Rainbow Road (Mario Kart World)

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This article is about the race course from Mario Kart World. For its musical theme, see Rainbow Road (Mario Kart World theme).

Rainbow Road
Information
Appears in	Mario Kart World (2025)
Cup	Special Cup
Music sample Prelude ("To Rainbow Road") Section 1 ("Rainbow Road") Section 1 transition to Section 2 Section 2 ("On the Water") Section 3 ("Space Station") Final Lap Fanfare Final section ("Finale")
Course map
Staff ghost World Nin★Akira 4:21.295

Rainbow Road is the closing track of Mario Kart World, serving as the final course of the Special Cup. This iteration of Rainbow Road is partially set amongst the clouds above Peach Stadium, though it later takes racers along a blue watery region and a red space station outside the world's atmosphere before taking them back down to a traditional rainbow road. The road's texture for this course resembles stained glass, and is not always entirely rainbow-colored, with some segments instead featuring a gradual transition between hues. It is the only unlockable course in the game, becoming available simultaneously with the Special Cup; the other Special Cup courses are available in other modes before the Special Cup is unlocked. The course's icon is the only one to be animated and is depicted as being much larger compared to the other courses. Kamek will turn racers into either Cheep Cheep, Para-Biddybud, or Coin Coffer.

Uniquely, Rainbow Road is not part of the open world that all other courses are found within. It can only be accessed as a race via a route from Peach Stadium, or by selecting it directly. There is also no natural way out; players are returned to Peach Stadium after the race, which is then considered the "previous" course when it comes to selecting the next one. Since it cannot be accessed in Free Roam, there are no collectables present, and all of its related stickers are automatically granted simply by completing the Special Cup. The time of day is always night, and Lightning cannot make it rain.

As it is not part of any Knockout Tour rallies, it is one of four courses in the game to not have codas in their music, alongside Wario Shipyard, Great ? Block Ruins, and Acorn Heights.

It is the longest course in the game and, in terms of distance of a single lap, the longest course in the entire series, typically taking around five minutes to complete in 150cc. This course also uses the largest finish line in the series.

Course layout

When racers enters Rainbow Road via the route from Peach Stadium, they ascend through a vertical portal consisting of Star Rings into an area filled with clouds and pass through a circular gate, before landing on a platform with a checkpoint. If the race starts on Rainbow Road itself in VS Race or Time Trials, this checkpoint acts as the starting line. Despite arriving by travelling south from Peach Stadium, the starting direction faces north.

The first section takes place in the cloudy sky. Seen from the distance is a raised curved section of the road, with both ends hidden by clouds to resemble a typical rainbow. After a series of turns, a Glide Ramp leads racers to the previously seen curved road, which constantly boosts the karts' speed similar to Starview Peak and Bowser's Castle. Afterwards, the road diverges into two mirroring paths in a manner similar to Wii Rainbow Road.

Another Glide Ramp reveals an archipelago of floating islands beyond the clouds with giant crystals, where the second section takes place. The players race on a shallow river similar in appearance to the water section of Starview Peak, and the speed of the racers is boosted again for the duration of this section. An iridescent road colored blue and green emerges from the end of the river; from this point onwards until the end of the course, the direction of gravity is always normal to the road surface, similar to anti-gravity from Mario Kart 8. As the road splits into two winding paths pointing upwards, a Sunshine Railway train flies by along the track, similar to N64 Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 8.

Entering the third section, racers ascend into a space station—similar to Mario Kart 8's version of Rainbow Road—themed after the Game & Watch and featuring a docked space shuttle identical to the one seen in DK Spaceport, suggesting a connection between the two courses. A tarmac road corkscrews downward until it reaches the shaft of the space station, featuring a road of speed-boosting rainbow panels, curled inward to form a half-cylinder, with Star Thwomps acting as obstacles. The layout of this section is similar to the section with Bullet Bills and Thwomps in Bowser's Galaxy Reactor from Super Mario Galaxy.

The final section has the racers exit the space station via a star-shaped gate and descends back down towards Earth. During the descent, the train flies by again, now carrying species and objects from other courses in the game, such as cars, Robo DK from DK Spaceport, and a T. rex from Dino Dino Jungle. Meanwhile, the rest of the track is visible upside-down. Racers land on a vertically downward decline colored yellow and purple which diverges into two winding paths again, featuring a final speed-boosting section as well as a series of long Dash Panels; these descending paths can be faintly seen at a distance from the first section. The two paths eventually converge and lead to a Glide Ramp, finishing the descent. After a final series of speed-boosting wide turns, a final Glide Ramp leads racers back to the circular gate, which now acts as the finish line.

Route

There is only one route connecting to Rainbow Road, coming from Peach Stadium. Unlike most other routes, which last for two to four sections, the route to Rainbow Road is only a single section long, is completely straight, and does not show the destination course on its minimap. As a result, it is the shortest route in the game.

In addition, after playing this course in VS Race with the course selection setting set to "Connected", the route going out from Peach Stadium is granted as an option on the course selection screen.

Though Peach Stadium can be used as a route to Rainbow Road, the reverse is not true; Rainbow Road uniquely does not have a route leading to Peach Stadium or any other course.

• 

  From Peach Stadium (used in the Special Cup)

Brands

• Buzzy Helmets (Signs)
• DK Boosters (Rocket and satellite)
• Galaxy Engine Oil Cooler (Signs)
• Hammer Bros. Repair Service (Signs)
• Mario Kart TV (Blimp)
• Sunshine Railway (Train)
• Yoshi's (Signs)

Gallery

• 

  Course icon

• 

  World map icon

• 

  Route

• 

  Clouds in the first section

• 

  Floating islands

• 

  End of the section 2, with the Sunshine Railway train

• 

  The space station

• 

  Inside the space station

• 

  Start of the final section

• 

  The finish line and ending segment of the course

• 

  Another angle of the finish line with the train

• 

  A sticker showing Rainbow Road

Naming

Internal names

Game	File	Name	Meaning
Mario Kart World		Rainbow	-

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Note(s)	Ref.
Japanese	レインボーロード Reinbō Rōdo	Rainbow Road
Chinese (Simplified)	彩虹之路 Cǎihóng zhī Lù (Mandarin) Chói'hùhng jī Louh (Cantonese)	Rainbow Road
Chinese (Traditional)	彩虹之路 Cǎihóng zhī Lù (Mandarin) Chói'hùhng jī Louh (Cantonese)	Rainbow Road
Dutch	Regenboogbaan	Rainbow Track
French	Route Arc-en-ciel	Rainbow Road
German	Regenbogen-Boulevard	Rainbow Boulevard
Italian	Pista Arcobaleno	Rainbow Track
Korean	무지개 로드 Mujigae Rodeu	Rainbow Road
Polish	Tęczowa Droga	Rainbow Road
Portuguese	Estrada Arco-Íris	Rainbow Road
Russian	Трасса Радуга Trassa Raduga	Rainbow Track
Spanish	Senda Arco Iris	Rainbow Trail

Notes

The normally-inaccessible path

• The white trails that follows the racer's glide wings while gliding are instead rainbow colored when racing on this course.
• This Rainbow Road lacks the unique metallic sound effect when racers drift on them, thus making it similar to the Rainbow Road of Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, and Mario Kart: Super Circuit. However, this sound effect is still present, and can be heard when driving through the crystal-like off-road patches in the first, second and final sections of the course.
• The path at the end of the water section goes over a bridge and continues to the right behind the hills. While this path is normally out-of-bounds, a ramp identical to the one next to the bridge in the course can be seen in the off-road next to the path with Photo Mode or, before version 1.4.1, a glitch.