Maple Treeway

Maple Treeway
Information
Game file name	treehouse course.szs (Mario Kart Wii)
Cup(s)	Star Cup Leaf Cup Rock Cup
First appearance	Mario Kart Wii (2008)
Appearance(s)	Mario Kart Wii Mario Kart 7 Mario Kart Tour Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (DLC)
Map(s)	Wii 7 Tour 8D Regular Mirror Overhead Mini-Map Mirror Mini-Map Regular Mirror

Maple Treeway is the third track of the Star Cup in Mario Kart Wii. This track makes a retro appearance in Mario Kart 7 as the last track of the Leaf Cup, in Mario Kart Tour as of the 2020 Halloween Tour, and in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of Wave 3 of the Booster Course Pass, as the last track of the Rock Cup.

It takes place in a large maple forest with a giant tree that resembles Gold Leaf Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy. It's themed on maple leaves and maple trees. It's also based on Canada because it's known for its maple trees.

Layout

Mario Kart Wii

Peach tricking at Maple Treeway.

The course starts out with a slight downhill curve with the very first set of Item Boxes. After the set of item boxes, there is a curve to the left which leads to a Barrel Cannon that will blast you into the treetops directly through the leaves and branches of the tree.

After landing, you turn right and travel through some leaf piles, which may reveal a simple Banana Peel flying from it, but it could be possible that a Mushroom flies from the scattered leaf pile or in rare cases, a Starman. You will then exit the insides of the tree and make an uphill left U-turn along a protruding tree branch toward a large circular arena with two Wigglers on it. The Wigglers are easy to avoid if you are careful. The turn on the branch is very tight and you can fall off both sides if you happen to drift incorrectly or are hit with an item while traveling too far to one side.

In the large circular area, there are two Wigglers who trot about on their own and some more leaf piles for you to drive through. The Wiggler will bounce you back if you touch the Wigglers, but no other effect will take place.

After the Wiggler area, there is a slight descending right turn on a branch, which has two Dash Panels on them. You may also fall off both sides in this area like in the entrance to the Wiggler area, so you must be careful where to use the Dash Panels. Also, if you are very slow, you will fall off before the curve with a half-pipe ramp, since there is a small gap in between the Dash Panel sections and the section with half-pipe ramp in it. In the section with the half-pipe ramp in it, the track makes another right hand turn onto a straightaway with a small crevice that it is possible to fall into. On the ramp are item boxes that you can use. After that area the track dives straight through the middle of the tree. You will drive across a narrow bridge, which makes it easy for heavier players to knock lighter players off.

After the bridge is a ramp with a Dash Panel on it. You may do a trick on that ramp and land on one more thick branch. After a very slight turn to the left, there is a wavy bridge (actually a trampoline-like net), where you may perform tricks on. The A.I. tends to fall off in this area of the course and the wavy bridge may also throw you off course when performing stunts and into the land far below the bridge. After the bridge is a very straight path leading back to the finish line, with two tree roots obscuring the path. You may also perform a trick if you manage to drive off them like a ramp.

Mario Kart 7

Maple Treeway as it appears in Mario Kart 7.

This course makes its return as a retro course few years later in Mario Kart 7. It is the last race of the Leaf Cup. The course is largely the same visually to its original appearance, though with a few elements cut to make sure it would run well on a handheld device. Shortly after the start, there is now a glide ramp present just before the cannon, and now going through will activate your glider. A few holes have been added to the canopy of the big tree where you enter, possibly signifying weathering on that spot of the tree. Leaf piles will now possibly drop out Coins or Green Shells. The Wigglers have been shortened in length and are now bigger in size. Furthermore, the section before the U-turn has been flattened overall, along with the half-pipe from the original being removed. The wavy bridge from its previous appearance has also been removed, in favor of a glide section.

