Rainbow Road is the fourth and last course of the Special Cup in Mario Kart Wii. The course is located over Earth's atmosphere. If a driver falls off the course, they will burn up in the atmosphere (even if there is a section of the course below them) before getting picked up by Lakitu.
This course has a Super Mario Galaxy theme to it, featuring a Launch Star and floating Star Bits as elements of the track's design and theming. A large galaxy can be seen in the background, as well as sunlight on the Earth's surface. Both of the course's staff ghosts are driven with Rosalina. The opening to the course's music is similar to the opening portion of Rainbow Road's music from Mario Kart DS; later, it uses the Good Egg Galaxy theme as a countermelody underneath its own main melody. An arrangement of this course's music appears as one of the selectable songs in Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
In Mario Kart Wii, the course appears to be located over the eastern parts of North America, as well as some parts of Europe, Africa, and South America. In Mario Kart Tour, the course instead takes place above parts of Europe and Asia. Coincidentally, the tour following Wii Rainbow Road's Mario Kart Tour debut was the 2023 Winter Tour, which featured all three of the game's Asian city courses (Tokyo Blur, Singapore Speedway, and Bangkok Rush).
The course begins on a near 90 degree downward slope, located after the starting line. Light drivers may be easily punted off in this area, since there are no rails to help the racers from falling off. Three Dash Panels are present on this slope. One stretches across the road while the other two are spread apart from each other, with one on the right and one to the left further ahead. At the bottom of the downhill waits five Item Boxes, and a ramp with a Dash Panel on it. Vehicles can perform a trick here as they arrive on a new sloping road which takes a sharp left turn, but bear the risk of going too fast and falling off the right end of the track; especially so for racers with lower drift or handling stats.
After this sharp turn are three more Dash Panels that stretch across the road that lead into a left turn, with a half-pipe on the very right. The half-pipe allows racers to grab several floating Item Boxes, but not without risk, as racers who take the half-pipe at a certain angle and go too far into the air may actually shoot past the track's railings and fall into space. After the left turn is a slightly wavy road, where the player may perform tricks and grab airborne Item Boxes. Each lap, the road gets wavier, allowing for more tricks to be performed. At the end of this wavy segment is a ramp with a Dash Panel on it, which will send players into a figure-8 shaped section vaguely similar to one seen in Daisy Circuit, but with two large holes dividing the track instead of walls. Both holes have half-pipe ramps to their sides on the left and right ends of the track, with the first pair featuring more Item Boxes, and racers may perform tricks on small ramps that border the edge of the holes. Following this section is a sharp turn left, then a gentler curve right that has Item Boxes lying across the road. The left turn in particular can prove especially treacherous, as the railing from the previous section extends only partially over the road's right side; combined with the track's sloping angle, colliding with this rail at high speed can potentially bump a racer off the opposite side of the track. After the Item Boxes is a large Launch Star, which blasts the player upwards through a rainbow-colored tunnel like a cannon onto the highest section of the track.
When the player lands after this, there is a very minor twist in the road, and then an upward curve covered in several Dash Panels, leading into a unique, mandatory half-pipe ramp that makes a broad left turn over a gap and through several star-filled rings, sending racers landing onto another section of the track. In this section, the road splits into two twisting paths with very little railings, with the right elevated higher and the left leading slightly downward - the two paths are roughly parallel, featuring a small Dash Panel on the inside of the road near their beginning, a turn in their opposite direction, and then a sharp turn back towards the middle with another optional Dash Panel at the inner edge of the track, finally culminating in a ramp with two wide Dash Panels and floating Item Boxes. Past this jump, the road merges once again into the track's final stretch: a long, sharp left upwards turn with no rails surrounded by a swirling tunnel of stars, with three Dash Panels placed alternatingly across the left and right sides of the road. All that waits before the finish line from here is a gentle right turn, after which the track loops over for another lap. It is the longest nitro course in the game.
At the beginning, racers can use a mushroom or slipstream in conjunction with a jump to fly over the beginning downhill portion and land just before the ramp. With an outside drift type vehicle, they can even cut off the first turn.
Players can jump over the two giant holes, either entirely or partially, with the aid of Mushrooms, trick boosts, or nothing at all. They can also hop over the curve following the giant holes with no items (although the boost from the 2nd right half-pipe ramp or 2nd hole can help).
On the half-pipe ramp following the Launch Star, racers (particularly those with bikes) can drift to the left on the ramp to spend less time in the air and land much sooner.
Tournaments
The November 2009 2nd Tournament
November 2009's second tournament required players to complete a Time Trial on a version of Rainbow Road with Chain Chomps added: There is one Chain Chomp roaming near the first half-pipe, two rolling around the figure-8 section, one roaming where the track splits, and one roaming along the final left turn. Players start the Time Trial with a set of Triple Mushrooms. This tournament could be a reference to the Mario Kart 64 iteration of Rainbow Road, as Chain Chomps were also present there. The tournament was restricted to karts only. The official description stated, "Chain Chomps have taken over Rainbow Road in this karts-only Time Trial. Anticipating their movements and avoiding them is the key to a good score."
