a line for the log flume when the entire track is a heck of a ride all on its own! Water Park is the second track of the Mushroom Cup in Mario Kart 8. It features an anti-gravity section that has racers speeding along the Sub Coaster attraction, even using the occasional roller coaster car to get a boost of speed off of. Once racers head underwater for the second time during a given lap, with a Mushroom they can jet through the underwater carousel, successfully skipping a turn of the track. Then it's just a gliding section past a tall Wario-themed Ferris Wheel to return to the starting line for the next lap or the end of the race. 

14) Sweet Sweet Canyon

A track coated in so much sugar that just racing on it could give a racer cavities, Sweet Sweet Canyon is a confectionery-themed race that has racers drifting around large cakes, blasting across a sugary sweet ocean, and deciding between taking either the pink or light blue paths. Regardless of the choice, the paths are the same length, only mirroring one another. With the use of a Mushroom and well-executed drift, a racer can speed across some chocolate frosting, through a doughnut's hole, and arrive back on the track in order to shave some seconds off their final time. Just watch out for Piranha Plants near the end who must have it like torture to see so much sweet creamy goodness around them, yet they're forced to stay in their pipes!

13) Dolphin Shoals

It has a fantastic saxophone-based theme, it has beautiful sparkling waters, and it has inviting shores where the dolphins from Super Mario World hop through hoops. What isn't there to love about Dolphin Shoals? My issue with this track is just how hard it is to build any kind of lead. The track is extremely narrow for Mario Kart 8 standards at many places, particularly near the beginning turn into the submerged cave full of pipes as well as the loop that takes place after racers finally emerge from the water. Still, Dolphin Shoals is a blast to play, offering a ride on Unagi the Eel from Super Mario 64, multiple routes through the submerged cave that precedes said eel, and hardly ever a dull moment.

12) Mario Kart Stadium

The first track of Mario Kart 8 and the first time Mario Kart itself has ever had a track devoted to the series, Mario Kart Stadium is a fantastic way to kick off the game and racing festivities. Being a beginner course, Mario Kart Stadium features multiple wide and easy turns so it's very difficult to careen off-course. From the starting hairpin turn, where taking the outside allows you to speed along some boost pads, to the ending glider segment, where an assault on you while in the air can make or break a race, Mario Kart Stadium is a glorious starter track. Seeing the stars sparkle above you and the crowd upside-down during the anti-gravity segment makes for an unforgettable first impression.

11) Twisted Mansion

The third and final race that was in the E3 2013 demo build of Mario Kart 8, Twisted Mansion juxtaposes the settings of the Flower Cup races before and after it quite well. With its slow opening of its creaking mansion doors at the start of every race to its twisted pathways, submerged section full of fear-inducing bonefish, and outdoor courtyard home to two unpleasant Boos, Twisted Mansion fits the part of a spooky ghost house splendidly. The track has two major shortcut locations, both of which require Mushrooms to fully take advantage of each. The one allows for racers to cut across the inside of the first major turn in the mansion, while the other grants permission to cut across the lawn leading to the finish line. Twisted Mansion is one spooky setting, and it's a rather enjoyable race to "boo"-t as well.

10) Rainbow Road

There are far worse Rainbow Road tracks in Mario Kart history, but there's also far better ones too. Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 8 is one that is higher on the list of great final Mario Kart tracks, but it doesn't have what it takes to be the very best, like no Rainbow Road ever was. Ahem. Set in and around a space station, Mario Kart 8's Rainbow Road features multiple perilous twists and turns that require heavy skill to overcome. It doesn't help that most of the turns and pieces of track completely lack railing, so for beginning racers, be prepared to fall off Rainbow Road. A. Lot. Racing inside the center space station has two revolving pieces of track that alternate directions each lap. Picking the right piece to race on separates the men from the boys (or the women from the girls in other cases!). The final half of track takes place on two paths that weave across and under one another. Unlike most other split path choices in Mario Kart 8, these paths are not identical or even mirror images of one another. Mario Kart 8's Rainbow Road offers a tense ride from beginning to end, but ban me to Mario Kart DS's Rainbow Road if it's not fun.

9) Mario Circuit

The first track unveiled in Mario Kart 8, Mario Circuit is a racer's welcome to the Flower Cup. The track itself is pure Mobius strip that weaves in and out familiar sights like hills from the Super Mario Bros. series and Princess Peach's castle. It's a perfect showing of exactly how cool and wicked the track design of Mario Kart 8 has become compared to past games. This track proved to me just how special even a simple concept like a Mobius strip could be made into a marvelous course to race on. Mario enemy standbys like Goombas and Piranha Plants litter the course to trip up unassuming players, but other than that, Mario Circuit is a relatively safe ride. 

8) Electrodrome

Have yourself a race and a rave all at the same time with Electrodrome's groovy raceway. Candy for your eyes, Electrodrome's bright flashy colors and giant glistening disco ball make sure that racers are having a party regardless of whether they're in first place, dead last, or somewhere in between. The track features two separate gliding areas, one at the beginning and one near the end of the race; it possesses a choice between split paths that ride over one another as if they were mirror images; and there's some particularly funky music playing all the while this is going on. It all adds up to a track that is a feast for the eyes and a joy to drive on!

