20 HIDDEN Secrets in Mario Kart Games

Kart Kameos

Mario Kart Wii (2008)

While Mario Kart 8 would feature a ton of crossover references, and even appearances, it was a novel concept in Mario Kart Wii. A few of the karts you can choose for your racers are nods to other Nintendo games. The most obvious is the Blue Falcon, the vehicle of Captain Falcon from the F-Zero series. A little more obscure is the Mach Bike, a nod to Mach Rider on the NES. Even more obscure than that is the Tiny Titan, a reference to one of the vehicles seen in Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally. The game was never released outside of Japan but still features Mario and Luigi, and is part of a series that is considered a predecessor to Mario Kart.

Diddy the Bus Driver

Mario Kart 64 (1997)

Diddy Kong wouldnt appear in the Mario Kart series until the GameCubes Double Dash!! But keen-eyed players believe theres a nod to him in Mario Kart 64. On the track Toads Turnpike, players must avoid running into other vehicles on a crowded highway. One of those vehicles is a yellow school bus. And the silhouette of the driver looks an awful lot like a tailed monkey wearing a baseball hat. Its unclear if this was an intentional reference, but its hard not to see Diddys shadow once you notice it.

Castle in the Sky

Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001)

Several tracks across the series reference other games in Marios adventures. Like every other Mario Kart game, Super Circuit includes an iteration of Rainbow Road. One of the things that sets this version apart is a floating Bowser-themed fortress, clearly seen off in the distance. If you didnt play Paper Mario, which was released on the N64 in Japan a year before and in America the same year as Super Circuit, you might not have noticed it as an Easter Egg. But its a recreation of Bowsers floating fortress from that game. Its a nice nod while providing some universe connectivity.

R.O.B.s Color Scheme

Mario Kart DS (2005)

This one isnt necessarily a secret per se, but it is a neat design decision on Nintendos part. R.O.B. the robot was a mostly forgotten peripheral for the NES, known as the Famicom in Japan, until Nintendo revived him as a guest racer, and later a fighter in Super Smash Bros. In Mario Kart DS, he appears sporting his grey color scheme. However, the Japanese version of the game gives him a bit of red. Thats because the US version of the peripheral matched the grey NES while the Japanese one matched the Famicom, which was partially red. Nintendo didnt have to do this, but it is a nice piece that shows their attention to detail.

Martial Arts Master

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017)

Ribbon Road originally appeared in Super Circuit, but was remade for Mario Kart 8. There are a lot of really great visual improvements and details in the newer version. One of our favorites is a poster for a martial arts movie titled Kung Fu Lakitu, with the pose and font being a nod to 2008s Kung Fu Panda. Its hard to imagine the little guy being an action star, but this in-universe movie was apparently well-received enough to earn a sequel. In the course Bangkok Rush, which appeared in Tour and later as DLC for MK 8 Deluxe, you can spot a poster for Kung Fu Master Lakitu, which features two of the Mario enemies instead of one.

Hidden Music

Mario Kart 64 (1997)

At the end of any given race in Mario Kart 64, youre shown a results screen, showing every racers placement and how many points theyve earned so far. Naturally, after checking it, youre inclined to move on to the next race. However, someone eventually discovered that if you wait around long enough, youll hear an Easter Egg. You have to wait for the music to loop 64 times, a nod to the console, before the music changes. It isnt a drastic change to something else, but it does feature a more complex piano melody, like the composer just decided to suddenly go hard. And it sounds pretty groovy too.

A Familiar Theme

Mario Kart Wii (2008)

Sticking with musical Easter Eggs, theres another really great one in Mario Kart Wii. The musical tracks that accompany Bowsers Castle and Maple Treeway use the exact same melody, just with different instruments and at a different tempo. Its something most players wouldnt pick up on while racing, given the chaos of Mario Kart and the fact that it sounds just different enough. But once you hear it, its hard not to. Were not sure why the composers chose to do this. Its clear these tracks have completely different vibes.

