GBA Sky Garden

Sky Garden is a race course from Mario Kart: Super Circuit, appearing as the second course in the Lightning Cup. The track takes place on a cobbled road atop clouds, and a lot of beanstalks (a clear allusion to the classic fairy tale 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 Luigi Circuit 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.

Mario Kart DS
Sky Garden reappears in the Retro Courses of Mario Kart DS, holding the distinction of being the only track to appear in the Lightning Cup twice. 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. The staff ghost is Daisy. The course used to be available in Wi-Fi.

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

 * This is the only course that appears in the same cup in two different games (not counting Choco Island 2, which appeared in the Extra Lightning Cup in Mario Kart: Super Circuit before appearing in the Lightning Cup in Mario Kart DS).
 * In Mario Kart 8, the track Cloudtop Cruise shares its name with this track in the Japanese and Korean version.