Bone-Dry Dunes

Bone-Dry Dunes (written as Bone Dry Dunes in the British English version) is the second race track of the Special Cup in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This course takes place on a desert and canyon place with shifting sand rivers and bones. Several ships ridden by Shy Guys and Toads sail through quicksand during the race, occasionally throwing out coins onto the track, similar to the train in.

Course layout
The course starts in an area with a small audience and tents. The road turns right before a sinuous section, and briefly splits into two paths (a ramp is placed between them). After a winding path, racers will find a wooden bridge which leads to a canyon filled with giant bones.

The road now is sandy, and begins with a right turn. The characters encounter a Bone Piranha Plant (which behaves just like a regular Piranha Plant, biting whoever is near). The following area has two distinct road options: the one to the left keeps the sand ground, and features several more Bone Piranha Plants; the one to the right is an anti-gravity section where characters race along a wall made up of ribs, featuring some spin boosters. Both end with a glider segment, which takes racers across the starting straightaway and into a cave, with the mouth being a giant skull and hands resembling Dry Bowser.

Entering the cave, there is a higher and a lower path to choose. The higher path is a narrow and rather short wooden catwalk, which is accessible via bouncing off a sand spout that may appear. Item Boxes can be found on this path. The lower one is the soil of the cave. Inside it, some Dry Bones wander around on the road. A left turn marks the exit of the cave right before the finish line.

Shortcuts

 * Players can use a Mushroom to use the ramp between the two paths near the start of the track.
 * To the left of the last curve, there is an opening between a line of bones which players can cut across via a Mushroom.

Mario Kart 8

 * Mario Kart Facebook page (United States): Pardon our dust! Race along rivers of sand and bone-filled canyons in Bone Dry Dunes in Mario Kart 8 for Wii U.

Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack liner notes
''We asked the guitarist to strum the strings in such a way as to create the atmosphere of a dry wind blowing across the desert. The violin and bass then combine to give a really emotional performance.''

References to the Super Mario franchise

 * The pots on the course depict enemies, scenery, and coins from Super Mario Bros..
 * In one piece of fabric found in tents near the finish line, the Angry Sun enemy from Super Mario Bros. 3 appears.
 * The staff ghost for this course being Morton may reference his role as the boss of the desert world in Super Mario games.