Mario Kart 8

Dolphin Shoals is an idyllic underwater paradise – a huge love letter to water-based levels in general within the Mario franchise. Uniquely, the starting line is underwater – and, in fact, you spend most of the race beneath the surface, only occasionally emerging from the ocean to drive across low-lying sandbanks and a rocky rise. Visually, the track is gorgeous. In the shallow, sun-dappled tropical waters, brightly coloured coral can be seen on either side of the track, and aquatic creatures swim around your kart, making the course feel like a living marine ecosystem that Mario and his pals are racing through. You can enjoy close underwater encounters with manta rays, Cheep Cheeps, and, as hinted by the title of the track, dolphins, which you’ll see playfully leaping through boost rings close to the start. To further tie into the name, rising out of the crystal-clear waters is a rocky outcrop sculpted into the shape of three dolphins, as seen above.

The seafloor on which you’re driving starts to angle downwards, and you’ll soon find yourself racing through an undersea cave with multiple routes and bioluminescent jellyfish bobbing around in the water. In this cavern, there are various Warp Pipes blowing air bubbles upwards, which can help racers cross dangerous gaps. But if you’re misaligned, these pipes can just as easily be a hindrance, and you may fall into the dark depths below.

A huge eel-like creature resides within the underwater cave. Enormous eels such as this are recurring enemies in the Super Mario franchise, having debuted in Super Mario 64. They were once referred to as ‘Unagi’, a name shared with a Japanese dish traditionally made out of the freshwater eel Anguilla japonica, otherwise known simply as the Japanese eel. Since their appearance in Super Mario Odyssey, however, Unagi have been known as Maw-Rays – a play on ‘maw’ and ‘moray’, a type of marine eel. In Dolphin Shoals, you can go under the Maw-Ray or race down its long body. If you end up on its back, you can even utilise the vertical ridge running the length of its body to perform constant tricks and so rocket through the section.

Oh, and the background music in Dolphin Shoals is awesome. Each lap starts with a fun, laid-back melody that becomes more ambient as you go deeper underwater. But as you exit the undersea tunnel and head for the finish line, the music explodes into a tropical and upbeat jazz fusion that seems to fit the seaside vibes of this track perfectly.

Next time, we race around Electrodrome, a neon-lit stadium-turned-nightclub filled with raving Piranha Plants.