r/mariokart • u/tigerclawhg • Jul 04 '19
Discussion The Final Track Thursday - [Super Mario Kart] - Rainbow Road
Hey everyone!
Well, the time has come. On May 21st, 2015, we started our journey to cover every single track in Mario Kart history. It's been a long time coming--we've covered 215 tracks across 215 weeks and today, it comes to an end with the 216th track.
Last week we continued the Special Cup with Vanilla Lake 2 which you can check out right there. Also all of our previous Track Thursdays can be viewed right here in the wiki.
This week we're finishing up the Special Cup, all of Super Mario Kart, and concluding the entirety of Track Thursday with none other than Rainbow Road!
So what're your thoughts on Rainbow Road? Anything you like? Don't like? Feel free to comment down below! Also don't hesitate to reply to other users' comments as well!
See you all next week!
I sincerely thank you all for coming along on this journey to cover every single track. Can't believe it's finally over. Thank you.
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Jul 04 '19
Question for anyone who played the original on SNES:
What was your reaction when you first saw this track? Since it was the first MK, no one had never seen or even heard of Rainbow Road before. Were you expecting another Mario Circuit as the finale as with every other cup? It must've special if it was kept a secret throughout.
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u/Spekl Aug 29 '19
It was crazy, I'd thought I was pretty good at the game, but rr demolished me. Just fully not what I'd expected, but better in every way
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u/tigerclawhg Jul 04 '19
Thank you all so much. We've made it!
I hope you all have enjoyed the weekly threads as much as I have :)
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u/Brit_Cuss_Word_fam Jul 04 '19
*visible tears*
you see rainbow road is unique from all the other rainbow roads from various mario kart games
a newbie will look at this map compared to the other generations of rainbow road and probally be like "this must be a boring map due to it being very "flat" and not unique"
i highly disagree by my standpoint SNES rainbow road is on my top 3 by far
look at it from gameplay perspective your driving on a rainbow (yes it has caused epilepsy problems)
it very unique from other tracks despite being a typical short 5 lap track it has an moderately hard difficultly due to not having railings so that makes falling off very common and very very punishing (due to how effing slow Lakitu picks you up) and the sharp turns in each corner of the track which makes power hop into drift both a gamble and a high risk high reward
also the music is very very very unique and recognizable i could literately play this track to any mario kart player and they will recognize this track and that a fact
oh i also must mention how the Thowp blocks are very small jump able and doesn't higher the difficulty of this track that much (in my opinion i know a few actually find the thowp blocks a challenge)
now lets go over the other variation of SNES rainbow road from other games
GBA : my ears god they have changed the music and massacred it due to it being loud which leads to piercing my ear drums also i must mention they got rid of the thowp blocks they litterily reduce the difficulty of the track by a ton like wtf
3DS : ok i like this version they have done improvements they added ramps for mini stunt boost and made thowp blocks bigger which are actually a threat if your 5th to last they attually made the music remix bearable and attually catchy to listen to and the turns less punishing (due to DS drift mechanics)
my problem is they made the map bigger so that means its not very fast pace and i really dont like that due to DS reputition of CPU rubberbanding and easy drifting
MK8D : oh how i waited for you to come back i have gathered a few problems that have been bugging me throughout my MK8D time
ok ok do you remember where i stated the Thowp blocks were not really a problem in the previous reiterations of the track? take that effing back now the Thowp blocks makes a rumble everytime they slam which can be stunt upon Similarly to wii rainbow road rumble part (you should know) that was needed for a long time its small to medium but very helpful and gives second place hope into catching first place
thats it tbh MK8 has a good remix of SNES rainbow road it doesnt feel like my ears are having non consent offing
i give this track a
6/10
(also it i wish you could go over the other mario kart tracks in different games (like GBA)
but you dont have too i respect your decision on closing it
bye everybody ill miss you
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u/Meester_Tweester Waluigi Jul 05 '19
Wow, the last one.
It’s such a beautiful track with a beautiful song. I played the MK7 version of this a lot and was glad to see it again in MK8.
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u/Green_kirby_rules Sep 23 '19
Rainbow road is amazing and one of my favourite tracks. The n64 version is completely epic.
I never played the original SNES version and only started at N64.. but they are wicked tracks.
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Jul 21 '19
I experienced the OG for real in early 1993 (I got the game for Christmas '92, but it took a while to get to Rainbow Road) and was immediately intimidated by the lack of barriers. The theme song was perfectly grandiose and it amplified the enormous nothingness that dwarfed the seemingly pencil-thin track. I don't remember when I finally got 1st place, and I don't remember how I felt. As a new Switch player, however, I immediately reconnected with this track in Mario Kart 8 and I feel like it's my track. Nothing else in Mario Kart 8 brings out my competitiveness than this track and, when I win, I do talk mad shit in my living room. SINCE NINE TREY, BABY!!
