GBA Sky Garden

Sky Garden is the second race course of the Lightning Cup in Mario Kart: Super Circuit. The track takes place on a cobbled road atop clouds, with bridges connecting them and beanstalks scattered around the clouds. 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, and if the player uses 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 required 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 turns left there will be a huge floating cloud. Once again, the player can either use a mushroom to glide across the gaps or can hop over them.

Appearance in Mario Kart DS
Sky Garden reappears as retro track in Mario Kart DS, holding the distinction of being the only track to appear in the Lightning Cup twice. There is an added shortcut in this version. 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. Additionally, the first shortcut has an added longer cloud in front of the original one at the gap's end. The staff ghost is Daisy.

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 (excluding the Mario Kart: Super Circuit Extra Cups), as the Lightning Cup was repurposed as a retro cup for Mario Kart DS.
 * In Mario Kart 8, the track Cloudtop Cruise shares its name with this track in the Japanese version.