Which Mario Kart has the Hardest Special Cup?

Mario Kart remains one of the most popular games to ever exist. Some of the most infamous tracks like Rainbow Road or Bowsers Castle all belong to one certain cup...the Special Cup which makes it one of the hardest cups in every single Mario game. The question is then...which one of these special cups is truly the hardest? In this video we find out.
All the music used in this video is for entertainment purposes and the rights all go the original copyright owners.
Chapters:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:00:58 - Super Mario Kart
0:04:09 - Mario Kart 64
0:06:17 - Mario Kart Super Circuit
0:09:02 - Mario Kart Double Dash
0:11:03 - Mario Kart DS
0:12:50 - Mario Kart Wii
0:15:19 - Mario Kart 7
0:17:33 - Mario Kart 8/Deluxe

[@squiddler7731]

Me clicking on the video: "what an interesting question, I wonder which game will have the hardest one" Me the instant I remember that Super Mario Kart exists: "Oh yeah, it's that one." I've never even played super mario kart and I still know it's bs, lol.

[@aceash5.065]

@@squiddler7731 and I’ve played it, and I can’t even get past Ghost valley 2 on 100cc (the second course of the flower cup)

[@ruudsutphen8919]

I’ve recently been playing SMK again on NSO, and it’s complete utter bullshit. The extremely tight turns (looking at you, Mario Circuit 3), slippery after controls, janky physics and collisions making completely stop, and the straight cheating from the CPUs. They ignore the course entirely (rough terrain & hazards like the Thwomps in Bowser’s Castle & the ice blocks in Vanilla Lake), they can legit jump over items like bananas & Yoshi’s Egg, they rubberband two seconds after you pass them, and they sometimes use their special items twice in a row, even three or four times. Luigi has especially always been being a piece of shit to me with the stupidly frequent Starmans. The only reason I can even play it without breaking my controller is the NSO rewind feature, and even still it’s a load of horseshit.

[@saltendo2177]

I honestly thought it was going to be Super Circuit as I often hear people trashing that game a lot, but SC is pretty much based off SMK.

[@Horus.77777]

Super Mario Kart is really fun because it is simple and challenging. You just need good reactions and drift technique.++

[@derschlauepeter]

The new hate against Super Mario Kart by zoomers who didn't even play it or get good at it is pathetic.

[@aceash5.065]

If we’re actually considering controls here, then this video can be done in 5 seconds flat.

[@jpraise6771]

Greetings my friends from beyond and within the grave. In the short time in which we inhabit this world, It would be my honor to offer you a new life with Christ. Let today be the day you begin

[@Pumpkinhead324]

@@jpraise6771don’t you have anything better to do? What do you gain from spamming Christian comments on every single video? Does it actually work for you, or do you guys just get off from it?

[@lostlordlakitu4661]

@@jpraise6771 Aah you're right, maybe Jesus can help me destroy my friends when playing Mario Kart, thanks for the advice /s if it wasn't obvious

[@Joey3264]

Simply reaching special cup was a challenge in the SNES, isnt it exclusively 150cc?

[@Redpoppy80]

People today have no idea how hard we had it on Super Mario Kart SNES. The controls are such a nightmare that you really have to learn how to drive and basically set yourself up so the ice drifting puts you where you want because there is no other way to drive well in SMK SNES.

[@TheGaara802]

My first was Mario kart 64 I got lucky avoiding the SNES version, I played it recently and it's by far the hardest because of the controls that's not good difficulty though.

[@rockmanomegaawakeningofcon3116]

Brake drift is OP

[@djinnspalace2119]

i am thnkful that you guys had to walk through garbage so we could run on clouds

[@JanC3381]

As a competitive SMK Player, it honestly isn’t that bad to control. You just have to learn how to correctly take turns and MT

[@Somefox5]

Stats nerd here, you keep saying median, but it's actually mean. The median is the middle value when all the data points are lined up in order. The mean is when you add all the values together and divide it by the number of data points :]

[@crabdud3]

Even with this in mind, I calculated the mariokart 7 and ds ones and both of those are incorrect (not sure about the others, I couldn’t be bothered). So I have no clue what he’s done here but the maths is very off.

