The Seemingly 32 Tracks of Mario Kart's New World

Special thanks on help with researching in Rook's Domain to: Demonz, fabip, Pokemaster Michael, Diogo, Lweo, PresumptuousPopplio, & smile.

Well, I had to rush this one out before more details drop tomorrow. I think that while everything is now harder to predict when it comes to the future of the Mario Kart series, some things, like what might be in what cup, got way easier! This brings us to the question of the night though: there's more than enough for 8 cups, so why is there only 7? How much are they truly hiding? Well, maybe it's only a course or two. Maybe it's a whole second half of the globe, down the road.

I also changed my mind mid-video process where I think Moo Moo Meadows will be, so forgive me for that.

But here's my best guess on what to expect - tell me what you all think!

[HDRookie]

This seems to be a common misconception, so I'm going to address it above the comment section, but the "8 extra cups" are not cups. They are knockout rallies consisting of the same tracks we've seen in many cups. This was confirmed in the official Treehouse footage yesterday. They are selectable track lists that take you through a segment of the world instead of focusing on 3 lap races. They don't contain new tracks. I am hoping more tracks are hidden somewhere and won't rule it out, but they aren't here.

[chinkram]

imagine interconnected rainbows roads as a final cup

[jayem]

Free roam with Wuhu island loop would be a dream.

[Scott...]

I love the idea of the SNES tracks being randomly scattered across the map as little playgrounds for you to find

[OrangeToadGamer]

I like the fact that they innovate and expand on the retro tracks concepts, for example, DK Pass was a snowy mountain on DS/3DS, and now it becomes a ski resort with more mountain to drive on, can't wait to see what the other tracks are like!

[olliewests]

IMAGINE: You beat the Bowser's Castle Track and it flies into the air, (Because all the Grand Prix tracks are connected) everyone gets shot out a cannon and onto GBA Rainbow Road.

[thatoneguyrandm]

The fact that cup rules have been thrown out the window in favor of biome based cup organization is both a logical next step and something extremely unprecedented. My hope is that all courses can equally get a chance in the sun with this but with the retro course selection feeling almost random, I have a high suspicion this game's DLC is going to completely go off the rails with its content with all rules having been thrown out. The no retro Wii U thing could just be chalked up to MK8DX also being playable on the Switch 2, meaning they might be actively avoiding remaking any tracks that were released from the Wii U era like what happened with Tour. Hopefully most of this information will get cleared up when the Direct gives us more info on this game lmao.

[latenitewaffles]

It's kinda seeming like they're trying to cram as many references to other courses into this game as possible for the free roam so I wouldn't be surprised if we get some GBA courses just sprinkled around the game

[lavaluffy]

Hear me out: after complicating all normal cups you have access to the star world much like the 2-D Mario games. This is where 4 rainbow road tracks will take place.

[WildWyvern]

Bowsers castle in the lightning cup wouldn't be so strange, it was in the N64 star cup.

I also think moo moo Meadows in the lightning cup could be extremely weather affected to make up the difficulty and fit the lightning theme.

[colielifi]

I feel like they want to keep the Special Cup hidden, since the rainbow is a track located in the galaxy, it canmt be shown on the map they‘ve layed out and maybe takes us to an exclusive map for this cup only

[fernando]

Best analysis of the map I've seen! I didn't realize we've seen Crown City in two different cups! Also, prediction: you mentioned how the SNES Mario Circuits are in a track (RIP Mario Circuit 4) and the SNES Ghost Valley and Koopa Beach tracks too... So what if in Free Roam you can find ALL the SNES tracks in the Map. We already know of those but the remaining tracks could fit because the environments are there: icy part for Vanilla Lake tracks, Rainbow Road of course, Bowser Castle in the lava world, Choco Island in the mountain region, and Donut Plain could be fit anywhere tbh

[unebaguette]

Imagine if they add a custom cup mode considering every track has a bunch of roads connecting them, that would be so cool

[Twentydragon]

As you mention, 32 is exactly the same number of courses that _Mario Kart 8_ started with.

But this one has 32 _named_ courses, plus a plethora of connections from one named course to all of its neighbors. Those segments between courses may not have individual names, but they can easily be considered courses in themselves, akin to Mt. Wario or Big Blue, where there's a start and an end.

I was honestly still hyped for it with just the 29 I saw on the map, plus all those connections between them. And if they add DLC regions, the game is going to be beyond huge. (Though I do think they should at least make the first DLC pack free, as an olive branch to the irate fans, reasonable or not.)

[AquaBluJay]

I think the Direct will explain more about the Tracks, they are saving it for it

[hazey_]

My stupid prediction is that final cup starts back at DK spaceport and takes us to the moon for rainbow road

[VKB]

I think they can and will hide a portion of the game.
Like they did with TOTK, where it was completely hidden that there was an underground area.

[koopakid]

Personally i dont think we will see mario kart 8 base tracks at all. They were DOWN OUR THROATS FOR OVER 10

That game is an era in itself.

[beleva]

My biggest wish now before release is the ability to create your own cups by selecting any four linking tracks and then race your friends on them online!

[riskyworks]

11:07 From the Treehouse footage, it seems like the Rallies are moreso about going from one end of the map to another. So you don't do the full track (not even a full lap), you just sometimes drive through the tracks. However, this does give us a reason to the learn the layouts of the "between tracks" areas, since the rallies may not take the same route as the grand prix tracks.