N64 Toad's Turnpike

Toad's Turnpike (transliterated to Kinopio Highway on a few occasions ) is the first course of the Flower Cup in Mario Kart 64, as well as the third longest course in the game (behind Wario Stadium and Rainbow Road). The race track takes place on a public road at night. There are vehicles driving on this course which cause the racer's kart to launch into the air if a collision between the two occurs. The overall shape of this course is roughly a figure 8, with some parts of the road with varying lane quantity. Toad's Turnpike also appears as a classic course in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the fourth and last course of the Shell Cup. While "" refers to a toll road, the name was not meant to be a description of the course: "turnpike" was chosen for alliteration in English and Dutch versions. Thus, for Mario Kart 8, a turnpike service area was added at the start-finish line.

This course is the first in a series of similar race tracks in the Mario Kart series, to be filled with cars and other vehicles that drive along the road and serve as obstacles. Similar tracks include Mushroom City and Mushroom Bridge in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Shroom Ridge and the returning Mushroom Bridge in Mario Kart DS, Moonview Highway in Mario Kart Wii, Wuhu Loop in Mario Kart 7, and Berlin Byways 3 in Mario Kart Tour.

A portion of this course's music is rearranged in the music of Mario Kart 7's Neo Bowser City.

Mario Kart 64
The course takes place amid a very late sunset and is quite straightforward in terms of track layout. Players immediately leave a merging starting area to enter a figure-8-esque roadway featuring cars, trucks, and buses driving throughout. Players remain on this roadway for the rest of the race, never returning to the starting area. Various points of the track have small openings with four Item Boxes in each. A thin line of grass borders both sides of the track and is blocked off by a white fence. Should the player be knocked over the fence by items such as a Red Shell, Lakitu will bring the player back to the main road. Beyond the tall walls that border the racetrack, billboards of Toad can be seen, making it his home track in the game. No other decorations can be found besides a lone Nintendo billboard and a large number of street lamps.

In 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc, the vehicles travel forward in the same direction as players. The engine class also affects how fast the vehicles move; traffic moves slowly in 50cc, but it is quite fast in 150cc. The difficulty resides in the fact that the larger vehicles go slowly through the road, sometimes blocking the player (especially at the final section, where the road merges into two lanes until the finish line, and often two vehicles travel side-by-side, making it difficult to steer between them). In the Extra mode, the vehicles instead drive against players at the same speed as 150cc.

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Toad's Turnpike makes its classic course debut in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the fourth and final course of the Shell Cup. The course now takes place in Toad City, as seen on some cars and signs in the course. Many of the billboards of Toad himself have been removed and replaced with traffic signs based on traffic signs in Japan, including a Mushroom sign reading "NO LIMITS", and advertising billboards, a notable one being for a highway information radio station on the frequency of 64MHz, which is a reference to the course's origins. A service plaza has been added at the start-finish line, giving the English name more significance, and, similar to Mushroom City from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, the starting banner now resembles an (or "matrix sign"). The sky is also now completely dark and fairly cloudy, unlike that of the original.

Although the basic figure-8 shape remains, there are some layout changes. The track in general is much shorter and the roads are wider compared to the original. Some of the walls are now anti-gravity sections with Dash Panels, which help avoid the traffic, but the route is slower. Furthermore, the start-finish line is now on the bridge over the middle of the loop, while the merging starting area has been removed. Players can use a Glide Ramp to fly over this part of the track, but falling onto the bridge requires the player to be rescued by Lakitu.

Item boxes, as well as coins, now move along the road, while the item boxes in the openings of the track are replaced with coins. The yellow school buses are now replaced by different colored transportation buses while the light blue tank trucks are gone. A few traffic helicopters are added, and the cars take a more realistic appearance, with some cars in different color schemes based on Toyota Comfort taxis, popular in Japan, and the vehicles being scaled down to a size more proportionate to the racers. The empty auto carrier trucks have Glide Ramps, and the pink pickup trucks have a surfboard which serves as a simple ramp. Vehicles in the left lane change lanes on every other lap of the course they complete, driving in the far left lane until the highway merges from three lanes into two; they indicate that they are changing lanes via orange turn-signal lights. Like in the original, the vehicles tumble over any racers that drive into them, but a Super Star launches them into the air and renders them harmless. Vehicles will also not tumble over any racers that are either driving too slowly or actively using a Boo.

This is one of the three retro courses where the anti-gravity sections are optional, the others being and.

Toad's Turnpike is also used as one of the battle courses in Mario Kart 8. The coin sections now have a single item box. Item boxes are also stationary. The pink pickup trucks and glider trucks are also absent.

Course traffic patterns
This version of the course is notable for randomly selecting one of three different sets of vehicles for each race. Vehicles marked with an asterisk (*) have a simple ramp on top.

The first set, which is always chosen for Time Trials, has 29 vehicles.


 * Left lane: Car, bus, glider truck, bus*, surfboard truck, bus, truck, truck, car, truck, car, truck, car, car, bus, bus, truck*
 * Right lane: Bus, bus*, bus*, car, bus, car, surfboard truck, truck, truck, truck, glider truck, truck*

The second set has 37 vehicles.


 * Left lane: Car, bus, car, truck, bus, car, bus, truck, bus*, bus, bus, surfboard truck, truck, glider truck, truck*, truck*, surfboard truck, bus, truck*
 * Right lane: Car, car, truck, bus, truck, glider truck, truck*, car, bus*, truck, bus, car, truck, car, truck, bus, bus, car

The third set has 33 vehicles. However, this set also reverses the direction of traffic in the right lane so that it now travels against players.


 * Left lane: Car, bus, glider truck, bus*, surfboard truck, bus, truck, truck, truck, car, truck, car, surfboard truck, truck, car, car, bus, glider truck, bus, truck*
 * Right lane: Car, bus, truck, bus, bus, car, truck, car, car, truck, truck, bus, truck

In all sets, cars can randomly appear as red cars, black cars, or as Green Shell Taxis, while trucks and buses randomly use a variety of designs.

Mario Kart 64

 * Instruction booklet bio: Normally, Karts shouldn't drive on a public road, but for some reason, Toad's Turnpike is one of the courses! Drive in a way so that you won't block the large buses or trucks. Cutting one off or driving too slow can cause accidents.
 * Webpage bio: Compete against the traffic and other racers in this highway course.

Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack liner notes
''The arrangement on this track aims to give a sense of travelling at speed. It's a really fun course to watch, what with all the billboards and signs that pop up. Just be sure to keep your eyes on the road, and don't cause any accidents.''

Trivia

 * During the ending credits in Mario Kart 64, the fences around the road and the vehicles are noticeably missing.
 * CPU drivers in Mario Kart 64 never drive on the side of the road that contains item boxes.
 * As of the 2023 Mario vs. Luigi Tour, this is the only course in Mario Kart 64's Flower Cup to not appear in Mario Kart Tour.