Baby Park[a] is a fictional race track that made its first appearance in the 2003 kart racing gameMario Kart: Double Dash, an entry in the Mario Kart series. The race track is a simple oval shape set within an amusement park, with a typical race on the track consisting of seven laps compared to the series average of three. The track has since made an appearance in multiple subsequent installments within the series. The track received praise from critics and has been described as one of the best in the series's history due to its simplistic design meshing well with Mario Kart's items, making gameplay chaotic and unpredictable.
Baby Park is a race track located inside of a baby-themed amusement park, with key landmarks of the park being a roller coaster, merry-go-round, and Ferris wheel.[1][2] The track itself is in the shape of an oval with two sharp hairpin turns on either side, allowing the player to perform drifts. In Mario Kart 8, Baby Park was redesigned to be placed at an angle to make the track accessible for anti-gravity racing, 8's signature game mechanic that allows racers to drive on uneven sections of track and collide with other racers for speed boosts.[3][4] Additionally, 8's version of Baby Park has the item boxes in constant motion, meaning a player is much more likely to get an item quickly.[3] The track is one of the shortest in the Mario Kart series, taking only ten to twenty seconds to clear a lap normally, and only eight seconds in Mario Kart 8's fastest driving speed.[5][6][7] To balance out Baby Park's short size, the track takes seven laps to complete in Double Dash and 8, and five laps in DS and Tour,[8] compared to the usual three laps for most tracks in the series.[b][3][10] Another feature unique to Baby Park is that, in Mario Kart 8, the music speeds up each time the player completes a lap instead of only on the final lap.[2]
Due to its short size, the track became notorious for its close-proximity racing and item attacks. Items such as green shells, banana peels and Bowser shells[c] can ricochet off the walls multiple times, making the track become a lot trickier to navigate.[5] Additionally, the length often causes players to lap others who are far behind, meaning no matter the player's position they are susceptible to every players' item attack in their proximity.[12][13]
In an interview with Nintendo Dream, Double Dash producers Shinya Takahashi and Tadashi Sugiyama as well as chief director Kiyoshi Mizuki discussed how Baby Park was designed after initially creating more complex tracks such as DK Mountain, with the developers believing they should design "a simple course suitable for time trials". They further added it was designed for players to use their items aggressively.[14] Mizuki stated that the track was inspired by those in short-track speed skating after having seen them at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Covering the interview, GamesRadar+ extended the comparison by noting Steven Bradbury's 1000m gold medal win that year, describing it as "the most Mario Kart thing you'll ever see in a real-life race".[15] Sugiyama went onto say that Baby Park was also inspired by indoor kart racing which was experiencing short-lived popularity in Japan around the time of development. When creating the track, developers designed a "quick little test track" which they ended up leaving as is due to them finding it fun.[14]
Appearances
Baby Park made its debut in the 2003 installment Mario Kart: Double Dash; directed by Yasuyuki Oyagi, Futoshi Shirai, Daiji Imai and designed by Tsuyoshi Watanabe.[16] Depicted as being the signature track for characters Baby Mario and Baby Luigi,[12] it is the third track of the Mushroom Cup, the first of multiple Cups each containing four tracks.[17][18] Baby Park reappeared in the subsequent entry in the Mario Kart series, Mario Kart DS (2005), as one of the game's retro tracks.[6] Baby Park did not make a follow-up appearance until the second wave of downloadable content for Mario Kart 8 in 2015, alongside other new and returning tracks.[19][20] Its most recent appearance was in 2022 in the "Cat Tour" update for Mario Kart Tour.[21] A remixed version of the track, called "Baby Park RX", was later added to the game "New Year Tour" later the same year.[22]
Reception
Baby Park has gained generally positive reception, topping lists of Mario Kart tracks and many publications declaring it as one of the best the series has to offer.[2][12][23]Screen Rant's Scott Baird commented that what made the track work well was its simplistic and cramped layout, which meant that no position was safe from any other player's barrage of items. He stated that Baby Park "[encapsulates] what makes Mario Kart fun in only a tiny arena".[12] CJ Andriessen from Destructoid commented that Baby Park was like no other track, describing it as a "baby-themed thunder dome". He likened it more to the Battle Mode commonly featured in Mario Kart instalments, adding that he preferred the Double Dash version because of that game's character exclusive items making it a lot more hectic.[6]GamesRadar+'s David Roberts felt Baby Park is the best track for item-based races, adding that it's the source for consistent chaos and madness but doesn't get old thanks to its short length.[3] When correcting mistakes in their Double Dash review, Edge Online recounted Baby Park as being the series at its "brilliant, chaotic best", feeling this was as mad as the series got.[24]Red Bull listed the track as one of the best circuits in video games, citing that despite its unassuming appearance, it was home to the most chaotic battles in the series.[25]
Vice's Kate Gray wrote about how she believed Baby Park to be the series's one true track thanks to its chaos and tight turns requiring a good understanding of drifting. Gray further equated the track to a battle of survival, describing it as the "perfect microcosm of equality".[26] Later writing for Nintendo Life, she praised the track as being a combination of what she believes makes the series great, describing it as being like "a sprint, a hurdle race, and an obstacle course". Gray further asked that the series include more tracks like Baby Park, believing Mario Kart lacks fast, simple courses.[27] Conversely, Mike Diver of Waypoint disputed Gray's praise when comparing the track to those featured in Mario Kart 8's Star Cup, marking it as being repetitive and lacking memorable moments, though stated it was still great in isolation of the comparison.[28] The Shacknews staff ranked Baby Park as their least favourite track in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and asked why it even returned, ascribing the negative placement to its lack of reason and strategy with items and calling its layout boring.[29] Zachary Miller from Nintendo World Report praised Baby Park for its chaotic nature thanks to the combination of items and a simple layout, commenting that it makes the track more about luck rather than skill. Miller also praised 8's version, describing it as being magical.[30]Game Rant's Kirsten Moreton shared similar sentiments, believing that the track's reliance on items embraced what made the series stand out amongst other titles in the genre. Moreton continued that the track coupled with items made Baby Park unpredictable and unique among the series.[9]
↑ Partridge, Jon (17 April 2017). "レーシングゲーム史に残るベストサーキットは？"[What's the best circuit in racing game history?]. Red Bull (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
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