SNES Mario Circuit 1

Mario Circuit 1 is the introductory course of Super Mario Kart, serving as the first course of the Mushroom Cup 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.

Mario Circuit 1 shares its music with Super Mario Kart's other three Mario Circuits: 2, 3, and 4. It 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 Kart-series stage as well as Battlefield, Big Battlefield, Small Battlefield and Final Destination as of the version 8.1.0 update.

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. This course was available in Wi-Fi. It retains the same hazards as in Super Mario Kart, though it is a bit longer as well.

Mission 1-8 takes place here. In the mission, the player is Mario and must perform 4 power-slide turbo boosts in one lap.

On the Mario Kart DS website, the gameplay video of SNES Mario Circuit 1 shows instead.

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.

The course also appears as Mario Circuit 1R (reversed), Mario Circuit 1T (with ramps), and Mario Circuit 1R/T (reversed with ramps); the first two were introduced alongside the normal variant in the New York Tour, while the last was introduced in the 2019 Holiday Tour. In the R and R/T variants, 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.

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

Appearances
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

 * A sped-up arrangement of the music can be heard in the 1994 electro-mechanical arcade game Super Mario Kart: Doki Doki 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.