3DS Piranha Plant Slide

Piranha Plant Slide (known as Piranha Plant Pipeway in Europe and Australia) is the first course of the Star Cup in Mario Kart 7. It is based off of the underground levels of Super Mario Bros., and appears to take place in a sewer. It consists of floating blocks, two blue Goombas, one Grand Goomba, and of course, Piranha Plants. Even the music for the track is based on the Underground theme. Players have the option to drive on the floating bricks and collect the Coins on them.

Course layout
The track is mainly underground. It has flowing water that can cause the player to speed up when driven on, similar to Koopa Cape from Mario Kart Wii. There is a huge Piranha Plant in the middle of the road which causes the track to split for a bit. After passing the Piranha Plant, two Goombas are encountered. Both are blue similar to the underground ones in Super Mario Bros. A huge jump right after the Goombas causes the player to drive on regular ground. A few pipes provide jumps for the player. Soon, the player must go down a huge pipe into a section that is underwater. Some pipes allow for players to be blasted to higher ledges. Another Piranha Plant blocks the path causing players to have to maneuver around it. At one point, the player will notice a wind pipe. If the wind blows, he or she will be able to swim above it. Then, players drive up a ramp which takes them above ground to a fortress with three pipes welling water, that the player must avoid. They will land on a grassy area, with walls, trees and bushes heavily resembling the Super Mario Bros. backgrounds. Some wooden Goomba signs are placed in the road, too, and there are gaps in the fences where players can use a Mushroom to cut through the grass.

Mario Kart 8
Piranha Plant Slide returns in Mario Kart 8 as the second track in the Lightning Cup. In this game, however, the course is updated to have ambient lighting and better shading. The layout remains the same, but with an anti-gravity section in the underwater section, which now goes straight down and curves upward. In addition, the first of the two grass shortcuts during the last stretch has been removed, likely due to it being easily done without a mushroom via gliding over it in Mario Kart 7. Small Piranha Plants from N64 Royal Raceway have been added throughout the aboveground section of the course. Also, the underwater to abovewater fly is at a much steeper angle. The underwater version of the music has been removed.

Trivia

 * In Mario Kart 8, the Staff Ghost for this course is Ludwig, as a possible throwback to being the boss of a pipe-themed world.