Mario Kart DS/Peach Gardens



This is the second course of the Special Cup. It is a medium-level track because of the hazards you encounter along the way. This course is set on the grounds of Peach's castle along a big garden, which includes a Mario-shaped hedge.

Hazards
The hazards here are easy to avoid, but they are annoying if they get in your way. One hazard is the moat of water at the start of the track because if you fall in, it takes time for Lakitu to hoist you back onto the track, which can make you fall out of many positions and force you to catch up to the other racers quickly. Other hazards are the flowerbeds scattered across the track, because they hamper your speed if you run through them. There are also several Chain Chomps on the track, and if you hit one, your kart will flip over. The last hazard is the patch of Monty Moles on the track. Crashing into one as it pops out of its hole will make you spin out of control.

Shortcuts
You can use mushrooms on the small flower patches to cut across the course and zip around curves on the track. on the bit near the start, where you have to powerslide around the flowers, (the first flower bit) if you have a boost you can go straight through it and save a lot of time (the staff ghost does this).

Strategies
Powersliding is important to go around curves as quickly as possible, since trying to turn around one wastes more time. You can also get up right behind other drivers to drift with them and gain extra boosts of speed down the long straightaways of the track. Another strategy is to use Green Shells on the Monty Moles as you encounter them to knock them out of your way. The last strategy is to quickly hit the item boxes the Chain Chomps are dragging along with them to get items that other drivers may not be able to get in time, because the Chain Chomps take the item boxes wherever they please.