How to unlock Rainbow Road in Mario Kart World
Rainbow Road, the most famous course in Mario Kart history, is mysteriously missing from the first seven cups in Mario Kart World. Here's how to unlock it and the Special Cup.
Rainbow Road, the most famous track in the entire Mario Kart franchise, is mysteriously missing from all of the Grand Prixs and the world map when you first boot up Mario Kart World for the Nintendo Switch 2. Now, before you panic, yes, Rainbow Road is in Mario Kart World. And no, you do not have to wait for Nintendo to launch it at a later date. The infamous map is in the game right already — that is, once you unlock it.
In this Big Friendly Guide, we're going to walk you through the simple(ish) process of unlocking Rainbow World and the entire Special Cup in Mario Kart World.
How to unlock Rainbow Road and the Special Cup
Unlocking Rainbow Road is very easy in Mario Kart World. All you need to do is play all of the other Grand Prix cups:
- Mushroom Cup
- Flower Cup
- Star Cup
- Shell Cup
- Banana Cup
- Leaf Cup
- Lightning Cup
You do not need to place first or in the top three for any of the cups, and the CC you complete them on doesn't matter. As long as you finish the first seven cups, you'll unlock the ability to race on Rainbow Road via the Special Cup.
Upon completing your seventh unique cup, you'll get a cutscene, and then you'll be able to select the new Special Cup from the in-game menu. This unlock is permanent for your account once you get it, and you'll be able to race the Special Cup as often as you'd like once it's in the menu.
How to reach Rainbow Road in free roam
Based on our testing, Rainbow Road is not available in free roam, which sucks. Normally the map is just south of Peach Stadium, but not only does it not appear on the free roam map, it also isn't there if you drive to its normal spot.
It's possible that there's some sort of puzzle in the free roam mode that could open Rainbow Road for free roam play, but that's purely speculation. We'll update this guide on instructions on how to reach Rainbow Road in free roam if people find a way to get there.
This post originally appeared on BigFriendly.Guide
Please pardon any formatting weirdness