Mario Kart 8

With deep lava awaiting anyone who strays off the track and flaming fireballs littering your path, Grumble Volcano will undo all your previous hard work in the Star Cup if you aren’t careful. The titular volcano can be seen directly ahead when you start the race, looming over the entire track and spewing molten rock onto the surrounding landscape. As you head into the volcano and race around waterfalls of lava, you can almost feel the heat. This track certainly has a thick, heavy, oppressive atmosphere.

It’s also a very dynamic course. With every lap, the terrain changes as whole sections of the course crumble away and collapse into the surrounding lava, making the road narrower and more challenging to navigate, especially when jostling with other racers. Fireballs falling from the erupting volcano land on the track and create patches of fire, sometimes forcing you to pick a different racing line to avoid taking a hit. It feels like the world is ending, and you’ve got to escape quickly. But despite the near-apocalyptic feel, Grumble Volcano remains firmly rooted in Mario’s world. Lodged inside crumbling rock formations are classic Brick Blocks and ‘?’ Blocks, blackened with soot, while stray fire takes the form of Fire Snakes launched out of green Warp Pipes.

With all its boiling lava and cracking, sinking surfaces, Grumble Volcano is a bleak, barren wasteland. Dead, deformed, leafless trees line the track, perilously close to the lava field. Why anyone would think of building a racetrack here is beyond me. But I’m glad they did, because the crumbling road and falling fireballs create a real sense of urgency, resulting in one of the most exciting tracks in Mario Kart 8.

Next time, we look at the final track in the original Mario Kart 8 base game – N64 Rainbow Road, a reimagining of one of the most famous tracks in Mario Kart history.