Lightning Cup

File:Lightning Cup Logo - Mario Kart 8.png

The Lightning Cup logo in Mario Kart 8.

The Lightning Cup is a cup in the Mario Kart series. Its first appearance is in Mario Kart: Super Circuit where it was placed between the Flower Cup and Star Cup. It is absent in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, but it makes a reappearance in Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, and Mario Kart 8 as a cup with tracks from past Mario Kart games. The emblem of the cup is the Lightning. It mainly features tracks from the Star Cup and the Special Cup, though Mario Kart DS featured a sole track from the Mario Kart: Super Circuit Lightning Cup and Mario Kart Wii featured a sole Flower Cup course. The length and difficulty of the courses in the cup tend to be on par with those in the Special Cup. As of Mario Kart 7, the final track of the Lightning Cup is a past Rainbow Road, very similar to how Special Cup's final course is a new Rainbow Road. The table below lists every track in the Lightning Cup by course order and game installment.

Courses

Game	Course 1	Course 2	Course 3	Course 4
Mario Kart: Super Circuit	File:Luigi circuit icon.png Luigi Circuit	File:SkyGarden.png Sky Garden	File:CheepCheepIsland.png Cheep-Cheep Island	File:SunsetWilds.png Sunset Wilds
Mario Kart DS	File:ChocoIsland2ds.PNG SNES Choco Island 2	File:DSBansheeboardwalk.PNG N64 Banshee Boardwalk	File:SkyGardends.PNG GBA Sky Garden	File:YoshiCircuitDS.png GCN Yoshi Circuit
Mario Kart Wii	File:SNESMarioCircuit3-MKWii.png SNES Mario Circuit 3	DS Peach Gardens	File:DK Mountain.PNG GCN DK Mountain	N64 Bowser's Castle
Mario Kart 7	Wii Koopa Cape	GCN Dino Dino Jungle	DS Airship Fortress	SNES Rainbow Road
Mario Kart 8	DS Tick-Tock Clock	3DS Piranha Plant Slide	Wii Grumble Volcano	N64 Rainbow Road

Gallery

• MKDSlightcup.png

  Mario Kart DS

• MKwii lightcup.jpg

  Mario Kart Wii

• LightningcupMK7.png

  Mario Kart 7

• LightningCup MK8.jpg

  Mario Kart 8

• LightningLogo.jpg

  The Lightning Cup logo as seen in Mario Kart 8

Trivia

• In the Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart 7 manuals, the Lightning Cup is called the Thunder Cup.
• Sky Garden is the only course to appear in the same cup in two different games. This is due to the Lightning Cup being a nitro cup in Mario Kart: Super Circuit (where Sky Garden first appeared in) and a retro cup in Mario Kart DS (where it appeared as a retro course).
• The Mario Kart Wii's Lightning Cup Trophy uses a Thunder Cloud instead of Lightning.
• Mario Kart 7 is the only game where the Lightning Cup, as retro cup, didn't have at least one course from Mario Kart 64. In fact, it is the only Retro Cup yet that does not feature a single track from Mario Kart 64.
  • Likewise, Mario Kart 8 is the only game where the Lightning retro Cup didn't have at least one course from Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.
• Since Mario Kart DS:
  • The first race in the Lightning Cup is a second Star Cup course (except Mario Kart Wii);
  • The second race is a Special Cup course (except in Mario Kart 8);
  • The third race of this cup is from 2 games ago. Also since Mario Kart Wii, that race is always a final Star Cup course.