Just a few more days until Mario Kart 7 turns your 3DS into a portable Grand Prix of insanity! Of all the games announced this year, this one tops my wish list. I love Mario Kart–every single incarnation.
As fans know, most Mario Kart games since Super Circuit have featured two sets of tracks: New and Classic. We can’t judge the new courses until we play the game, but it’s fun to look at the retro tracks and see which favorites made the cut this year. The complete track list has become available recently online, but today I’d like to just focus on the oldies. WARNING! Don’t read further if you want to keep the track selection a complete surprise.
Okay, here are the retro tracks chosen for Mario Kart 7:
Luigi Raceway (N64)
Bowser Castle (GBA)
Mushroom Gorge (Wii)
Luigi’s Mansion (DS)
Koopa Beach (N64)
Mario Circuit 2 (SNES)
Coconut Mall (Wii)
Waluigi Pinball (DS)
Kalimari Desert (N64)
DK Pass (DS)
Daisy Cruiser (GCN)
Maple Treeway (Wii)
Koopa Cape (Wii)
Dino Dino Jungle (GCN)
Airship Fortress (DS)
Rainbow Road (SNES)
So, that’s 1 GBA track, 2 SNES tracks, 2 Gamecube tracks, 3 N64 tracks and 4 each for DS and Wii.
Even the most casual glance reveals this is certainly the most…er…familiar list of retro tracks to date, mainly because fully half the tracks are from the Wii and DS games. It seems like just last week I was racing along Koopa Cape, Maple Treeway and Coconut Mall…because it was just last week! Awesome courses. They certainly chose the Wii tracks most often selected by online players…including (blech) Mushroom Gorge. Seriously, who keeps picking that track every time I play online? I’m hoping the new glider action adds a new twist to the layout, because I am not a fan of the bouncy-house intermission. Personally, I would have replaced it with Moo Moo Meadows (yeah, I’m the guy picking that one online.)
No complaints about the four DS courses! Airship Fortress and Waluigi Pinball were a pair I’d wished were on the Wii game, and I can’t wait to see them again!
I’m surprised to find only 2 Double Dash tracks: I thought for sure they’d include the DD Bowser Castle. Daisy Cruiser’s a fun pick, though a bit similar to Coconut Mall.
Solid N64 choices; can’t wait to hear the Koopa Beach music! As for the GBA and SNES tracks, they ought to be great for online play, and I love that the original Rainbow Road is the closing track for Mario Kart 7.
What do you think of the these oldies (and not-so-oldies)? Did any of your favorites get passed over again? Did any make you groan in dismay as much as I did when I saw Mushroom Gorge? (I’ll keep an open mind until I play this new version of my least favorite Wii track.)
One thing’s for certain: I can’t wait until Sunday!
I am glad somebody finally brought this one up. I am exttremely dissappointed in the retro track selection of Mario Kart 7. 1/4 of the tracks are already in Mario Kart DS and can already be played on the 3DS. And another 1/4 of them are from the Wii version, only 3 years old. Hardly retro by any means.
It's such a wasted oppurtunity. I've played those tracks so many times in recent years and I really dont look forward that much to play the retro grans Prix'.
What they should have done, is giving players, new and old, an oppurtunity to play some tracks they would never have played before, or at least in new multiplayer ways. Meaning everything but the DS and Wii version.
Super Circuit: How many people have played these tracks in multiplayer? There should have been at least 4 tracks from this little gem.
SNES: To many new players, this original is to hard to manouvre in, so they wont play it. I know, because I downloaded it on my Wii and tried it on some Mario Kart fanatic kids. It was unplayable to them and they lost interest almost immediately. I would also say at least 4 tracks from this one.
Double Dash and 64. Lots of great tracks from these two games. But seeing Double Dash on the 3DS wouldn't wauw me, because it's the exact same graphics (almost). The funny thing is that they are portable now.
@Kaiser Soze You shouldnt be dissapointed bye these tracks. They may be from the wii or ds, but maybe thats because everyone loved those, and btw the ones they picked were the one most family friendly. Also, their adding a whole new opportunity with the air glider and the scuba set or whatever you'd like to call it. What im saying is that these tracks are fun for everyone and that the graphics shouldnt really matter as long as their not tooo bad. So when you get it just have fun with and donts get mad tht you keep folling of mushroom gorge with the same graphics as on the wii.
Wait a minute…how do you know the final 4 retro tracks of MK7?
Wario Stadium from the N64 version is my favorite track of all time. I guess I'll have to wait for Mario Kart 8.
I hate Coconut Mall. And I don't like Waluigi Pinball either. But the rest are ok.
Not enough Gamecube tracks IMO.
one thing iv allways wished they would do is have a rainbow cup, a cup composed entirely of a bunch of the old rainbow roads
What Kaiser Soze said.. It's a bit of a cheap shot to add so many wii and ds tracks which we've just played a lot.
But I'm glad you're finally here MK7
I just wish Nintendo would make good on their promise for DLC on 3DS. I would waste A LOT of money on track packs for Mario Kart, oh yes I would.
@Nathan: YAY, there's nothing like a good ol' lightning in Mushroom Gorge, sending you to the endless deep and from the first place to twelth, in an online game.
No matter what you or anybody else tells me about the retro cups, I cannot feel anything but dissappointment because of all the Wii and DS tracks. I am actually more forgiving about the Wii tracks, because they ported them from a stationary console to a portable one, which might change the experience.
On DS and Wii, the retro cups were such a blast playing. In Mario Kart Wii, I've enjoyed the retro tracks much more than the new ones.
What I do want, is a lot of the DS tracks in Mario Kart for WiiU, because THAT could become an entirely new experience.
Enough moaning, just play the damn thing. It's coming out today 🙂