The 'Shroom:Issue LIV/MK:WTC

Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner by

Hello Mario Karters, welcome once again to the Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner, Coincollector is here to tell you the tip of the month so get behind the wheel, fasten your seatbelts and start your engines.

It's time to take a trip in one of the courses of Mario Kart Wii, Grumble Volcano. Grumble Volcano is the last course of the Star Cup, and one of the most difficult levels to race. The most notable aspect of Grumble Volcano is its tricky layout, especially because it changes gradually as you progress and complete a lap. However that's not the only thing that makes this course challenging. Grumble volcano is surrounded by lava, and most parts of the course have unprotected edges. Therefore, it is easy to fall to the lava and lose several seconds if you don't drive with care and don't anticipate turns (specially when using speed-boost power-ups). The course also has other kind of nasty obstacles such as big fireballs thrown by volcanoes that leave fire on parts of the track and Fire Snakes that will make your kart spin out of control if you make contact with them. As if it wasn't enough, parts of the road to perform tricks and jumps have lava pits beneath, and sometimes lava geysers emerge from the lava to bowl you over.

The course starts in front of a volcano. As a taste of what's to come later on, once you accelerate from the starting line, a hill in the background will collapse and sink into the lava. Next you'll find the first jump to perform a trick and then land on a stretch that leads to the entrance of a cave beneath the volcano. Once inside, swerve to the right to find the second jump that leads you to a platform that moves left and right and after that, move onto a stretch of solid ground. The road goes through a tunnel and splits into two paths. The left side will send you uphill and the other will not. The paths don't differ much, as both follow in parallel and bend in a great S turn that leads to the left at the end where the paths join again and takes you outside of the tunnel. This section of the track finishes in a third jump where you land on a row of three platforms, two of them drifting left and right. The track divides once again in two paths. Just like in the tunnel, there is an upper path and a lower. The upper path has a Boost Pad, where you can perform a trick and return to the main way that is the lower path. There is another path that has the same purpose right after this, located in a curve that leads you to the left. Watch out for the falling rocks that leave trails of fire over there. Here, you'll find the fourth jump and once more the track splits in two in which both have perilous corners and Fire Snakes popping out from the pipes there. Avoid these obstacles and from falling to the lava when swerving. Both paths end with jumps that converge again. You'll have completed a lap once you have made a last jump before crossing the starting line. Easy, eh? things get even worse in the second lap...

Starting from the second lap, several parts of the track start to disintegrate and sink into the lava, making some stretches narrower, increasing the chance to fall in this situation. To know which parts of the track can dislodge, look at the cracks over the ground at the beginning of the race. The cracks that surround a piece of ground means that soon it will disappear.

Grumble Volcano is also notable for being a course with various glitches that may work as shortcuts to complete this course in no time. Fortunately for you my friends, as I'm a honest user, I'm not going to tell those kind of shortcuts. Well, I'll tell at least one because one of them is funny to perform. All you need to make this shortcut is a Mushroom (another item like a Star or a Bullet Bill may serve, but a Mushroom is better), then, go to the upper path of the right after crossing the pair of moving platforms. Once over there, go far right to be off the road and use the item and do a timed jump so you'll fall to the lava far away of the edge. If done correctly, you will be brought to a place near to the finish line. And that's all I can tell you.

See you next month with more tips here in The 'Shroom's Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner.