SNES Mario Circuit 1

Mario Circuit 1 is the first course of the Mushroom Cup in Super Mario Kart and as such, the first course in the Mario Kart series in general. It was later reused as the first Extra Course in Mario Kart: Super Circuit and the first retro course in Mario Kart DS as the first race of the Shell Cup, being the first retro course in the series. It later reappears as a recurring course in Mario Kart Tour, first appearing in the New York Tour.

The music for Mario Circuit (and subsequent Mario Circuit courses) was arranged in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as a track that can be heard on the Mario Circuit stage. The arrangement is also in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where it can be played in any Mario-series stage.

In the Super Mario Kart instruction booklet, the course map is upside down. This also applies to the Battle Course 1 map.

Course layout
The only hazard in this course is the Warp Pipes that appear near the second turn of the course. After the player passes the pipes, they find the only set of ? Panels in the course. There is also a shortcut a racer can take by driving through the dirt right after passing the ? Panels. The player needs either a Mushroom or a Star to successfully implement the shortcut without slowing down. However, taking the shortcut without an item does not take more time than following the course.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Mario Circuit 1 reappears in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and is the first track of the Extra Mushroom Cup. It uses the background from Peach Circuit. The pipe hazards were removed from the track, but an item box can be found in the shortcut.

Mario Kart DS
Mario Circuit 1 reappears as the first course of the Shell Cup in Mario Kart DS, as well as the first retro course in the series overall. Mission 1-8 (Perform 4 power-slide turbo boosts in 1 lap!) in this game takes place here. This course was available in Wi-Fi.

This track retains the same hazards as in Super Mario Kart, though it is a bit longer as well.

Mario Kart Tour
Mario Circuit 1 makes a return in Mario Kart Tour, starting with the New York Tour. It retains its Mario Kart DS layout. The two pipes on the right after the third turn were moved onto the right side of the track. The mountains and trees in the background are now in 3D. The course now has a starting banner with the classic Mario Kart logo. This course is a favorite of Mario, Toad (Pit Crew), Light-blue Toad (Pit Crew), Nabbit, Mario (Hakama), Mario (Classic), Mario (Halloween), Baby Mario (Koala), Mario (Baseball), and Peach (Happi). It is also a favorite of Peach (Kimono) and Mario (SNES) if they are at level 3, and Luigi (Lederhosen) and Mario (Racing) if they are at level 6. Mario Circuit 1 was introduced in the New York Tour along with its reversed and trick versions, titled Mario Circuit 1R and Mario Circuit 1T respectively; a reversed/trick version, Mario Circuit 1R/T, was later introduced in the 2019 Holiday Tour. In the reverse and reverse and trick variant, a Glide Ramp is added near the Finish Line.

Prior to the 2019 Paris Tour, no driver had SNES Mario Circuit 1R listed as a favorite course; instead, its appearance in the Peach Cup in the New York Tour relied on the cup bonus to raise Peach to the top tier.

As of the November—December 2022 Peach vs. Bowser Tour, Mario Circuit 1 currently has the longest gap between reappearances in tours among all classic courses, having been absent since the Singapore Tour.

Unlike most of the SNES courses, Mario Circuit 1 reuses Mario Kart 7's arrangement for Mario Circuit 2, instead of the original music from Super Mario Kart.

For this course's tour appearances, see List of SNES Mario Circuit 1 tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.

Mario Kart DS

 * Instruction booklet and US website: "Pulled straight from the SNES version of Super Mario Kart, this narrow track is further complicated by the pipes that protrude from its surface."
 * European website: "The one that started it all. The first track from the original Super Mario Kart has a simple layout but don’t let that fool you. Veteran racers know that pixel-perfect precision is needed to negotiate this track’s turns without hitting the pipes jutting from the ground."

Trivia

 * In the Mario Kart DS website when showing the video, it shows instead.
 * A sped-up arrangement of the music can be heard in the 1994 electro-mechanical arcade game Super Mario Kart Dokidoki Race, accompanied by new background notes and an ending note. The track is also similar to Mario Circuit 1, only the characters are racing on it in the opposite direction, and the start line is placed at the top.