Airship Fortress

Airship Fortress
The course in Mario Kart 7.
Information
Cup(s)	Star Cup (MKDS) Lightning Cup (MK7)
First appearance	Mario Kart DS (2005)
Appearance(s)	Mario Kart DS Mario Kart 7 Mario Kart Tour
Map(s)	DS 7 Tour Overhead Mini-Map Mirror Mini-Map Regular Mirror TBA

Airship Fortress is the last track of the Star Cup in Mario Kart DS. This track makes a retro appearance in Mario Kart 7 as the third track of the Lightning Cup, and in Mario Kart Tour as of the Pirate Tour.

As its name implies, it takes place on a fortress with Bullet Bills (Banzai Bills in retro appearances) as obstacles, and a large airship with Rocky Wrenches and Flame Gears.

Layout

Mario Kart DS

At the beginning of the course, Bullet Bills are fired toward the racers along a straight brick driveway, and makes the character flip over and drop their item. The course only features one dash panel. Once you get on the ship's deck, you have to steer clear of Rocky Wrenches that pop up randomly for no reason other than to get hurt. The Rocky Wrenches can be KOed if you crash into them with a Star. Eventually, you'll get to be inside of the ship, where you have to dodge wooden boxes (if you hit these, then that is sad). Wooden boxes can be hit to see if they drop a Mushroom or a Banana, and they are just like the boxes in Delfino Square, but they don't always drop an item 100%. There are also columns of moving fire, so watch out for those. Eventually, you'll exit the ship to a cannon which launches the racers in a spiral tower. At the end, there is one side where it is open, and racers can be knocked off the edge and lose time. This course belongs to Bowser, and cannot be played on the game's online mode.

Mission Information

• 6-2: Wario must run over 15 Rocky Wrenches with stars.
• 7-7: Bowser must collect 12 coins while driving backwards. If he runs into a burner, he fails.

Mario Kart 7

Airship Fortress reappears in Mario Kart 7 as the third course of the Lightning Cup. The Bullet Bills have been changed to Banzai Bills and the ship's interior has been changed, and in the beginning of the track you can now drive on the ledge to avoid Banzai Bills. The cannon has now been replaced by a gliding pad and the player now must manually fly to the tower, meaning they remain vulnerable to many items that weren't able to attack the player mid-air in the DS version of the track.

Mario Kart Tour

Airship Fortress reappears in Mario Kart Tour as a retro track starting with the Pirate Tour. The interior of the main airship now has Shy Guys as spectators and is remodeled to be similar to a drinking bar. It is during the day now.

Time Trial data

Mario Kart DS

Staff Ghost

Course	Time	Player	Character	Kart
Airship Fortress	2:07:748	Ninten★シュン	Bowser	Hurricane

World Record

Course	Time	Player	Character	Kart
Airship Fortress	1:42:861 (video)	Beta	Dry Bones	ROB-BLS

Mario Kart 7

Staff Ghosts

Character	Time	Kart Combination
		Body	Tires	Glider
	Normal
	02:23.323
	Expert
	02:07.704

Trivia!

• This track is inspired by the Airship levels from Super Mario Bros. 3.
• Ironically, the Bullet Bill obstacles in this track move slower than the Bullet Bill Item.
• This is the first course in Mario Kart history whose name starts with a vowel, and one of seven courses to do so, the others being Electrodrome, Excitebike Arena, Ice Ice Outpost, Animal Crossing, Amsterdam Drift and Athens Dash.
  • The count could also add up to eight if you count the PAL name of Rock Rock Mountain (Alpine Pass).
• This is the only track with Bullet Bills/Banzai Bills as hazards.
• Airship Fortress only appeared in handheld Mario Kart games.

• This is the first track in the Mario Kart series when sorted in alphabetical order.

Gallery

Mario Kart DS

Bowser racing through the track.

Peach flying to the tower!

Waluigi at the section with the Flaming Burners.

Mario Kart 7

Bowser and Luigi racing at the first section of the track.

Metal Mario racing on the track.

Bowser racing on the track in First-person view.

Mario and Luigi entering the Cannon.

Mario Kart Tour

Track icon featuring Pirate Bowser Jr.!

Previous track: Mario Circuit	Current track: Airship Fortress	Next track: Wario Stadium

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