7) Cloudtop Cruise

The first race of the Special Cup takes players on a sky high ride through and on top of clouds. Innocently enough the race begins with some wide turns on top of a lanky cloud pathway. Players can use various jumps and ledges to trick off of to gain some speed. The sole airship that players race upon gives a choice of going on the longer left side or the much narrower but shorter right side. From there, the sides converge and racers get shot out of a cannon through the clouds. Here, racers are now inside a massive storm cloud, which threatens to shock players with lightning bolts that blast the various boost pads inside. Once this section has been cleared, players glide into more forgiving skies onto a beanstalk where one final choice is offered: either take the longer and safer left path or cut across two leaves over a pit below to make a death-defying shortcut. Cloudtop Cruise is a beauty of a course that feels, looks, and plays the part of something epic.

6) Sunshine Airport

This was the track of Mario Kart 8 preview trailers that revealed the names of plenty of other tracks within the game. Thank you, observant watchers for that information! Sunshine Airport is a tropical destination that features racers crossing under the legs of an airplane, gliding in the air while giant planes cross over, and making precise turns to shave off as many seconds as possible. The attention to detail is massive, such as the murmuring of the PA in the airport terminal itself, the numerous planes having markings of Mushroom Kingdom-related companies on them, and there's even something that appears to be Mario Kart 64's Koopa Troopa Beach in the distance during the final gliding section of the race. It's inviting, it's engaging to race on, and there's enough variety to keep each and every lap feeling fun and fresh, Sunshine Airport is my second favorite Star Cup track in Mario Kart 8.

5) Shy Guy Falls

A race where you ride up the side of a gushing waterfall and then make a quick hairpin turn and ride down the side of another waterfall? That's just pure awesomeness in my book, no matter how I try to slice it. This is another race in Mario Kart 8 that turns racers upside-down, sideways, frontways, backways, and under-ways! I'm slipping into Willy Wonka speak here. I apologize for that. Regardless, Shy Guy Falls is not just one of the more visually appealing tracks in Mario Kart 8, but it's such a darn pleasure to race on. The track's two shortcuts, one after the track's sole gliding section and one that's relatively hidden that requires a Mushroom, both allow for some precious second-shaving fun. All that and then you have those adorable Shy Guys working hard mining ore from the side of the mountains? Oh, yeah. That's freaking fantastic!

4) Thwomp Ruins

Although it's the just the final race of the Mushroom Cup, Thwomp Ruins is a great track set in an ancient temple. The first lap is inconspicuous enough, but on the second lap, stone wheels start traveling down the inside of the temple and aren't very shy about running racers foolish enough to challenge them over. The first piece of track within the temple offers an anti-gravity path on the wall to race on to avoid the wheels completely, but the ordinary track that curves on a downward slope is the faster way to go. Once past this first inside portion of Thwomp Ruins, there are multitude of routes to travel in the outdoor courtyard. From the second lap onward, a ramp in center allows racers to glide off to catch some big air. There's also an underwater pool that can be traversed, or you can take the sides of the courtyard, either on the ground or wall. Just watch out for the titular Thwomps that litter the track and have no fear of crushing unassuming drivers. The last part of the race offers a daredevil shortcut across a narrow sliver of track surrounded by a bottomless pit. Crossing this saves some time, but falling does the opposite. A final gliding section concludes this awesome ancient track.

3) Bowser's Castle

While I am a lover of both the Nintendo 64 and GameCube Bowser's Castle tracks, Mario Kart 8's twisted and hazard-filled iteration of this long-standing traditional track certainly rivals my faves. Right away from the starting line, as racers rev their engines and countdown to begin racing ticks down, the gate of Bowser's Castle creaks open. It's a small touch but an awesome one simultaneously. Bowser's Castle in Mario Kart 8 has so many moments where you're wondering which way is up as you avoid the laser beams shot out from the eyes of the beginning straightaway's Bowser statues, tear through the crooked hallways of the castle, and come face to face with a gigantic molten Bowser statue which pummels both choices of paths at steady intervals. Bowser's Castle in Mario Kart 8 rocks, and I'm not just talking about the song that accompanies this fantastic race either!

2) Toad Harbor

I'm a sucker for street-based, city-themed tracks. It's no wonder why one of my favorite Mario Kart tracks of all time is Mario Kart DS's Delfino Square. However, I think I've found a new city track to take the crown from old Delfino Square, Toad Harbor. This San Francisco-inspired track is full of uphill and downhill street-racing, it has its own supply of streetcar trolleys, a beginning marketplace where weaving through awning poles, barrels, crates, and more is the best solution, and at least four sections of track that offer a choice of paths. Whether it's taking the seaside route for a quick shortcut across a docked boat or crossing the beginning bridge, or it's riding on the wall or continuing on the street, Toad Harbor is a terrifically designed track that still amazes, even close to a year after its initial reveal at E3 2013.

1) Mount Wario

The only all-new Mario Kart track that is split up into three sections rather than being a circuit-style track of three laps, Mount Wario is my favorite new track in Mario Kart 8. You start in truly extreme sport fashion, driving out from the inside of a plane onto the summit of the mountain. You lean into the snowy and then icy curves of the mountainous road as you move down the mountain ever so slowly. The second part of the track takes place in multiple settings: 1) inside a cavernous setting where you can glide or ride down a cascading waterfall, using the rocks to keep your flight pattern continuing, 2) on the side of a dam where water and boost pads careen downward. With proper timing, you can hit the boosts without falling into the water to your left, and 3) inside a forest, weaving in and out of the way of snow-covered trees, and tricking off of logs in the process. The final part of Mount Wario has you playing like a slalom skier, drifting downhill before coming off a glide strip towards the finish line, where thousands of screaming fans cheer you on.

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Which Mario Kart 8 tracks are your favorites? Least favorites? Let us know in the comments section below!