Nintendo Extreme: Rainbow Road After 20 Years

August 27 marked the 20th anniversary of the Mario Kart series. To celebrate, I plan to talk about the seven Rainbow Roads. So go on and enjoy.

1. Rainbow Road- SNES

This is where it all started back in 1992. It was in the first game, so it is going to look basic. However, that doesn't make it easy. There are absolutely no barriers on the edges of the road, so it is fairly easy to fall off. Also, flashing, invincible Thwomps appear all over the place. Running into one causes the racer to spin completely out of control. Like other Super Mario Kart tracks, it appeared in Mario Kart: Super Circuit. It is still very fun just like its follow ups and is playable as a Retro track in Mario Kart 7 .

2. Rainbow Road- N64

Rainbow Road pretty much evolves in Mario Kart 64. It is officially the longest track in Mario Kart history, taking almost six minutes to complete three laps. It is fun, however, it is slightly easier than the Rainbow Road in Super Mario Kart. Mostly because barriers cover the whole tracks. It is not a harmless track, though. First, Chomps invade the track and are fairly hard to dodge. Second, gravity is a lot lighter, so it is a lot easier to fall off of a ledge. What I like about this one are the neon racers that appear throughout the race. Also, this track made a neat appearance in F-Zero X, with a metal remix of the original N64 music only in the Japanese version.

3. Rainbow Road- GBA

This track was slightly dumbed down, but it was for the Game Boy Advance. It had a few barrier, but was still a hard to control track. There were a few surprise turns and a few sharp ones. Shooting stars tend to fall on certain parts of the track. Hitting one would make the racer spin out of control. Small thunder clouds also appeared. Running under while it goes off causes the racer to shrink. A fun easter egg is the Bowser's Castle from Paper Mario appearing in the background.

4. Rainbow Road- GCN

This track is very good. One reason is that it is over Mushroom City, while the version in multi player is in space. It can be a fairly difficult track depending on how experienced you are. Throughout the track, rainbow statues of various items appear throughout the track, similar to the neon racers in Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road. While I'm talking about that Rainbow Road, part of the music in this Rainbow Road is actually a remix the the 64's Rainbow Road, which is always welcomed by me.

5. Rainbow Road- NDS

Despite not being as decorative as previous incarnations, this track is still just as enjoyable as any other Rainbow Road. The track barely has any obstacles, but barely any guardrails as well. It contains may loops and corkscrews that gives it a roller coaster feel. This is pretty unique because it is so far the only Rainbow Road to contain any real loops in it. Also, the rainbow pattern is slightly different than in previous Rainbow Roads. Instead of the stripes crossing the track, they instead follow the track.

6. Rainbow Road- Wii

This one indeed shows the difference between Mario Kart Wii and Super Mario Kart. This Rainbow Road contains many turns. It takes place above Earth, in which different parts of North America, Europe, Africa and South America can be seen. And interesting twist in this race is if a racer fall off the track, they will fall towards Earth and burn up in the atmosphere before being picked up by Lakitu. There is also a Star tunnel that acts very similar to cannons in the game. This track also has small Super Mario Galaxy references to it, such as a small Super Mario Galaxy remix in the music and floating Star Bits seen in the space.

7. Rainbow Road- 3DS

This track is a real improvement. Like a few other long tracks in Mario Kart 7, it only has one lap and is divided into three sections. It is also the first Rainbow Road to have an area that is not on a rainbow, but instead on a moon. On this moon, the gravity fairly light. There are also a few craters that can be used as ramps. Rolling Chain Chomps invade the moon and can run into the racer. Asteroids can also hit a racer in the last section of the track. The music is a remix to Double Dash's Rainbow Road, so that also means a remix to Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road. Actually, the last section's music is pretty much a sped up remix to 64's Rainbow Road.

And there we have it. As an added bonus, I have decided to add a gallery of the Rainbow Roads. All pictures used belong to Super Mario Wiki.

Super Mario Kart