Gateway Galaxy

Mario Kart 7 (2011)

It isnt necessarily surprising that, in a track dedicated to Rosalina, Nintendo would include a reference to her first appearance. But its still cool. At several points on Rosalinas Ice World, you can spot a small planetoid floating directly above. This, of course, is no random inclusion. Its the first planet from Gateway Galaxy, the first area Mario explores after Peach is kidnapped in 2007s Super Mario Galaxy. Its also where he first meets Rosalina, so it's a nice historical reference for it to appear on her race course.

An Airport of Easter Eggs

Mario Kart 8 (2014)

A treasure trove of Easter Eggs can be found in Sunshine Airport of Mario Kart 8. This goes beyond emblems of question mark blocks and the like across the sides of boxes. You can spot screens showing arrival and departure times of different flights, connecting different courses from the game. At the point where players fly off of a ramp towards the end of a lap, you can spot two massive Koopa Troopa-shaped rock formations, referencing Koopa Troopa Beach from Mario Kart 64. The hardest to spot Easter Egg appears on the side of crates inside a plane that players drive through. The label reads 55402MS, which could be the date 10/04/02. MS possibly refers to Mario Sunshine, which was released in Europe on October 4th, 2002. Well, it is a Sunshine themed level.

Trains and Trams

Mario Kart 8 (2014)

Another transportation-based course is Super Bell Subway, which features several great Easter Eggs spread across the walls that players likely miss while racing. One is graffiti honoring World 1-2, the first underground level from the original Super Mario Bros. You can also spot signs featuring multiple trainlines, showing how most of the courses in the game are connected. The coolest bit of worldbuilding is a map showing that this course is directly beneath Toad Harbor. Which makes total sense, considering that course has several tram lines running throughout it. The two courses make up a nice little travel hub.

Salt in the Wound

Mario Kart 64 (1997)

We all know how a Grand Prix ends in Mario Kart 64: with a celebration of the top three placers. But theres an additional hidden ending thats honestly kind of mean. If you place 4th, youll get a cutscene of your racer watching from the sidelines before they drive away sadly, only to be blown up by a bob-omb. Nintendo even rubs it in your face with a What a Pity! message. Its actually a bit tough to get this ending since placing 5th or lower in an individual race counts as a loss, and the game will only give you the options to quit or retry.

Useless Codes

Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003)

In 2004, Club Nintendo of Japan held a contest for Double Dash!! It tasked players with striving for the fastest time trials on 4 different courses: Luigi Circuit, Baby Park, Mario Circuit, and Yoshi Circuit. Once you were satisfied with your times, youd input L, R, L, R, X, Y, X, Y, Z on the menu, and be given a code linked to your time to submit online. While the contest was never held outside of Japan, you can access your time trial codes through the same method on whatever version of the game youre playing. Perhaps this feature was left in accidentally, or Nintendo intended to hold contests elsewhere. Funnily enough, the top prize for all 4 tracks went to the same person.

Totakas Song

Mario Kart 8 (2014)

Kazumi Totaka is a legendary composer at Nintendo, having worked on multiple big franchises like Luigis Mansion and Animal Crossing. In every game that he works on, he hides a simple, 19-note melody now known as Totakas Song. Its a wonderful Easter Egg for fans to discover as its usually very well-hidden, requiring methods like waiting on a certain screen for a certain amount of time. In Mario Kart 8, the Totakas Song Easter Egg isnt hard to find per se, but it is hard to hear. On any track with Yoshis standing on the side, some of them will hum a particularly adorable rendition of this famous melody. Theres a cool layer to this Easter Egg, as Totaka himself has also been voicing Yoshi for years.

Honoring the Miis

Mario Kart Wii (2008)

The Wii was all about the Miis, incorporating the little human creations into multiple games or aspects of the console. In Mario Kart Wii, you could bring any of your Miis in, to race with the best. Some tracks, like Coconut Mall, also incorporated your consoles Miis into the background.

But some courses that feature statues resembling Mario characters will change them to a random Mii if you decide to race as one. For example, when driving on Dry Dry Ruins with any other racer in the game, the two Sphinxes would have the face of a Yoshi. However, if you chose a Mii as your racer, the Yoshi faces would be swapped with those of random Miis. It isnt exactly subtle, but its something you may have missed if you never cared to race as the Miis.

