SNES Choco Islands: I’ve always had a soft spot for the Choco courses and I’ve always been interested to see how they’d be interpreted in HD. I know we received Choco Mountain in the Booster Course Pass but given that it was a Wave 1 course and the graphics were lacking, I still feel we haven’t seen a choco stage at its full potential. Also, question for the audience: are the choco tracks actually made out of chocolate? I always got the impression that it was just a brown mountain that they named after chocolate. Donut Plains doesn’t actually have doughnuts in it and Vanilla Lake doesn’t have vanilla so I always thought it was weird that the choco stages specifically were made out of chocolate. Speaking of Vanilla Lake however…

SNES Vanilla Lakes: I was actually going to pick one of these to be the snow track but once I realized I would have to rearrange my N64 track list I opted for Frappe Snowland instead. With how lovely GBA Snow land looked in the BCP I’m sure these tracks would’ve looked stunning if they were picked.

N64 Wario Stadium: This is the only Mario Kart 64 track to never return, and while I wanted to bring it back, it unfortunately couldn’t compete with GCN Wario Colosseum. Like I said earlier, Wario has a lot of good tracks to his name (and this won’t be the only one you’ll see in the runner up) but this one is pretty uninteresting in my opinion. There’s nothing this track does that GCN Waluigi Stadium doesn’t do better.

N64 DK's Jungle Parkway: One of my bigger shames with this list is being unable to work in a Jungle track anywhere. DK’s Jungle Parkway was one of my first choices but, when I realized I had picked too many difficult tracks, I needed to cut it. The ramp over the water is BEGGING to have a glider section placed there.

N64 Banshee Boardwalk: What was originally my pick for the haunted course but, similarly to DK’s Jungle Parkway, it was cut to select more beginner friendly courses.

GBA Broken Pier: Another contender for the haunted stage; however, considering we just got Boo Lake in the BCP, I was worried it might be too similar.

GBA Lakeside Park: Similar story to Broken Pier, I was concerned it would share to much DNA with Riverside Park, though the volcano element would have definitely helped it stand out.

GCN Mushroom City: Another victim of the difficult track culling, I really wanted to include this one and I picked GCN Mushroom Bridge as some form of compensation. I’d be really interested to see if they’d leave this maze-like track as is or if they’d implement what they did with Tour city courses in Mario Kart 8 and block off certain sections for each lap.

GCN Peach Beach: A solid contender for this game’s beach course, but I was just more interested in other Double Dash tracks. It would’ve been nice to see the cataquacks again though.

DS Delfino Square: Two Mario Sunshine inspired stages back-to-back, how charming. This dash through a more autumnal take on the beloved Tropical locale has stuck in players minds for years, yet it was ultimately between this and Airship Fortress. I went with the latter.

DS Luigi's Mansion: Like I said earlier, I like when tracks pull from actual locations in the greater Mario series but, as you’ve seen, the competition for a haunted track was pretty stiff. If it’s any consolation, my ideal version of the next Mario Kart would feature a brand-new track based on The Last Resort from Luigi’s Mansion 3.

Wii Dry Dry Ruins: This and Shy Guy Bazaar were actually both on the list at one point, but once I remembered that Shy Guy Bazaar was a desert track (I always think more about the town portion than the desert portion) I had to give it the cut. It’s a shame, too. I think the room with the sand that fills with each lap is a really cool idea that I would’ve love to have seen brought back.

3DS Wario Shipyard: Wario’s back with the cool tracks that also makes reference to the Wario Land series. I knew going into this list that Shy Guy Bazaar and one of the Wuhu tracks had to be my picks, so this one just suffered from heavy competition in the same game. It’d be prime DLC material though, like how Neo Bowser City was in Mario Kart 8.

Wii U Shy Guy Falls: One of my favorite uses of anti-gravity in Mario Kart 8. The thought of driving up and back down a waterfall is so simple but so effective, the only reason it wasn’t picked is because I already picked Shy Guy Bazaar and I didn’t want two stages with Shy Guy in the name as different as they were.

Wii U Mount Wario: When I first got the idea for this list, I was so certain that there would be no way I’d make it without including Mount Wario, and yet here we are. Bar none my favorite original course in 8, this thrilling ride down a mountain has always stuck in my mind. It’s the first track I think of when I think of Mario Kart 8, and for a game with 96 tracks that’s pretty impressive! Unfortunately, when I realized Wario Colosseum had never been brought back and had so much potential, it just wasn’t a competition.

Tour's non-city tracks: While the Booster Course Pass was a mixed bag for some people, I’m ultimately so glad it happened because I got to try these incredible tracks that I would not have gotten to play otherwise. Ninja Hideaway, Merry Mountain, Yoshi’s Island, Squeaky Clean Sprint... if the next game's hypothetical Nitro tracks have the same love and care put into them as these, then we are in good hands!