Wii Wario's Gold Mine

Wario's Gold Mine is the fourth and final course of the Flower Cup in Mario Kart Wii, and the first course of the Triforce Cup in Mario Kart 8. This course features steep declines and sharp turns and lends itself to the frantic, roller coaster game play of Wario Colosseum from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. Most of the track lacks siding, making it rather easy to fall off the track. Additionally, this course employs Boost Pads. Swoopers may slow down the players if they run into them. Inside the mine there are Minecarts which act as obstacles.

Description
This course takes place in an industrial mine, as seen by pipes with smoke coming out of them. The time of the day is at sunset, as seen in the background of this course. Outside the mine, there is no activity going on except for the process of the smoke of the pipes. The entrance of the mine is filled with Swoopers. They act like obstacles for players, simply just slowing them down, touching them does not cause the player to spin out.

Inside the mine, it is darker. Activity is going on with as mine carts are taking gold from one place to another endlessly. At the exit of the mine is the start of the course.

Course layout
The track first starts out with a very slight turn to the right. After the turn comes a boost panel that shoots players downhill at a speed to receive item boxes from below and back up. After that, there is a slight turn left. Players can see a half-pipe with item boxes on top of that. Past that to the right is a straight path to the beginning of the actual mine. In the tunnel to the mine, it is still relatively straight, except there are Swoopers to act as moving obstacles for players.

Warios Gold Mine Screenshot.jpg After the Swooper area is the inside of the mine. The player continues and turns right into another downhill road that goes uphill and into a ramp with a boost panel in it that launches the players to the other section of the mine. If players are careless in this area, they may fall into the darkness below when there are no guardrails to protect them. Mine carts are present, moving the same direction as the player. Any player who runs into the minecart flips and loses their item.

After this area is a turn to the right that leads the player into another dipping road that leads out of the gold mine. There is a small twisting path in the road, and if the player is careless, they could fall off. After the twist is a turn to the right at the finish line, where the lap restarts.

Shortcuts
There is one shortcut in this course. It is visible in the pre-course introduction. To use the shortcut, the player must follow the minecarts into a small tunnel with two dash panels. To exit the tunnel, they must follow it until the player reaches the exit of the cave, which in turn is the exit of the entire mine. At the exit is a Dash Panel Ramp, which the player can perform a trick on. If the player forgets to turn after landing, they may fall off the edge of the track.

Tournaments
In the first tournament of December 2008, players had to race against a giant Wiggler on this course. Only Triple Mushrooms and Stars would appear in Item Boxes. The tournament was later repeated as September 2010's second tournament.

Mario Kart 8
Wario's Gold Mine reappears as a retro track included with The Legend of Zelda × Mario Kart 8 downloadable content in Mario Kart 8 as the first course in the Triforce Cup. The track remains set at dusk and coins can now be found underneath the newly designed track banner. Inside the mine shaft there are anti-gravity tracks and the mine carts have changed shapes. The second dip inside the mine shaft has been removed, and an anti-gravity section takes its place. Additionally, the mine carts now function as spin boosts. The inside variation of the music has been removed, but Shy Guys can be seen and heard singing when entering the mine, like in Shy Guy Falls. The half-pipes have been removed, but in the place of the one after the slope is a shortcut with a Boost Pad at the end. The Boost Pad at the large slope towards the beginning is now not visible from the other side of the planks, although it is still there.

Official descriptions

 * Sites
 * Flag of USA.png "A punishing roller coaster ride with few guard rails to keep you on course after plentiful boost opportunities."
 * Flag of Europe.png "This roller coaster ride on a rickety, wooden track will test your steering skills to their limits as you try to avoid taking the long drop off the edge - not easy with huge mine carts and a colony of bats around the corner."
 * Trading Card'
 * "''Quite an operation Wario has here. It looks really dangerous, too. But that just makes for better racing action! Watch out for gold-filled mine carts on the tracks-you don't want to run into them. You also don't want to fall off the edge of the track...and there are plenty of opportunities for that to happen.

Trivia

 * Playing as a Mii will change Wario's face to a random Mii in the mine, right between the passageway to leave. However, this does not happen in Mario Kart 8.
 * This is the only retro track in The Legend of Zelda × Mario Kart 8 DLC pack that has not yet already appeared at least once as a retro track.
 * In the Wii version of this course, the pictures of Wario on the banners are his artwork from Super Mario 64 DS.
 * In Mario Kart 8, the pictures on the banners are changed to Wario's artwork from Mario Party 8.
 * A remix of this course's music appears as one of the selectable songs in Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.