Nintendo Switch

Interesting Mario Kart World Map Symmetry Observation



I noticed that the map of MK World has a strong symmetry with each course having a direct counterpart through the main middle vertical axis. There are 12 pairs of courses that are grouped together in this fashion, and what's even cooler is that each of these 12 pairs seems to have strong tie to each other in its courses's theming and location:

  • Bowser Castle vs Starview Peak: This is the most obvious, two highest peaks in the game but one is a volcano and the other is an ice peak. Also the contrasting theme of Villain vs Hero

  • Drybone Burnout vs Boo Cinema: both course have an afterlife theme, but one is set in the jungle and the other has a lava theme (grass vs fire)

  • Airship Fortress vs Skyhigh Sundae: Both courses takes place high up in the sky, but again the strong contrasting theme of Fire vs Ice

  • Crown City vs Faraway Oasis: Man vs Nature theme

  • DK Spaceport vs Dino Dino Jungle: I think this one is about Past vs Future, it's giving strong pokemon Scarlet and Violet vibe

Those are the obvious ones, the remain ones are more of a stretch, but I can definitely see a connection:

  • Mario Bros Circuit vs Salty Salty Speedway: both of these are city/settlement but has the contrasting theme of dessert vs shoreline

  • Dessert Hills vs Peach Beach: both places are for relaxation(Oasis and resort) but again has contrasting theme of Dessert vs Beach

  • Whistlestop Summit vs Great Question Block Ruins: I think the theme is about different eras of civilization? Ancient vs Industrial

  • Shyguy Bazaar vs Wario Shipyard: again the theming seems to be sand vs water, also royalty vs thief/pirate

  • Choco Mountains vs Cheap Cheap Falls: one is about the elegant Japanese architecture surrounded by natural waterfalls and the other is completely opposite: crude monster truck arena surrounded in mud. Maybe the theme is grace vs crass

  • Toad’s Factory vs Dandelion Depth: both are construction sites, but one is more industrialized with machinery and cranes while the other is embedded within a natural cave. It's Man vs Nature again

  • Wario Stadium vs DK Pass: Both are commercialized areas (scrapyard vs ski resort) but has contrasting theme of Fire and Ice and also Steel vs Nature

What do you all think? Is this all just a coincidence? Or maybe at least some of these are deliberate choices? Did I miss any theming comparison?

by Independent_Jacket92

15 Comments

  2. Blackberry-thesecond

    I can see the developers setting up a system like this to make sure that each cup would have enough variety and less of same type of courses. I imagine there was a ton of consideration for which courses to include and where.

  3. Huggan00

    That’s because they’re all arranged in a somewhat loose hex grid, if you look at a single course you’ll see that all adjacent courses are at 60° angles and at the same distance (roughly).

    Edit: I think the thematic connections are coincidental, you could make up connections between any two courses if you tried.

  4. Hadrosaur_Hero

    With Whistletop vs Great Question Block you also have a contrast in ground vs air. Whisletop is trains, rock, rail, etc. while Question Block is up in the air, bouncy clouds, and lot of big air jumps and some flying thrown in.

  5. PurpleScientist4312

    Isn’t this just the BOTW map with lava and snow swapped?

  6. junglespycamp

    Lots of reasons but a big one is there are roads between all the courses that need to all be roughly the same length.

  7. Aggravating_Syrup414

    They probably did this so they can make sure mirror mode works properly they mirror the whole map along the middle axis so makes sense

  8. post-death_wave_core

    Probably so that each course is about the same distance from each other, which makes the intermissions have a standardized length.

  9. Novemberx123

    Off topic in free roam. Can u see these courses?

  10. Ramen536Pie

    They’re just arranged in diagonal lines and hexes for knockout tour and custom paths

  12. gIory1999

    I’d say that’s more an example of lazy game design

  13. rebbsitor

    > What do you all think? Is this all just a coincidence? Or maybe at least some of these are deliberate choices?

    It’s arranged in a set of overlapping hexagons. This arrangement allows the most courses to be the same (or very similar) distance from each other and it maximizes the number of possible neighbors for every locations.

    In this layout driving from one course to any of the six that surround it will take about the same time. The arrangement was probably chosen to help standardize the length of the approach roads to the main tracks, giving them the most freedom in setting up cups and the Knockout tours.

  15. CresidentBob

    r/chiliadmystery is about to take over this place

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