GBA Sunset Wilds

Sunset Wilds is the fourth and final course of the Lightning Cup in Mario Kart: Super Circuit. The course is desert-themed and the sun is setting in the background. One of the most notable features of the track is that the evening progresses as the sun sets when each lap is completed, and the third lap is completed in the night. If the course takes place in five laps on Quick Run or VS. mode, the course remains in night for the duration of the race from the third lap.

This course also contains Shy Guy Tents housing Shy Guys that can grab karts, making them lose coins and become slower. In the Japanese version of the game, these Shy Guys wear Native American headdresses, which were removed in international versions, possibly to avoid racial controversy with the Native American culture, though they still are found in tipis. This was further altered in its Mario Kart Tour appearance, as the Shy Guy Tents and Shy Guy obstacles, Exploring Shy Guys, now take on an explorer theme.

Sunset Wilds returns in Mario Kart Tour, first appearing in the Sunset Tour. It also returns in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the second course of the Cherry Cup in the Booster Course Pass.

Course layout
Sunset Wilds begins on a straightaway, which is followed by a U-turn. Throughout this section, a few rocks can be spotted along the track, and a few cacti as well. The rocks and cacti, however, do not serve as obstacles, and will only knock the driver back slightly. After the U-turn, the player approaches a less sharp turn. On this turn is a section with some mud and bumps of land. The player is recommended to hit the land as much as possible, as the mud is slightly slower, although not by much. After this turn, the player will reach a section with four Dash Panels which have bumps before them, making them harder to access. The player will then go onto the path, which has large animal tracks, which lead to another mud section, this time, with some Dash Panels placed on the land areas, to help the player make it past the section quickly. The player approaches a few more turns, before reaching a section with many Shy Guy Tents with Shy Guys inside. Other features around this area are totem poles depicting Shy Guys, Snifits, and Toadies stacked up to the sides. The section with the tents has many Dash Panels, which can be used to gain speed, but are risky due to the fact hitting the tents will make a Shy Guy pop out, which will slow the player down and make them lose coins. After a few more U-turns, the player returns to the straightway in which the track begins, and moves on to the second lap as the sun goes down. The course's layout is very similar to Yoshi Desert.

Shortcut

 * Towards the end of the track, at the sharp U-turn section, there is a ramp. If players use a mushroom and drive up the ramp, they can skip the whole turn.

Mario Kart Tour
Sunset Wilds makes its classic course debut in Mario Kart Tour, starting with the Sunset Tour. The Shy Guys are now depicted as prospectors (named Exploring Shy Guys in-game), with the tents being redesigned to resemble prospector tents instead of tipis. The two totem poles were replaced by more cacti. The rocks were moved to the off-road and the bumps were removed. The archway that appears in the background of the original course is now on the road, and can be driven under. The mud after the second turn was moved to the side of the road and all Dash Panels except for the ones on the second mud part were removed. The two U-turns before the finish line were removed and replaced with a part with hills and Swoops that appear at night. The course now changes to night after a set period of time, approximately the time required to complete one lap, due to the course now only having two laps. The course also now has a proper starting banner with the classic Mario Kart logo that is supported by two flagpoles that are sprouting up from Warp Pipes.

Excluding courses from Mario Kart 7, Sunset Wilds is the first course to make its classic course debut in Mario Kart Tour, the first Super Circuit course that is not a Bowser's Castle course, and the first classic course to receive a new arrangement for its music.

The course is a favorite of Blue Yoshi, Luigi (Classic), Black Yoshi, Peach (Explorer), Baby Mario (Koala), Daisy (Swimwear), Cat Rosalina, Daisy (Farmer), King Bob-omb, Shy Guy (Gold), Shy Guy (Ninja), and the Birdo and Santa Mii Racing Suits. It can also be a favorite of Tanooki Mario and Kamek if they reach level 6, and Mario (Halloween) if he reaches level 8.

The course also appears as Sunset Wilds R (reversed), Sunset Wilds T (with ramps), and Sunset Wilds R/T (reversed with ramps); the first two debuted alongside the normal variant in the Sunset Tour, while the last debuted in the 2020 Mario vs. Luigi Tour. In the R/T variant, many Monty Moles are added throughout the course.

From version 3.0.0. until version 3.2.1, there was a bug that caused the ground to keep its night palette from the start of the course when replaying the course after finishing a previous race.

Appearances
For this course's tour appearances, see List of GBA Sunset Wilds tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe


Sunset Wilds makes its home console debut in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of the Wave 5 of the Booster Course Pass DLC. It appears as the second course of the Cherry Cup. The track is based on its appearance from Mario Kart Tour, but with a graphical overhaul. Similar to and, the cartoony clouds have been removed in favor of a more realistic skybox. The dash panels during the mud section can now be tricked off of. Smoke signals are now visible on top of some of the buttes in the background. Whether the course's sunset gimmick is retained from its previous appearances is currently unknown, as all promotional material feature the course at the same time of day.

Prior to the course's official announcement for the Booster Course Pass, screenshots of the Mario Kart Tour iteration of Sunset Wilds were included among the many pictures used in an, located within Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's internal data present in version 2.0.0 of the game. Additionally, a very brief portion of Sunset Wilds' music was present within the internal data for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in version 2.1.0. The filename for the music snippet was "Cnsw_53", indicating it was originally assigned to the third course of the Feather Cup.