This tournament was repeated as the first tournament of December 2010, but without restrictions. It was later repeated as the second tournament of August 2011, and the first tournament of November 2012, with the karts only restriction intact for the August 2011 tournament.
Other information
Both the normal and expert staff ghost of this course make appearances as staff ghosts in Mario Kart 7. The normal ghost, Nin★Konno, appears as the normal staff ghost for DS Luigi's Mansion, while the expert staff ghost, Nin★Syun1, appears as the expert staff ghost for Wario Shipyard.
Mario Kart Tour
View of the course in Mario Kart Tour
This version of Rainbow Road makes its classic course debut in Mario Kart Tour, starting from the 2023 Space Tour. This makes it the first Mario Kart WiiSpecial Cup course to reappear in a future installment of the series, the sixth Wii course in Mario Kart Tour, the first Wii course since Wii Koopa Cape in the May 2022 Peach vs. Bowser Tour seventeen tours prior, and the second Wii course to make its classic course debut in Mario Kart Tour, the first one being Wii DK Summit in the Snow Tour forty-nine tours prior. The course has been converted into a two-section track like Tokyo Blur 4, New York Minute 4, and N64 Kalimari Desert 2, with the second section beginning at the cannon. The course's layout is mostly unchanged, although it has received numerous graphical updates. The starting line and various other course elements now have technicolor ring designs. The road texture is now animated, with pinpricks of light following the path of the course. The background has received quite a few changes, such as the Earth being moved closer to the track and Saturn being moved from the last turn to being right after the cannon. Most notably, the moon is now modeled, is much closer to the track, and has a rocket ship based on the ones from 3DS Rainbow Road. The floating arrows now take on their appearance from SNES Rainbow Road. The small ramps that border the edge of the holes have been removed, preventing players from jumping over the holes in the figure-8 section, and the road texture no longer highlights arcs for the half-pipes. After the first jump, barriers have been added extending to the first Dash Panel. The wavy road no longer has a different texture from the main road. The tube that surrounds the cannon now cycles through colors, and the cannon itself now encompasses a Glide Ramp. The tunnel of light surrounding the last bend now has a pattern of rings moving forward with rotating sun-shaped entrances and exits, with the half-pipe jump also now having a version of this tunnel with simpler entrance and exit points. The half-pipe jump was also adjusted so that the first portion is parallel to the second, presumably due to the game's different half-pipe physics.
This course also appears as Rainbow Road R (reversed), Rainbow Road T (with ramps), and Rainbow Road R/T (reversed with ramps). In the T variant, there are only three Item Boxes, with players being able to collect a fourth via the use of item tickets. Because players cannot get Frenzies from back-to-back Item Boxes, it is the first and only course where receiving three Frenzies is impossible. It is also significantly shorter due to the first two turns being entirely skipped. In the R/T variant, there are three pairs of Star Thwomps along the second section, and racers briefly drive underneath the figure-8 section.
The course icon for the R/T variant is slightly incorrect: in it, only one Star Thwomp is shown on the left side of the Kanaami Road near the figure-8 portion, but when racing, there are two Star Thwomps on each side.
* indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 3. ** indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 6. *** indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 8 for High-End items.
This section is referring to a subject in an upcoming or recently released DLC wave. When the DLC wave is released, or more information about this subject is found, this section may need major rewriting. This notice should be removed after a month has passed since the DLC wave was first released.
Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
This version of Rainbow Road reappears in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of the sixth and final wave of the Booster Course Pass DLC. It is the fourth and final course in the Spiny Cup, and the final course in the DLC overall. It is based on its appearance in Mario Kart Tour, but with significant visual upgrades. The course is fully in anti-gravity, making it one of five courses in the game with this distinction, alongside Mute City, GCN Baby Park, Big Blue, and Sky-High Sundae. The ramps around the holes in the lowest portion of the course have been restored after they were missing in Tour.[1]
It is also one of two courses from Mario Kart Wii to appear in Wave 6, the other being Wii Daisy Circuit. Its music was used for the course overview trailer for Wave 6.[2]
Profiles
Mario Kart Wii
European website bio:Don't get caught stargazing as you power round the multicoloured Rainbow Road. The multiple speed boosts could hurry you along to the finish line or over the edge to your demise. Remember; don't look down!
Trading card bio:The layout of Rainbow Road has changed over the years as it has appeared in a variety of incarnations; the challenge factor has always been high. It's a long track with plenty of opportunities to fall off into space. In Mario Kart Wii, at least one of those opportunities can become a shortcut if you play it right.
Mario Kart Tour
Mario Kart Tour Twitter:The New Year's Tour is coming to a close, but there's still plenty to look forward to in #MarioKartTour! Next up is the Space Tour where you can race down the new Wii Rainbow Road course!
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