u/Adamscottd

Nintendo chose to go a different direction with Mario Kart World's cups, going away from the traditional Nitro/Retro split, so as a little project, I remade the cups following old precedent while still working with the actual game map. This makes our choices somewhat limited (for instance, I would have preferred Bowser's Castle as the third Special Cup track, however it's nowhere near Rainbow Road on the map, so that isn't feasible).

Here's the guidelines I followed:

- The Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special Cups are Nitro Grand Prix while the Shell, Banana, Leaf, and Lightning Cups are Retro Grand Prix

- Because there are 18 nitro tracks and 14 retro tracks, 2 nitro courses will be in retro GP

- You still have to be able to drive from one course to the next without going too far (meaning courses within each GP must be more or less next to each other)

- Cups should get more difficult from Mushroom -> Special and Shell -> Lightning

- The first course in the Mushroom Cup should be a circuit track

- The last course in the Special Cup should be Rainbow Road

Given these criteria I'm pretty happy with what I came up with. Here's some notes:

- I would've liked to get Whisletop Summit out of the Mushroom Cup because it's pretty difficult however I couldn't find an arrangement to get them into another cup that still made everything else work

- The second variants for Peach Stadium and Crown City being the two Nitro tracks in Retro GP wasn't intentional but I'm glad it worked out that way

- As I said before, I really would have liked to get Bowser's Castle into the Special Cup but because it's nowhere near Rainbow Road that just doesn't work. There is at least some precedent for Bowser's Castle being the final Star Cup track, as it occupied that slot in Mario Kart 64.

- The Leaf Cup is a weird blend of tracks and difficulty but those four Retro tracks are isolated from the rest so I had no choice and had to put them together

Thanks for checking this out!

(Also posted on r/mariokart)

It's always bugged me a bit that Nintendo went away from the traditional Nitro/Retro cups split for MKW, so as a little project, I remade the cups following old precedent while still working with the actual game map. This makes our choices somewhat limited (for instance, I would have preferred Bowser's Castle as the third Special Cup track, however it's nowhere near Rainbow Road on the map, so that isn't feasible).

Here's the guidelines I followed:

- The Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special Cups are Nitro Grand Prix while the Shell, Banana, Leaf, and Lightning Cups are Retro Grand Prix

- Because there are 18 nitro tracks and 14 retro tracks, 2 nitro courses will be in retro GP

- You still have to be able to drive from one course to the next without going too far (meaning courses within each GP must be more or less next to each other)

- Cups should get more difficult from Mushroom -> Special and Shell -> Lightning

- The first course in the Mushroom Cup should be a circuit track

- The last course in the Special Cup should be Rainbow Road

Given these criteria I'm pretty happy with what I came up with. Here's some notes:

- I would've liked to get Whisletop Summit out of the Mushroom Cup because it's pretty difficult however I couldn't find an arrangement to get them into another cup that still made everything else work

- The second variants for Peach Stadium and Crown City being the two Nitro tracks in Retro GP wasn't intentional but I'm glad it worked out that way

- As I said before, I really would have liked to get Bowser's Castle into the Special Cup but because it's nowhere near Rainbow Road that just doesn't work. There is at least some precedent for Bowser's Castle being the final Star Cup track, as it occupied that slot in Mario Kart 64.

- The Leaf Cup is a weird blend of tracks and difficulty but those four Retro tracks are isolated from the rest so I had no choice and had to put them together

Thanks for checking this out.