A few days ago, it was announced that Madrid is going to be embodied in the form of a Mario Kart Tour circuit, the mobile game from the series of driving games. With this, it is also expected as DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which is between waves of additional content, and several of the city circuits in the world of Mario Kart Tour have ended up in the Nintendo Switch video game.
Now that Mario Kart Tour has the Madrid circuit available, in various variables of the circuit, we can find all the references to the city of Madrid, some of them with the particular vision of the world of Super Mario Bros. The screenshots come from the Gamexplain video which shows all versions of the circuit.
This is Madrid in Super Mario Kart
First of all, the exit is Puerta del Sol, where the kilometer zero from which the roads of Spain start is located. You can clearly see "the crystal whale«, one of the main exits of the Madrid Metro. It is also seen the statue of El Oso and the strawberry tree, symbols of the city; next to what would be Calle Montera.
The building of the Real Casa de Correos, which is known for having the Puerta del Sol clock from which the reference is taken with the New Year's Eve chimes. Directly opposite is a Mario kart sign, which is where in real life is the Tío Pepe Cartel that has adorned the Puerta del Sol for decades.
A torrijas and churros stand, next to a tablao, as a possible reference to the tourist area of Madrid that YouTubers dedicated to tourist Madrid like James Blick have made popular. You can also see the Madrid Viaduct on Calle Segovia, known as "suicide bridge", which is said to be the reason why they put up panels to prevent people from falling.
The Plaza de España, before the works, is present with its famous statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and the Monument to Miguel de Cervantes. In small you can see a parody of the BBVA bank.
On the circuit we enter a football stadium, which cannot be other than the Santiago Bernabéu of Real Madrid.
Statue of the Winged Victory, on the Metropolis Building on the Gran Vía in Madrid. It is one of the many winged statues that Madrid has along its main streets.
In the second version of the Madrid circuit, you can see the Puerta de Alcalá as soon as you start.
Shortly after, you can see the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, a place where concerts and bullfight shows are held during festivities such as San Isidro.
The Palacio de los Deportes, also known as the Wizink Center, barely appears for a few seconds, but it is recognizable thanks to its stars on the front. In addition to hosting concerts and sporting events, it was also a mass vaccination site for Madrid residents during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Retiro Park in Madrid, recognizable in Mario Kart Tour by the pond where boats are normally seen, next to the statue of the Fallen Angel, the Crystal Palace, and the Monument to Alfonso XII.
Soon after is the Atocha station, with its characteristic red color under a green metallic roof, and its characteristic square clock. It is usually the first place that tourists who come to Madrid by train see.
You could not miss the Plaza Mayor, with its equestrian statue of Felipe III. This is the background with which people already knew that we were going to have Madrid in Mario Kart Tour, with its meals of paella, ham and the relaxing cup of coffee with milk that popularized the then mayor Ana Botella.
You can barely see it for a few seconds, but you can see the main building of the Mercado de la Cebada in the La Latina area.
Although it can be confused with other buildings, this building is undoubtedly the Cathedral of Santa María la Real de la Almudena.
This red building is undoubtedly the Mercado de San Miguel, a point of tourist interest because it allows tourists to eat dishes and tapas from different regions of Madrid and Spain in a very small space.
The La Latina Theater could not be missing, with certain modifications to avoid infringing image rights
The Kio Towers of Plaza Castilla are present. They have kept the old Caja Madrid logo that adorned one of the towers as much as they could. Currently, it now has the Caixabank logo, because Caja Madrid passed to the Bankia conglomerate of savings banks, which were later absorbed by Caixabank. Possibly you know these towers, apart from reigning over the landscape of Madrid, from the film The Day of the Beast by Santiago Segura and Álex de la Iglesia.
If we play with the mobile phone vertically, we can recognize the Carrión building on the Gran Vía in Madrid, better known as "the building with the Schweppes advertisement» that many Madrid residents use to boast about the city on social media. At least they have kept the theme of the advertisement. The Edificio España, which is currently a hotel, is also recognizable.
Will Madrid be in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?
For now, it is not confirmed that this is the case. But it is not impossible, because Nintendo has been transferring the circuits based on cities in the real world for the DLCs of the second season pass of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Of course, do not expect that once the circuit is ported to Nintendo Switch it will have a graphic improvement, because users have been complaining about the low graphic quality of the added circuits, which also clash with the visual style of the circuits that come in the base game.
