N64 Kalimari Desert

Kalimari Desert (named Kara Kara Desert on a few occasions ) is a racecourse in the Mario Kart series. It is the fourth and final race of the Mushroom Cup in Mario Kart 64, the first race of the Leaf Cup in Mario Kart 7, and the third race of the Turnip Cup in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The course also appears in Mario Kart Tour, debuting in the Tokyo Tour.

The name of the course is a portmanteau of "," which is a real-life desert in Africa, and the word used for squid-based food, "." In Paper Mario, a train known as the K64 is based on the train in the course, and when riding on it, it plays a rearrangement of the course's theme.

Course layout
The race starts out next to a large cliff formation. Upon the first turn, racers see how empty the desert really is. At the end of the turn, the racers encounter the train for the first time. After passing the tracks, the players race alongside the track of the train (though it is in a cave and not visible), eventually running into it a second time. After this encounter, the racers race along the edge of the map and eventually advance back to the finish line.

If the player drives over the sand, their kart will move slower, and if they enter the darker portion of the sand, Lakitu will pull them out, as it is an out-of-bounds area.

The course's most notable feature is the two trains that go through a mesa. The trains constantly move around the track, often passing through the racers' path. Depending on what mode is being played, the trains may or may not have coaches attached to them: when playing in single-player, the trains each have a tender and passenger cars, whereas in two-player mode, the trains' lengths are halved, having a tender and only one passenger car each, and in three- or four-player mode, the trains consist only of the engine, with no tender or passenger cars present. If the player runs into one of them, they will be thrown in the air. CPU drivers will pull their brakes and stop at the railroad crossings when a train passes by. It is possible to drive on the train's track; however, this costs the racer time. It is possible, but very difficult, to cross the train track while the train is there by driving through the gap between the coaches. If a player travels through the train tunnel, they typically bypass the finish line, not moving on to the next lap as the other racers. However, if the player has a Star and activates it just before entering the tunnel, they move on to the next lap, effectively shortcutting ahead of the others. This trick only works during the first two laps.

Mario Kart 7
Kalimari Desert returns in Mario Kart 7 as the first course of the Leaf Cup. There are now two shortcut ramps near the end of the first corner and before the third corner of the track to accommodate the new gliding feature, allowing racers to glide over the trains. The players can also use mushrooms to gain easy access to these ramps. Several wooden ramps also litter the inside and outside of the track, and as always, can be tricked to gain a small boost. However, the train tunnel can no longer be entered because it is now an out-of-bounds area, making the lap glitch impossible in this game. The trains are also shorter: they have three wagons while they had five in the original version of the track, and they now seem to ride more slowly.

Much like in Mario Kart 64, two trains are present, but only one train is present when doing online multiplayer races.

Unlike in Mario Kart 64, the mini-map of this course does not show the path of the train track.

Mario Kart Tour
Kalimari Desert reappears in Mario Kart Tour starting in the Tokyo Tour. The course's starting line now features a wooden banner with the classic Mario Kart logo on it and a wooden wagon wheel resting along the right side of the post, rather than taking its appearance from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart 7. Since racers are always moving forward, colliding into the train causes them to launch over it unharmed while they perform a Jump Boost. The train can also be knocked into the air with a Super Horn, a Mega Mushroom or a Bowser's Shell. This course is a favorite of Ludwig, Morton, Hammer Bro, Yellow Toad (Pit Crew), Green Shy Guy, Peach (Explorer), Yoshi (Kangaroo), Luigi (Vacation), Daisy (Farmer), Cat Mario, Shy Guy (Pastry Chef), and Kamek. It can also be a favorite of Mario (Halloween) and Meowser if they reach level 3, and Waluigi and Lakitu (Party Time) if they reach level 6.

Kalimari Desert also has a Reversed variant, a Trick variant, and a Reversed/Trick variant, referred to as Kalimari Desert R, Kalimari Desert T, and Kalimari Desert R/T, respectively. The former two were introduced along with the normal variant in the Tokyo Tour, while the latter was introduced in the 2019 Holiday Tour.

Starting from the Wild West Tour, a rerouted version of this track known as Kalimari Desert 2 is featured. It has two sections: one that starts on the main route but switches to the railroad section at the second intersection, and the other that starts in the tunnel and goes back to the main route again at the second intersection, after which it continues on like normal.

For this course's tour appearances, see List of N64 Kalimari Desert tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Kalimari Desert reappears in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of Wave 2 of the Booster Course Pass. It is the third course of the Turnip Cup. It is based on its Mario Kart Tour design, but has been given a major graphical update. This time, Kalimari Desert combines both the original along with Kalimari Desert 2 from Mario Kart Tour into one track, with the layout changing between laps. The first lap takes the player around the main course, though arrow fields can be seen blocking off the path to the train tracks. When the second lap begins, the route will start following that of Kalimari Desert 2, where a large red ramp (similar to the ones seen in Kalimari Desert 2T) will appear at the second set of train tracks to divert the player onto the railroad. Like the arrow fields, the ramp is independent to each player in multiplayer, meaning that it will only appear for each player on their second lap, while it will be invisible to players that are on the first or third lap. The third lap will begin after the player enters the tunnel. After exiting the tunnel, the player can choose to either continue going on the train tracks or go back on the main route. Regardless, the two paths will meet at the second railroad crossing and finish the race as normal.

Like Kalimari Desert 2, there is only one train instead of two, though the train moves much faster and once again hurts racers who come in contact with it, like the versions prior to Tour. The fence on the left side of the train tracks has been removed, and the Glide Ramp after the first railroad crossing was moved up and is also closer to the track, presumably to accommodate Kalimari Desert 2's layout (as in Tour, the ramp is blocked off). Inside the tunnel, lights have been added onto the walls. The eagles seen in Shy Guy Falls now fly above the course. The music has been rearranged with more live instruments, as well as trumpets in place of the whistles in the original. The minimap again shows the glider ramp locations on it, as was the case in Mario Kart 7. Pipes have been added to the tops of some mesas.

Mario Kart 64

 * Instruction manual bio: The trick is to time it so that the steam locomotive that crosses the course won't block you. If the train is crossing in front of you, you should temporarily stop. It's very dangerous to enter the train tunnel, even if it is a shortcut...
 * Webpage bio: A desert race with frequent run-ins with a old-fashioned iron horse.

Mario Kart 64

 * Koopa Air (Signs)
 * Luigi's (Signs)
 * Mario Star (Signs)
 * Nintendo (Signs)
 * Shot! (Signs)
 * Yoshi (Signs)

Mario Kart 7

 * KoopaKart (Signs)
 * Luigi Raceway (Signs)
 * Nintendo (Signs)
 * Shoot! (Signs)
 * Super Mario (Signs)
 * Yoshi (Signs)

Mario Kart Tour / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

 * Mario Work Gear (Signs)
 * BaNaNa Boy (Signs)
 * Red Shell Strike Equipment (Signs)
 * Bullet Bill Speed Trial (Signs)
 * 1-Up Fuel (Signs)
 * Green Shell Taxi (Signs)

Trivia

 * Although the instruction manual implies that going through the train tunnel is a shortcut, it takes longer to go through the tunnel to the other end of the course than it does to go on the main road, although the manual might be referring to the above mentioned Super Star shortcut.
 * The railroad crossing sounds in Mario Kart 64 were taken from real Japanese National Railway railroad crossing signals with electronic bells. The Mario Kart 7 version has more appropriate American-style mechanical crossing bell sounds.
 * In Mario Kart 64, the railroad crossing signs' lettering appears to be mirrored. The signs in the Mario Kart 7 iteration are unlettered.