[@brucepotter8817]

@@crabdud3I think he’s talking about the final placement, not the average over the cup.

[@waxy1885]

I don't think knowing the difference between median and mean makes you a stat nerd, this is just basic knowledge

[@ziggle5000]

​@@brucepotter8817he's using median and then saying a number with a decimal. Literally isn't possible for the median to be anything but a whole number in this scenario.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Looking back at it I definitely didn't explain myself too well when it came to how it was calculated. For the overall cup rankings I averaged my placements across the four races say I placed 1st, 3rd, 1st, 2nd = 1.75 and I did that for each attempt (x20). I would then take the median of those means and used it as my final ranking as I deemed it would remove a lot of the random outliers. That being said for the tracks themselves I just took the mean of my placements across the 20 attempts. I was going to use Median as well but I realized a lot of the easier tracks would just end up with a Median of 1 and therefore there would be no way to differentiate them. I probably should have just kept it consistent and stuck with means the whole way through but I guess I've learnt my lesson. To think I wouldn't just get flamed for my driving skills but my math's ability as well 😂. That being said I do appreciate the willingness to help out my dumbass.

[@astralaegis6283]

I really expected on the Double Dash segment as you said "His green partner in crime", youd back out at the last second and choose Yoshi just to diss Luigi

[@LunarWingCloud]

Y'all Luigi fans are still traumatized by the abuse in Superstar Saga, huh?

[@maybefoxtart]

I was expecting him to use baby Mario lol

[@duskdash2546]

@@LunarWingCloud If we are trumatized by a Mario RPG abusing Luigi we will use paper jam as throughout the entire game it was nonstop Luigi abuse in dialouge.

[@EnheTook50Benadryl]

​@@LunarWingCloud more like paper jam, that game had (quite literally) NOTHING but luigi abuse

[@tuskoub]

Wow, the three best Mario Kart games are at the Easiest part of the list with the two worst games being at the top of the Hardest. I think this really does show how much the control and game feel matters.

[@nunyabizness8919]

How dare you insult super circuit my beloved

[@user-sh7kw2qr3y]

Blud threw shots at the super circuot stans

[@3clisp315]

@@user-sh7kw2qr3yStan*

[@TrainWreckYT]

How dare you insult mariokart 7 I will die on this hill

[@kirbster-4]

to be completely honest, I get the reason why super circuit is bad to some, but 64 is worse than both but then again we all have different opinions

[@CrocoDylianVT]

one think Double Dash's drift has going for itself is the fact you can dodge red shells powerupless

[@OmegaVideoGameGod]

I can definitely answer this, the very first super Mario kart special cup on 150cc because the physic engine is absolutely weird and the ai cheats in that game.

[@ziggle5000]

There's a difference between whomps and thwomps. The guys who tip over and smash their own face are whomps while the guys who hover in the air waiting to slam down and crush you are thwomps. Also, considering its wario stadium that little heart is almost certainly supposed to resemble garlic.

[@beaksters]

You had the most basic character lineup known to man for the wii special cup.

[@joshslater2426]

Double Dash has my favourite versions of Bowser’s Castle and Rainbow Road, although I’m not massive on the other two tracks. Mario Kart Wii has Dry Dry Ruins and Moonview Highway, so that also ranks high for me.

[@pokebbs]

Even while playing at 100 cc super mario kart manage to be 1st place

[@kylekraus6722]

I think an interesting study would be what is the hardest Special Cup relative to the rest of the game. That would adjust for the different controls in each game and standardize the results a bit.

[@generalsynnacle23]

Bro definitely didn't get good grades in math growing up, confusing median with mean and messing up multiple total scores.

