3DS Music Park

Music Park returns to Mario Kart 8! Almost unchanged from its first appearance, Music Park is still a whimsical race course with a soundtrack that changes with every massive piano key and tambourine that racers drift and bounce over. Even the Piranha Plants snap to the beat. Don’t get so lost in the music that you forget where you are on the track.

Kart of Champions

Nintendo’s Best Time Trial: 2:06.354
Player: Jeff C. M.
Racer: Wario	Body: Sport Bike	Wheels: Cyber Slick	Glider: Parafoil

Grand Prix

Patches of grass like the one next to the first set of Item Boxes you encounter can be bypassed with Mushrooms. Having one by this point in the race is a rarity, as there is another location where the item is best used. Keep an eye out for opportunities to exploit the grass patches as you race!

It’s tempting to try and drift on the outside of this turn, using the dash panels as opposed to sticking to the piano keys on the inside of the track. Don’t fall to this temptation! You’re almost always going to be able to overtake any racer that strays to the outside if you stick to the white piano keys. The closer to the abyss you are, the better.

There are four pipes on this stretch of road. At any given time, two are lit up by spotlights, with Piranha Plants waiting for racers to drive into the light so they can take a bite out of them. Avoid the lights entirely, or use a Mushroom to fly past the plants before they can react.

For the next two hairpin turns, you don’t necessarily want to be in as tight as possible. Hitting the raised keys will actually slow you down, and Jump Boosting off them can cause you to lose even more speed from a bad landing. In the worst case you might even throw yourself off the track!

The glide ramp before the bouncing notes alternates between locations depending on the background music. While it is tempting to try and stay in the air, you can get more speed by weaving and mini-boosting through the light curves of the track, and you can collect items to help yourself while on the ground.

This doozy of a shortcut requires you to cut the second to last turn hard to the right, jump off a small ramp, bounce off a tambourine and onto a grassy patch facing the finish line, and then boost away with a Mushroom. If you’re not equipped to make the best use of this shortcut, do what you can to prevent other racers from making use of it while taking on the final turns!

Time Trial Mode

As crazy as it might sound, you’ll have to pass up many Coins on the first piano key turn. Drift through it as close to the edge as possible. (See the picture for a good example.) You can collect at least one Coin before this turn on Lap 1, and more are on the way.

When driving past the Piranha Plants, do not swerve violently out of their way, as this will cost you a lot of speed. Curve yourself around the spotlights gently, collecting a Coin as you squeeze past the baddies.

For the two consecutive hairpin turns with raised piano keys on the inside track, drift through these turns as close to those raised keys as possible, without hitting them.

Crossing the first tambourine on Lap 1, we recommend not actually Jump Boosting off of it. You’re still hurting for Coins at this point, so a standard bounce across the gap will give you a better shot at snagging three Coins in one pass. For later laps, go as fast as you can.

When navigating the Bouncing Notes on Lap 1, you can collect at least five Coins in one pass while staying at a pretty good speed.

The shortcut near the end of the course is mandatory if you want to have a competitive lap time. Start the final turn early, Jump Boost off the ramp on the inside of the turn onto the tambourine, then Jump Boost away from it onto the grass, and Mushroom across the finish line. Simple to read on paper, but practice is required for perfecting this shortcut!

TM & © 2014 Nintendo.