Kalimari Desert

Kalimari Desert
The course in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Information
Cup(s)	Mushroom Cup Leaf Cup Turnip Cup
First appearance	Mario Kart 64 (1996)
Appearance(s)	Mario Kart 64 Mario Kart 7 Mario Kart Tour Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (DLC)
Map(s)	N64 7 Tour 8D Overhead Mini-Map Extra Mini-Map TBA TBA TBA

Kalimari Desert is the last track of the Mushroom Cup in Mario Kart 64. It takes place on a desert with a simple layout and a lack of gimmicks, and it's known for having a railroad where steam trains travel along.

Kalimari Desert makes a retro appearance in Mario Kart 7 as the first track in the Leaf Cup, in Mario Kart Tour as of the Tokyo Tour, which eventually received a second variation known as "Kalimari Desert 2", taking racers along the railroad tracks, and in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of Wave 2 of the Booster Course Pass, as the third track of the Turnip Cup, which combines the two variants that appear in Tour into one track.

Layout

Mario Kart 64

Yoshi at Kalimari Desert, with a Spiny Shell behind him.

Kalimari Desert takes place on an orange desert with a mesa in the middle of the track. It's a medium length track with a few hazards, especially two trains that drive on the rails clockwise, bowling over any racers are ram into them when they approach a crossing. There is also cacti spread throughout the course that cause spin-outs. As the track lacks barriers, it is possible to drive too far outside the main road, counting as out-of-bounds, requiring Lakitu to pick the player up. Racers can also traverse the rails.

Racers start to the right of the mesa. A very wide left u-turn takes racers to a straightaway that starts off with a railroad crossing, where the Train can pop up, sending racers high in the air if they ram into it. The track then bends to the right before a straightaway with another crossing. A very long left turn goes around the railroad crossing, before a straightaway where a tunnel in the rails can be seen. A sharp right chicane stands at the end of the straightaway, leading to the Finish Line.

Sets of Item Boxes appear three times: at the beginning before the first railroad crossing; again right before the second railroad crossing; and finally halfway after the second railroad crossing.

Mario Kart 7

Kalimari Desert as seen in Mario Kart 7.

Kalimari Desert reappears in Mario Kart 7 as the first track of the Leaf Cup. This track features some changes aside the updated graphics: the Trains now pull only three passenger cars as opposed to five, the main path now features brighter sand instead of darker sand, some shortcuts with Glide Panels at the end has been added, as well as a trick ramp near the end of the track. The tunnel is now considered out-of-bounds, and the lap skip glitch has been patched. Also, the Cacti act more like walls in this game and no longer spin racers out.

Mario Kart Tour

Kalimari Desert returns in Mario Kart Tour. It has a similar design to that of the 3DS version, in updated graphics. Also, the Trains are no longer harmful and instead racers can trick on them as well as being sent in the air when they touch one.

There is a second version (Kalimari Desert 2) where racers drive through the train track; see below.

Reverse, Trick, and Reverse-trick Variants

The reverse variant adds a glider ramp that racers can use to dodge the train at the first crossing, and the train travels in the opposite direction. In the trick variant, chain-link bridges have been installed to cross the railroad without hitting the train, though the glider shortcuts can still be used. In the reverse-trick variant, the course is now a figure-eight; after the first turn, the racers find a massive ramp that leads to a chain-link bridge, leading to what is the second half of the course in the standard variant being traversed forwards until just after the big turn; afterwards, they can find another bridge that they use to get to what the standard variant uses as the first half of the course, which they traverse backwards; no glider ramps appear.

Kalimari Desert 2

In this version, the track starts off as normal, but the first crossing has ramps to jump over. When racers approach the second crossing, a barrier forces them into the rails. A left u-turn and a straightaway leads to the second section, with the tunnel entrance converted into a Section Gate. The second section starts off with another left u-turn and a straightaway, before being forced out of the rails, sending racers to traverse the rest of the regular version. The train can pass through the barricade. Only the first glider shortcut remains from the original version.

Reverse, Trick, and Reverse-trick Variants

The reverse and reverse-trick variants have the train travel in the opposite direction and no glider ramps appear, and the former has the section gate moved to the northwestern exit of the tunnel rather than the southern exit. The trick variant moves the glider shortcut to where the second glider shortcut was in Kalimari Desert 1, and the racers are directed onto the tracks at the first crossing and leave there after going through the full loop after which they go over the second one. In the reverse-trick variant, the racers get onto the tracks via Chain-link Path and go around counter-clockwise as in the standard layout rather than clockwise.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Kalimari Desert also reappears in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the third track of the Turnip Cup. This track has hugely changed in design, while retaining features from the previous two appearances. This version combines the two versions from Mario Kart Tour together. The first lap takes racers through the regular layout, but the second diverts them to the rails via a titled Kanaami road ramp. As the racers approach the tunnel, the final lap begins, which is similar to the second section of Kalimari Desert 2, except that the sand path to the left of the rails is accessible. Unlike previous appearances, there is only one train as opposed to two.

