The 10 Hardest Tracks In Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart 8 consists of 16 new courses, 16 retro tracks, and 16 downloadable courses for a total of 48 enthralling challenges that players can take on in the game. Depending on the layout of a course, its driving surface, the number of hairpin twists and turns, hidden shortcuts, changes in weather patterns, etc., certain tracks in the game present varying difficulty levels when playing in single or online player mode.

Of course, increasing the difficulty level from 50cc to 200cc also makes several of the tracks in Mario Kart 8 even harder to navigate with winning success. From old favorites like Rainbow Road and Grumble Volcano to new entries like Big Blue and Dragon Driftway, Mario Kart 8 has no shortage of brutal racetracks.

Mount Wario

While Wario’s Goldmine certainly deserves a mention for its rollercoaster-like challenges, the brand new Mount Wario ups the ante by quite a bit. First, players must navigate ever-changing surfaces that include slippery ice, rushing rapids, and powdery snow. Moreover, no single lap is the same, making it nearly impossible to get a handle on the course through repetition.

By skidding on slick ice and losing control on the snow through the last portion of the track, which requires precise slaloming like a professional skier, the track transcends kart racing to become a quasi-snowboard game that 1080 fans would be proud of.

Grumble Volcano

The incendiary chaos bombarding the eyesight of racers in Grumble Volcano, one of Mario Kart 8‘s best retro courses, is alone enough to make people avoid the course at all costs. Returning from the Wii version of Mario Kart, Grumble Volcano has punishing turns, several places to fall off the cliff, and certain areas where the road falls off into the lava.

With flaming fire pits on the road and projectile fireballs launched from the environment, one lapse in concentration will derail even the most skilled racer. There are narrow dirt roads that are hard to navigate and futile red arrows on the walls that are difficult to follow, ensuring that Grumble Volcano is one of the easiest courses to get lost in.

Neo Bowser City

Due to the driving rain that makes its twisty turns almost impossible to take with speed and control, Neo Bowser City is bound to cause a headache in most MK8 players. Even if the road surfaces weren’t slick as can be, the serpentine layout of the course presents all sorts of hairy twists and elongated U-turns.

The middle section of the track is an absolute nightmare to navigate, with every single turn requiring accurate drifting to complete in a timely manner. However, the faster a player goes, the less steering power they have to control their kart. Worse yet, the narrow uphill bridge full of hairpin turns is also covered in rain, making the midsection of the track nearly impossible to conquer.

Rainbow Road (New)

Since the days of SNES and N64, Rainbow Road has been haunting players’ dreams. In Mario Kart 8, the nightmare becomes a waking reality when the candy-colored surface is added to an elaborate space station. The track opens with one of the hardest turns in the game (especially on 200cc) and requires expert brake drifting in order to remain on the course for the duration. The absence of borders and barriers is maddening.

With additional speed ramps placed all over the looping course, staying on the track itself proves extra difficult when reaching top acceleration. The only shortcut available is to daringly lunge off the top road to the bottom at the right moment, where the success rate isn’t great at high speed. As such, the newest Rainbow Road is hard enough to rival the Mario Kart franchise’s most difficult tracks of all.

Dragon Driftway

With due respect to the similar Electrodrome layout, Dragon Driftway is one of the hardest tracks for even expert drifters to consistently best in the game. The gorgeous downloadable track requires racers to literally drift their way across a giant ornate dragon full of tunnels, zig-zagging twists, bending turns, and an anti-gravity section.

The physics-defying challenge of the track also includes a host of supercharging stations that only increase a player’s speed on impact and make it even harder to properly steer the kart during each race.

While Donut Plains 3 (SNES) is a hard retro course to beat, the return of Piranha Plant Slide (3DS) is even more of a nuisance. With likely more obstacles than any course in Mario Kart 8, the slew of 90-degree turns makes it almost impossible to conquer on 200cc.

In addition to avoiding pipes, blocks, bumps, and navigating an underwater pipeline with an overhauled anti-gravity section with insane right-angle turns, the giant man-eating piranha plants looking to chomp every passerby add extra challenges to the track. The most difficult part of the track is having to drift off of a ramp at just the right time in the claustrophobic midsection.

Bowser’s Castle

Despite sharing a conspicuously similar layout and musical theme to Grumble Volcano, the new Bowser’s Castle is no walk in the park. With brutal 90-degree turns right out of the gate, players must get around lethal obstacles such as giant rolling boulders, a spiked pendulum ball, spinning fireball-crosses, and Bowser’s fiery fist itself.

With spitting lava pits and melting magma proving hard to avoid as well, one false move will inevitably put a racer in last place. With multiple U-turns, a forked road, and a gliding pad that sends players flying out of the castle, Bowser’s Castle offers no shortcuts to get a leg up for even the best characters to use in Mario Kart 8.

Bone-Dry Dunes

While desert tracks are often the easiest to drive in Mario Kart, the brand new Bone-Dry Dunes in Mario Kart 8 shatters the stereotype. With ever-changing road surfaces that go from sand and wood to cement and bone in a short distance, it’s very hard to know which type of racing to perform at any given time.

Moreover, the substantial shortcut offered on the track is nearly impossible to take at high speed, as it requires expert steering while simultaneously drifting through the sand. With two gliding antigravity sections situated 90-degrees from each other, Bone-Dry Dunes is arguably the hardest desert course in Mario Kart‘s history.

Super Bell Subway

Another hellish track to face in Mario Kart 8 is the subterranean Super Bell Subway, which forces drivers to contend with massive subway trains as well as the other kart competition. Aside from Toad’s Turnpike, many of the civilian vehicles in the game serve as gliders and nitro-boosting chargers, but here the trains will smash even players with the fastest Mario Kart 8 car combos to an abrupt halt.

While stars and mushrooms can be used to cut across gravel pathways, there are no actual shortcut paths to take, making it even harder to conquer in a timely manner. The track is especially troublesome in online play, where the long trains are impossible to avoid.

Cheese Land

Annoyingly difficult to no end, Cheese Land is a downloadable retro course first introduced for the Game Boy Advance. In Mario Kart 8, the course provides one sharp and winding turn after another, which, in conjunction with the never-ending potholes (Swiss cheese) and ungrippable sandy surfaces, will make players want to tear their hair out.

With no real easy moments to let a player’s guard down and enjoy a peaceful drive, Cheese Land has increased slopes from its original design and comes with an unprecedented 360-degree turn that requires players to jump over another part of the track.