Toad Harbor

Toad Harbor (written as Toad Harbour in the British English version) is the second course of the Flower Cup in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, as well as the longest three-lap course in the former game. This course takes place in a seaside town with some similarities to the city of San Francisco. It also features a statue on an island off the harbor modeled after the Statue of Liberty, but it is based on Princess Peach holding a Fire Flower in her lowered left hand and a Super Star in her raised right. Mario, Luigi and Wario all have cable cars patterned after them in this course, each with some Toads as passengers and a Koopa Troopa as the driver. There are forty-seven coins located on this track. In Mario Kart 8, it is a selectable battle course.

This island track showcases an entire marina with sail boats and a tram station (which serves as a side route along the finish line with extra Item Boxes, not entirely dissimilar to ), a market and a shopping area, as well as a vertical wall section with anti-gravity. The track features several areas that seem to be inspired by American cities, such as a steep cable car hill (such as ) and a Statue of Liberty-like Peach statue in the harbor (like in New York City).

Course layout
The course starts near the docks with a few boats. After turning right, there are two paths; the right one goes over a bridge while the left path allows players to drive onto a boat with a ramp. Racers will enter a wide section of the town after this point. They can continue driving right, though they can either go straight through, take a Dash Panel, or drive on top of the market tents in the area. After that, a shortcut can be taken upon driving over a narrow path and jumping off a ramp.

After a few turns, drivers reach the top of the hill and perform a U-turn past the Toad Toy Store, which provides this course's only anti-gravity section. If players stick to the normal path, they have to avoid oncoming cable cars. If the player attempts to follow the cable car rails after the station, Lakitu will come and hoist the player back to the road. Whichever path was taken, both lead to a steep downhill part of the track leading back to the coastal area, with more cable cars to dodge. If players somehow land on the cable cars going down the steep hill, they will gain a short boost, and can actually perform a trick off of the roof. A pathway with a Dash Panel can be taken, but otherwise, after two turns, the track leads back to the finish line.

When Lakitu is holding the start signal, he is shown on the left side of the player. When crossing the finish line to begin the next lap, he’s also shown on the left side of the player, holding the lap count signs.

This is the only new course among the base Mario Kart 8 content that does not involve any gliding, and the only course among the base content to not feature any mechanics introduced in Mario Kart 7 (gliders, underwater sections, one-lap courses, etc.). It is also one of the two new courses where the anti-gravity segments are optional, with the other course being Bone-Dry Dunes.

Shortcuts

 * With a Mushroom or Super Star, the player can cut through the grass areas before and after the starting line.

Staff ghost
This is the only Toad course to not have Toad as the staff ghost, as this staff ghost for this track is Toadette on the Cat Cruiser, with a time of 2:31.066. However, the staff ghost is Toad in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 200cc, with a time of 1:43.003.

References in other courses

 * The Peach Statue of Liberty and Toad Harbor itself can be seen beneath.
 * Toad Harbor is featured on a map found in Super Bell Subway.
 * A Toad Harbor logo appears on the back of the Toad City Sightseeing buses in.
 * An emblem for this course can be seen in on a small sign right before the shortcut. This holds true for laps 1 and 2 in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Tokyo Blur and Tokyo Blur 2 in Mario Kart Tour.

Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack liner note
"For this title, we had a live band at our disposal so we made use of an acoustic guitar and steel drums on this track to give it the cool, laid-back feeling of an exotic tropical town."

Trivia

 * This is one of the three courses (along with Mario Circuit and Twisted Mansion) that were playable at E3 2013. Incidentally, all three take place in the Flower Cup, in the same order as the original demo.
 * Toad Harbor's final lap music uses a different, shorter intro from the normal version. This distinction is shared with, Mute City, and.

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