Wii Dry Dry Ruins

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.

Course layout
This course takes place in a desert with Egyptian-themed structures such as obelisks, temples and pyramids, and starts out under some ruins. After a left curve, there is a branching path. The right route is quicker, but the player can also go to the left route, which has a pillar that falls down at a certain point. After passing by some more pillars and a Pokey, the player reaches a narrow bridge over an oasis with another Pokey at the end of the road. There is a left turn past the Pokey, which has two pillars that fall down, again after a certain time passes. The player can then go right into a straight road with three more pillars that usually fall down when the player gets there. The road leads to the entrance of the ruins.

The first part of the ruins is a road that cuts through a dark abyss with Swoops that act as obstacles. There are arrows decorating the walls indicating turns; some are flanked by artwork of Pokeys. After the straight road is a right turn, and half-pipes are located on the sides of the area, which can help the player to pass through the sand on the straight road (as it acts as off-road). After this is a 90-degree left turn which leads into a short and straight path, after which comes another 90-degree right turn into a straight path. After a 90 degree turn, the player enters a large room, which features Pokeys and sand falling from the ceiling. The sand accumulates over time - there are some large sand piles in the center on the second lap, but during the last lap, the center will be mostly covered with sand.

After this room, there is a ramp with Dash Panels and Swoops. Another ramp with a Dash Panel is present, and after a twist to the left and then to the right, the player will reach the finish line.

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

 * 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 earn them an Item Box.
 * Before the bridge, if players go to the left, where the oasis is, there is a section of sand where they can cut off track; however, a Mushroom, Star, or Mega Mushroom is needed to do this. During the third lap, a pillar will fall down and act as a ramp to trick off of.
 * A glitch shortcut can be performed with the half-pipe in the temple. By going off the half-pipe on the wall directly opposite the temple entrance, it is possible to stick to the wall around the corner, skipping the turn and therefore not having to go through the sand on the floor.
 * 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. In addition, it is possible to get a high enough angle from the start of the shortcut to reach a raised part of the track on the right to cut the first turn and end up at the bridge on the oasis, though three Mushrooms, Golden Mushroom or a Star is required to do this.
 * 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.
 * If the player takes the right path at the start, they can release a Mini-Turbo just before they hit the sand and then jump to clear all of it. This can be done without a Mushroom.

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.

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 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, although the latter is retained in the R variant of the course. 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 currently 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, Swoops are added to the ruins section and some of the Pokeys in the same area are taller and bend downwards like on in Mario Kart 8. In the T variant, a Glide Ramp is added to the exit of the ruins, forcing players onto a set of Kanaami Roads above the starting line that lead immediately to the oasis section. In addition, several of the Falling Pillars at the beginning of the course can be seen falling during the countdown. In the R/T variant, a Glide Ramp is added close to the exit of the ruins (or what would be the entrance of the ruins in the normal and T variants), allowing players to glide over the oasis section.

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

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.

Names in other languages
Staubtrockene Ruinen Rovine desertiche