Lightning Cup



The Lightning Cup is a cup in the Mario Kart series. Its first appearance is in Mario Kart: Super Circuit where it was placed between the Flower Cup and Star Cup. It is absent in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, but it makes a reappearance in Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, and Mario Kart 8 as a cup with tracks from past Mario Kart games. The emblem of the cup is the Thunderbolt. It mainly features tracks from the Star Cup, and the Special Cup, though Mario Kart DS featured a sole track from the Mario Kart: Super Circuit Lightning Cup and Mario Kart Wii featured a sole Flower Cup course. The length and difficulty of the courses in the cup tend to be on par with those in the Special Cup. As of Mario Kart 7, the final track of the Lightning Cup is a past Rainbow Road. The table below lists every track in the Lightning Cup by course order and game installment. Except Mario Kart DS, the second last course of the Lightning Cup is the final course of the Star Cup in the game released two generations before.

Trivia

 * In the Mario Kart 7 manual, the Lightning Cup is called the Thunder Cup.
 * The Mario Kart Wii ' s Lightning Cup Trophy uses a Thunder Cloud instead of the Thunderbolt.
 * Since Mario Kart Wii, the third course in the Lightning Cup is a final course from the Star Cup.
 * Sky Garden is the only course to appear in the same cup in two different games. This is due to the Lightning Cup being a nitro cup in Mario Kart: Super Circuit (where Sky Garden first appeared in) and a retro cup in Mario Kart DS (where it appeared as a retro course)
 * As of Mario Kart 8, it is the only retro cup to not have at least one course from Mario Kart 64, as Mario Kart 7 did not include one.