[@OilRig-1]

Fr i just noticed half way through and how the hell did he manage do get those obviously wrong scores 💀💀

[@ziggle5000]

The total scores are stupid because it's reliant on CPUs performance. In some of the games the game will intentionally create a rival ai who also beats all the others, resulting in there actually being a CPU keeping up in total score because when you win they always get a good placement. For games that don't have a rival it's much easier to get first overall in a gp even if you're not winning the individual tracks because there won't be the one CPU really vying for 1st, it'll just be a pool of mediocrity beneath you. The fact that he uses his final overall placement in the end instead of just average across the individual races means the data is worthless, but not necessarily wrong. As for the median thing yeah he just straight up doesn't know what the word means and probably thinks it made him sound smart or something.

[@violethope02]

the dry dry ruins disrespect is actually ridiculous

[@badcatalex]

Yeah it's bs

[@CreeperBone5000]

I agree, and personally think it's the best desert track since Kalimari desert

[@jdmathews312]

It's mid

[@acgaming1932]

It's an ok track just like most other desert tracks in Mario Kart

[@coolthefool1]

@@CreeperBone5000it has a good theme with unique concepts

[@Folutu]

3DS Bowser's Castle is probably my favorite Bowser's Castle in the series. The fact that it tests you on every driving method on top of the usual Bowser's Castle shenanigans helps a lot.

[@clone3]

you got a negative bias for mkwii i swear, there’s actually just no way you think mario kart 8 and 7s rainbow roads are harder than wiis by that much

[@VestedUTuber]

The only bias in this video is his own familiarity with the various games and courses influencing his placement on each track. The numbers aren't something he just made up, those are his average placements from 20 races on each course.

[@naverilllang]

​​@@VestedUTuberi licked up mario kart 8 for the third time ever today, played rainbow road on 150cc barely knowing the mechanics even work, and still got second place. 150cc special cup on the wii was something I spent an afternoon and a lot of rage getting down. But I do agree with the placement of MKDS. The AI in that game is a joke, and outside of getting combo'd at the end of lap 3, I can reliably not just get first place on each map, but do so with a 5+ second lead. Sometimes I would stop at the finish line, turn around, wait several seconds for the other racers to appear, then cross backwards

[@VestedUTuber]

@@naverilllang Here's the thing - what you've got is an anecdote. Anecdotes can't directly challenge data gained from rigorous (relatively speaking) testing. That doesn't mean your perspective is invalid, just that it's one single data point floating in a sea of data. Honestly, I'd really like to see a followup to the video with a larger number of people and a larger number of runs. That way we'd be able to rule out familiarity with the various games' mechanics.

[@GwnTim1]

14:19 That Red shell was not having a good day

[@danielpayne1597]

SNES gamers, rise up! Going from scrub to getting 1st every time was quite the journey for me as a kid. Rainbow Road SNES & Double Dash! are definitely the hardest Rainbow Roads.

[@derschlauepeter]

Yeah the zoomies who just played it for 30 minutes on NSO or Virtual Console, or just base their opinion on KZbinrs, are fucking depressing.

[@wd5914]

did you know that each track on super mario kart (the one on the SNES) has its own slipperiness? oh and in double dash's rainbow road i suggest not drifting on the spiral part :P

[@thejman1mill]

Shouldn't median be a whole number in this case if its placements? Did you mean to say your taking the mean and not the median?

[@darkpablosk8]

Fun fact. Super Mario kart special cup with 2 players is easier than 1p. In rainbow road only half of the twomps spawn

[@TheKillerShrub]

Courses above a Median of 2: DD RR: 2.4 SMK DP3: 2.3 SMK RR: 2.2 SS RR: 2.2

[@X24453]

DOUBLE DASH FOREVER!

[@arcanusafonso2647]

Ah yes, another enlightned soul that recognizes the best Rainbow Road

[@abbyelectric]

there aren't many of us, that's for sure

[@dscrib2492]

@@abbyelectric the battle to the death between the 7 rainbow road fans and the Wii rainbow road fans is still happening i see

[@bimblebobble4438]

When did he say he loved Wii’s?

[@NinetyLegos]

@@bimblebobble4438He, uhh, didn't. Which is correct, 7 is King

[@logansmith2703]

That Rainbow Road in Double Dash is why I never got 1st on 150cc

[@Waffletigercat]

I love Dry, Dry Ruins. How dare you!

