Rainbow Road

Rainbow Road is the final track in the Special Cup in every Mario Kart game. In Mario Kart 7, a remastered version of the original Rainbow Road (from Super Mario Kart) also makes an appearance as the last track in the Lightning Cup.

Its primary features are its colorful ground, its perfect attendance (it appears in all seven games in the series) and is usually the longest course (with the exceptions of Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!).

Super Mario Kart
Rainbow Road made its debut in Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This version is entirely open with no borders whatsoever, made harder also by its sharp ninety degree turns. It also has several invincible Thwomps that will make the player spin out whenever they touch them. As a result of its painful turns and it also being sans a border, fans consider it to be the most difficult Rainbow Road track of all. This version, minus the Thwomps, is very similar to the version in Mario Kart: Super Circuit.

A remastered version appears in Mario Kart 7 along with the newer version of Rainbow Road. This time the spiky Thwomps return, and when they slam down they will cause part of the track to wave, which the player can pull off some tricks if the waves are big enough.

Mario Kart 64
In Mario Kart 64, the course is hammered by Chain Chomps as they bite the tracks. In this version, neon portraits of the character are visible all around the course, but that welcome distraction doesn't pull the player away from the harsh reality that this is well over two kilometres long, and has borders all around the edge, meaning few shortcuts can be taken. One of these shortcuts, however, can be taken by jumping over the borders after coming over a hill. Effective completion can shave minutes off of the player's lap time. Without it, this track can take almost ten minutes.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit
In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, the course includes jump pads that border most of the track. There's only one place that has a solid wall. It includes several boost pads as well. The clouds in it will drop stars that will make the player spin out upon contact.

This version contains heavy sampling off of the Super Mario Kart version, with the start/finish line moved, six new sections added, and the Thwomps removed, albeit with better graphics, and is easier. Shortcuts can be taken by using Mushrooms to bounce off of the yellow jump pads to land the other side.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, this course is throttled with Boost Pads, and near the end, it hosts a large pipe that launches the player. The number of barriers to prevent the player's downfall is borderline minimal, making the course very difficult. There are several statues of 3-D rainbow-colored items and characters floating above the player. It uses a pipe-like cannon that shoots the player straight up, which has later been used for Mario Kart Wii's Rainbow Road.

Trivia

 * This stage takes place above Mushroom City.
 * Rarely Star items will appear on the track due to the fact that falling stars come down on the track a lot (and many times becoming a Star item on the track). Hitting these will make the player invincible (because that is what a Star item does).

Mario Kart DS
Straight away Boost Pads will propel the player along the track, on to a spiraling left turn. It's hard to drift up there, so instead the player should take advantage of the Boost Pads all the way up. There are ones on the left, the middle, the right and finally on the left again. The path then flattens out and turns right slightly, to a loop. The player will progress onward and through the rings, drift right, drop down and move right slightly and drift the next left. The player should then drift the long right and on to the booster corkscrew, a small right and a wide drift to the left so the race may be finished.

Other Tips

 * Placing and firing items on the loop and corkscrew that knock other racers off of the track will make them fall upward, due to the unique camera angles.
 * Using a heavy class character could be considered advantageous since heavy class characters can knock other racers off of the unguarded sides of the course, and are also harder to knock off the sides themselves.

Mario Kart Wii
In this version, there are few areas with gates, and there are many areas where doing tricks is possible. This Rainbow Road takes place over the earth, out in outer space, and is rather similar to Super Mario Galaxy. Princess Rosalina is the Staff Ghost for this course.

Mario Kart 7
Rainbow Road is once again featured in the last cup as the last race in Mario Kart 7. It's music is similar to Mario Kart 64 ' s Rainbow Road. Unlike its past appearances, this Rainbow Road takes place in a more realistic spacey environment, having rockets and planets in the background.

Like Wuhu Loop and Maka Wuhu, the course is driven into three sections rather than laps.

The first section includes a turn then a broken track with five jumps and then a jump on a White Mushroom.

The second section involves a bit of hang-gliding and then landing on the rings of a planet (possibly Saturn) before gliding again. After a few more ramps and turns the player will come across a wavy road with holes in it similar to Mario Kart Wii ' s Rainbow Road. The moon is right below it, so the player will land safely on the moon when he/she falls through one of the holes. The moon is even complete with low gravity, and there are rolling Chain Chomps which can knock the player over if he/she isn't careful.

The final section starts with a rolling star tunnel which has boost pads moving along with it. The end of the tunnel includes boost pads or blue pads that allow flight. The blue ramps send the player through golden star hoops that give him or her a speed boost. Asteroids are also nearby as obstacles. Finally, there is a deep turn; similar to Wario Shipyard's turn, but much longer.