Return of the Cloud Bush

Mario Kart 7 (2011)

In the original Super Mario Bros., Nintendo used the same sprites for clouds and bushes, but just colored them differently. This was likely a decision made out of ease, though its become a fun fact for Mario fans. Nintendo seemingly paid homage to this in the Piranha Plant Slide course in Mario Kart 7. In the outside sections at the beginning and end of a lap, you can see that the clouds and bushes are the same sprites, just in much higher quality. There are other courses in the game with clouds that dont resemble those here, but Piranha Plant Slide seems to be based on the ending of World 1-1 and beginning of World 1-2. Its a pretty neat discovery that wasnt in Mario Kart 8, where the track was remastered.

Luigis Best Mansion

Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003)

Despite some impressive feats, Luigi rarely gets the same level of recognition as Mario. At least Luigi Circuit from Double Dash!! shows that hes pretty well off. Off the side of the track, you can spot an impressive mansion in the distance. This isnt just any mansion; its the Rank A mansion from the end of Luigis Mansion, released in 2001. Getting a Rank A is pretty hard, requiring you to earn 100,000,000 gold in the NTSC version or 150,000,000 in the PAL version. Needless to say, we didnt quite reach this Rank and, as kids, simply thought it a Luigi-themed mansion for a Luigi-themed course. Good for you, Luigi.

License Plate Messages

Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003) & Mario Kart Wii (2008)

Tracks that come with automobiles as hazards are usually littered with Easter Eggs, with logos on buses and trucks that reference different characters or locations within the Mushroom Kingdom. But many cars also hide messages on their license plates, which you may not spot at first if youre trying not to crash. Both Mushroom Bridge and City from Double Dash!! have cars with license plates that read things like POW, W1-1, SMB3 and 1UP. Nintendo carried this Easter Egg over to the Wii entry for the Moonview Highway course. However, when these courses have been remade, specifically Mushroom Bridge on the DS and Moonview Highway for MK 8, they have appeared without the Easter Eggs.

An Extra Small Challenge

Super Mario Kart (1992)

There arent too many noteworthy secrets and Easter Eggs hidden in the original Super Mario Kart. The coolest is one meant for those seeking a greater challenge. On the character select screen, holding Y and A while picking your racer will shrink them down in size for your entire Grand Prix. Similar to if they had gotten struck by lightning, but permanent, this makes every other racer around you a hazard to avoid. It was clever not just as an Easter Egg, but a way to make the game harder for those who had mastered it. But honestly, racing a whole Grand Prix with this miniature status sounds pretty annoying to us.

Copyright Issues

Mario Kart 64 (1997)

Mario Kart 64 began the trend of including ads for in-game companies for some fun worldbuilding. On some courses, like Luigi Raceway and Kalimari Desert, youll spot logos for companies like Mario Star and Koopa Air. Which arent nearly as clever as those seen in later games, but we digress. However, in the original Japanese release, the tracks featured logos that were parodies of real-world companies. A logo for Yoshi 1 looked identical to that of Mobil 1, Marioro resembled the logo for Marlboro cigarettes, and a big, orange spherical sign with 64 across it was meant to parody 76, a gas station chain found across the US. If we had to guess, wed say these logos were altered so Nintendo didnt get sued multiple times in a row.

The Merry-Go-Round

Mario Kart 8 (2014)

Easter Egg hunters may know to look for Totakas Song in each project he works on, but Mario Kart 8 features another well-hidden music-based secret. On the Water Park course, an underwater section takes you past a merry-go-round-like ride called the Aqua Cups. Most racers wouldnt choose to stop but if you do, you might pick up on something familiar. Although its hard to make out over the tracks theme music and the typical Mario Kart chaos, this merry-go-rounds music is the same as another found in the Big Boos Haunt level of Super Mario 64. Why Nintendo would choose to hide an obscure reference here is beyond us, but theres no denying its an awesome Easter Egg to stumble upon.

Know of any other great secrets or Easter Eggs in the Mario Kart series? Share them with us in the comments!