Special Cup

The Special Cup is the final cup in Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, as well as the last of the Nitro cups since Mario Kart DS. In Mario Kart: Super Circuit is it the last of the "standard" courses, with the Extra Cups being unlocked afterwards and Extra Special Cup being the final cup.

Aside from Mario Kart 64 where the cup is available from the start, the criteria to unlock the Special Cup varies by game. In Super Mario Kart, the player may unlock it by winning all three cups in 100cc (though it will be unavailable for the 50cc class); in Mario Kart: Super Circuit it is available by winning the four previous cups, each by class; in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, it appears after the player finished first in the Star Cup in 100cc; from Mario Kart DS onwards, it is unlocked once the player claims a trophy in the Star Cup.

The Special Cup consists of long, challenging courses with lots of gimmicks and harder difficulties. It always ends with Rainbow Road as the game's climactic course. Starting in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Bowser's Castle is the penultimate course before Rainbow Road. The emblem of the Special Cup is currently a crown (seen to the right), although in Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit it is represented by the letter "S", the initial of "special." In Super Mario Kart it is a combination of the three emblems used for the Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, and Star Cup respectively.

Mario Tennis Open
The Special Cup reappears in Mario Tennis Open. In this game it is called the Champions Cup. It is the last cup in the World Open tournament series. Players can unlock this cup when they clear the Banana Cup. When players clear this cup, their character earns a star rank, which boosts their stats and grants them access to the Star Open tournament series. The court played here is the grass, clay and hard courts in Mario Stadium.

Trivia

 * Disregarding the combination of the three emblems used for the three previous cups in Super Mario Kart, the Special Cup is the only cup that does not feature an item usable in the Mario Kart series as its emblem. Previously, the Leaf Cup and Flower Cup used emblems that were not available as Mario Kart items until Mario Kart 7 was released.
 * Mario Kart 64's Special Cup is the only Special Cup to have all of its tracks remade.
 * In the Chinese version of Mario Kart 64, the Special Cup is called the "iQue Cup", named after of the home console iQue Player, which is not available outside China.
 * If the player selects Grand Prix mode in Mario Kart Wii, the Special Cup trophy from that game can be seen in the background.
 * Every course in Mario Kart 8's Special Cup aside from Rainbow Road involves Bowser in some manner: Cloudtop Cruise has a Bowser airship the player navigates through, Bone-Dry Dunes has the player gliding into a Dry Bowser-shaped cave opening, and Bowser's Castle is themed after Bowser himself.