After six brief installments, we have made it to the end of the first half of this 96-track odyssey through Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Let’s see the tracks that help define the halfway point.
#56: Tour Bangkok Rush
When this track initially dropped in Wave 4, it became my favorite Tour track to that point. Since then, I have eased away from that take.
Now, that’s not to say I don’t like the track anymore; on the contrary, I still pick it most times when it pops up in online lobbies.
The race starts out in front of the Grand Palace before shuttling the racers down the Chao Phraya River until funneling everyone into the Maeklong Railway Market that leads into the BTS Skytrain lines.
Lap 2 focuses on flying through the Democracy Monument and the Giant Swing, the true centerpieces of the track. After passing by the Grand Palace again, lap 3 kicks off with a set of winding turns.
Instead of going up to the Democracy Monument again, a cut to the left takes racers through a tight parking garage that empties out into the Talat Rotfai.
By this point in the BCP, it was clear that Nintendo finally got the hang of utilizing the elements that their source cities had to offer, so it should be no surprise that this track is higher up in the rankings.
Grade: 27/40
#55: N64 Royal Raceway
The third track in the Banana Cup, Royal Raceway contends with some of the best circuit tracks in the entire series.
While it may not seem to be high up on the list, it has the unfortunate distinction of being a really good track in a game chock-full of great and superb courses.
Unlike a lot of retro maps in this game, Nintendo elected to not stray too far from what made Royal Raceway great back in its Nintendo 64 heyday, opting to give it a fresh coat of paint and configuring the big ramp into a glider ramp.
The updated soundtrack for this course goes crazy, offering a great backing track for all the item-slinging buffoonery that ensues of its three laps.
This upgraded retro course retains the difficulty of its original iteration in 200cc if you are unable to adapt to using the brake pedal, but other than that, it’s just as fun as it was in 1997.
Grade: 27/40
#54: Thwomp Ruins
Resting at the end of the Mushroom Cup, Thwomp Ruins goes right up there with Toad’s Factory and Shy Guy Bazaar as the best final tracks in the history of the opening cup.
Whether you’re driving on the walls, diving into the water, or gliding over the pool, you will have to dodge a Thwomp or two on your way back into the tunnel where you’ll be greeted by even more Thwomps and tight turns upon exiting.
At the end lays a choice: take a narrow path that could lead to your doom or stay on the established route and risk losing time to the more daring among us.
This track displays a lot of what is great about Mario Kart, but its lack of difficulty knocks it down the rankings a bit.
With that in mind, it remains one of the best Nitro tracks from the original game, making MK8DX a worthwhile project to keep investing in for over a decade.
Grade: 27/40
#53: Wii Moonview Highway
Another Wii track that made it in the game in favor of a DoubleDash track, oh joy.
My annoyances aside, Moonview Highway was a solid addition to this behemoth track list for a number of reasons.
Most importantly, Toad’s Turnpike being the lone representative for traffic tracks left a sour taste in many people’s mouths considering how much worse the remake plays compared to its original.
Thus, a slew of traffic tracks made it into the Booster Course Pass, and Moonview Highway is one of the best, even if they slowed the traffic down.
If the traffic ran at the same speed that they cruised to in its original version, this track would easily be up in the 30s, but it loses points for being less difficult than before while offering no defined off-road shortcuts to catch up from behind.
Grade: 27/40
#52: N64 Rainbow Road
They made one of the most grueling courses in Mario Kart history a one-lapper.
This re-imagining of the Mario Kart 64 finale track makes improvements, especially taking out the railings in a lot of places to provoke more falloffs.
A train conducted by Toads toss out coins to competitors that aren’t in first in an attempt to help racers that have fallen behind gain ground on the pack ahead.
But, I can’t get over taking this track’s original challenge away.
What made the track so difficult to overcome rested in its sheer length of the track and the race itself over three laps. Now, N64 Rainbow Road has no shortcuts to gain ground over a relatively short lap.
In 200cc, this track is awful. It is fun to drive no matter the circumstances, but if you fall behind at all in 200cc, the race is pretty much over for you. I despise tracks like that.
Grade: 27/40
#51: Animal Crossing
Here’s a mini ranking of the four different seasons:
- Summer
- Winter
- Autumn
- Spring
Summer is what I would consider the default version of this course, and it races really well while giving Mario Kart players a neat dive into the world of AC.
Racers traverse through a number of different environments, whether that be fighting in the air for items, scouring the ground for fallen fruit that act like mushrooms, or sliding across sand on the oceanfront.
It’s truly a fantastic little course that offers players from 1st to 12th the opportunity to win every lap, and for one of the first tracks in the series to incorporate another Nintendo property, they really nailed it.
Grade: 27/40
#50: DS Tick Tock Clock
As previously mentioned, my nose used to be firmly planted into the two screens of my Nintendo DS. I played Tick Tock Clock a ton on the original layout, and it didn’t move me much regardless of my love for Super Mario 64.
In a pre-trick Mario Kart landscape, this track left a lot to be desired with all of its jumping around. The same cannot be said for this version.
MK8DX‘s Tick Tock Clock may as well be a completely different circuit. Now fashioned like a classic grandfather clock with lots of rich color and textures, Tick Tock Clock stands out as one of the coolest tracks in the game aesthetically.
It falls on the back half of my rankings because it lacks shortcuts and leans way too hard into being a front-running track. The two pendulums passed after running over the first clock are red shell killers.
The theming of the track helped bring it back from falling into the depths of this list, but it’s that same theming that holds it back from being stronger.
Grade: 27/40
#49: Shy Guy Falls
Perhaps I grew numb to the grandeur of this track.
After scooting around Shy Guy Falls for over a decade, the act of scaling a waterfall must have been lost on me, something I no longer take for granted.
While I enjoy this track a great deal, it suffers from similar issues described in tracks throughout this section of the rankings: few shortcuts.
Not only that, it’s not particularly difficult, which is fine since it closes out the Flower Cup. It is visually impressive and gives players a few options for alternative routes towards the end.
The soundtrack for this circuit is a certified hit, and I just love how the Shy Guys are incorporated into the song. It feels like you’re doing a street race in front of the entire Shy Guy community.
Grade: 27/40
The Wide World of Dirt 
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