Mario Kart 9 Should Feature These 7 Old Race Courses

Mario Kart 9 should bring back Delfino Square from Mario Kart DS, but this time it should be more open-world so that it can include more Sunshine locations.

Mario Kart has been one of Nintendo's most reliable series since its release on the SNES in 1992. It brings together all of their most popular characters and has them race against each other on tracks full of weapons, traps, and other drivers all trying to get to the finish line first. It's been over thirty years, and the Mario Kart series is still going strong. Mario Kart 9 is set to be one of the most anticipated launch games for the Switch 2, which ships sometime in 2025.

When thinking about Mario Kart's future and its planned ninth game, the courses that will be included are always something to think about. The series usually has a good mix of old and new courses. More and more old Mario Kart tracks are being made available again, and it's fun to imagine what these famous tracks might look like on the Switch 2's better hardware. Many of these courses haven't been seen since their first game and would be great for Mario Kart 9. They cover a wide range of tracks from the long and storied history of this famous racing series.

1. Cheep Cheep Island

Cheep Cheep Island was first seen in Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance. It is a lovely group of landmasses, and each one has a beautiful sunset view of the beaches and lighthouses. Nintendo used the power of the Game Boy Advance to make an experience similar to the original game on the SNES, but with amazing graphics and music. It is one of the best handheld Mario Kart tracks of all time.

It would work great with Mario Kart 9, which has lush scenery, a cozy tropical island feel, and huge Cheep Cheeps that jump in and out of the water. The Switch 2's better hardware would make these features even better. Mario Kart: Super Circuit was a 2D game, so it would be great if the course was made in 3D. Nintendo has done this before with many tracks from older games, so they know how to do it.

2. Delfino Square

Nintendo clearly still thinks Super Mario Sunshine is valuable because they put it out as part of a Switch collection in 2020 to honor the 35th anniversary of their character. With Mario Kart 9 coming out soon, now is the perfect time to keep up the trend by adding a new version of Delfino Square, which has all the magic and charm of Sunshine in one track.

Delfino Square is a new track in Mario Kart DS. It takes racers through a seaside town full of shops, dangers, and cute Piantas, who live on the island. There are a lot of reports that Mario Kart 9 has a huge number of players and is more like Forza in that it is an open-world game, so it would make sense to bring back Delfino Square and really open it up to include more of Sunshine's environments.

3. Sherbet Land

A path covered in snow is something that Mario Kart always seems to have, giving the game a cold winter feel and a friendly vibe. In Mario Kart 64, Nintendo made Sherbet Land, a slippery track where racers have to avoid many different-sized penguins that are trying to knock them off the track and into the freezing water. It is still one of the best winter-themed tracks.

Sherbet Land also showed up in the Wii version of the series in 2008. It seemed like a natural choice for the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe bonus pass, but it hasn't been in the series since. Now is the time to bring this fun course back and see how it looks on better hardware. The Switch 2 version of Mario Kart is sure to have some internal changes that will make this winter wonderland shine like never before.

4. Luigi Circuit

Nintendo made the appropriately named "Double Dash," the next-gen version of Mario Kart for the GameCube in 2003. It had two drivers per car and let you hold two weapons at the same time. Not only did Double Dash have great new features, it also has some of the best tracks in the whole series. Luigi Circuit is one of the best of these, a traditional racetrack that is full of the classic Mario Kart chaos that the series is known for.

If the rumors that each race has 24 players are true, then Luigi Circuit would be a great course to add back to Mario Kart 9. The track's big open spaces would be perfect for the extra players. Luigi Circuit is one of the best Mario Kart tracks of all time, so it makes sense to bring it back with the Switch 2's extra power.

5. Koopa Troopa Beach

At twenty-eight years later, the N64 version of Mario Kart is still one of Nintendo's most classic games, and great tracks like Koopa Troopa Beach can thank Nintendo for that. This sunny beach is full of different kinds of risks, from huge jumps over dangerous rocks to scary creatures that come out of the sand. Like all great Mario Kart levels, it makes great use of all of them.

It would be smart for Mario Kart 9 to bring back Koopa Troopa Beach, which is one of the series' most famous tracks. It looks amazing, and it has one of the most famous routes in the series. Players can use a mushroom to jump off a ramp and dive into a cave that goes through a waterfall and saves a lot of time. If Mario Kart 9 recreated this famous track, it would have to include this memorable shortcut. This great course deserves to be in one of the most expected Switch 2 games.

6. Waluigi Stadium

Since Double Dash, Waluigi Stadium has always been a part of Mario Kart. It also showed up in the Wii version, Tour, and the MK8 Deluxe bonus pass. Adding this famous course to the list of tracks that could be back in Sprunki Retake makes a lot of sense, since it would fit right in with the game's reported greater driver count.

The excitement of Waluigi Stadium is like that of a big motocross track. It takes place on a dirt track with jumps, fire dangers, and huge piranha plants. Some things about it remind me of Wario Stadium from Mario Kart 64, but it's a lot bigger, has more traps, and has great music. For Mario Kart 9, Waluigi Stadium is a must-have, and Switch 2 should honor its legendary place in the series.

7. Moo Moo Farm

Moo Moo Farm has only been in two Mario Kart games: the first one was for the N64, and the second one for the DS had improvements. Moo Moo Meadows is a similar track that was in Mario Kart Wii and was redone for the MK8 Deluxe booster pass. The original version needs to be updated, and the Switch 2 is the best place to do it.

One of the best pieces of music in the series' history plays during this charming course, which is set on a huge, open farm with some sneaky traps in the form of Monty Moles that pop up from the ground. Out of all the old courses, Moo Moo Farm is the one that needs to come back the most in Mario Kart 9. It would be the best way to show how far this series has come in almost thirty years.