Toad Harbor
- This article is about the race course fromMario Kart 8/Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. For its musical theme, seeToad Harbor (theme).
| Toad Harbor Toad Harbour | |||||||||||||||
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| Appears in | Mario Kart 8 (2014) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017) | ||||||||||||||
| Cups | Flower Cup Battle Mode (8) | ||||||||||||||
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Toad Harbor (written asToad Harbour in the British English version) is the second course of theFlower Cup inMario Kart 8 andMario Kart 8 Deluxe, as well as the longest three-lap course in the former game. This course takes place in a seaside town with some similarities to the city ofSan Francisco. It also features a statue on an island off the harbor modeled after theStatue of Liberty, but it is based onPrincess Peach holding aFire Flower in her lowered left hand and aSuper Star in her raised right.Mario,Luigi andWario all have cable cars patterned after them in this course, each with someToads as passengers and aKoopa Troopa as the driver. There are forty-seven coins located on this track. InMario Kart 8, it is a selectable battle course.
This island track showcases an entire marina with sail boats and a tram station (which serves as a side route along the finish line with extraItem Boxes, not entirely dissimilar toGBA Mario Circuit), a market and a shopping area, as well as a vertical wall section with anti-gravity.
Course layout[edit]
The course starts near the docks with a few boats. After turning right, there are two paths; the right one goes over a bridge while the left path allows players to drive onto a boat with a ramp. Racers will enter a wide section of the town after this point. They can continue driving right, though they can either go straight through, take aDash Panel, or drive on top of the market tents in the area. After that, a shortcut can be taken upon driving over a narrow path and jumping off a ramp.
After a few turns, drivers reach the top of the hill and perform a U-turn past the Toad Toy Store, which provides this course's only anti-gravity section. If players stick to the normal path, they have to avoid oncoming cable cars. If the player attempts to follow the cable car rails after the station, Lakitu will come and hoist the player back to the road. Whichever path was taken, both lead to a steep downhill part of the track leading back to the coastal area, with more cable cars to dodge. If players somehow land on the cable cars going down the steep hill, they will gain a short boost, and can actually perform a trick off of the roof. A pathway with a Dash Panel can be taken, but otherwise, after two turns, the track leads back to the finish line.
This is the only new course among the baseMario Kart 8 content that does not involve any gliding, and the only course among the base content to not feature any mechanics introduced inMario Kart 7 (gliders, underwater sections, one-lap courses, etc.). It is also one of the two new courses where the anti-gravity segments are optional, with the other course beingBone-Dry Dunes.
Shortcuts[edit]
- Players can cut off the first turn by boosting through the strip of grass with a crate.
- A boost item can be used to cut through the grass at the final turn.
Brands[edit]
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References in other courses[edit]
- The Peach Statue of Liberty and Toad Harbor itself can be seen beneathN64 Rainbow Road.
- Toad Harbor is featured on a map found inSuper Bell Subway.
- A Toad Harbor logo appears on the back of theToad City Sightseeingbuses inN64 Toad's Turnpike.
- An emblem for this course can be seen inTour Tokyo Blur on a small sign right before the shortcut. This holds true for laps 1 and 2 inMario Kart 8 Deluxe and Tokyo Blur and Tokyo Blur 2 inMario Kart Tour.
Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack liner note[edit]
"For this title, we had a live band at our disposal so we made use of an acoustic guitar and steel drums on this track to give it the cool, laid-back feeling of an exotic tropical town."
Gallery[edit]
The course icon
The full course icon
Results screen
The British English course icon
The starting line
Overview of the entire course, showcasing the whole city
Lemmy on the anti-gravity section
Rosalina, drifting around one of the alleyways
Rosalina, drifting around another alleyway
As a battle course
Baby Rosalina performs a trick, during a battle on the course
Isabelle in Toad Harbor
Luigi after finishing a Time Trial
The section with the view to the sea and the cable cars
A released screenshot of the course revealing the name of the course
Thestamp obtained for beating the staff ghost at this course
Naming[edit]
Internal names[edit]
| Game | File | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mario Kart 8/Mario Kart 8 Deluxe | Gu_City | Grand PrixU City |
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | キノピオハーバー[1] Kinopio Hābā | Toad Harbor | |
| Chinese(Simplified) | 奇诺比奥海港[1] Qínuòbǐ'ào Hǎigǎng | Toad Harbor | |
| Chinese(Traditional) | 奇諾比奧海港[1] Qínuòbǐ'ào Hǎigǎng | Toad Harbor | |
| Dutch | Toad-Baai[1] | Toad Bay | |
| French | Promenade Toad[1] | Toad Seafront | |
| German | Toads Hafenstadt[1] | Toad's Harbor Town | |
| Italian | Riviera di Toad[1] | Toad's Coast | |
| Korean | 키노피오 하버[1] Kinopio Habeo | Toad Harbor | |
| Polish | Przystań Toada[2] | Toad's Bay | |
| Portuguese | Baía do Toad[1] | Toad's Bay | |
| Russian | Порт тоадов[1] Port toadov | Toad Port | |
| Spanish | Puerto Toad[1] | Toad Port |
Notes[edit]
- This is one of the three courses (along withMario Circuit andTwisted Mansion) that were playable at E3 2013. Incidentally, all three take place in theFlower Cup, in the same order as the original demo.