Mario Kart Tour

Maple Treeway reappears once again in Mario Kart Tour, starting with the 2020 Halloween Tour. The course received a major aesthetic and graphical overhaul, with the track being remade entirely from scratch. The course maintains many of the changed gameplay elements made in the Mario Kart 7 version, though it doesn't go without some changes. Firstly, the Mario Kart logo on the starting banner has been changed from the classic logo to the modern one. Dash panels that were present in the shortcut at the start of the course have been removed. The holes that were made in the place where you enter through the tree's canopy have been completely opened up, making it a singular large hole. Alongside this, the small canopy building just before the U-turn to the Wiggler section has been removed, most likely due to scaling issues. Grass has been added to the borders of many giant branches that are raced on. Running into the Wigglers will no longer bump you in the opposite direction, but will now spin you out. The half-pipe from the original has also been reintroduced, and was placed in the section it was in previously. Other than that, the course is still the same, for the most part.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

View under the big maple tree's canopy in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Maple Treeway makes its latest appearance in Wave 3 of the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It is the last course of the Rock Cup. The course is largely based on its Tour counterpart, though with substantially improved lighting and graphics. Although many of the gameplay changes made in the Tour version have been retained, some stuff did change. For starters, Dash panels have been re-added to many of the sections they were absent in before, and more arrow signs have been added as well. In addition, the Wigglers now move differently to how they did before, and will spin you out if you hit them, just like the Tour version. The half-pipe has been retained, and now takes the look of an anti-gravity panel.

Shortcuts

• At the very beginning of the track, there is an opening in the fence to the right. This path has Item Boxes and Boost Pads and leads directly to the cannon entrance. However, because some of the route is off-Road, a Mushroom is needed to make the cut effective.
• At the u-turn section, while you are on the full tree branch section, head to the left and drift as tightly to the right as you can while using a Mushroom. You will land on the next full tree branch section, skipping the half tree branch section.
• Near the end of the course at the net (or Glider section), head to the far right or left of the road. Hidden in the trees are a ramp and an Item Box on both sides. These will give you a slight advantage.

Staff Ghosts

Mario Kart Wii

Character	Recorder	Time	Vehicle	Wii Wheel?
	Normal
	Nin★pico	02:58.633		Yes
	Expert
	Nin★MUGI★	02:37.812		No

Mario Kart 7

Character	Time	Kart Combination
		Body	Tires	Glider
	Normal
	02:53.560
	Expert
	02:34.847

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Character	Recorder	Time	Vehicle Combination
			Body	Tires	Glider
150cc
	Nin★Pavel	2:36.581
200cc
	Nin★Sho	1:58.543

Glitches

Diddy Kong is out of bounds.

• At the start of the track, go back slightly for about 2 seconds. Then use a Mushroom and go out of bounds on the left. Face the fence, drive towards it, turn to the left and use a Mushroom. You have just skipped a checkpoint. Drive to the cannon. After the cannon, face the crossing road, and use the branch as a ramp to that road. This shortcut does not count the lap, but doing the glitch counts the lap. This is not recommended in online races.

Trivia!

• There is a 2 in 5 chance that a Star will appear in two of the leaf piles.
• If one were to put the Bowser's Castle music on 2.375×, they would find that the part right after the start is a slowed-down version of the part right after the start of the music for this track.
• The final lap music of this track is faster in Mario Kart 7.
• This is the longest retro track in Mario Kart 7, and the longest 3 lap track overall of that game.
• The first course in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to utilize Half-pipes, a feature not seen in a mainline Mario Kart game in over a decade.
• This course was originally supposed to come in Wave 6 of the Booster Course Pass as the second course of the Acorn Cup (as evidenced by it being labeled in the files as "Cnsw_62"), but it got pushed up to Wave 3 for as of yet unknown reasons.

Gallery

Mario Kart Wii

The track preview.

Bowser Jr. racing on Maple Treeway passing a Wiggler.

Peach defeating a Wiggler

View of the starting line.

Mario Kart 7

Starting line for Maple Treeway as seen in Mario Kart 7.

Luigi and Mario racing on the Mario Kart 7 version of Maple Treeway.

Yoshi racing on the track.

Mario Kart Tour

Icon for Maple Treeway in Mario Kart Tour.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Icon for Maple Treeway in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

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