Mario Circuit (Mario Kart DS)
- This article is about the race course from Mario Kart DS. For its musical theme, see Figure-8 Circuit (theme).
- "DS Mario Circuit" redirects here. It is not to be confused with 3DS Mario Circuit.
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| Appears in | Mario Kart DS (2005) Mario Kart Tour (2023) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Booster Course Pass, Wave 4) (2023) | ||||||||||||||
| Cups | Star Cup (DS) Boomerang Cup (8 Deluxe) | ||||||||||||||
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Mario Circuit is the third race course of the Star Cup in Mario Kart DS. This track shares its music and Grand Prix introduction fanfare with Figure-8 Circuit, as well as sharing the latter with Waluigi Pinball and GCN Luigi Circuit. This is the first Mario Circuit to appear in the Star Cup since Mario Circuit 4 in Super Mario Kart, and is also the only new Mario Circuit to be the third course of a cup.
Mario Circuit reappears in Mario Kart Tour starting with the 2023 Mario Tour, and in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass as the second course of the Boomerang Cup.
Mario Kart DS[edit]
Course layout[edit]
Characters start out the race near a lake surrounding Peach's Castle. After going through the first corner, Goombas wandering on the middle of the track will try to block the racers' path. The right side of the tracks lacks railings, which racers can fall off of into a the moat of the castle. Continuing the path, two Fire Piranha Plants located in a S bend will spit fireballs on the track. The Fire Piranha Plants alternate between a few directions as to where they spit fireballs. Going through a Warp Pipe-modeled tunnel, the racers are met with a tight turn. Shortly after, the asphalt track turns into a dirt track where the racers have to take another tight turn. After that, the racers go down a wavy path where Peach's Castle entrance is located and where there are Piranha Plants reminiscent of those in Mario Kart 64. Racers might want to be careful here since the dirt makes for a slippery experience which might make them run into the Piranha Plants. Finally, the dirt track ends and the racers have to take a final S-turn which takes them back to the starting line.
It was one of the courses that could be played over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Missions[edit]
Two missions take place on Mario Circuit in Mario Kart DS:
- Mission 5-8, where Luigi has to win against Mario in a single-lap race. More Piranha Plants have been added to the off-road section of the course.
- Mission 7-4, which involves Toad using Green Shells to defeat 30 Goombas within 120 seconds.
Shortcuts[edit]
- The player is able to take a shortcut across the off-road next to the Fire Piranha Plant on the right side, with a single Mushroom.
Mario Kart 7[edit]
This version of Mario Circuit without any objects is present in the files of the E3 2010 demo of Mario Kart 7, named test_MarioCircuitDS.[1]
Mario Kart Tour[edit]
This version of Mario Circuit makes its classic course debut in Mario Kart Tour, first appearing in the 2023 Mario Tour. The course has received many visual improvements since its appearance in Mario Kart DS. While it is mostly faithful to the layout of the original, the course is not remade in a 1:1 scale - most notably, the section after the pipe tunnel has been made far larger than its DS counterpart, and the straightaway housing the starting line is now slightly angled. The lake containing Peach's Castle, (which now has the same design as in the Mario Kart Tour iteration of 3DS Mario Circuit), is noticeably smaller and now resembles a simple moat, and the roads on either side are much closer together as a consequence of this. There is now off-road between the main track and the lake. The section after the Fire Piranha Plants has now been changed into a brief forest section, and a ramp has been added at the end of the section. The wavy dirt turns alongside Peach's Castle have been changed to a more elongated S-turn, and they curve to the right first as well. More elevation has been added to the course, which is mostly noticeable with the S-turn at the end. The dirt path continues for a bit longer into the track than in Mario Kart DS. The starting banner is now designed with Mario's hat atop and features the modern Mario Kart logo.
In the R variant, several small pipes appear along the track as ramps. In the T variant, one of the Fire Piranha Plants is gone, and there is a glide ramp at the end of the forest section. In the R/T variant, both Fire Piranha Plants are gone, and there are instead normal Piranha Plants. There is also a glide ramp towards the end of the track.
The Mario Kart Tour iteration was the final DS course added to the game, and the only DS course to make its classic course debut in the game. The course also appears as Mario Circuit R (reversed), Mario Circuit T (with ramps), and Mario Circuit R/T (reversed with ramps). Mario Circuit is the first course of its title to appear in Mario Kart Tour since RMX Mario Circuit 1 in the Mario Bros. Tour seventy-nine tours prior, and is the second Mario Circuit in the game to not be, or be based on, a SNES iteration, after 3DS Mario Circuit, which was added ninety tours prior in the Tokyo Tour. The music arrangement is slightly different to how it sounded in Mario Kart DS, which makes this course the only classic course in Mario Kart Tour to receive a new arrangement for its music that is not from Mario Kart: Super Circuit; however, unlike most of the GBA arrangements, the theme retains most of its instrumentation. The internal name for the course's skybox refers to a course labeled "N64mr", corresponding to N64 Mario Raceway; this predated any official announcement of N64 Mario Raceway being added to Mario Kart Tour. However, the two courses seemingly use two separate skyboxes.
Appearances[edit]
For this course's tour appearances, see List of DS Mario Circuit tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.
Top-tier and middle-tier items[edit]
Select "show" to reveal the drivers, karts, and gliders for which DS Mario Circuit and its variants are always favored or favorite courses. For instances in which additional drivers, karts, and gliders temporarily had this course and its variants as favored or favorite courses, see List of DS Mario Circuit tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.
