| Moonview Highway | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Appears in | Mario Kart Wii (2008) Mario Kart Tour (2023) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Booster Course Pass, Wave 5) (2023) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cup(s) | Special Cup (Wii) Feather Cup (8 Deluxe) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tour(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Online play | No longer available (Wii) Available (Switch) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Moonview Highway is the second course of the Special Cup in Mario Kart Wii. The course takes place in and around a lit up city at night with a full moon overhead. The course seems to combine elements of previous traffic-based courses in the series, namely Toad's Turnpike from Mario Kart 64, Mushroom Bridge and Mushroom City from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and Shroom Ridge from Mario Kart DS, including the course taking place in a city at night like Toad's Turnpike and Mushroom City, the beginning portion taking place along a cliff like Shroom Ridge, an arched bridge and a tunnel like Mushroom Bridge, and the inclusion of the Bob-omb Cars present in both GCN courses.
Moonview Highway reappears as a classic course in Mario Kart Tour, debuting in the Night Tour. It also returns in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the third course of the Feather Cup in the Booster Course Pass.
Mario Kart Wii
Course layout
The course begins in an area with steep cliffs and many trees surrounding the track. The player first travels along the winding road of a highway that mostly lacks guard rails and is dense with traffic, including cars, trucks, and Bob-omb Cars. After passing the first set of Item Boxes, the player has the option to drive onto some nearby cliffs, one of which has a dash panel ramp at the end. Additional Item Boxes can also be found along the cliffs. All paths swiftly converge and after a sharp turn to the right, the player drives over a bridge resembling that of Mushroom Bridge, which contains the second and last set of Item Boxes, but no guard rail to protect players from falling off either side. It then leads into a set of toll booths that display the course's name and are controlled by the player's Miis. Passing the toll booths will allow the player to enter the city section. The city itself is decorated with numerous signs and billboards, and if the player is playing as a Mii, the face on Mario (in the moon) and Peach's face on the "The Mushroom Moon" billboard, as well as the Fire Flower on the Green Fuel billboard will have Mii faces from the player's console.
The city section of the track is mostly straight with the player only needing to make two right turns. Individual Item Boxes can be found throughout this section, but they are always quickly moving. The highway itself is now four lanes, with two on each side, and fully covered by walls that show a pattern of Shy Guy and Bowser Jr. faces. Various dash panels litter the track, a few of which span the width of the entire road. The vehicles from before now move about three times as fast, and will constantly change lanes to avoid running over any dash panels. Towards the end of this section, the player enters a tunnel which has pillars in the middle of the road, serving as additional obstacles. After exiting the tunnel, the player must pass through another set of toll booths before reaching the finish line shortly after.
Like in the original iteration of Shroom Ridge, the traffic follows the Japanese system of driving, in which vehicles drive on the left side of the road (right side in Mirror Mode). Bob-omb Cars are also notably absent from Time Trials.
Course traffic patterns
This version of the course has 28 vehicles.
- Left lane: Yellow car, red car, Moo Moo Dairy truck, red car, blue car, Bob-omb Car, Factory truck, Coconut Fruit truck, red car, Factory truck, yellow car, Coconut Fruit truck, Bob-omb Car, blue car, Factory truck
- Right lane: Blue car, yellow car, red car, Moo Moo Dairy truck, blue car, yellow car, Bob-omb Car, Coconut Fruit truck, blue car, yellow car, Factory truck, Bob-omb Car, Moo Moo Dairy truck
Tournaments
April 2010's 2nd tournament required players to complete a Time Trial on a version of Moonview Highway with different traffic and with all traffic now traveling against the player, similar to Toad's Turnpike in Mario Kart 64's Extra mode. Players started the Time Trial with a set of Triple Mushrooms. The tournament was later repeated as the first tournament of November 2011, the second tournament of January 2013, and the first tournament of April 2014.
This tournament version of the track has 24 vehicles.
