Welcome Mario Karters to the Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner. We begin this new year with a race course coming from Mario Kart 7: Cheep Cheep Lagoon.
Cheep Cheep Lagoon (Also known as Cheep Cheep Cape in PAL regions) is the third race course of the Mushroom Cup in Mario Kart 7. The course is located in a coastal area, almost similar to several beach courses from previous Mario Kart games such as Cheep Cheep Beach or Peach Beach.
However the course differs a bit from the others, in that racers don't race on land, over soft and white sands, but in water. That's right. In previous Mario Kart games, the water from those beach courses was a big obstacle, able to slow down any vehicle that tried to go into the deep and eventually got stuck, so that Lakitu had to get you away from the peril. In conclusion, you must be away from the water. Now in Mario Kart 7, water is an elemental part of the course, and instead of slowing you down and drowning your kart, it notably changes the behavior of the vehicle. It sticks out a propeller from behind to turn it in a little submarine and changes the stats of the vehicle and the surrounding's physics a bit as you run over the bed. And don't worry, Lakitu will not have to rescue you if you're in the water, except if you fall into one of the bottomless pits that are found underwater. To resume, if you see a body of water in the track... prepare to dive!
Although not all bodies of water of other courses are accessible, and when that happens, Lakitu again will have to get you back to the road.
Get back to the topic. Cheep Cheep Lagoon has many parts of the track located underwater, so racers must enter the bodies of water to keep it up. This is the first course overall to introduce these kind of tracks.
The track begins on the land over a road of soil and grass with lush palm trees, bushes and kiosks with Miis looking at the race. The road bends instantly to the right with the first set of Item Boxes and then goes straight to the pier with a boost pad at the end that leads all the racers to the water. A big signal ahead of the pier indicates that racers will follow the race underwater now, so don't be afraid of the water right now. Once you submerge, you'll find a wide track in the bed of the water as you fall slowly to the bottom. The track here has tall bumps that can be used to perform tricks. The course underwater has Cheep-Cheeps swimming over the track and sea weeds in the middle of it. Fortunately they're not a real threat. The real obstacles are the Clampies that lie on the sides of the track. Clampies remain immobile, but can reveal pretty Coins and Item Boxes when they open their valves. The problem is that if you get one of them, it's possible that the Clampies suddenly shut their valves and you get trapped or bowl over. The track bends slowly to the right, tapers and goes uphill to send the racers back to the surface. Now on land, racers will find a cove that also has a body of water inside. Racers may enter the water again and perform a trick over a ramp located to the right side of the course, or take flight and go over the water by taking the left side of the road that has the blue pad to activate the vehicle's glider. Notice that the right side is wide while the left is narrow. Taking the narrow path to take off can be sometimes dangerous as you can be pushed away and fall to the water and never get the desired boost. A row of three Item Boxes can be found at the end of the right side while the left has single one. There are some more Item Boxes underwater and next to the two stretches. Underwater, the track is infested with a pair of Sidesteppers that can spin the kart out of control if they're hit. Over the water, players that are flying must avoid the stalactites protruding from the ceiling of the cove as they can stop your speed and deactivate the glider and, consecuently, fall to the water. This part ends quickly returning the racers to the surface and the exit of the cove, while at the same time you and the other racers run over a pair of boost pads found underwater. The track then bends to the right so that racers can go straight and see the finish line to complete the lap.
The course has some shortcuts that players can take advantage. One is a road next to the main one in the first underwater area. If players go far to the right, they'll land there and then follow that path. This stretch is narrow, slightly curled and has pronounced bumps which can be easy to fall off to the main route, or also fall to a bottomless pit to the right of the path. Specialized racers can overcome this and use these bumps to do tricks and jump over the gaps to cut even more time and reach the end of the path that abruptly ends in a wall, and racers must return to the main road swerving to the left. The second shortcut is much simpler. The last corner near the finish line contains a small portion of grass that can be trespassed easily if you have a Mushroom or a Star.
And that's all for today, ladies and gents. Hope you liked this issue of the Mario Kart: Wheel Tips Corner. Additionally, many thanks for the prize of the 'Shroom Awards and congratulations to the other users that also deserved their prize for their awesome work. See ya.