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 Big Goomba, and, of course, Piranha Plants. Even the music for the track is based on the Underground theme.

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 leads the player to regular ground. Players also have the option to jump and drive on the floating bricks and collect the Coins on them before landing on the ground. A few pipes on the ground provide jumps for the player. Soon, the player must go down a huge pipe into a section that is underwater. Some pipes blow wind that allows for players to be blasted to higher ledges. Another Piranha Plant blocks the path causing players to have to maneuver around it, though players can drive above it using the wind pipes. 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. The pipe that enters the water now goes straight down and wider, larger, and has three slides, instead of a small spherical hole in the wall. The three slides after the start and finish line have a ramp added at the end, allowing racers to perform tricks on them. 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; however, gliding over it is impossible without a Mushroom due to the gliding section being made much steeper. Small Piranha Plants from N64 Royal Raceway have been added throughout the above ground section of the course. The underwater version of the music has been removed. The Staff Ghost for this course is Ludwig, as a possible throwback to being the boss of a pipe-themed world. The Goombas are no longer blue.

Trivia

 * The trick ramps in the underwater section were removed in Mario Kart 8