Best Nitro Rainbow Road Courses

And at number one, we might just have one of the most underappreciated tracks in the entire Mario Kart franchise. GBA Rainbow Road from Mario Kart Super Circuit, was the reason I made this list to begin with. You definitely might've noticed if you've been on my channel for a while, that whenever I've brought up this game, I've always been oddly positive about it, no matter the situation. Now how that is is a question for another video, but why, is no one remembers it. In my opinion, it's the single-handedly most underrated game in the series, because there are so many good things about it, that people simply just don't notice. Rainbow Road in this game is probably the best example. Everyone dismisses it as just another flat track, and so, one of the main purposes to this video, is to shine light on the best Rainbow Road ever made. This track..., I don't even know where I should begin. It's such a unique rendition that was innovative in so many ways, both mechanically, and ...more

Yes I agree this one is very underrated. We never see any Mario Kart tracks quite like this one anymore. This track has a cool layout and the bouncy edges are a lot of fun and they have a bit of a risk and reward factor which is something I really like about it. I hope they bring this one back with the bouncy edges.

For the longest time, Mario Kart: Double Dash's version of Rainbow Road was my favourite. I've always had a soft spot for this particular game. Double Dash was the first Mario game I ever came into contact with, finding out about in on Youtube, so anything that has to do with this game, I've always had a bias for. That feeling became even stronger when I got it myself, having beforehand played Mario Kart DS. Everything about it felt like an improved and more complete version of said game, and the Rainbow Road is where I felt that the most. Holy crap is this track legendary. Like let's just start off with the music. I don't think I've ever heard a song that's quite as climactic, epic, and beautiful, at the same time. It's not just at the same time, but each of these features, are perfect in this song. So how about the map layout? Remember the DS and Wii's renditions? Well, this is that..., on steroids. A lot of sections from those tracks were originally inspired by this track, and it ...more

This one is kind of crazy honestly. I think it's kind of difficult personally (or maybe I'm just terrible at Double Dash which is extremely likely) but it's pretty fun and this one has some of the best music out of all of the Rainbow Road tracks.

Alright, lower your pitchforks please. I know you're probably not too happy to see 3DS Rainbow Road only at #3. Mario Kart 7, for all the undeserved hate it gets, does have one area that's been rightfully praised, the Rainbow Road. This is by far, the most loved rendition in the entire Mario Kart fandom. I dare you to find anyone who doesn't put this at 1st place..., well aside from me. This course is brilliant, and while it's not my personal favourite one, it's my goodness the most ambitious one. Nathaniel Bandy once said this isn't just a track. It's an adventure. To this day, this is the only original Rainbow Road track to be divided up into three different sections, rather than looping it thrice. It starts off nice and simple. You know, a couple of turns here and there. But then it progressively becomes more unique, as you glide across the rings of Saturn, make sharp turns, and then drive on the freakin' moon! Not only is it such a cool idea itself, but they even changed the music ...more

This one is cool too. It's the first Rainbow Road to be just one lap. I like how you go through different parts of space and there's some crazy shortcuts you can do on this track. This one is kind of overrated but I still like it.

And finally. The sub-par Rainbow Roads are out of the way. Unfortunately that was more than half of the list, but hey, now we reach the top four. If I were to show a newcomer to Mario Kart what Rainbow Road is, I'd probably choose one of these four. They're the most iconic renditions that fill in on all the marks, whether it's the massive difficulty, or the breathtaking atmosphere, or maybe even something more. So which is the weakest of these four? The GBA, GCN, Wii, or 3DS? Believe it or not, but for me, it's Wii Rainbow Road. Calm down everyone! Remember what I just said? Wii Rainbow Road, is amazing. Actually cut that. It's Kingly! The best thing you can say about something. This was my first Rainbow Road ever, so it holds a special place in my heart, but even disregarding my nostalgia, it's difficult to see how this could not be the most iconic Rainbow Road ever. It's gorgeous! Atmospherically, it's a little more mellow than the other versions, with its soothing credits-styled ...more

If we were ranking these by difficulty this one would be very high up (partially because of Mario Kart Wii's bizarre physics but whatever). Like you can fall off very easily on this one and there are some crazy turns. It also has a great layout like the part with the circular gaps you can trick over. I like to trick off of the boost pad and start wheelying and tricking over the gaps. I am not sure if that is faster considering you're in the air for a while which slows you down but it's still pretty fun to do. There's also the shooting star and the moon jump you can do at the beginning of the track. The half pipes are cool too. Overall this is an amazing rainbow road and is probably my favorite in the whole series.

