3DS DK Jungle

DK Jungle is the first race course in the Special Cup of Mario Kart 7 and takes place on Donkey Kong Island. The course is based on Donkey Kong Country Returns. Some elements and enemies of the game thus appear in the course, like Tiki Goons, Screaming Pillars, Frogoons, and DK's Tree House. The course's music is a rearrangement of "DK Island Swing" from Donkey Kong Country. This course returns in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the final course of the Banana Cup. This is the last Donkey Kong course to appear as a new course in the Mario Kart series.

Course layout
The track starts by passing through a thick jungle, where some DK Barrels appear. It curves right, then left, before forming a small split path around a tree. Exiting into a clearing, drivers bounce on a large, red flower from Donkey Kong Country Returns, and land on a path near waterfalls and a lake. The track then makes a left hand turn, past DK's Tree House, and some Tiki Goons that move across the track. After going across a wooden bridge, the track reenters the canopy, passing by multiple Frogoons. The road turns right, then left, then right again before traveling across a chasm and entering the Golden Temple. After a right turn and a left-hand U-turn, racers drive past the Golden Banana, then glide over a lake flanked by several Screaming Pillars. These Pillars scream every once in a while, shooting out air to blow back hang-gliding players. The underwater route is slightly twisty. Occasionally appearing in the background of the course in this section is Tiki Pilot's airship-like craft from Donkey Kong Country Returns. Finally, racers land and make a left turn back to the finish line, with a split path available; the longer route has additional Coins and is higher in elevation. When the player crosses the finish line, beginning the next lap, Lakitu is shown on the left side of the player, holding the lap count signs.

Shortcuts

 * Right before the jumps over the chasm, there is a secret Glide Ramp to the left side of the track.
 * An extremely difficult glider shortcut can be performed after the temple section. By swooping down to gain speed, going back up, and then using a Mushroom, it is possible to skip the entire split paths section and land just before the finish line.
 * A respawn shortcut can be performed in the temple by using a speed boost (a Mushroom or a Super Mini-Turbo) to jump off the corner of the right turn and respawn in front of the Glide Ramp at the temple exit.

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
DK Jungle returns in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the last race of the Banana Cup. The track map is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Some objects are changed and replaced; the Barrel at the right of the start is now on the left, and the Regular Screaming Pillars have been replaced by their big variant, which exhale smoke while they are screaming. The starting banner has also been replaced, and the Tiki Goons have had their movement speed severely reduced. A number of lit torches have been added inside the Golden Temple. The only changes made to the track layout are that the U-turn inside the Golden Temple is now slanted upward and acts as an anti-gravity section, consequently creating a drop-off at the Golden Banana allowing drivers to do an aerial trick; the first left turn before the finish line also has a trickable gap in it now. It is the only course in the Banana Cup to have anti-gravity.

Unlike other retro courses, the music remains the same as the original, along with, and , but with slightly enhanced bit depth.

Notably, the course feature in the foreground of the course's icon (in this case, DK's Tree House) differs from the other courses in the base game as it is positioned on the left side (right side in Mirror Mode). When accounting for DLC courses, including those in the Booster Course Pass, it is still one of only five courses to do so, the others being, Wild Woods, , and Ninja Hideaway (six if Animal Crossing is counted, as the Spring quarter of the icon depicts the foreground feature on the left as well).

Like in Mario Kart 7, when the player crosses the finish line to begin the next lap, Lakitu is shown on the left side of the player, holding the lap count signs (when holding the start signal, he’s also shown on the left side of the player).

Staff ghost
The staff ghost for this track is Donkey Kong on the Varmint, with a time of 2:26.900. In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 200cc, the staff ghost is Yellow Yoshi with a time of 1:46.758.

Mario Kart 8
Mario Kart Facebook page: ''Ancient temples. Troublemaking tikis. And bananas galore! Come race on the DK Jungle course in Mario Kart 8 for Wii U to take in all the exotic and high-octane sights.''

Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack liner notes
"This is an arrangement of the main Donkey Kong theme music. I hope you can experience the atmosphere of listening to a big band number. This course also has really nice scenery - we've basically remastered the course from Mario Kart 7. It's more fun than a barrel of monkeys!"

Trivia

 * Excluding Mario Kart Tour, DK Jungle is one of only two courses since Mario Kart: Double Dash!! to have its final lap music raised by more than one semitone compared to the normal variant — in this case, it is raised by two semitones. The only other course with this distinction is Baby Park in all of its appearances except Mario Kart DS.
 * It is also one of the only courses to use a different, shorter intro for its final lap music, with this distinction being shared with Rock Rock Mountain in Mario Kart 7 and Toad Harbor, Mute City, and in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
 * This course, along with Rock Rock Mountain and Cheep Cheep Lagoon, was playable in demo versions of Mario Kart 7.
 * This course and are the only courses to be in both the Special Cup and Banana Cup. Coincidentally, they are both the first course of the Special Cup in their respective game and appear in the Banana Cup in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
 * As of the New Year's 2022 Tour, this is the only course in Mario Kart 7's Special Cup to not appear in Mario Kart Tour.