Wii Dry Dry Ruins

Dry Dry Ruins is the first racecourse of the Special Cup in Mario Kart Wii, based on an area of the same name from Paper Mario. The course contains certain resemblances to the Dry Dry Desert racecourse from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Yoshi Desert course from Mario Kart: Super Circuit, which are the starting line being a solid arch, and the Yoshi sphinx seen in the background, respectively.

Description
This course takes place in the desert, under a midday sun. An oasis is found near the start of the course, with several trees and some water. Another part of the course is the ruins, which has Swoopers, Pokeys, and some falling sand in it. Cacti and some more Pokeys are on the outer places on the course and coming on contact with the them will spin the player out of the course.

The course has Egyptian-themed structures such as obelisks, temples and pyramids. These descriptions similarly matches the structures as seen in the Birabuto Kingdom of Sarasaland from Super Mario Land.

Course layout
The course starts out under some ruins, very similar to the aforementioned Mario Kart Double Dash!! course. There is a left curve. The player can take a right turn at the pillar and save time, but the player also has the option of going to the left of the pillar, which will fall down from time to time. A Pokey acts as an obstacle after several more pillars and it will slow down the player and spin them out if the player makes contact with it. After the Pokey is a narrow road through the oasis and another Pokey at the end of the road. There is a left turn past the Pokey, which has two pillars which will fall down from time to time as well. There is a right curve which leads into a straight road with three more pillars from there to the entrance of the ruins. The pillars usually start falling as soon as the player gets there. If the pillar happens to fall on the player, the player will flip over and lose their items. Then, the fallen pillar is available for usage as a ramp for performing a trick to gain speed.

After the pillars is the entrance to the ruins. The first part of the ruins is a road that cuts through a dark abyss, with Swoopers flying across to slow the player down. After the straight road is a right turn, with a half-pipe to help the player go through the sand that is gathering in this straight road. After the half-pipes is a 90 degree left turn which leads into another short and straight path, after which comes a 90 degree right turn into another straight path. Another 90 degree turn is present and it leads to a large room, with a center filled with Pokeys and sand coming from the ceiling. In the first lap, the player may navigate directly through the center of this room; in the second lap, it has some big sand piles; but in the last lap, it will be almost completely covered with sand, forcing the player to go around the sand covered areas.

The next thing after this room is a ramp with boost panels and Swoopers flying out. The Swoopers can lead the players into the extreme right or left, which will cause the player to go off course and stop on the spot, similar to falling off. Another ramp with a single boost pad is present and after that is a twist to the left and then to the right. After the twist is the starting line, which will start the course again.

Shortcuts
Although very small, there is a shortcut in Dry Dry Ruins. After getting a Rocket Start, players should drive forward on the right side until the road starts to curve to the right. If they take the first passage to the right, it will save them some time and get them an Item Box.

Before the bridge, if players go to the left, where the oasis is, there is a piece of sand where they can cut offtrack; however, a Mushroom, Star, or Mega Mushroom is needed to do this.

At the very end, there is a twist to the left and right around a cactus and a patch of sand. Players can cut across this patch with some sort of speed boost, or a high off-road stat vehicle, to save a few seconds.

On the third lap before the Ruins' exit, the center of the last room may be filled with sand and players can use a Mushroom to pass over it in a straight line.

Tournaments
The November 2009 tournament 1 took place in Dry Dry Ruins. It was a VS Race, in which all Item Boxes contained Mushroom items; Mushrooms, Triple Mushrooms, Golden Mushrooms, and Mega Mushrooms. Also, some Pokeys were added on some of the usable shortcuts.

Official descriptions

 * Official European descriptions: "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."

Trivia

 * At a certain point in the course after the oasis, there is a shadow that looks like Mario's silhouette on the ground.
 * Before the part with the sand and half pipes there is a arrow sign that has pictures of a Pokey on it.
 * On the falling pillars, there are markings showing the kart logos for Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, and Toad.
 * While playing as a Mii, the Yoshi Sphinxes will have Mii faces just like in Koopa Cape.
 * Daisy was planned to be the Time Trials ghost for Dry Dry Ruins but was soon replaced by Yoshi and put as a ghost for Coconut Mall in the final version of the game.