[@melondasher]

16:25 when I hear "Bowser's Castle" that is always the one I have in mind!

[@chrisb6675]

Heres my ranking for the hardest for special cup for each game. DS 8 7 64 WII DOUBLE DASH Super circuit Super mario kart

[@NinetyLegos]

Is this in reverse order or...?

[@tsarnicholasii3029]

When you realise he switched to 100cc and it was still the hardest That just shows how badass this game was

[@josephblomberg7077]

I would argue that the cup dificulty seems to stem more from game difficulty than the cup being a difficulty spike. A better way to measure it might be to do the experiment with the entire game, and then comepare how much the special cup deviates from the rest. The other main factor is of course familiarity. Most people are familiar with the 3 easiest games, which then feeds into the comparative lack of difficulty.

[@gummybread]

I always thought the “slippery dirt” was like, dust or sand or something on top of the normal compacted track. Not mud or whatever, that’s why it would have closer to ice physics

[@cpMetis]

Yeah, that's the criticism that confused me. Feeling like you're driving on ice is like... the defining feature of dirt racing? Like all turning in dirt racing is drifting because it's so slippery.

[@jackcraft7official]

The theme for 8's Rainbow Road isn't talked about enough imo. It literally sounds like it came straight from the Wii era and I love it

[@galaxyrend]

6:30 I named them all instantly I’m a super circuit simp

[@Optimistic_seattle_fan]

I remember bowsers castles in Mario kart 7. But that’s probably due to the fact that I played the hell out of Mario kart 7

[@danielcarrillo1057]

That one was nothing compared to, idk, the Wii

[@Optimistic_seattle_fan]

@@danielcarrillo1057 ok so I grew up on the ds

[@user-sq1pc4eq4k]

Bro just called one of the most loved tracks in mkwii a "dud"

[@labibliotecadesiro746]

¿A cuál te refieres?

[@user-sq1pc4eq4k]

@@labibliotecadesiro746 dry dry ruins. my bad for not saying that

[@labibliotecadesiro746]

@@user-sq1pc4eq4k Ah, vale, ya está más claro. Te doy la razón 😉. Ese circuito es genial.

[@giosanchez7495]

Difficult Special Cup: Mario Kart DS-Easy Mario Kart Wii-Easy Mario Kart 8 Deluxe-Easy Mario Kart 7-Normal Mario Kart 64-Normal Mario Kart Double Dash-Hard Mario Kart Super Circuit-Harder Super Mario Kart-Insane

[@VestedUTuber]

I actually remembered three of the Super Circuit Special Cup tracks: Lakeside Park, Bowser's Castle 4 and Rainbow Road.

[@fuzzytetra323]

I laughed harder than I should have at the Duhhh at the beginning xD

[@Sly88Frye]

10:03 people find this version of Bowser's Castle to be hard? I didn't know that. I remember back as a teenager in the early the to mid 2000s when I was playing this with my older brother and his friends and sometimes with my friends that I always dominated everyone at this track. I mean if it's hard then well I don't know for whatever reason I found this version of Bowser's Castle will be really easy for me

[@rollinjay8214]

You didn't do the Super Mario Kart special cup in super circuit. Thats probably the hardest in the series

[@RobertJW]

The requirements to unlock that special cup are way too harsh for what's really the same special cup as on the SNES.

[@Seawsome]

MK7 was my childhood, so I do have memories of that bowser castle.

[@addictionsucks8848]

They say this was the question that made Newton fear women, and made Tesla marry a pigeon

[@coreykelley9441]

Make a video about unlocking all the gold parts in MK8. 200cc is challenging but it definitely makes you understand why some turns are so wide at 150cc.

[@andreworders7305]

17:32 how the bell is your median ranking below all four of your placements? That’s not how math works!

[@reshawshid]

As much as I like the majority of the mechanics in Double Dash and it's still my favorite in the series, the turning and drifting in that game is just... not it. For whatever reason, turning causes you to strafe away from the direction you're turning, making it much harder to avoid obstacles since the strafe cancels out the early part of your turn. On the other hand, though, drifting in Double Dash gives you insane acceleration, so that's the best way to speed up from a hit.

