Wii Dry Dry Ruins

This article is about the Mario Kart Wii racetrack. For the ancient ruins in Paper Mario, see Dry Dry Ruins (Paper Mario).

Not to be confused with GCN Dry Dry Desert.

Dry Dry Ruins
Mario Kart Wii Mario Kart Tour
Information
Appears in	Mario Kart Wii (2008) Mario Kart Tour (2023)
Cup(s)	Special Cup
Tour(s)	Ninja Tour (2023) Pipe Tour
Online play	No longer available (Wii)
Music sample Normal Interior
Course map Mario Kart Wii Mario Kart Tour
Staff ghost(s) Wii Nin★Kei 2:30.949 Wii Expert Nin★Akito 2:14.286

Dry Dry Ruins is the first race course of the Special Cup in Mario Kart Wii. The course draws influences from both Dry Dry Desert from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Yoshi Desert from Mario Kart: Super Circuit, seen in things like the starting line being a solid arch for the former, and the reappearance of the Yoshi Sphinx from the latter.

Dry Dry Ruins reappears as a classic course in Mario Kart Tour starting from the 2023 Ninja Tour.

Mario Kart Wii

Course layout

The starting line with the Yoshi Sphinx

This course takes place in a desert with Egyptian-themed structures such as obelisks, temples and pyramids, and starts out under some ruins. Racers begin by taking a right turn where there is immediately a brief split path, as they must either go left or right around an area of sand and a pillar; both paths have a set of Item Boxes. Where the paths join there is another right turn, where racers encounter the first of several Pokeys. Each Pokey moves left and right across the track, and if racers hit one they will spin out. The right turn brings racers to a small oasis where they must use a somewhat broken bridge to cross a pond, with a second Pokey at the end of the bridge. Afterwards there is a sharp left turn, a second item set, and a sharp right turn. Racers then take a slight left turn into a wide straightaway where there are three pillars on alternating sides of the track. They fall onto the track in order, with the first one falling about 15 seconds into the race, and become lodged in the sand. If racers hit a pillar that is still falling they will flip over, but they can use fallen pillars as ramps to perform tricks. After this, the track narrows and racers enter the ruins as an alternate version of the course's music begins playing.

As soon as racers enter the ruins, the track narrows once more, and there is a brief straight with abyss on both sides and Swoops perpetually crossing the track perpendicular to it. There are then arrows decorating the walls indicating turns; some are flanked by artwork of Pokeys. The first of these is a turn to the right where racers must make use of the half-pipes on the sides of the track to cross a large area of sand without slowing down; atop the half-pipes on each side is another set of Item Boxes. This is quickly followed by a left turn where the half-pipes come to an end. Afterwards there are two more right turns followed by a very wide room. In the middle of this room is a circular area with two more Pokeys. Over time, this circular area will fill with sand, eventually preventing racers from crossing it without the use of speed items. At the other side of the room, racers go off a narrow ramp with two dash panels while encountering swarms of Swoops traveling in the same direction. Atop the dash panel ramp is one last item set as racers exit the ruins and the course's music returns to its default version.

Yoshi reaching the finish line

As racers land outside the ruins there is immediately another, much wider dash panel ramp followed by a left turn. One last right turn followed by a slight left turn then brings racers to the finish line. Throughout the rest of the race, the rest of the pillars along the track will fall and get lodged in the sand. One fallen pillar in particular allows racers to cut off the sharp right turn where the second item set is, at the cost of missing said item set.

When the player is playing as a Mii, the Yoshi heads on the sphinxes will be replaced by Mii heads. On the falling pillars, there are markings showing the respective emblems of (from up to down) Mario, Peach, Luigi, Daisy, Toad, and Yoshi.

Shortcuts

Yoshi approaches the off-road shortcut outside the temple, near the end of the course.

The first notable shortcut can be found at the right path at the start of the track. By releasing a mini turbo just before hitting the sand on the inside of the subsequent turn, the player can jump over the sand and cut off the turn. This also requires avoiding the large rock and pair of cacti found atop the sand.

The second notable shortcut can be found at the small oasis. By driving through the sand to the left of the pond, the player can cut off the following left turn. Initially this requires more than one Mushroom to perform, however a fallen pillar eventually allows for this shortcut to be performed with only one.

The third notable shortcut can be found inside the ruins at the half-pipe section. By going off the half-pipe on the left side of a track at a certain angle, the player can make use of a glitch and stick to the wall around the following turn, thus avoiding the area of sand altogether and cutting off the turn. Alternatively, the player can use a Mushroom to cut through the sand and avoid using the half-pipes altogether.

Lastly, at the very end of the track, there is a very large rock on the inside of the last right turn. The player can use a Mushroom to drive through the sand to the right of this rock and cut off the turn. Additionally, as the player reaches this shortcut, the track is at a steep enough upward slant that the player can use a Mushroom to gain enough height to reach a raised part of the course on the right side. By driving through the sand atop this area, the player can eventually cut off the entire portion between the starting line and the oasis, though this full shortcut requires at least three Mushrooms.

Tournaments

The first tournament of November 2009.

November 2009's first tournament required players to complete a GP race on a slightly modified version of Dry Dry Ruins: All Item Boxes only contain Mushroom items (Mushrooms, Triple Mushrooms, Golden Mushrooms, and Mega Mushrooms), and three additional Pokeys appear on the course; one is at the oasis to the left of the pond, and two are at the final right turn to the right of the large rock.

