 This article is about the 3DS variation. For a list of articles with the same name, see Rainbow Road. |
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Rainbow Road is the fourth and last track of the Special Cup in Mario Kart 7. This Rainbow Road iteration features many jumps, turns, planets, and it's so long that it's in three sections rather than three laps.
It later reappears in the 2019 Holiday Tour for Mario Kart Tour. Finally, it reappeared in Wave 3 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass DLC, as the final race of the Moon Cup.
Layout[]
Mario Kart 7[]
The course starts off with a few turns. The player then comes across some Dash Panel ramps. There is a circle where there are ramps that players can trick off of. Another reason why the ramps are there is to jump the gaps. After that, players come across a Rainbow Trampoline Mushroom, similar to the Trampoline Mushrooms in Mushroom Gorge. There are fences around the Rainbow Trampoline Mushroom, but that won't stop you from falling. There is a turn to the right where the ground is wavy, causing players to do tricks. After that, section 2 begins. There is another turn to the right that leads to a gliding section. The gliding section leads to Saturn's rings. There are holes in the rings, which can make players fall. In the second half of the rings, there are some Dash Panels that leads to a Glide Panel. There is a star that you can go through to get a boost. When the gliding section ends, there are some Boost Pads you can go across, but you don't have to. The Dash Panels are on three turns. The road is wavy again but wavier than before. There are some holes in the road, which can make players fall. But what is special, is that you don't fall off the track! Whether you fall down a hole or make it all the way to the end, you fall to the moon. There are bumps in the moon that you can do tricks off of. There are three Chain Chomps on the moon, but they are not attached to a chain. Instead, they are rolling on the moon, as obstacles. In section 3, the final lap fanfare plays. There are rainbow dash panels, less powerful than a regular Dash Panel, before entering a spinning tunnel filled with regular Dash Panels. The end rim of the tunnel features both Dash Panels and Glide Panels.
Going over a Dash Panel, there are some stars that provide a boost. But how? There are some ramps with Dash Panels that can help reach stars. Going over a Glide Panel also helps. The course ends with an uphill and downhill, and a ramp that is facing towards the finish line.
Mario Kart Tour[]
This iteration of Rainbow Road makes its return in the Holiday Tour in Mario Kart Tour. The course follows the same layout as its predecessor, although many turns have been simplified due to Mario Kart Tour's gameplay physics. The visuals have been overhauled with higher resolution quality, and many aesthetic changes were also made. Many of the planet-like objects have been replaced with real planets, such as Jupiter and Uranus. The background has been updated to include many more galaxies; the Saturn-like object has also been changed to more closely resemble the actual planet.
This is one of the few courses in Mario Kart Tour to not have two laps or sections; the original section gates have been retained. The section gates and the goal gate now have semicircular designs, with their signs hung at around 30 degrees from the top.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe[]
A few years after its Tour appearance, it reappears again in the form of DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It is the last course of the Moon Cup. The course received a massive graphical and aesthetic overhaul, complete with a more futuristic look.
Rainbow Road as seen in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Neon blue lights now make up the borders for the multi-colored path, as well as the road now featuring a more watery looking rainbow, which differentiates itself from the other rainbow roads in the same game, of which all have LED lights resembling squares for the main road. The skybox has also been further updated to include even more galaxies, nebulae, and stars. The blue planet at the start of the race has been changed from Uranus to Neptune, another real-world planet. In addition, the moon section now features anti-gravity.
Shortcuts[]
- After the second section, players can jump the gap that cuts the second section's first turn.✱ for MK7
- At the end of the track, one can use a Mushroom to jump another gap that cuts the last turn, unless you cut less of the track.✱ for MK7
- Attempting to cut through the spiral around the planet near the end of section 1 will result in Lakitu towing the racer back onto the track.
Staff Ghosts[]
Mario Kart 7[]
| Character | Recorder | Time | Kart Combination | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body | Tires | Glider | |||
|
Normal | ||||
| Nin★Takamu | 02:10.090 | 
|
|
| |
| Expert | |||||
| Nin★Asakur | 01:52.077 | 
|
|
| |
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe[]
| Character | Recorder | Time | Vehicle Combination | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body | Tires | Glider | |||
| 150cc | |||||
|
Nin★Mizuho | 1:52.015 |  |
 |
 |
| 200cc | |||||
|
Nin★Dylan | 1:19.545 |  |
 |
 |
Gallery[]
Mario Kart 7[]
Mario Kart Tour[]
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe[]
.png "3DS Rainbow Road Icon (8 Deluxe).png (148 KB)"){kind=icon}
Trivia![]
- Although this course has three sections, this is the first Rainbow Road that is just one long lap, rather than just being three laps, the second being the remake of N64 Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 8. This is also the first open circuit to appear in Mario Kart Tour.
- It is also the only Rainbow Road that was NEVER three laps at all.
- Because it has 3 sections, it is tied for the longest track of the entire series tying with Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road.
- This course in Mario Kart 7 is the course with the most Glide Panels, having a total of 5.
- The moon in this course gave Mario Kart 8 the idea to have anti-gravity.
- This course appears as a battle stage in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
- A portion of the course's soundtrack appears to be a modernized spin to N64 Rainbow Road.
- In Mario Kart Tour, the cratered planets at the start of the course are replaced with Jupiter and Uranus
- Similarly, the model used for Saturn was replaced with one more accurate to it's real-life counterpart.
- This was the first course to have Saturn in it.
- Beneath Saturn's ring, there is a hidden Item Box which can be retrieved by making a stealthy dive downwards while still on the glider, and then cutting back up through one of the holes in the ring and landing back on the track.
- This is one of two tracks in Mario Kart 7 that contains a hidden Item Box, with the other being DK Pass.
- This Item Box was removed in the Mario Kart Tour and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe versions due to their different glider physics making this move impossible.
Previous track:
Bowser's Castle |
Current track:
Rainbow Road |
Next track:
N64 Luigi Raceway |
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Previous track:
New York Minute 2 |
1st reappearance:
Mario Kart Tour |
Next track:
Tokyo Blur 2 |
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Previous track:
Merry Mountain |
2nd reappearance:
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe |
Next track:
Tour Amsterdam Drift |
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