Cloudtop Cruise
- This article is about the race course that appears in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. For the race course from Mario Kart: Super Circuit with the same Japanese name, see GBA Sky Garden.
| Cloudtop Cruise | |||||||||||||||
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| Appears in | Mario Kart 8 (2014) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017) | ||||||||||||||
| Cup(s) | Special Cup | ||||||||||||||
| Based on | Beanstalk / Airship | ||||||||||||||
| Online play | No longer available (Wii U) Available (Switch) | ||||||||||||||
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Cloudtop Cruise is the first course of the Special Cup of Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This course mainly takes place on clouds, a giant beanstalk (similar to GBA Sky Garden), and on an airship (like DS Airship Fortress). Several of Bowser's airships are seen flying in the background. It shares its name with Sky Garden in some other languages.
Course layout
The race starts on a giant beanstalk. Shortly after, there is a slight right turn and a ramp with some Item Boxes on it leading onto a balloon with Bowser's insignia that characters can bounce on, similar to Mushroom Trampolines. The racers will then continue racing on a cloud, with a zigzagging set of turns and a small split route with another balloon. After a U-turn, they jump onto an airship, where the player encounters two paths, both of which meet up right before a cannon, which launches the player to a anti-gravity metal track inside a storm cloud. On the track, there are many Dash Panels, but once in a while, lightning will strike them, which the racers have to avoid or else they will get knocked out. The lightning also deactivates the Dash Panels when active. This section then ends to start a gliding section, which touches down on a giant stone ? Block, a reference to how Beanstalks grow out of ? Blocks in Super Mario games. There is then one more right turn before the finish line.
Shortcuts
- Near the end of the lap, players can jump off two big leaves, cutting the final corner while being able to collect a coin.
Music
Like several other courses, the music for this course has two different variations: the first variation is orchestral and plays when the players drive on the cloud and beanstalk sections, while the second variation is a rock arrangement that plays when reaching the thundercloud section. The ending portion of both variations uses parts of "Gusty Garden Galaxy" from Super Mario Galaxy and "Sky Station Galaxy" from Super Mario Galaxy 2. The course's music also reappears as a new arrangement, which combines the two variations, in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U on the Mario Circuit stage and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on any Mario Kart stage.
The first portion of the course's music plays on amiibo screens in select retail stores.
 Cloudtop Cruise - The Gusty Garden Galaxy section of the music | File info |
| Cloudtop Cruise (thundercloud) - The thundercloud version of the Gusty Garden Galaxy section of the music | File info |
Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack liner notes
"On this title, we set ourselves on a challenge of creating melodies we'd never come up with before, and we put a huge amount of effort into this track. We thought that a full orchestra would be perfect for creating that sense of a vast world in the clouds. We've included the thundercloud version of the track, as well as a medley."
Gallery
The course icon
Starting line
Baby Rosalina at the start of the course
Rosalina racing on the course
Cloudy segment of the course
The Airship segment on the course
Entrance to the course's thunderhead segment
Mario racing on the course
Final jump
Aerial view of the beanstalk segment of the course
Shy Guy racing on the course
Diddy Kong on the course
A released screenshot revealing the name of the course
The stamp obtained for beating the staff ghost at this course
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | スカイガーデン[?] Sukai Gāden |
Sky Garden | |
| Chinese (simplified) | 空中花园[?] Kōngzhōng Huāyuán |
Sky Garden | |
| Chinese (traditional) | 空中花園[?] Kōngzhōng Huāyuán |
Sky Garden | |
| Dutch | Wildewolkenweg[?] | Wild Cloudway | |
| French (NOA) | Dans les nuages[?] | In the Clouds | |
| French (NOE) | Voie céleste[?] | Celestial Way | |
| German | Wolkenstraße[?] | Cloudstreet | |
| Italian | Vascello Nuvolante[?] | "Cloudflying" Vessel – "Nuvolante" is a pun of "nuvola" (cloud) and "volante" (flying) | |
| Korean | 스카이 가든[?] Seukai Gadeun |
Sky Garden | |
| Portuguese | Via Nublada[?] | Cloudy Way | |
| Russian | Заоблачный круиз[?] Zaoblachnyy kruiz |
Cloudstrider Cruise | |
| Spanish | Ruta Celeste[?] | Celestial Route |
