Every Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Cup ranked from best to worst

All of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Cups released so far ranked from best to worst

Author:
Dave Aubrey
Publish date:
Jul 13, 2023 10:42 AM EDT

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is already the biggest Mario Kart game ever made, and when the final wave of the DLC Booster Pass is released, it’ll be 96-tracks strong, across 24 different Cups. That’s not even considering the tracks which are exclusive to Battle Mode – phew!

If you want to set up the perfect track rotation for those grand multiplayer battles with friends, or you just have strong opinions about the quality of tracks, then you’re in the right place. In this list we’re ranking every Cup in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, from the very best, to the very worst.

In fairness, there are no truly terrible Cups in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – they all have at least one good track – but not all are created equal, as you can see below.

Every MK8D cup ranked from best to worst

Crossing Cup

The Animal Crossing track is brilliant with four seasonal variation, Wild Woods is one of the best anti-gravity implementations in the game, and Cheese Land is fine. But Baby Park? Peak multiplayer madness.

Special Cup

The original “final” Cup for Mario Kart 8, the Special Cup includes the brilliant Cloudtop Cruise, a great Bowser’s Castle rendition, and 8’s Rainbow Road is beautiful fun.

Star Cup

Sunshine Airport? Classic. Dolphin Shoals? Classic. Electrodome? Classic. Mount Wario? Ultra-classic.

Triforce Cup

Wario’s Gold Mine is a stone-cold classic, Rainbow Road SNES is a beautiful blast of nostalgia, Ice Ice Outpost is fine, and Hyrule Circuit? A Zelda fan’s dream.

Lightning Cup

I don’t care who you are, you can’t resist Tick-Tock Clock. It’s outstanding. Piranha Plant Pipeway and Grumble Volcano are similarly solid and fun tracks, and to cap it all off there’s yet another Rainbow Road, this time from the N64.

Bell Cup

Koopa City and Super Bell Subway are decent tracks, for sure, but Ribbon Road and Big Blue? These are top-tier, truly fantastic.

Egg Cup

Mute City and Dragon Driftway are two of the best examples of MK8’s anti-gravity mechanic, and Yoshi Circuit is a beloved fan favorite. Excitebike Arena changes jump positions each time you play it, which is a nice touch, but it’s always an oval.

Moon Cup

Berlin Byways is stronger than most Tour tracks, at least. Peach Gardens is great, Merry Mountain is brilliant fun, and 3DS Rainbow Road? Well, you can never go wrong with Rainbow Road.

Turnip Cup

New York Minute is another great Tour track, and Kalimari Desert is great. The fact that Mario Circuit 3 is just “okay” is completely meaningless in the face of how brilliant Waluigi Pinball is.

Feather Cup

Athens Dash is fine, and Daisy Cruiser is frankly pretty meh in practice. Moonview Highway and the new Squeaky Clean Sprint are both great, though – the latter being one of the best DLC tracks for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, period.

Flower Cup

Mario Circuit, Toad Harbour, Twisted Mansion, Shy Guy Falls – these are tracks are all pretty solid, with Shy Guy Falls being the standout. They’re great fun, just don’t stand out from the crowd too much.

Mushroom Cup

Sweet Sweet Canyon and Thwomp Ruins are the standouts here, while Water Park is pretty darn good. There’s nothing bad about Mario Kart Stadium, but it won’t blow your mind either.

Leaf Cup

Another absolutely solid selection of tracks. Wario Stadium is decent, Sherbet Land is good fun, and Melody Motorway is the standout for this cup, for sure. Yoshi Valley is fine as long as you know the best route.

Rock Cup

Maple Treeway from the Wii is the best of this cup, but Alpine Pass and Boo Lake shouldn’t be ignored. Tour’s London Loop is the letdown of this cup, and that’ll become a pattern.

Propeller Cup

Tour’s Sydney Sprint is actually pretty good, but Snow Land and Mushroom Gorge? Eh. Good thing Sky High Sundae is here to spice things up.

Golden Dash Cup

Paris Promenade and Toad Circuit ain’t gonna set the world on fire any time soon. Choco Mountain is good for N64 nostalgia though, and Coconut Mall is genuinely great.

Shell Cup

Moo Moo Meadows and Toad’s Turnpike are both great fun, but we could do without Mario Circuit or Cheep Cheep Beach.

Lucky Cat Cup

Ninja Hideaway is the highlight here, but Shroom Ridge and Sky Garden are decent enough too. Tokyo Blur is functional.

Banana Cup

DK Jungle is decent fun, and Dry Dry Desert along with Royal Raceway do a good job of justifying this cup. Donut Plains 3 is more creative than most SNES remakes, at least.

Cherry Cup

There are two Tour tracks in here, and while they’re not awful, they won’t be anyone’s favorites. Sunset Wilds is good for a GBA track though, and Koopa Cape’s river section is genuinely great.

Fruit Cup

Yoshi’s Island is great, especially for those Yoshi’s Island fans, but Amsterdam Drift, Riverside Park and DK’s Snowboard Cross… they exist. Honestly, does anyone actually like the stunt ramps in this game?

Boomerang Cup

Another two Tour tracks in the cup, and GCN’s Waluigi Stadium is still the highlight. Mario Circuit isn’t bad for time trials, but it’s otherwise pretty dull. Bangkok Rush and Singapore Speedway do look visually distinct from most Tour tracks, but they’re still far from memorable.

Acorn Cup & Spiny Cup

Acorn Cup, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe select screen — Acorn Cup & Spiny Cup
Nintendo

The last two cups, Acorn Cup and Spiny Cup, haven’t been released yet, but we’re hoping to find out a release date for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s DLC Booster Pass Wave 6 (that’s wordy) very soon. When we get to play these tracks for ourselves, we’ll add these cups into our ranking officially.