Mario Circuit 3
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Mario Circuit 3 is the fifth and final course of the Flower Cup in Super Mario Kart. It is a tarmac circuit set in a grassland. Mario Circuit 3 was the first course coded into Super Mario Kart, and as such it is the first course ever created for the Mario Kart series.[1]
If Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are counted as the same game, Mario Circuit 3 has appeared more times throughout the Mario Kart series than any other course, being the only course to appear in six separate games. If counted separately, it is tied with Rainbow Road, also from Super Mario Kart. It reappears in Mario Kart: Super Circuit as the second course of the Extra Lightning Cup, Mario Kart Wii as the first course of the Lightning Cup, Mario Kart Tour starting from the 2019 Paris Tour, and the Booster Course Pass of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the second course of the Turnip Cup. It also returns in Mario Kart World, albeit merged with the previous two Mario Circuits to create the course simply named Mario Circuit, which is the second course of the Special Cup. It later became playable individually in VS Race, Time Trials, Online Play, and Wireless Play via the Ver. 1.8.0 update.
Super Mario Kart[edit]
Course layout[edit]
Mario Circuit 3 is a long, almost symmetrical track with many twists and turns (even bearing a faint resemblance to both the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia and Circuito de Jerez in Spain), and its obstacles include pipes and oil slicks scattered throughout the track. The course begins with the only set of ? Panels followed by a right turn and a left turn. Racers then take a gradual U-turn to the right and drive along a brief straightaway before reaching a sharp U-turn to the left. Afterwards there is another brief straightaway followed by another gradual right U-turn. There is then a right turn, a left turn, and a right turn which leads racers to the finish line shortly after. At the end of the last turn is a Dash Panel on the right side of the track.
Shortcuts[edit]
- The penultimate turn features a wall with a gap in it in the off-road that can be taken using a Dash Mushroom or other boosting item, skipping the turn.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit[edit]
Mario Circuit 3 reappears in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and is the second course of the Extra Lightning Cup. It uses the background from that game's own Mario Circuit. The pipes and oil hazards were removed from the track, along with the zipper, and an extra item box can be found on the straightaway shortly after the sharp turn.
Mario Kart Wii[edit]
Mario Circuit 3 reappears in Mario Kart Wii as the first course of the Lightning Cup where it remains mostly unchanged, aside from getting a new starting banner like the other SNES and GBA courses that reappear in the game, and receiving a graphical update and slightly larger scale overall. The sharp turn is wider. It is one of two courses in the game where players cannot perform tricks, the other being N64 DK's Jungle Parkway. There are now two additonal rows of Item Boxes. One is placed at the end of the turn before the straightaway to the hairpin turn and another is placed after the sharp hairpin turn. This makes for three total rows of Item Boxes.
Tournaments[edit]
September 2008's second tournament required players to collect 40 coins scattered along the track. Immediately after starting, players are able to hit a lone Item Box which will contain Triple Mushrooms. Vehicles were restricted to karts only. The tournament was later repeated as the second tournament of February 2012 and the first tournament of May 2013, without vehicle restrictions.
Mario Kart Tour[edit]
Mario Circuit 3 returns in Mario Kart Tour, starting from the 2019 Paris Tour alongside Paris Promenade. The layout is mostly identical from its previous iterations, although using the visuals of the two other SNES Mario Circuits present in the game. The most noticeable change is the Dash Panel behind the starting line being changed to the current Dash Panel design. Some of the wall blocks inside the sharp turn are removed. Additionally, the course uses the Mario Kart 7 arrangement of the theme used in SNES Mario Circuit 2.
The course also appears as Mario Circuit 3R (reversed), Mario Circuit 3T (with ramps), and Mario Circuit 3R/T (reversed with ramps). The former two were introduced alongside the regular version in the 2019 Paris Tour, while the latter was added in the Vancouver Tour. In the T variant, a glide ramp allows all players to take the shortcut at the end of the track. In the R/T variant, there is a Chain Chomp near the aforementioned shortcut, and a glide ramp instead appears just before the hairpin turn.
Appearances[edit]
For this course's tour appearances, see List of SNES Mario Circuit 3 tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.
Top-tier and middle-tier items[edit]
Select "show" to reveal the drivers, karts, and gliders for which SNES Mario Circuit 3 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 SNES Mario Circuit 3 tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.
| Course | Three-item drivers | Bonus points ×2 karts | Combo bonus ×3 gliders | Two-item drivers | Bonus points ×1.5 karts | Combo bonus ×2 gliders |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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