Mushroom Cup

The following is an in-depth guide for the mushroom cup of Super Mario Kart.

Mario Circuit 1

This track is very simple with only a few turns on the course. Watch out for the pipes sprinkled across the course, they can completely slow you down and can make power sliding difficult. There are no ultra shortcuts on this track. If you have a mushroom, use it into the dirt triangle after the third turn. This cuts off a lot, and you can also perform an extra boost here because of the pipes.

Donut Plains 1

This track is just a bunch of windy turns around some walls. There's some water you could possibly run into on this track, which you should try to avoid as this completely slows you down to a halt. On the final turn, there's a set of darker dirt on the inside turn. You can drive through this, as the opponents won't and you can gain some time on them. There are a few ultra shortcuts on this course, once requires a mushroom. What you have to do is drift toward the water to the right after you cross the finish line, use your mushroom, let go of B and hold l or r to go into the water and hop over the wall. It might take you a while to get right, so remember you have to go into the water. There is another ultra shortcut you can do. To the right, there is a set of four blue blocks that's right next to the finish line. Keep driving into the right side of these blue blocks, hopping just before you collide with it to skip a lap. You can do this for all 5 laps. There is a small shortcut you can do with a mushroom after the second turn where you mushroom through the gap in the wall ahead.

Ghost Valley 1

This track is mainly just 90 degree turns with walls on either side. If you hit one of the walls, it disappears, and you can fall off at that point. After the first turn, there is a dark spot. Feel free to drive through there. There are 2 ultra shortcuts, (or just one done in two different methods) regarding Lakitu. If you have a feather, as you're coming to the finish line, start a drift to the right so you just barely cross the finish line. Once you're by the wall, use the feather into the void. Lakitu will pick you up and put you across the finish line for an extra lap. Another way to do this is to drive forward to the first set of coins, hop around so you're facing the blocks on the right side of the finish line, drive slightly to the left of it and hop into the void, about where you would use the feather on the other ultra shortcut. Lakitu will bring you across the finish line for a lap, though it's slower and you can only use it once every lap. There's an easy shortcut you can do before the loop around at the end, where instead of turning right, you go forward and feather onto a thin piece of wood to the finish line. You can also do this shortcut by hopping or by using a mushroom and hopping.

Bowser Castle 1

This one is very simple with few turns. There's a bunch of 90 degree turns you have to make around with many hops you have to do with the yellow bars on the ground. There's only one ultra shortcut and one regular shortcut on this track. To do the ultra shortcut, you have to so the same strategy you can do for ghost valley with a feather, do a power slide so you barely cross the finish line and then use the feather to go backwards out of bounds to have lakitu give you an extra lap. For the shortcut, you'll need a feather. Power slide on the first turn for a 180 degree turn backwards and use a feather to try and reach the platform. It's possible to land over there, but if you just hit the wall you will respawn up there.

Mario Circuit 2

This track is actually pretty complicated. This track has some turns that are very easy to power slide on, so this is a good choice for time trials if you need to practice your power sliding. There is one trick you can do here and three shortcuts you can do. When you get to the speed boost, you can release B when you hit the boost and hop over the jump into the wall to get an extra boost. Be careful, because if you bump into something else, you'll need to speed back up quickly. There are three corner cutting shortcuts you can do with a mushroom. After the first turn, you can hop into the off-road straight and use a mushroom to cut that corner. Right after this you can cut the corner there as well, and right after the speed jump you can cut the final corner.

Next: Flower Cup