Variants each lap takes from

Lap	Variant
1	Kalimari Desert 1
2 and 3	Kalimari Desert 2

Hazards

• The Trains (except 1T in Mario Kart Tour)

Shortcuts

• Whilst holding a Star, turn left to the rails at the second crossing. Avoid the train(s), and activate the Star right before the tunnel. Turn to the left when exiting the tunnel. ^{✱ for MK64}
• Use Mushrooms or a boost item to cut across the sand. ^{✱ for all games}
• There are two shortcuts that allows the player to glide over the railroad crossing, where they require Mushrooms or a boost item to take them effectively. ^{(for all games except MK64)}
• Near the end of the track there is an off-road ramp. Use Mushrooms or a boost item to take it effectively. ^{(for all games except MK64)}

Staff Ghosts

Mario Kart 7

Character	Time	Kart Combination
		Body	Tires	Glider
	Normal
	02:01.932
	Expert
	01:48.707

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Character	Recorder	Time	Vehicle Combination
			Body	Tires	Glider
150cc
	Nin★Pit	1:40.363
200cc
	Nin★Juliet	1:10.511

Gallery

Mario Kart 64

The icon for Kalimari Desert.

Mario Kart 7

Luigi racing on the track.

Shy Guy racing toward the railroad crossing.

Mario Kart Tour

Track icon featuring Morton!

Track icon for Kalimari Desert 2 featuring Dixie Kong!

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Track icon.

Trivia!

• The railroad crossing sounds were taken from real Japanese National Railway railroad crossings. In the MK7 version, however, the crossing sounds are American.
• They sound out of place in the North American version, as they use different electronic bells as well as mechanical bells.
• On Mario Kart 64, a bonus title screen that can be unlocked after finishing the game shows Yoshi, Peach, Luigi, Donkey Kong and Mario driving on Kalimari Desert.
• The engine on the train is No. 64 and is a 4-4-0 engine, which has a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement because No. 64 is also an American type steam locomotive. Locomotives of this wheel arrangement were used most common on American railroads during the 1800's and the 1830's until 1928 and were given the name "American" in 1872, because of how they did all the work on every railroad in the United States. These types of engines have eight wheels (four leading wheels, four driving wheels, and no trailing wheels).
• The locomotive lacked side rods in it's Mario Kart 64 appearance, despite having them in promotional images.
• Usually a steam locomotive's tender would have two four-wheel trucks, which would make for a total of eight wheels, except for the engine No. 64, that only has four wheels on its coal tender, like the Evergreen 504 engine in The Evergreen Express, The Sky's The Limit, and A Catered Affair, the three episodes of the TV series, The Raccoons, and the runaway engine from "The Good, The Bad, and the Tigger" episode from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
• The engine No. 64, with its four-wheeled coal tender, pulls five passenger cars, which are also known as coaches.
• Due to space limitations, in multiplayer mode on Mario Kart 64, the train's extra cars are absent in 3 and 4 playermode with them only being 1 in 2 player mode. In 2 player mode, there is only 1 extra car. In 2 player Grand Prix, the cars and tender are also absent.
• Nintendo Uk posted a tweet on June 3, 2016 saying "Good things come to those who wait. #MK8" and showing a picture of Kalimari Desert, which lead players into thinking the track would come to the game in the form of DLC. This did not happen, although it did eventually come to the Booster Course Pass in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
• This is one of two courses from Mario Kart 64 whose lap count is reduced in a later game (in this case Mario Kart 8's Booster Course Pass), the other being Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road. Both were three laps long, but the latter got reduced to one lap, while the former has one lap of the original layout with the second lap being considerably longer as the racers have to drive along the race tracks for a total of two laps; this also makes this course the first course to use both laps and sections.
• Kalimari Desert 2 could have been derived from the lap glitch from Mario Kart 64, as the glitch is triggered by driving through the tunnel in Mario Kart 64 while in Mario Kart Tour's Kalimari Desert 2, the racers have to go through the tunnel.
• Kalimari Desert is the first course to have sections of sand that count as out-of-bounds areas; this would continue in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'s Dry Dry Desert and Mario Kart DS's Desert Hills track.
• Kalimari Desert is one of two desert courses (four if the Choco Island tracks from Super Mario Kart are counted) that do not have Arabian-style or Egyptian-style music, the other being Sunset Wilds from Mario Kart: Super Circuit. Coincidentally, both tracks are brought back for the Booster Course Pass.
• The train's wheels are black instead of red on the Wii and Wii u virtual consoles of Mario Kart 64.

Previous track: Koopa Troopa Beach	Current track: Kalimari Desert	Next track: Toad's Turnpike

Previous track: DS Waluigi Pinball	1st reappearance: Mario Kart 7	Next track: DS DK Pass

Previous track: SNES Choco Island 2 N64 Choco Mountain	2nd reappearance: Mario Kart Tour N64 Kalimari Desert 2	Next track: DS Luigi's Mansion DS Airship Fortress

Previous track: SNES Mario Circuit 3	3rd reappearance: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe	Next track: DS Waluigi Pinball