Sky-High Sundae
- This article is about the race course from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. For its musical theme, see Sky-High Sundae (theme).
| Sky-High Sundae | |||||||||||||||
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| Appears in | Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Booster Course Pass, Wave 2) (2022) Mario Kart Tour (2022) Mario Kart World (2025) | ||||||||||||||
| Cups | Propeller Cup (8 Deluxe) Star Cup (World) | ||||||||||||||
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| Rally | Ice Rally | ||||||||||||||
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Sky-High Sundae is a course released as part of Wave 2 of the Booster Course Pass in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, appearing as the fourth and final course of the Propeller Cup. It is one of three courses to be introduced to the series in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the others being Squeaky Clean Sprint and Yoshi's Island. It is set in a large area made entirely of ice cream and other candy-related food high in the sky. Sky-High Sundae was one of two courses whose music was used for the reveal trailer for Wave 2 of the Booster Course Pass, alongside DS Waluigi Pinball, not including Mario Kart 8's Rainbow Road, whose music was also used in promotional material for other waves.
Sky-High Sundae reappears in Mario Kart Tour, only appearing in the two Sundae Tours, as well as in Mario Kart World as the third course of the Star Cup.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe[edit]
Course layout[edit]
The course takes place entirely in anti-gravity, making it the fourth course to have this trait after Mute City, GCN Baby Park, and Big Blue, as well as one of two Booster Course Pass courses to have this trait, the other being Wii Rainbow Road. The track starts off in an ice cream parlor that is inside of a giant freezer, after which the racers use a Glide Ramp to fly either into or around a giant ice cream cone. Flying into the hole in the cone rewards players with Item Boxes. The inside of the hole acts entirely as a ramp, allowing players to get an extra trick if they land in it. Players will also keep their glider the entire time. After that, they land on a helipad resembling a chocolate-covered ice cream cone with a giant H on it which has a set of nine Item Boxes rotating clockwise on it. Upon landing, they begin traveling down a light-blue staircase, and at the bottom the path begins curving to the left while proceeding to go up a staircase. At both staircases, there are railings that grant Spin Boosts when driven through. The staircases also behave like ramps which allows players to get tricks at each upper landing. After the upward staircase, the player begins to ascend a slope which splits off into two paths. At the top of those paths, they encounter the second row of Item Boxes and begin jumping down onto some platforms, which can be landed on both above and below. On the left path, players can land on the below deck of the final pink platform, players can access an extra row of Item Boxes. After the two paths join back together, players encounter the final row of Item Boxes and go over a path made out of giant ice cream cones that circles around an even larger parfait. After turning around, the player jumps between three giant pieces of ice, which lead to a giant ice tray that leads back into the giant freezer where the finish line is. The overall shape of the course resembles that of an oval, similar to GCN Baby Park and Excitebike Arena.
During the race, various advertisements can be seen on giant waffle pieces. At the staircase segment, there are numerous ice cream shops to the right of the path. In the sky, a helicopter modeled after an ice cream cone can be seen, complimenting the helipad seen at the beginning.
Mario Kart Tour[edit]
Sky-High Sundae appears in Mario Kart Tour, debuting in the 2022 Sundae Tour. The trailer for Wave 2 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass, which revealed Sky-High Sundae, also features a note which revealed that the course would be added to Mario Kart Tour as well. The course was later teased by the official Mario Kart Tour Twitter account one day after its release in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which revealed its inclusion in the following tour. It was released in Mario Kart Tour less than a week after its debut in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
The course does not feature anti-gravity, and there is a penguin bartender in the freezer in place of a Yoshi. While the handrails do not provide Spin Boosts, the player can perform tricks by hitting the top of the handrails. Additionally, the rotating Item Boxes on the helipad are completely static (with the H being yellow instead of pink). The lining on the glass platforms is white instead of gold. The dark windows of the Ice Café are light. The red icing dabs at the base of the building and other ice shops are pink. Ridges on the pink ice cream scoops allow for tricks to be performed in two spots, unlike in 8 Deluxe. The yellow ice cream scoops are found in place of the red ones. The opaque pieces of ice are translucent. The minimap also features the ice cream cone at the beginning of the track.
The course also appears as Sky-High Sundae R (reversed), Sky-High Sundae T (with ramps), and Sky-High Sundae R/T (reversed with ramps). In the R variant, racers glide over most of the split path section. In the T variant, the glide ramp at the beginning is gone, there are two glide ramps in the split path section which are only usable on lap 2, and racers drive on top of the freezer at the end of each lap. In the R/T variant, a wind propeller changes the route on the final lap; instead of driving along the lower route near the split path section, racers reach a higher route which has a glide ramp. Sky-High Sundae is the first non-city course in the game to debut all four variants simultaneously.
Internal data suggests that Sky-High Sundae may have been intended to debut in Mario Kart Tour first: part of the Mario Kart Tour icon of Sky-High Sundae is visible in an unused banner for the Booster Course Pass located in the game's files as of version 2.0.0, released four months prior to the course's official announcement. Furthermore, the filename for the course in the internal data for Mario Kart Tour features the "mob" platform code, which is used for courses originating from the game. While Sky-High Sundae was first released in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe a few days prior to its Mario Kart Tour release, it is not treated as a "classic course" nor distinguished from courses which made their debut in Mario Kart Tour.
Appearances[edit]
For this course's tour appearances, see List of Sky-High Sundae tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.
Top-tier and middle-tier items[edit]
Select "show" to reveal the drivers, karts, and gliders for which Sky-High Sundae and its variants are always favored or favorite courses. For instances in which additional drivers, karts, and gliders temporarily had this course and its variants as favored or favorite courses, see List of Sky-High Sundae tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.
