Rainbow Road is the final track in Mario Kart 64 of the Special Cup (like how the track is in general in the series). It reappears in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the final race of the Lightning Cup.
Mario Kart 64[]
In Mario Kart 64, Rainbow Road is hammered by Chain Chomps as they bite the tracks in the opposite direction racers are going. In the original version, neon portraits of the characters as well as a Mushroom and a Boo, are visible all around the course, alongside a large three-dimensional smiling Star at the center of the curved section of the track. But this welcomed distraction does not pull away from the harsh reality that this is well over two kilometers 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 a few minutes off of the player's lap time. Without it, this track can take almost six minutes even in 150cc. There is also a famous shortcut at the very end which is very difficult, itself similar to the shortcut in Frappe Snowland at the beginning. What the player must do to achieve it is get a Red Shell and hit while going fast enough to go past the finish line while falling. They will receive a lap, making the race of Rainbow Road last much less time.
Mario Kart 8/Mario Kart 8 Deluxe[]
Rainbow Road appearing in Mario Kart 8.
The track returned in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as a Classic Course. This time, it has three sections instead of three laps, making it much shorter, making races shorter than most other tracks. The track has Chain Chomps rolling and bouncing at the same time, causing waves on the track that are viable for tricks.
A train drives by the course. The train's passengers will toss coins to the track as it passes by. The course's design is now inspired by LED lights, and the star barriers take their design from Grand Stars. As for the star barriers, most have been removed. The course map has been rotated 135 degrees, with an 8 forming in the final section.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the longest three-lap course in the entire Mario Kart series.
As it appears in F-Zero X
- This version of Rainbow Road makes a special appearance in the 1998 Nintendo 64 title F-Zero X of the F-Zero series as the first course of the Joker Cup. Unlike its source material, the F-Zero Rainbow Road does not take place in outer space but rather above an ocean at a starry night, there are almost no guard rails, the neon Mario characters and Chain Chomps are completely absent, and the infamous shortcut is blocked and results in death even if aimed correctly due to the much different control point system used to create the game's courses. Notably, because of the graphical limitations of the N64 being sacrificed for a steady 60 frames per second, the track itself is not fully rainbow-colored. Many Nintendo fans have considered its inclusion a perfect fit, as the original track was quite long and F-Zero in general is known to race at far higher speeds.
- In the Japanese-exclusive F-Zero X Expansion Kit, a heavy metal version of its theme song from Mario Kart 64 will play instead of its normal theme (taken from Sector α and β).
F-Zero X version music
- Rainbow-themed courses can appear in the X Cup.
- Ironically, although the N64 Rainbow Road is 2000 meters long (1.24 miles), the racetracks in F-Zero, as those are known to be much more colossal in scale due to the supersonic speeds of the F-Zero Machines, have a single lap span over six miles. This is accurate, as the actual course in F-Zero X has its scale changed from 5:1 to 6:1, making it approximately 11 kilometers or 6.8 miles.
- In the Japanese-exclusive F-Zero X Expansion Kit, a heavy metal version of its theme song from Mario Kart 64 will play instead of its normal theme (taken from Sector α and β).