- Left lane: Factory truck, blue car, Coconut Fruit truck, Factory truck, red car, Coconut Fruit truck, Factory truck, blue car, red car, Moo Moo Dairy truck, red car, yellow car
- Right lane: Yellow car, red car, Moo Moo Dairy truck, blue car, yellow car, blue car, Coconut Fruit truck, blue car, yellow car, Factory truck, blue car, Moo Moo Dairy truck
Mario Kart Tour
Moonview Highway makes its classic course debut in Mario Kart Tour, starting from the Night Tour; it was the penultimate classic course added to the game, as well as the final Wii course. Visually, the buildings in the city portion of the course resemble the ones in New York Minute. Rather than having windows lit with different colors with an emphasis on yellow as in the original, building windows are colored in a variety of different shades, but are no longer multicolored on an individual basis. Spotlights aimed at the sky are now visible in the city portion of the course. The Mushroom Moon and Green Fuel sponsors have been recreated with 2D artwork, although Petey Piranha's cameo appearance in The Mushroom Moon has been replaced with Bowser. The course now uses the vehicles from Berlin Byways 3. The Bob-omb Cars return and use their design from GCN Mushroom Bridge. The Miis in the tollbooths are now replaced with Yoshis and Shy Guys. The LED signs are now static images. The sirens heard in the city portion have been removed. The tunnel section now has fans attached to the ceiling. The course has been slightly condensed vertically, which is most noticeable with the reduced distances between the tunnel and second toll booth, and said booth and the starting line. Many Dash Panels have been rearranged somewhat, though many of the original placements are retained. The chunk of offroad in the opening section of the course is now level with the main road, instead of being raised. The cars move slower and no longer speed up when they enter the city. The toll booth bars now use the same sound effect heard in Wii DK Summit. The rabbit icon marking the exits of the city has been replaced with a yellow version of the heart icon used in Wii.
The course also appears as Moonview Highway R (reversed), Moonview Highway T (with ramps), and Moonview Highway R/T (reversed with ramps). In the R variant, Mushroom cars from GCN Mushroom Bridge appear on the course, some trucks have Dash Panels on them, and a Glide Ramp is added at the entrance of the city. In the R/T variant, the Mushroom cars from the R variant are retained, and a glide ramp at the beginning of the course has racers driving on top of the tunnel.
Course traffic patterns
This version of the course, in its default variant, has 20 vehicles. Vehicles marked with an asterisk (*) take the outer lane instead of the inner lane while in the city section.
- Left lane: Burning DK truck, blue car*, Moo Moo Meadows Milk truck, gray car, red car*, Bob-omb Car*, Moo Moo Meadows Milk truck*, blue car, PTT truck, gray car, Burning DK truck*
- Right lane: Red car*, blue car*, gray car, Bob-omb Car, PTT truck, green car*, PTT truck, Bob-omb Car*, Moo Moo Meadows Milk truck*
Appearances
For this course's tour appearances, see List of Wii Moonview Highway tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.
Top-tier and middle-tier items
Select "show" to reveal the drivers, karts, and gliders for which Wii Moonview Highway and its variants are always favored or favorite courses. For instances in which additional drivers, karts, and gliders temporarily had this course and its variants as favored or favorite courses, see List of Wii Moonview Highway tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.
| Course | Three-item drivers | Bonus points ×2 karts | Combo bonus ×3 gliders | Two-item drivers | Bonus points ×1.5 karts | Combo bonus ×2 gliders |
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| * indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 3. ** indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 6. *** indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 8 for High-End items. | ||||||
Bonus challenges
| Steer Clear of Obstacles | |||||||
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| Icon | Course variant | Chosen driver |
Chosen kart |
Chosen glider |
Obstacles | Tour appearances | Cup |
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Regular |  Bowser Jr. |
 Pipe Frame |
 Super Glider |
 Bob-omb Car  Banzai Bill |
Night Tour |  Baby Rosalina Cup |
| Big Reverse Race vs. 100 | |||||||||||||
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| Icon | Course variant | Opponents | Player | Grand Star placements | Tour appearances | Cup | |||||||
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Summer Tour (2023) |  Iggy Cup |
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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Moonview Highway returns in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of Wave 5 of the Booster Course Pass. It appears as the third course of the Feather Cup. The course is based on its appearance from Mario Kart Tour, with significant visual upgrades. Most of the changes from Tour appear to have been left intact, including the reduced traffic, cars in the city no longer speeding up, a new banister in the opening section, the Bob-omb Cars returning with their Tour designs, and the static LED signs. The course now uses the vehicles from N64 Toad's Turnpike. Unlike DS Shroom Ridge and Tour Berlin Byways, the traffic maintains its original behavior, driving on the left side of the road in opposite directions. The minimap now displays the raised sections found at the start of the track. The spotlights in the city now move, and the lights on the bridge no longer alternate on and off. The sound effect when passing through the toll booth has reverted to the one used in Mario Kart Wii. The yellow arrow signs in the city are now green. Surfboard trucks now appear as part of the traffic. A new ramp has been added to the left raised section at the start of the track. The Item Boxes that move through the city now go through the toll booths and turn around instead of disappearing at the toll booths. The Dash Panel arrangement in the city now randomizes between plays, while the Dash Panels themselves are larger compared to previous iterations of the course, now taking up the entire width of the lanes on the road.[1]
Moonview Highway is one of two courses originating from Mario Kart Wii to appear in Wave 5, with it appearing alongside Wii Koopa Cape.