Yes, so as you might've guessed if you've been on this account for a while, I'm not the biggest fan of Mario Kart DS's rendition of Rainbow Road. I wouldn't say it's a bad track, but it's definitely one of the most basic Rainbow Roads in the series. From the moment you start playing, you notice that there's just something missing. Like it could be great, but it's not complete. That's how I felt. And then a couple of weeks later I tried out Double Dash's Rainbow Road and instantly knew why. DS Rainbow Road is in a nutshell, a watered-down version of the Gamecube's rendition. A lot of sections are very similar, the music pre-fetch is suspiciously similar, and even the length is much shorter than usually. But with, it's a bit unfair to put all blame on the limitations, because while I do have Gamecube bias, this one still has some distinct features. Yeah, the music isn't the best, but it's still got a unique vibe to it. Like it's not a grand finale like GCN or 3DS Rainbow Road, but it ...more

I feel like this is the only track in the series to have something similar to anti gravity before Mario Kart 8. Yes it is kind of similar to the Rainbow Road in Double Dash but I don't mind that because it stands out enough. The music is great though. I really like this one.

Wii U Rainbow Road, despite being the newest one, is also one of the worst ones. But I bet none of you were particularly surprised by this. This one definitely has a bit of a spicy reputation, and I can't say I don't understand. Is it a bad track? I guess not. But it's not really good either. To understand my disdain for this track, you kind of have to know why I love Rainbow Roads to begin with. The answer is to that, is their magical atmosphere. Space is pretty big and scary, but these tracks manage to make it feel beautiful and magical. Unfortunately this one is pretty much the opposite. You remember when Rainbow Road was like..., you know, a rainbow road? Well how about a man-made road instead? Yeah, there's not a single Rainbow in this entire track, instead the entire course is just a massive space station with metal roads jutting out. Nintendo. I play Nintendo games because I want to experience new fantasy worlds, not to be reminded by the fact that humanity is slowly poisoning ...more

I mean it has the splitting paths near the end that's probably one of the better parts of this track. Apart from that this one is mostly kind of boring and the colors look very dull which sucks. Not the worst one but not my favorite.

Next up, we have SNES Rainbow Road. Now this is a classic. This was the first Rainbow Road ever made, and as a result, it's a little more simple..., actually much more simple than all of the other ones, but it still managed to not be last since you know..., it's actually playable. The thing that made this so special when it was first released, is the fact that it was the only track in Super Mario Kart that didn't have multiple variations. Instead it was just this one, at the end of the final cup, and while it may seem underwhelming today, it was pretty cool back in the old days. It was the ultimate test, no guardrails, super-thwomps, incredibly sharp turns, this was the jam back in the day. Atmospherically, it wasn't really as beautiful as its successors, as the main purpose was to be a final battle, but the music is still relatively epic. There's just one massive problem. My eyes can not tolerate these colours alternating so quickly. The remakes it spawned definitely outdid it in ...more

This one is pretty difficult and I love the 7 and 8 versions of this track. Like seriously the 8 version looks absolutely beautiful and the music is a banger too. It's a bit more simple but there's some crazy turns here and the later versions added some shortcuts and you can do some tricks when the thwomps hit the ground which makes it more interesting.

The worst Rainbow Road, starting off the list might be a bit of a controversial choice, because for me, the weakest one is none other than N64 Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 64. This is one of the most polarizing tracks in the entire series. Some people love it, and some people hate it. Me, I've traditionally always been in the middle. Like I can see what makes it special to some people, but without the nostalgia goggles, it's really just not that good of a track. The thing about Rainbow Roads is that they're the last tracks you play in the game, and as a result they combine feelings of difficulty, beauty and satisfaction. Those are the three key ingredients in making a good Rainbow Road, but one of those is missing in this one, the difficulty. The entire track is surrounded by guardrails, so it's impossible to fall off or to try to be good at it. So it doesn't test your skills. But fair enough. Maybe it's interesting in spite of that? No not really. A chain chomp comes every now and then ...more