[@thesuperthingymabob8209]

Never played super circuit so I thought it was neat that its rainbow road has a reference to paper mario 64. Like thats the exact bowser castle from that game, complete with the whole being in space bit

[@bheco4]

the dry dry ruins slander is crazy

[@Ibalistic_hedge]

Dry dry ruins is a masterpiece

[@StreakedSilver]

14:30 Me.. its me, I have no special memory of that track. The real iconic Rainbow Road is from Mario 64 and its track for my generation.

[@bob1331314]

Nice effort of playing through each Special Cup 20 times, that's some great patience. No surprise the one that started it all was the hardest, those controls are extremely difficult to get used to. It's pretty rough to play through today, but it's also cool to see the Mario Kart that started it all. Despite how it's rough around the edges, it's a great game to try out just to see the origins of such a successful series and imagine how mind blowing of a game it must have been over 30 years ago!

[@Amora-Just-Exists]

Me: _Casually watching through the MKWII section wih pleasure and nostalgia_ _Rainbow road comes up_ Me: *IMMEDIATE REGRET*

[@Fools_Requiem]

I have barely played the Mario Kart games after Double Dash, and I was confident enough to state that Super Mario Kart was by far the hardest. The Koopa Beach map was easy, but Donut Plains and Ghost House were going to eat you alive. I have never played Rainbow Road or the Ice Lake maps in a full circuit.

[@hugovanwanghe7645]

to be fair to mk8, the tracks are made with the idea that people will play them in 200cc, so of course the road seems wide and easy in 150cc

[@McNibbler]

calling dry dry ruins a dud is craazy

[@Sly88Frye]

2:24 koopa Beach 2 is easy. The obstacles are very easy to avoid there. 3:22 vanilla lake 2 is also really easy. The hard tracks in special cup are the other three. Donut planes three might be the hardest track in the game and Ghost valley 3 is a challenge. Rainbow road is actually not as hard because the turns are a lot more forgiving but it does have its challenges too

[@Avriel_Mimiga]

i hope the next mario kart game continues the trend of bringing back the Rainbow Road after the last game's rainbow road that was remade (cuz then it'll be GBA's time to shine and i'll get to hear that glorious remix)

[@andreworders7305]

1:43 welp, mystery solved then. Super Mario Kart has the hardest. Unless it’s Super Circuit at least, but it’s definitely one of those two, but I’d bet on the first.

[@real_abender]

6:25 Friendo, do you know how long I've pored over the Mario Kart series? I was able to name the tracks in mere seconds, no Googling required.

[@Legend-of-Kai]

Elite

[@calook1334]

I will not stand for this Mariokart Wii slander

[@isaac3000]

The rating syste confuses me, unless I wasnt paying attention first minutes and it got explained, it goes up to 8 but it ends up below 2 because of decimals. Regardless very nice video thanks!

[@CoinClever]

It's Rainbow Road U imo I will severely question nintendo if they label it as or any other 8 tracks as switch for the next games retro tracks

[@Skipatronic]

You can tell what place your are in on Yoshi's Valley because of your cart having a different icon and the first place player flashes

[@Sly88Frye]

4:48 Cool to finally see somebody actually take the correct path here. That is the best path to take. It's fast and it's easy.

[@ivantheman3297]

KZbin algorythm being wild sometimes

[@dx-dragon4399]

great video as growing up playing the first mario kart I love it takes skill hard turns no op items the best racer will win I like acrade feel of the others but they are much easier

[@josephjennings3146]

12:00 - bowser hates mario so much he did it twice. God damnn

[@PTRanagaming]

I actually like dry dry ruins and think its the best desert track in the series

[@ob2kenobi388]

Personally, I would've also run through the EASIEST tracks in each game so you can compare each Special Cup to the rest of the game it's in. That way, the differences between each game that have nothing to do with the Special Cups themselves (e.g. Super Mario Kart's janky controls) won't impact the results.

