Classic course

A classic course,  formerly known as an Extra Track in Mario Kart: Super Circuit and as a Retro Course from Mario Kart DS to Mario Kart 7, is a course that appears in a Mario Kart game following its introduction. They first appeared in Mario Kart: Super Circuit in Extra Cups, which include the Extra Mushroom, Flower, Lightning, Star, and Special Cups, each containing four courses from Super Mario Kart. Classic courses systematically appear in every Mario Kart game since Mario Kart DS, with the Shell Cup, Banana Cup, Leaf Cup, and Lightning Cup each featuring four classic courses from various games of the series. Starting with the DLC cups in Mario Kart 8, classic courses can appear in the same cup as new courses. The Booster Course Pass DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe consists mostly of classic courses, which are also referred to as Booster Courses.

Starting with Mario Kart DS, classic courses are distinguished by a prefix in their names indicating the game they originate from. These prefixes are mostly abbreviations of the name of the console that the game was released on: "SNES" refers to Super Mario Kart, "N64" to Mario Kart 64, "GBA" to Mario Kart: Super Circuit, "GCN" to Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, "DS" to Mario Kart DS, "Wii" to Mario Kart Wii, "3DS" to Mario Kart 7, and "Tour" to Mario Kart Tour (only for city courses).

Prior to Mario Kart 8, classic courses were often near-identical to their original counterparts, usually only receiving graphical updates, such as expanding the space and blocks in SNES and GBA courses. In Mario Kart DS, however, some classic courses were scaled down in graphics and gameplay elements due to limitations of the Nintendo DS, most notably those originally from Double Dash!!. In Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7, classic courses appear almost identical to their original versions, besides added underwater and gliding sections in the latter game. Starting in Mario Kart 8, most classic courses are completely redesigned with HD graphics, usually featuring newer mechanics such as underwater, gliding, and (except in Mario Kart Tour) anti-gravity. They also tend to feature other new details, including completely new backgrounds or even changes to the track's layout. Additionally, Mario Kart 8 features newly remastered music for all classic courses, whereas classic courses in previous Mario Kart games tend to retain their original music (though they were sometimes altered due to system limitations, primarily for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS). Mario Kart Tour's classic courses vary in similarity to their original versions, with some closely approximating the original courses and others making changes more in line with the overhauls seen in Mario Kart 8. The music is almost always either the original arrangement or from Mario Kart 7, with the only exceptions being the SNES Choco Island courses, which use the Mario Kart DS arrangement; the SNES Ghost Valley courses, GBA Cheep-Cheep Island, and DS Peach Gardens, which use the Mario Kart Wii arrangements; and the non-Bowser's Castle GBA courses besides Cheep-Cheep Island as well as DS Mario Circuit, which all use new arrangements (although the reused music is less compressed than in previous games).

Mario Kart Tour
Mario Kart Tour features 65 courses from previous entries (over half of all courses in the entire series prior to Mario Kart 8), being the most of any Mario Kart game, as well as a new reroute of N64 Kalimari Desert named Kalimari Desert 2 which is categorized as a classic course in-game. Courses in Mario Kart Tour are not arranged into set cups like in the other games, as the cups and available courses change between each tour. The courses below are listed alongside their debut tours and dates. All of Mario Kart 7's classic courses also returned in the game. A screenshot of GCN Waluigi Stadium in this game has also been shown, but the course has yet to be featured in a tour.

While Sky-High Sundae and Yoshi's Island were added to this game after being added first to the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass, they are not officially considered classic courses, instead being labeled and marketed as new courses in both games. However, the internal data for both courses suggest that they were developed first for Tour.

For a more detailed list of the classic courses in this game, see Mario Kart Tour § Classic.

Table of classic race courses
Courses highlighted in red have yet to appear as classic courses in a later Mario Kart installment. SNES courses highlighted in blue have yet to reappear as a classic course outside of Mario Kart: Super Circuit, which features all of Super Mario Kart's courses. Courses highlighted in pink are considered to be new courses for multiple games, and have yet to appear as classic courses. A dash (–) indicates that the course appears as a new course in its respective game and therefore cannot appear as a classic course in it or, unless noted otherwise, in a previous installment.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit
While no classic battle courses appear in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, unused tilemaps and minimaps exist for all four battle courses from Super Mario Kart. Unlike other courses in the game, which are stored in chunks, these are stored in one piece, the same way Super Mario Kart stores them.

Mario Kart DS
Mario Kart DS is the first game to have classic battle courses. Unlike the classic race courses, these battle courses do not have prefixes denoting their console of origin; future games in the series would change this, having prefixes for classic battle courses in the same manner as race courses.