Worst Special Cup Courses in Mario Kart

Because someone already made the opposite list, I'm just going to make the worst list. Anyways, the Special Cup is the last nitro cup in every Mario Kart game and tends to contain the hardest tracks in a Mario Kart game, plus a new re-incarnation of a Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road. As a result it tends to be the most epic cup, but not all Special Cup tracks are that good. Which ones are the worst? Read the list, to find out!

The Top Ten

3DS Rosalina's Ice World

Most Special Cups are in my opinion not that great in my opinion and tend to be a little underwhelming. It mostly has to do with one track ruining it, such as in 3DS Special Cup, where Rosalina's Ice World fulfilled that role. How is this track? Well it's the hardest Mario Kart 7 course (even surpassing BC and RR) but it's not fun at all. It's a snow level based on Super Mario Galaxy, but unlike that fun game, this is just depressing in its soundtrack. And it's so annoying! I usually don't feel ice physics but it's clear that they're in this course and it sure downgrades this course. I can't tell you how many times I keep bumping into those ice spikes, or hit the edge of the floating ice, slowing me down and sending me to the ice water. There's nothing likeable about this course, in all honesty. It's just so dreadful.
Wii U Bone-Dry Dunes

While I personally don't despise it as much as other people might do, it's still an incredibly dull desert track. Unlike most desert tracks, this one's set in a reddish-brown desert with a sunset. While that sounds cool, it's actually very ugly and eye-straining! It doesn't help either, that the music is incredibly bland too, and makes the whole experience in this desert feel barren and annoying. I mean it's a good song on its own, but not with this track at all! Not a good track overall in my opinion.
GBA Lakeside Park
GBA Broken Pier

Broken Pier is in my opinion the best of the two ghost courses in Mario Kart: Super Circuit. It has a very interesting blue background with volcanoes with faces on them, and the design is even more interesting. There are a lot of jump pad-shortcuts at each corner, which can be used to quicklier get to 1st place, and there's even a broken shortcut where you can skip half the track with a mushroom! It's really cool, but as a GBA track, it obviously ain't much better than that.
SNES Donut Plains 3

This track was actually really good in my opinion, especially for SNES standards! You know how most tracks in Super Mario Kart are not just hard but also super annoying with turns and difficulty? Well Donut Plains 3 is an example of a hard course from the game, which ISN'T that annoying. Ok, that's a bit of an overstatement. But what I'm trying to say is, despite the difficulty and some annoyance on grand prix races, it's actually a really solid title. The turns and jumps, while take a lot of skill to pull off, are satisfying once you do make them. Plus it looks gorgeous too!
N64 Rainbow Road

The biggest snorefest of them all in Mario Kart. By the time you've finished a race in say Bowser's Castle, that's the time it takes to make just ONE lap on this course. It would've been a little tolerated if this track had any difficulty but as you can see from the picture, there are guardrails everywhere and the background is as barren as it can get. Now..., the music happens to be one of the best of all time in Mario Kart, which does save this track from being THE worst one of all time. In fact, the music makes it a lot better than it would've been otherwise, because it really is THAT good! But overall, I'd play other tracks instead.
Wii U Rainbow Road

Rainbow Road on the Wii U is in my opinion easily the worst Rainbow Road. Ok maybe not easily, I mean the SNES and N64 versions weren't necessarily masterpieces either, but..., at least they had their charm. This one? Not so much. In fact it's my least favourite Mario Kart 8 track. It defies what a Rainbow Road actually should be, as it lacks difficulty, fitting music, colour, and most importantly, rainbows! There's not a single piece of rainbow on this track, as the entire thing takes place on a space station of some sort, made of articifial "rainbows". It really, and I mean REALLY isn't fun.
3DS Bowser Castle

It has a bit of the same feel as the DS version of Bowser Castle but it was excuted a little better. As for the cons, the difficulty is a little on the easy side for me and the water section is a little weird. It's also very short and is over before you know it. Let's not forget you only spend 50% in the castle and the other half is outside on a rocky mountainside (this is both a pro and con depending on who you ask. I personally think it's cool but man 50% is a little too much outside the castle). The best thing though is the apocalyptic music, which is insanely good. But..., that's it really.
DS Bowser Castle

Honestly this is easily the worst Special Cup Bowser Castle track because of how boring and dull it is. It feels like a somewhat lazy rehash on the GCN version, both in design and music, only worsened. I do like the spinning wheel halfway through where you can fall of without having to be picked up by Lakitu, but that's one feature in an otherwise boring Bowser Castle. So, it does reach #5 on this worst list.
3DS DK Jungle

This is without a doubt the most "DK" course we've ever had, with the tiki goons, music, and the incredibly similar atmoshpere to Donkey Kong Country Returns. That's a really awesome touch in my opinion. Now despite that, I don't find this track to be that particularly interesting, which is why this track made it onto the list. Despite being a jungle-themed course, I find it to be slightly barren for some reason. The remake in Mario Kart 8 fixed everything what was wrong with this original honestly.