Mario Kart Tour

Dry Dry Ruins makes its classic course debut in Mario Kart Tour, starting from the 2023 Ninja Tour. This makes it the third Wii course to make its classic course debut in Mario Kart Tour, after DK Summit and Rainbow Road. It is also the first desert-themed course to be added to the game since GBA Sunset Wilds in the Sunset Tour sixty-two tours prior. The patch of offroad at the start has been made slightly larger. The subsequent turn right has been straightened out very slightly. The Item Boxes above the half-pipe after entering the ruins have been moved to the entrance. The statues beside the ruins entrance and exit and the Yoshi Sphinxes have been replaced by a singular one based on a Hammer Bro, derived from GCN Dry Dry Desert in Mario Kart 8. This sphinx was also moved to the beginning of the track. The other Yoshi iconography in the course has also been removed, with ones featuring Lakitu taking their place. The sand located before the half-pipe after the entrance is no longer present, and the sand was reshaped so that the half-pipes are no longer needed to avoid touching it. The minimap now reflects this sand. The hieroglyphs along the pillars and the Swoops in the entrance and exit of the ruins have been removed. The room in the ruins that fills with sand over time now has two piles of sand instead of four and can also be tricked off of. The sand also does not pile up as high. Starting from the Pipe Tour, an extra trick ramp was added to the entrance of the ruins before the half-pipes.

Dry Dry Ruins is the only course in this game from Mario Kart Wii to not appear in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It is also the only course in Mario Kart Tour to still reference the name of a cup from the standard Mario Kart format, as the signs reading Special Cup have been retained (albeit in different locations). Every other track in the game removes references to specific cups due to the game's character-based rotating cup format.

The course also appears as Dry Dry Ruins R (reversed), Dry Dry Ruins T (with ramps), and Dry Dry Ruins R/T (reversed with ramps). In the R variant, racers once again encounter Swoops when entering the ruins, and some of the Pokeys in the same area are taller and bend downwards like on GCN Dry Dry Desert in Mario Kart 8. In the T variant, there is a glide ramp shortly after the ruins' exit, and racers begin lap 2 by cutting off the first turn in a way that's quite similar to the three Mushroom shortcut found on the original version. In the R/T variant, racers once again use a glide ramp shortly after exiting the ruins.

Appearances

For this course's tour appearances, see List of Wii Dry Dry Ruins tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.

Top-tier and middle-tier items

Select "show" to reveal the drivers, karts, and gliders for which Wii Dry Dry Ruins and its variants are always favored or favorite courses. For instances in which additional drivers, karts, and gliders temporarily had this course and its variants as favored or favorite courses, see List of Wii Dry Dry Ruins tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.

Course	Three-item drivers	Bonus points ×2 karts	Combo bonus ×3 gliders	Two-item drivers	Bonus points ×1.5 karts	Combo bonus ×2 gliders
Normal variant					**	**
R variant						**
T variant				*****	***	**
R/T variant						******
* indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 3. ** indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 6. *** indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 8 for High-End items.

Bonus challenges

Time Trial
Icon	Course variant	Chosen driver	Chosen kart	Chosen glider	Grand Star scores	Tour appearances	Cup
	Regular	Monty Mole	Pipe Frame	Super Glider	2:00.00 1:50.00 1:40.00	Pipe Tour	Mii Cup

Profiles

Mario Kart Wii

• European website bio: As you race around these ancient ruins you'll have to avoid falling pillars and steer clear of the sand slowly filling up a ruined temple.

Gallery

Mario Kart Wii

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  The course banner

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  A preview of the course

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  The pillars at the start of the course

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  Crossing the bridge through the oasis

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  Entering the temple

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  Going out of the temple and the shortcut ahead

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  The downhill path, leading to the bridge

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  The temple entrance

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  The half-pipes

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  The room that gets filled up with sand

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  The room that gets filled up with sand, during the final lap

Mario Kart Tour

Course icons

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mario Kart Tour race course icons (Wii courses) § Dry Dry Ruins.

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  The course icon

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  The course icon of the R variant

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  The course icon of the T variant

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  The course icon of the R/T variant

Screenshots

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  View of the starting line

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  View of the Hammer Bros. Sphinx

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  View of the split path

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  View after the oasis

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  Extended view of the entrance to the ruins

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  View of the half-pipes inside the ruins

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  View of the room in the ruins that fills with sand

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  Another view of the room in the ruins that fills with sand

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  View after exiting the ruins

Additional names

Internal names

Game	File	Name	Meaning
Mario Kart Wii		desert_course	Desert course

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	カラカラいせき[?] Kara Kara Iseki	Dry Dry Ruins; shared with Parched Ruins from Mario Party 5
Chinese (simplified)	干旱遗迹[?] Gānhàn Yíjī	Dry Ruins
Chinese (traditional)	乾旱遺跡[?] Gānhàn Yíjī	Dry Ruins
French (NOA)	Ruines Sec-Sec[?]	Dry Dry Ruins
French (NOE)	Ruines Sec Sec[?]	Dry Dry Ruins
German	Staubtrockene Ruine[?]	Dust-Dry Ruins
Italian	Rovine desertiche[?]	Desert Ruins
Korean	메마른 유적[?] Memareun Yujeok	Dry Ruins
Portuguese	Ruínas Seco-seco[?]	Dry Dry Ruins
Spanish	Ruinas Seco-Seco[?]	Dry-Dry Ruins