Mario Kart thrills with some amazing tracks of endless creativity and fun, but there are some tracks that are far more divisive than others. Whether it’s frustrating map design or dangerous obstacles, the maps listed below will showcase some of the more challenging aspects of Mario Kart, without sacrificing the fun involved.
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While these tracks might be divisive and controversial picks, it’s worth noting that everyone has a different level of fun across the multitude of Mario Kart games and tracks, so here are a few picks listed below that players might want to be wary of in their wish lists for Mario Kart World.
8 Vanilla Lake 2
Hell Has Frozen Over to Provide Players with an Intense Course
- Debuted in: Super Mario Kart
Few tracks scare players more than Vanilla Lake 2, a track compiled of nothing but ice and water. Due ot the graphics and mechanics of Super Mario Kart, it can be very hard to navigate through Vanilla Lake 2, which is often flat and hard to see obstacles until they’re in your face. With a continuing loop, players will constantly be on edge as they try to navigate across a track that has slippery ground and a lack of traction, forcing players to fight for their lives so that they do not plummet into the freezing waters or fail to hop past deadly gaps.
7 Wario’s Gold Mine
Steep Declines, Sharp Turns, and Deadly Mine Carts
- Debuted in: Mario Kart Wii
With a layout that never slows down, players are in for a deadly and rickety race as they venture across a gold mine that doesn’t stop. Everything is out to get players in Wario’s Gold Mine, from the bats that will knock them back, to the mine carts themselves that will knock players over. If those obstacles were not bad enough, then players need to worry about the sharp turns that will see them plummet to their doom, and going too fast on such steep declines could cause players to lose their speed and fall once more.
6 Baby Park
An 8-Lap Course Where the Chaos Never Stops
- Debuted in: Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Baby Park is easily one of the most fun tracks in Mario Kart, but it’s also one of the most deadly. Baby Park can be extremely frustrating to play, since there are more laps to make up for the extremely small size of the map, which is just a large oval where players drift repeatedly through other players and item boxes. The range of item boxes and the cluster of players that get lapped over and again means that players are always going to be hit by rogue weapons, which turns Baby Park into a battle royale frenzy instead of a sporting race.
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5 Neo Bowser City
A Futuristic City That’s Plagued by Rapidly Sharp Turns
- Debuted in: Mario Kart 7
Neo Bowser City truly looks like a breathtaking place. That is, until players realize it’s always raining, the sky is condensed with pollution, and Bowser’s face is plastered everywhere. To make matters worse, the faster players go, the greater risk they have of failing. Neo Bowser City has tight alleyways, twisting corners, and tunnels that could shoot players straight out to their demise if they’re not careful. There are so many obstacles and walls to crash into during a run of Neo Bowser City that players might be wishing for a change of scenery with Moo Moo Meadows.
4 Shroom Ridge
A Mountain Ridge Road Where Sharp Turning Leads to Doom
- Debuted in: Mario Kart DS
Shroom Ridge might be a beautiful mountaintop location, but the traffic makes it anything but. Shroom Ridge features a rather varied method of track design, allowing players to swerve between cars and other racers as they navigate a winding ridge, but there’s a catch. The expansive mountain surface makes for such sharp bends that players aren’t going to be able to see the cars that are coming their way until it’s too late, and players are going to end up spinning out or knocking themselves down the mountain. It’s a deadly track that requires players to stay focused and careful at all times.
3 Ninja Hideaway
Splitting Courses With Ceiling Traps and Ninja Shy Guys
- Debuted in: Mario Kart Tour
Ninja Hideaway can be a tad overwhelming when it comes to course design. The track itself has retractable ceilings that will chop and change the layout, forcing some players to go up while others go down, and neither knows which is faster. As the map continues to move, players are forced to continue to debate whether they should go up and down, while avoiding ninja variants of Shy Guys and trying to stay stable on the tiled rooftops that they drive across in the hopes that they don’t fall and crash.
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2 Bowser’s Castle (MK8)
Fire Obstacles and a Metal Bowser Stop Players in Their Tracks
- Debuted in: Mario Kart 8
Bowser’s Castle constantly innovates and changes over the years, and it seems each new Mario Kart featured a Bowser’s Castle. While players should feel bad for the architect who has to design Bowser’s Castle, they should also feel sorry for the racers who embark on this specific castle’s halls. With traps galore, players are going to spin out of track and lose their place, especially with the abundance of laser-spewing Bowser, fire-spinning lines, and the dreaded metal Bowser that punches a splitting track repeatedly. Crossing through Bowser’s Castle without getting set on fire or hitting a wall is a hard ask.
1 Rainbow Road (Wii)
The Hardest Rainbow Road With No Safety Rails
- Debuted in: Mario Kart Wii
While Rainbow Road tracks can be ranked on their own, it’s hard to imagine any of them surpassing the Wii version. Rainbow Road’s Wii track is intense in all senses of the word. There are no railings, no support to stop players from tumbling down to their doom. A simple knock from a larger racer will send players hurtling down, and using a Mushroom is the riskiest thing one can do with such tight corners, with no safety whatsoever. Rainbow Road has many hard turns, and players will be lucky if they complete this track without halting to a stop or falling just once.
Mario Kart World
- Released
- June 5, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Everyone // Mild Fantasy Violence, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Racing, Open-World
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch 2
