Dino Dino Jungle
- This article is about the race course from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! For its musical theme, see GCN DK Mountain (theme).
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Dino Dino Jungle is the second race course of the Special Cup in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. The course is located in a leafy prehistoric jungle with canyons, a lake, and many dinosaurs inhabiting the course. Obstacles in the course are Noshi, a large sauropod in the middle of a section of the track, and geysers that leap any vehicle running over one when active. Internally, it is listed as Diddy Kong's course, likely as a nod to the similar Dino Domain in Diddy Kong Racing.
Dino Dino Jungle reappears in Mario Kart 7 as the second race of the Lightning Cup, in Mario Kart Tour starting with the New York Tour, and in Mario Kart World as the third course of the Banana Cup. In Mario Kart World, a Battle course named after Dino Dino Jungle is present, existing between its racing counterpart and Faraway Oasis. It is the only course from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'s Special Cup to reappear in later games.
Mario Kart: Double Dash!![edit]
Course layout[edit]
The race starts in the jungle, with many Item Boxes and logs on the ground. Going over a log simply makes karts to leap, losing a bit of maneuverability though. The trip continues in a canyon where a Nossie stands in the center of the track, stomping the ground to crush or spin out anybody below it. Going around the huge reptile is safe, and passing a curly crystal cave, characters go through a dangerous bridge with three branches, easy for any racer to fall off into the water, and Lakitu picks up the player regardless which part of the bridge the player was. The bridge leads to a crystal cave infested by some geysers, that ends in the top of the canyon.
Players cross a coarse bridge to the other side of the canyon, while the dinosaur moves its head near the structure, which may cause the driver to spin and likely fall to the track below. Past the bridge, the track ends sending the racers back to the jungle on an uneven road filled with geysers, where the finish line awaits.
Located in the cave, it is possible to use a Mushroom to get to the other side a helpful shortcut to avoid geyser spouts. It is even possible to do it without a Mushroom, but is very difficult to perform.[2][3]
DK Mountain can be seen in the background of this course in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, visible from the bridge near the end. It is replaced with a generic volcano in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Tour.
Mario Kart 7[edit]
Dino Dino Jungle makes its classic course debut in Mario Kart 7 as the second course of the Lightning Cup. The tree logs, geyser holes, and the jumps can now be used to perform a trick to gain a small boost. All of the branches of the bridge now contain Item Boxes, and have been slightly widened. Inside the cavern, the mushroom-only shortcut now contains a Glide Ramp, though its width is now shorter so it is easier to fall off if the player is not careful enough when using mushrooms. After the cavern, there is a ramp also containing a Glide Ramp, and the head and neck of the Nossie can block the path of flight. The dinosaur also no longer spins the player out if they run into the head or legs. DK Mountain in the background is now replaced with a regular plain volcano, and the Nossies found in the river have been removed completely. Ramps were added to the ending section, which was also widened and reshaped compared to the original. Also, the course map has been rotated 90 degrees clockwise. In addition, players can now use a shortcut near the end of the track to glide over the fences to skip the last turn and the classic Mario Kart logo on the starting banner was changed to a generic one.
This version of the track also has a small out-of-bounds area that can be reached near the dinosaur at the bottom of the course. By boosting off the first tree log ramp at an upward angle facing slightly right of the coin the player will clear the invisible wall of the fence and hit the invisible wall of the background, landing beyond the fence and out-of-bounds. The area beyond the fence that can be explored is small, mainly containing either grass or logs that can be driven as they are not solid. This area can be exited by simply driving through the fence and back to the course.
Mario Kart Tour[edit]
Dino Dino Jungle is featured in Mario Kart Tour since the first tour, the New York Tour. The main version and the general layout of the course is based on the Mario Kart 7 version of the track, without the Dash Panels on the far right bridge after the first cave. Additionally, the Mario Kart logo above the starting line is now three-dimensional and lacks the black border. The water geysers can now be tricked off of while they erupt, as opposed to flipping the racers over in the previous versions. The Noshi's snout can now also be tricked off of while gliding.
The course also appears as Dino Dino Jungle R (reversed), Dino Dino Jungle T (with ramps), and Dino Dino Jungle R/T (reversed with ramps). The former two debuted alongside the regular variant in the New York Tour, while the latter debuted in the Valentine's Tour. In the R variant, there is a glide ramp right after the crystal cave, and the Noshi is at the end of the track. In the R/T variant, racers are forced onto the outermost path of the bridge with three branches and go over the crystal cave, and there are extra water geysers at the end of the track.
The course thumbnail for the R/T variant is slightly incorrect: in it, the jump before Noshi is depicted as a Glide Ramp, but when racing, it is actually a Dash Panel ramp.
Appearances[edit]
For this course's tour appearances, see List of GCN Dino Dino Jungle tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.
Top-tier and middle-tier items[edit]
Select "show" to reveal the drivers, karts, and gliders for which GCN Dino Dino Jungle 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 GCN Dino Dino Jungle tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.
