The tracks in Mario Kart Word are the real stars in the game and the shiniest one is the Rainbow Road track. The mesmerizingly colorful track is something out of this world — literally. Unlike all the other tracks in the game, Rainbow Road is a secret one, but luckily the path to find it is pretty straightforward.
Below, you find all you need to know to unlock the Rainbow Road in Mario Kart World.
How to unlock the Rainbow Road in Mario Kart World
The Rainbow Road becomes available only after you have unlocked the Special Cup in the Grand Prix mode. It appears as an option for you after completing all the other seven cups. Here’s a list of all cups you need to finish:
It doesn’t matter what CC you play the cup on, and it doesn’t matter if you even place in the race. You just need to play each cup.
Like the other cups, the Special Cup has four tracks: Acorn Heights, Mario Circuit, Peach Stadium, with Rainbow Road being the last one.
How to play Rainbow Road in Mario Kart World
Once you have raced through Rainbow Road once and beat the Special Cup, you might want to give the course another try. We have tested and can confirm that you can enjoy this track by replaying the Special Cup in the Grand Prix mode or selecting it in VS Race mode.
According to some Reddit users, Rainbow Road can also appear in online play if you’re lucky. In online races, you can vote for one between three tracks randomly selected by the game, or you can pick “random.” If Rainbow Road comes among the first options, you can just select that — but the track may not be picked, since the game chooses randomly from what the players voted for.
If you are really burning to race Rainbow Road in an online lobby, your best bet is to vote “random” if Rainbow Road doesn’t come up as an actual option, since this can roll maps that weren’t among the initial voting options.
Did you just get a Nintendo Switch 2? Are you trying to unlock every character and outfit in Mario Kart World? Or maybe you’re trying out The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the first time and you need a walkthrough for those pesky stoplights in the Forsaken Fortress? Either way, we have your back when it comes to helping you sort stuff out.
We have guides explaining how to set up your console (moving data from your original Switch to your Switch 2) as well as guides for things like getting external storage sorted out.