[@Beek5]

For me sounded like Double dash is the hardest cuz I mean... What makes the 2 firsts sounded like limitations from the console

[@mariosin3256]

You forgot 7 in the final ranking

[@ShadowPrime69]

no it was between mk64 and 8

[@the_elmeister]

MK8D on 200 is pretty tough

[@StarSpacewolf]

16:50 Good, because I'm a DS/Wii fan

[@GDSecondSpiderPart]

6:28 rainbow road. I think i just started a rainbow road chain

[@birbfactss]

rainbow road.

[@emperorfridgethedude]

rainbow road.

[@coolthefool1]

rainbow road.

[@Megapig9001]

Uh: -Lakeside Park -Broken Pier -Cheese Land? -Rainbow Road

[@Megapig9001]

Whelp: 3/4 isn’t bad

[@NinetyLegos]

MK8's Bowser's Castle isn't even hard on 200cc lol

[@jaysefgames1155]

That's not a median. That's a mean.

[@andregames6117]

He pulled that there is no avatar last Airbender movie with Mario kart tour

[@boxcatgames537]

i still love super mario kart title

[@Bluethymestrategy]

Maybe I'm just ass or I have god awful luck, but I've such bad luck on MK8's Special Cup. Especially Cloudtop and Rainbow Road

[@blockman_games17]

i think its the one from the mario kart made by nintendo

[@placeholderchannelname9111]

damn how were you able to buy copies for all of these games

[@FLUDDgate-dc2sp]

6:25 I got these immediately.

[@MatinMuiz]

Didn't even stutter.

[@producehappiness9952]

SNES Mario kart is probably my favorite because of the difficulty. You actually have to earn it. Dude couldn't even finish the cup most of the time! I know battle mode isn't mentioned but that's by far the best of any of them. You can jump items without a feather so it's purely skill.

[@VestedUTuber]

"This might be a hot take but I think MKDD's Rainbow Road is the hardest of the bunch" Not a hot take. People who say it isn't never played MKDD. It is by far the hardest Rainbow Road in the entire series, due to a combination of its length, the tight corners and the game's slippery, oversteery driving model.

[@Samsungor]

Mario kart GBA rainbow road getting obliterated by speedrunners: #3 Hardest

[@andreysab3432]

Fun fact: lakeside park raceway is a real racetrack

[@andreworders7305]

18:58 it is the 8th one though…

[@michaelfritz5816]

Super Mario kart and Mario kart 64, are more nostalgic for me. So, those tracks are more iconic. And yes, super was the hardest one.

[@JDYouTube-r8g]

Can you make Nihon Falcom current state of their franchise??

[@redstonerelic]

6:22 I challange your title of Super Circut being the most neglected tirle in the Mario Kart series Theres exsist a Mario Kart arcade machine.

[@NNRedemption]

The only possibile Option to win Special Cup Like all Cups in Super Mario Kart in anything besides 50 ccm IS to completly memorize These Tracks. I did traun Rainbow Road for 6 hours. After that i completly memmorized every Corner and Drift and i fcked the whole Game

[@andreworders7305]

5:51 also the length

[@Kraktway]

I almost cried when Mario kart 64 came up… idk why 😭

[@andreworders7305]

13:39 I thought you said you were changing to doing 100CC?

[@laurenmares6208]

16:42 is airship fortress

[@thechargedfoxie456yt2]

MK7 is the best rainbow road, you cant even argue that wii is better

[@JazzyWaffles]

"Can you name the Super Circuit Special Cup tracks???" Lakeside Park, Broken Pier, Bowser Castle 4, and Rainbow Road. Do I win a prize? 😅

[@danielcarrillo1057]

Mario kart Wii has the hardest Special Cup. Think about it; From Pokeys, incoming traffic on a highway, lava, to constantly falling off the stage heading straight towards Earth

[@DylanZiehr]

Bone dry dunes 200cc is hell

[@Sly88Frye]

5:38 If someone considered this to be a hot take they need to have brain surgery. It's extremely obvious that the Mario Kart 64 version of rainbow road is the easiest one. And no people love the track but I think it's actually the most boring of them all. It's long and there's no challenge to it