GCN Baby Park
Baby Park is a race course that has appeared in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart DS and was added to Mario Kart 8 as part of the Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack. Being a simple oval loop with no hazards, it is the shortest course in length in the series, excluding the unused "Test Circle" course found in Mario Kart DS, only taking around ten seconds to complete a whole lap. It is also the only track in Mario Kart 8 in which no tricks are possible. As the name implies, the course takes place in an amusement park, including various elements from the Yoshi series. The track is a platform hanging from a large support complex, where a roller-coaster runs above and around the course and a pink train runs over the rails. It is possible to collide with the roller coaster. However, this is extremely difficult to achieve. However, the roller-coaster was removed in the DS version.
History
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Baby Park is the third course in the Mushroom Cup. One half of the floor is blue and the other half is pink. It has various pictures of characters from the Yoshi series on it, including Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, to whom the stage belongs. Due to its length, this course has seven laps instead of the traditional three, making it one of only two courses in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! to not be a three-lap course; the other course is Wario Colosseum, which has two laps. DK Mountain can be seen in the background.
Staff ghost
The staff ghost of the track uses Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, driving the Goo-Goo Buggy. They appear when the player completes the race in 1:14.000 or less.
Mario Kart DS
Baby Park appears in Mario Kart DS as the last track in the Banana Cup. This time around, it has five laps instead of seven. Missions 2-8 and 3-Boss take place here. It was available in Wi-Fi. On the final lap, the music starts playing in G♭ Major instead of A Major.
Staff ghost
The staff ghost of this track in this game uses Toad in the Mushmellow. The player must clear the course in 50.920 seconds or less.
Mario Kart 8
Baby Park reappears in Mario Kart 8 as a heavily-revamped DLC retro course and the first track of the Crossing Cup. This is the only retro track in the Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8 DLC pack that has already appeared at least once as a retro track. One of the major changes made to the race course is that the entire track is now slanted, making it entirely an anti-gravity race track. The race track now has each half of the U-turn with different colors. The park background has gone through a lot of changes, such as the addition of a "Baby Castle" (which is a nod to Cinderella's Castle at the Walt Disney World theme park), new rides added like a haunted house attraction based on Luigi's Mansion, and some of the returning background rides being heavily redesigned, like the Bowser's Ship ride and the ferris wheel, now resembling the Sun Wheel from Super Mario Sunshine. Also, the starting banner now shows Baby Mario and Baby Luigi with their shirts, overalls and shoes on as opposed to being solely in diapers like the previous versions. They also have been given slight animations that are found on rides, where they move back and forth.
The race on this course has seven laps just like in the original and the revamped music now increases in speed after every lap, making it the first retro course to do this. On the final lap, the guard rails light up and become multi-colored and like Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 7 and the remade N64 Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 8, the last part of the music starts to play instead of the beginning of it. It is the only retro course and one of three DLC courses (along with Mute City and Big Blue) to be entirely an anti-gravity race track. This is the shortest track in the game and the only track with more than three laps/sections.
A statue resembling the one in the course Toad Harbor can be seen in the background, but instead of Peach in a Statue of Liberty pose, a pink gold version of Baby Peach can be seen holding a star.
Cameos
Several characters that are important to the Yoshi series appear to have their own rides around Baby Park. They are listed below.
- Baby Bowser appears on a ship attraction called "Bowser's Ship". In Mario Kart 8, he is replaced with Bowser Jr.
- Kamek appears above a sign reading "Kamek's Magic Show".
- A Pink Yoshi Train in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! appears to ride around on an orange track, as if it were a roller coaster. It is seen in various parts of the Park, and sometimes it can appear above it. If it does do this, it may actually reflect off shells. In Mario Kart 8, this is replaced with a Standard Kart coaster riding on a red track.
- A large Poochy-like house appears far in the background.
- A Helicopter just like the one from Yoshi's Island can be seen at the background, flying around the track.
- Two large Shy Guys can be seen.
- A Paratroopa can also be seen. In Mario Kart 8 the Paratroopa has been converted into a shop selling merchandise named Shop Paratroopa.
Official descriptions
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
- US website: “It may look easy, but Baby park is a 7-lap cage match with 14-monster Power-slides! There are plenty of items to pick up, and the long straightaways make easy targets out of everyone.”
- European website: “It’s Mario Kart: the theme park ride! The track is a simple oval, but the power-ups are plentiful, so you’ll have a battle on your hands to finish in first place”
Mario Kart DS
- European website: "It's the shortest and simplest track of them all, but Baby Park isn't child's play. Because of the circuit's great size you're given five laps instead of three, but make sure you put petal to metal from the word go, as it'll be over in seconds rather than minutes."
Gallery
GCN appearance
The track logo.
The track icon.
- BabyParkMKDD.PNG
The starting line.
- Rocket Start (Mario Kart Double Dash!!).jpg
The start of the race.
DS appearance
- MKDS-CourseIcon-GCN-BabyPark.png
The track icon.
- BabyParkds.PNG
The course as it appears in Mario Kart DS.
- Baby Park.png
A race in Baby Park. Note the giant Koopa Paratroopa in the background.
- MKDS32.png
Dry Bones, racing in the track.
Race with Goomboss, in Mission Mode.
Wii U appearance
- MK8-DLC-Course-icon-GCN BabyPark.png
The track icon.
Overview of the course
Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Baby Peach, racing along the track.
Male Villager, racing on the track.
Names in other languages
Trivia
- Baby Park is one of only two non-SNES courses in the series that differ in lap count between its original and remade versions; the other is Rainbow Road from Mario Kart 64, if one does not count adjusting the number of laps in Quick Run mode in Mario Kart: Super Circuit.
- This is one of two tracks in the series not from Super Mario Kart that appears in more than two games, the other being Yoshi Circuit. In addition, both of these tracks originated in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and both also appeared in Mario Kart DS, before ending up as DLC courses in Mario Kart 8.
- In Mario Kart 8, GCN Baby Park and the three different Rainbow Roads are the only courses in the game to have the map in different colors instead of just blue.
- Baby Park is also the only track in Mario Kart 8 whose lap/section counter is not 3 (it's 7).
- Also in Mario Kart 8, this is the only track whose music gradually increases in speed every lap. This is also the only track in the series so far to do so.
- Baby Park's music was also used in Balloon Battle on Mario Kart: Double Dash's Tilt-a-Kart.
- Baby Park is the only track in Mario Kart 8 where players cannot perform tricks.