Internally, the course is referred to as "Cnsw_63", implying it may have originally been intended to be the third course of the Acorn Cup. This slot previously had no prefix attached to it, and the reason for its change is unknown.
Course traffic patterns
This version of the course has 16 vehicles. Vehicles marked with an asterisk (*) take the outer lane instead of the inner lane while in the city section.
- Left lane: Truck, car*, surfboard truck, truck*, surfboard truck*, car, truck*, surfboard truck
- Right lane: Car, Bob-omb Car, car, car*, Bob-omb Car, car*, Bob-omb Car, car*
All three cargo trucks use a Propeller Toad Transport design while cars can randomly appear as red cars or as Green Shell Taxis.
Profiles
- European website bio: "Don't be distracted by the beauty of the full moon reflecting in the lake. Those on-coming headlights mean the road is chock-full of traffic that isn't going to move aside for you!"
- Trading card bio: "Obstacles are one thing, but moving obstacles provide an entirely new level of danger and challenge. And there are plenty obstacles to be found along the "Moonview Highway". But the race is on and you've got to get out there and battle the traffic as you try to be the first to the finish line!"
Sponsors
Mario Kart Wii
- Bullet Oil (Signs)
- Coconut Fruit (Cargo trucks)
- Factory (Cargo trucks)
- Gallery (Posters)
- Gold Star Bank (Signs)
- Green Fuel (Signs, posters)
- Moo Moo Dairy (Cargo trucks)
- Moon Bank (Posters)
- Mushroom Mart (Signs)
- The Mushroom Moon (Posters)
- Tropical Mart (Signs, cargo trucks)
Mario Kart Tour / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
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Gallery
Mario Kart Wii
The course banner
A preview of the course
One of the first turns of the course
The bridge that leads to the city section
The tunnel filled with cars and Dash Panels
The 2nd tournament of April 2010
After the first two turns, an alternate route exists, which involves going uphill.
The sharp turn before reaching the bridge
Reaching the tollbooth to the city
The city area features some dash panels and moving item boxes.
The tollbooth, leading back to the finish line
The alternate route has a jump ramp, along with some item boxes.
Mario Kart Tour
Course icons
The course icon with Daisy (Sailor)
The course icon with Toad (Astronaut)
The course icon of the R variant with Cat Mario
The course icon of the R variant with the Wendy Mii Racing Suit
The course icon of the T variant with Luigi
The course icon of the T variant with Toadette (Sailor)
The course icon of the R/T variant with Donkey Kong (Gladiator)
The course icon of the R/T variant with Pink Gold Peach
The course icon of the R/T variant with Mario (Aviator)
Screenshots
View of the starting line
View of the road on the cliffside
View of the bridge
View of the entrance to the city
View of the tollbooth to the city
View of buildings in the city
View of the tunnel in the city
View of the exit from the city
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
The course icon
View of a toll booth
The entrance of the tunnel
Wario racing in the city
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
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| Japanese | ムーンリッジ＆ハイウェイ Mūn Rijji ando Haiwei |
Moon Ridge & Highway |
| Chinese | 月下山脊＆公路 Yuèxià Shānjǐ Hé Gōnglù |
Moon Ridge & Highway |
| Dutch | Maanlichtlaan |
Moonlight Lane |
| German | Mondblickstraße |
Moonview Street |
| Italian | Autostrada lunare |
Lunar Highway |
| Korean | 달맞이 하이웨이 Dalmaji Haiwei |
Moonview Highway |
| Portuguese (NOA) | Rota Luz do Luar |
Moonlight Route |
| Portuguese (NOE) | Autoestrada ao Luar |
Moonlight Highway |
| Russian | Лунная магистраль Lunnaya magistral' |
Lunar Highway |
| Spanish (NOA) | Circuito Luz de Luna Autopista de la Luna (Mario Kart Wii) |
Moonlight Circuit Moon Highway |
| Spanish (NOE) | Circuito Luz de Luna |
Moonlight Circuit |
References
- ^ @NintendoAmerica (July 7, 2023). "The Feather Cup arrives in Wave 5 of the #MarioKart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass! Enjoy two classic courses in Daisy Cruiser and Moonview Highway, a historical tour with Athens Dash and the brand new course, Squeaky Clean Sprint!" Twitter. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
