Grumble Volcano pulls no punches. With every lap, the terrain changes as whole sections of the course collapse into the lava. The volcano itself spews flame that fouls up sections of the track, the road is uneven, and it’s very easy to take a lava bath if you’re not paying attention.
Kart of Champions
Nintendo’s Best Time Trial: 2:10.129 |
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Player: Jeff C. M. |
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Racer: Wario |
Body: Sport Bike |
Wheels: Slick |
Glider: Parafoil |
Grand Prix
The section of road just after the race begins provides a basic example of how the track will change as the race progresses. Two of the Coins on the right side of the course will become unreachable when the land underneath them sinks into the lava on Lap 2.
The first turn inside the mountain starts out wide and easy to navigate. As the race progresses, huge chunks of the track break away, leaving you with much less room to drift through the turn. This turn becomes a hot spot for placing Bananas to send racers flying into the lava!
This platform moves back and forth in the lava. Concentrate on getting to the ground on the other side. The platform never moves enough that you will fall into the lava unless you make some serious driving mistakes.
The road splits up into upper and lower paths, following more or less the same turns. You can drop from the upper path down to the lower if you slip off the right side of the route. The lower route isn’t decisively faster, but it is a bit easier to navigate.
The paths rejoin as you exit the cave, and another moving platform awaits you. On this platform is a glide ramp, an invaluable tool for reaching some more Coins caught in the air. This is another amazingly evil spot to set Bananas so you can send some rivals tumbling into the lava!
The road from the glide ramp platform splits twice for very brief periods. The upper routes have dash panels to make up for being longer to navigate, but you’re generally faster on the ground. Watch out for fire patches on the ground, caused by the erupting volcano!
This tall mountain has two routes around it. The first is to climb up it, following the road to the left. Fire Snakes populate this narrow road, so be careful as you handle this turn. At the top of the mountain is a glide ramp that will send you on a straight line to the finish.
The right-hand route is faster, but more complex to navigate, requiring sharp turns to stay on the road while avoiding the rough terrain and the Fire Snakes on the path.
Things near the mountain change on Lap 3, with a portion of the course sinking away to reveal a small stone ramp. You MUST have a Mushroom available if you want to safely use that ramp to cut past the final turn for a more direct shot at the finish line.
Time Trial Mode
Collect one of the two Coins on the right side of the course just after you start. On later laps, the ground will have collapsed underneath them.
Remember that the first turns as you enter the cave will be more dangerous to navigate on later laps, when the ground has collapsed into the lava. Make sure to collect three Coins on the inside racing line during Lap 1. As you exit the turn, try to set yourself up to collect the two Coins on the moving platform before you enter the next part of the cave.
At the track split, stay on the lower level, and make sure you collect the three Coins on that path. You can score multiple Mini-Turbos during this long turn.
Exiting the caves, you can choose to glide over many of the most dangerous obstacles and collect more Coins in the process. If you’ve driven well on Lap 1, you can have ten Coins as you finish crossing these moving platforms.
The two raised portions of the track do contain dash panels to speed you along. The first of these raised portions can help cut down on your times. The second forces you to take a wider and longer path to reach it, and it’s overall faster to stay on the ground level and drift through the turn as tight to the rough terrain as you can.
When you reach the final split in the track, take the right-hand route, and cut the final turns by going across the rough ground with a Mushroom.
On Lap 3, the terrain near the final turn on the right route will have changed to reveal a vital shortcut over the lava. Using this newly created ramp requires a Mushroom, so make sure you save one for it!
TM & © 2014 Nintendo.