Half-pipe (object)

This article is about the Mario Kart object. For the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Event, see Halfpipe.

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 the Mario Kart series, first appearing in Mario Kart Wii. It allows players to jump off the side of a course and perform a Jump Boost 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 the half-pipes' former North American name, they have only 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. Half-pipes may sometimes cause the player to be sent backwards.

History

Mario Kart Wii

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

Half-pipes are introduced in Mario Kart Wii, in which they are known in North America as halfpipe-style boost ramps. They appear in the new courses DK Summit, Wario's Gold Mine, Koopa Cape, Maple Treeway, Dry Dry Ruins, Bowser's Castle, and Rainbow Road, as well as the retro courses GCN Waluigi Stadium and GCN DK Mountain. They also appear in the battle courses Funky Stadium and Chain Chomp Wheel. When a player jumps off of one of these ramps, it is possible to perform a trick to receive a longer speed boost. The trick performed is the same one that is performed when the player jumps off a Dash Panel.

Mario Kart Tour

Larry performing a Jump Boost off a half-pipe on Wii Maple Treeway in Mario Kart Tour

After being absent 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, Wii Koopa Cape, N64 Yoshi Valley, and GCN DK Mountain. In this game, their mechanics are slightly altered in that the Jump Boost is automatically performed as soon as the vertical jump starts, but if the jump is high enough, a second trick, named a special trick, is performed. When this happens, the speed boost received upon landing is longer.

A different type of half-pipe, known as a super half-pipe, is introduced in this game and appears only in Merry Mountain. It visually differs from a regular half-pipe with its magenta color. Compared to a regular half-pipe, a super half-pipe leads to a longer boost upon landing without the need of a special trick, which cannot be performed when a player jumps from a super half-pipe. The super half-pipe also has a unique sound effect.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, half-pipes appear exclusively in courses added in the Booster Course Pass DLC. They appear on Merry Mountain (replacing the super half-pipe present in the Mario Kart Tour version of the course) and Wii Maple Treeway, in the same positions as in the previous versions of these courses. In this game, half-pipes are represented as Antigravity Panels, as they very briefly enable anti-gravity before going back to normal as the player lands.

Gallery

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  The half-pipe in DK Summit in Mario Kart Wii

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  The super half-pipe of Merry Mountain in Mario Kart Tour

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  Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Trivia

Technically, when there is only one side, the ramp is known as a quarter-pipe. A true "half-pipe" would be two ramps on opposite sides of the racetrack, like on DK Summit.

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 Super rampa a U	Half-pipe; lit. "U shaped ramp" Super half-pipe
Korean	하프파이프 Hapeupaipeu	Half-pipe
Portuguese	Rampa em U	U-ramp
Spanish	Rampa en U	U-ramp