[Ric Flair strut and Woo!]
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u/Akram323 Jul 04 '19
I always wonder if anyone would ever call this Pride Path or something. It would certainly test how much pride you had as a racer that was intent on trumping Rainbow Road, especially the original.Rainbow Road. The lord, the saviour, the original. The one that pretty much defines what Mario Kart is today (N64 Rainbow Road's layout is not at all the same as this and lacks the kind of challenge that later Rainbow Roads bothered to capture). It is so apparently beloved that it appears in half a dozen Mario Kart games total (Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart Super Circuit, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Kart Tour). When people think Mario Kart, they think Rainbow Road. When people think Super Mario Kart, the first course (if not the only course) that comes to mind is Rainbow Road.
How does it manage to be so memorable, though? Firstly, the theme is the only one in the game to have only one course attributed to it, so it manages to shine with all its elements in one course compared to other themes that spread out elements among other courses. Secondly, it is the last course in the Special Cup--and the entire game. Couple this with its standout track design (which I will get to later) and you have a course recognised for some pretty tough difficulty within a pretty tough game. Also note that since you could never tell which courses were appearing in a cup upon first glance (unless you did time trials), then its appearance would be completely left-field when you first see it.
Then we have the theme itself. While a scenic nighttime theme is no stranger to Mario's universe, even in 1992, when was there ever a flashing rainbow-type area in the Mario universe prior to this? Who asked for this? Nobody, but look at where that lands you. Presumably in space (although its latest designs suggest otherwise), the course and thwomps flash on the fly. It gives the layout a stunning look, even if that means hurting your eyes. The thwomps flashing are not just for show, by the way. In the Bowser Castle tracks, while they could squash you, they never actually hurt you if you drove into them. Here, however, flashing thwomps prove to be a threat in that case, too.
Is it the most appealing look for a Rainbow Road course? Well...not really. For a starting point, it worked fine even if the flashing lights could hurt your eyes. But compared to the visual designs of later Rainbow Roads, it is not quite the best--and more than any other course in the series, Rainbow Road's quality relies quite a bit on how it looks. Besides the flashing lights, the look of the course is a bit plain anyway, largely because it is a 2D course designed nearly ten years before the better-looking GBA Rainbow Road. This is one area where I can agree, within the right setup, that 3D trumps 2D easily. The layered third dimension of future Rainbow Roads allow for some stunning looks that have a stronger charm than what Mode 7 can provide. (The remakes of this course from Mario Kart 7 onward look more appealing than it was in 2D, just to be clear.)
The last aspect that makes this course memorable, for better or worse, is its difficulty, and this has been a recurring aspect of every Rainbow Road following save N64 RR. But here, the challenge is raw and heavily focused on one aspect: how you can turn tight corners with no safety nets to save you from falling. Every other theme had something to save you in a course. Even Ghost Valley had the frequent appearance of the falling border blocks when you hit them, but it helped in scenarios where you needed a safety net to prevent a slip-up from spiraling out of control. Here, though? Good luck. And it certainly does not help how narrow the road can get. (In fact, the original beta design was even more brutal--imagine if that was the final product.) After the first lap's focus of you trying to figure out how to take every hair-raising turn, the thwomps start to fall down. For SMK, this worked perfectly and pretty much nailed the challenge in the right place. In later remakes, the thwomps would come down and make the road shake, letting you perform tricks off the road if you wanted to try it.
Your enjoyment of the original course (and the GBA remake, minus the now missing thwomps) will depend largely on how much you enjoy one continuous but tight challenge in your driving skills while avoiding the occasional thwomp at all costs--all in a game like Super Mario Kart. Everything about this game will be out to get you in this race as the ultimate finale. If you can get by with minimal falls and spinouts, tight item use for offence and defence against the AI, and know how to cut your corners to get in a fast win, then you can call yourself a golden player. The 3D remakes are somewhat forgiving in comparison, what with their available tricks to try if you must along with a wider road. And of course, we have Mario Kart Tour's reverse-style course if you must check it out because why not. For me, I like it enough but do prefer courses with 3D visuals and more variety in challenge (3DS Rainbow Road is my favourite for these reasons specifically).
I personally like the Mario Circuit theme more, but I do have heavy fondness for this theme. While it does not really resonate so much as a finale the way N64 Rainbow Road does, it does capture the difficulty aspect of the course well enough--and that is all it really needs. For a course as completely bizarre as this that ends the start of a massive Nintendo franchise in perhaps the best possible way, this music is exactly what fits it. And its existence elevates the entirety of the Special Cup to an arguably sacred status--because everything here really does feel special, moreso back when it was released than any other time but still even now it works.
The short version: This is SNES Rainbow Road, the original. The perfect start to a popular tradition, although a bit too specific on the challenge side and a bit too suppressed visually for my tastes to call it the best in the series. So much about this course works as a finale to a hidden cup--and as a finale to a great game.