GBA Sky Garden

Sky Garden is a race course in the Mario Kart series. It first appeared in Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance, and then reappeared in the Retro Courses of Mario Kart DS, holding the distinction of being the only track to appear in the Lightning Cup twice. It takes place on a cobbled road atop clouds, and a lot of beanstalks (a clear allusion to the classic fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk) can be seen. This course has no major obstacles, although players can easily fall off of it. Sky Garden doesn't seem to have an apparent theme, but it does incorporate the Luigi blimp from the previous racetrack into its background. There are also three shortcuts in this course. One is at the beginning of the course. There is a ramp, the player use a mushroom, they will fly onto a set of clouds. From there, the player can either use a mushroom to glide across the gaps or just can hop over them. The next shortcut is on the right of the small boost ramp that leads to an item. A mushroom is require to make it across. This is the shortcut used by the staff ghost. The last shortcut is right after the straight away and turn. If the player turn left there will be a huge floating cloud using a mushroom to glide across the gaps or just can hop over them. This stage's staff ghost is Daisy in Mario Kart DS.

There is an added shortcut in Mario Kart DS. After going across the small boost ramp leading to an item, the player must use a Mushroom and hop at the exact right second to get across the large gap. The shortcut can also be done with a well placed jump over the large gap if the player is using a high acceleration kart without a Mushroom, but is very difficult to perform. This is possible in the original game, but the player will fall right over the other side no matter what.

Official descriptions

 * Mario Kart DS European site: "In this race above the clouds, don't let the beautiful view go to your head. One false move and it's a very long way down to the ground. You'll need boosts aplenty to make the most of Sky Garden's numerous short-cuts, but don't be afraid of using your brakes too."

Trivia

 * Sky Garden is the only course to appear in the same cup in two different games.
 * In Mario Kart 8, the track Cloudtop Cruise shares its name with this track in the Japanese version.