Half-pipe (object)

A half-pipe in Mario Kart Tour.

A half-pipe (also known as a halfpipe-style boost ramp) is a structure signaled by vertical dash panels (also known as half-pipe boost pads) that appears in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart Tour. It allows players to jump off of the side of a course and perform a Trick to gain a speed boost upon landing. Its panels are cyan, blue and purple with scrolling white arrows on them and stripes across them, resembling those of a Glide Ramp, and despite their former North American name, they only have a signaling function, not giving any speed boost when touched. Said speed boost rather happens when the player lands after the jump, regardless of whether the vehicle landed on the half-pipe or not.

History

Mario Kart Wii

A half-pipe in GCN Waluigi Stadium in Mario Kart Wii.

Half-pipes are introduced in Mario Kart Wii, known in North America as halfpipe-style boost ramps. The ramps appear in both nitro courses, such as Dry Dry Ruins and DK Summit, and some updated retro courses, like GCN Waluigi Stadium and GCN DK Mountain. These ramps are also included in the battle stages Funky Stadium and Chain Chomp Wheel. When jumping, it's possible to perform a trick to receive a longer speed boost, the trick performed is the same one that is performed when jumping off a dash panel.

Mario Kart Tour

Larry tricking off a half-pipe in Mario Kart Tour.

After being removed from Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8, half-pipes return in Mario Kart Tour, first appearing on Wii Maple Treeway and later appearing on Wii DK Summit. In this game, their mechanics are slightly altered, in that the trick is automatically performed as soon as the vertical jump starts, but if the jump is high enough, a second trick, named special trick, is performed. When this happens, the speed boost received upon landing is longer.

The super half-pipe of Merry Mountain.

A different type of half-pipe, known as a super half-pipe, is introduced on Merry Mountain, which differs from a normal half-pipe because of its magenta color. It leads to a longer boost upon landing without the need of a special trick, which cannot be performed when jumping from a super half-pipe. The super half-pipe also has a unique sound effect.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ハーフパイプ Hāfupaipu	Half-pipe
Chinese	U池技巧 U Chí Jìqiǎo	U Pool Skills
German	Halfpipe	Half-pipe
Italian	Rampa a U	U-ramp
Korean	하프파이프 Hapeupaipeu	Half-pipe
Portuguese	Rampa em U	U-ramp
Spanish	Rampa en U	U-ramp