Classic course

A classic course,  formerly known as Extra Track in Mario Kart: Super Circuit and as Retro course until Mario Kart Wii, is a past Mario Kart game's course. In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, the Extra Cups include the Extra Mushroom, Flower, Lightning, Star and Special Cups, each cup containing four courses from Super Mario Kart. Classic courses then systematically appear in every Mario Kart game starting with Mario Kart DS. They come in the Shell Cup, Banana Cup, Leaf Cup, and Lightning Cup. Starting with the DLC cups in Mario Kart 8, classic courses can appear in the same cup as new courses.

Outside of ones that return in Mario Kart Tour, most Mario Kart courses have returned as a classic only once with a few exceptions. Until Mario Kart 8, classic courses were generally identical to their original counterparts, receiving only graphical updates. For example, in SNES and GBA courses, the space is larger and the blocks are taller, and in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7, courses appear almost identical to the originals, the only differences being the added underwater and gliding sections in the latter game, while in Mario Kart DS, some classic courses appear to be scaled down in graphics due to system limitations of the Nintendo DS.

Starting from Mario Kart 8, most classic courses are completely redesigned for HD graphics. They usually include new mechanics, new details for the race tracks, completely new backgrounds, and also support the underwater sections, gliding mechanics, and (excluding Mario Kart Tour) anti-gravity. Also new to Mario Kart 8, most classic courses have newly arranged or remastered music, whereas classic courses in older Mario Kart games mostly retained their original music (though they were sometimes altered due to platform limitations, primarily for the GBA and DS). Mario Kart Tour features classic courses with both the original general appearances and completely redesigned appearances. The music is almost always either the original arrangement or from Mario Kart 7, with the only exceptions being GBA Sunset Wilds (new arrangement), SNES Ghost Valley 1 (Wii arrangement), and the Choco Island courses (DS arrangement).

Classic courses from Mario Kart Tour
Mario Kart Tour features 36 classic courses, being the most of any Mario Kart 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 in the order in which they were introduced to the game. For a more detailed list of the retro courses on this game, see Mario Kart Tour.

Table of classic courses
Courses highlighted in red have yet to appear as classic courses in a later Mario Kart installment. A hyphen (-) indicates that the course appears as a new course in its respective game and therefore cannot appear as a classic course in it or in a previous installment.