SNES Vanilla Lake 2

From the Super Mario Wiki, the Mario encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
This article is about the race course in Super Mario Kart. For the second Vanilla Lake remix course in Mario Kart Tour, see RMX Vanilla Lake 2.
Vanilla Lake 2
Vanilla Lake 2 from Super Mario Kart.
Information
Appears in Super Mario Kart (1992)
Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001)
Mario Kart Tour (2021)
Cup(s) Special Cup (Super Mario Kart)
Extra Special Cup (Super Circuit)
Tour(s)
Music sample
Super Mario Kart / Mario Kart Tour
0:30
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
0:30
Course map
Super Mario Kart
The map for Vanilla Lake 2.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
MKSC SNES Vanilla Lake 2 Map.png
Minimap as seen on the menu.Minimap as seen in the race.
Mario Kart Tour
Map of SNES Vanilla Lake 2 from Mario Kart Tour.

Vanilla Lake 2 is the fourth course of the Special Cup in Super Mario Kart. It was subsequently reused in Mario Kart: Super Circuit as the third track of the Extra Special Cup, and in Mario Kart Tour starting with the 2021 Holiday Tour. It is a circle course going around a lake. The course is icy, meaning bad control for Princess Peach and Yoshi, according to the manual. Along with snow blocks, Warp Pipes appear in the track. This track shares its music with Vanilla Lake 1; in the original incarnation of the track, the outline of the course is also largely identical to Vanilla Lake 1, with the route differences coming from the track being centered around a large hole in the ice.

Super Mario Kart[edit]

Course layout[edit]

Vanilla Lake 2 from Super Mario Kart
Mario racing on the course in Super Mario Kart

The layout of this course involves one continuous counterclockwise loop around the lake. Shortly after the first turn is the only set of ? Panels. The slippery ground makes it difficult to control the kart, and at the edge of the track, the lake is snow-covered; driving here will slow the kart down. The track also features pipes and ice blocks as obstacles; racers bumping into the ice blocks will break them. Halfway along the track, there are many ice blocks next to each other that nearly occupy the entire width of the track. On the following turns, the edge of the lake juts outwards, forcing racers to either drive around it or use well-timed hops to clear the gaps. The final turn also has many scattered ice blocks.

Shortcuts[edit]

A notable shortcut can be found just before the last turn. The player can use a Mushroom or Star to drive through the snow to the right of the track, passing through a gap in the wall.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit[edit]

Luigi racing on SNES Vanilla Lake 2
Vanilla Lake 2 as it appears in Mario Kart: Super Circuit.

Vanilla Lake 2 reappears in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and is the third track of the Extra Special Cup. It uses the background from Snow Land. The pipe hazards were removed from the track and an extra Item Box can be found on the small ice island near the hole in the wall.

Mario Kart Tour[edit]

A view of SNES Vanilla Lake 2 in Mario Kart Tour
View of the course in Mario Kart Tour

Vanilla Lake 2 reappears in Mario Kart Tour starting from the 2021 Holiday Tour. The course outline has been adjusted so that it's no longer largely identical to Vanilla Lake 1. The walls within the course are thinner, and the clusters of ice blocks in the west side of the course were replaced with a new line of Item Boxes. Seven ice blocks in a zigzag line replace the original Item Boxes' location (they are now directly in front of the finish line), and the ones before the finish line were reduced to five, which are on the other side of the snow patch, allowing for a clear path to the finish. Players can now perform Jump Boosts off the bigger fragments of ice in the south side of the course, similar to the fractured ice present in RMX Vanilla Lake 1. Just before the finish line, a ramp shortcut was added. The course now has a starting banner with the classic Mario Kart logo.

The course also appears as Vanilla Lake 2R (reversed), Vanilla Lake 2T (with ramps), and Vanilla Lake 2R/T (reversed with ramps). The former two were introduced alongside the normal variant in the 2021 Holiday Tour, while the latter was introduced in the 2023 Sundae Tour. In the R variant, many additional ramps are present on the track. In the R/T variant, the course is now a figure-eight: Racers use Kanaami Road to go across the lake on two occasions. As a result, racers spend a large portion of the race driving the course forwards despite it being a "reverse"/trick variant.

If the player falls into the deep, inaccessible water during the course's Glider Challenge, they will enter a brief underwater state before falling out of the screen.

Appearances[edit]

For this course's tour appearances, see List of SNES Vanilla Lake 2 tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.

Top-tier and middle-tier items[edit]

Select "show" to reveal the drivers, karts, and gliders for which SNES Vanilla Lake 2 and its variants are always favored or favorite courses. For instances in which additional drivers, karts, and gliders temporarily had this course and its variants as favored or favorite courses, see List of SNES Vanilla Lake 2 tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.

Bonus challenges[edit]

Gallery[edit]

Mario Kart Tour[edit]

Course icons[edit]

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mario Kart Tour race course icons (SNES courses) § SNES Vanilla Lake 2.

Screenshots[edit]

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning Notes
Japanese バニラレイクコース 2[?]
Banira Reiku Kōsu 2
Vanilla Lake Course 2 Super Mario Kart
バニラレイク2[?]
Banira Reiku 2
Vanilla Lake 2
Chinese 香草湖2[?]
Xiāngcǎo Hú 2
Vanilla Lake 2
French Lac Vanille 2[?] Vanilla Lake 2
German Vanille-See 2[?] Vanilla Lake 2
Italian Lago Vaniglia 2[?] Vanilla Lake 2
Korean 바닐라 호수 2[?]
Banilla Hosu 2
Vanilla Lake 2
Portuguese Lago Baunilha 2[?] Vanilla Lake 2
Spanish Lago Vainilla 2[?] Vanilla Lake 2