Sunshine Airport
Sunshine Airport is themed – and named after – Super Mario Sunshine. It is located on Isle Delfino, where Super Mario Sunshine took place, and Shrine Sprites can be seen throughout the course.
Cerberus
For players of the original Resident Evil, there is a scene that seems to define most players’ first recollections of the game: the infamous ‘Cerberus hallway’. As the playable character is moving down an innocuous-looking corridor, with no enemies in sight, a zombified dog suddenly crashes through a window behind you.
3DS DK Jungle
One of only a small number of Donkey Kong-themed tracks in Mario Kart 8, DK Jungle feels like you’re going on a jungle adventure, as you zoom through deep underbrush, past huge waterfalls, and into an ancient temple.
The Hobbit Calendar 1976
The Hobbit Calendar 1976 focuses, as its name suggests, on illustrations made to accompany The Hobbit. The five watercolour paintings that Tolkien created for the book were once again reproduced in this calendar, but, for the remaining seven months, H.E. Riddett was invited to colour Tolkien’s original black-and-white pen and ink illustrations.
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N64 Royal Raceway
Royal Raceway exudes a rather peaceful aura. Bells gently toll in the background and confetti litters the track. Pink-tinged clouds can be seen in the sky and gorgeous cherry blossom trees line certain sections of the road.
Cascade Kingdom
The first world that Mario and Cappy visit after the grey, London-esque Cap Kingdom is the lush, colourful Cascade Kingdom. This is the greater location of Fossil Falls, which is a prehistoric dinosaur-themed area – a wild, vibrant, grass-covered mountainside nestled in a basin surrounded by towering waterfalls.
SNES Donut Plains 3
One of the few retro tracks from Super Mario Kart to make a reappearance in Mario Kart 8, Donut Plains 3 has received a huge graphical overhaul. It’s a beautiful HD interpretation of a classic Mario World 1 motif.
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Creatures of Episode IV: A New Hope
As a zoologist, I’m perhaps particularly intrigued by the creatures, the wildlife, the non-sentient animals, that occasionally pop up in the Star Wars films. Sometimes, these are part of important plot beats, such as the rancor or the wampa; other times, they are brief, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances that serve only to flesh out the planets on which they are found.
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GCN Dry Dry Desert
Dry Dry Desert is an Egyptian-themed track, with lots of pyramids, obelisks, and large stone statues of Hammer Bros. to see in the background. There’s even a huge Hammer Bros. Sphinx (based on the Great Sphinx of Giza), which is rumoured to be cursed.
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The J.R.R. Tolkien Calendar 1974
The J.R.R. Tolkien Calendar 1974 only includes a few new illustrations, but one of them, ‘Fangorn Forest’, is particularly interesting. This image, in one form or another, has been used to illustrate all three of Tolkien’s major works.
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