Mine Cart
- "Mine Car" redirects here. For the minigame also referred to as "Mine Car" in Super Mario RPG, see Moleville Mountain.
- This article is about rail-bound freight cars. For the vehicles from the Mario Kart series, see Kart. For the Yoshi transformation from Yoshi's New Island, see Mine-Cart Yoshi.
| Mine Cart | |
|---|---|
 A Mine Cart from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze | |
| First appearance | The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! ("The Great Gold Coin Rush") (1989) |
| Latest appearance | Mario Kart Tour (Wario vs. Waluigi Tour) (2022) |
- “While riding a mine cart, you can jump or crouch to avoid obstacles. In some mine cart levels, Donkey Kong jumps separately from the mine cart. In these stages you must time your jumps so you can land back on the mine cart.”
- —Donkey Kong Country Returns manual
Mine Carts (also formatted as mine carts and Minecarts), also referred to as carts, in the Super Mario franchise are interactive vehicles that characters can ride in a roller-coaster fashion while avoiding any incoming obstacles, as well as sometimes being background elements.
History[edit]
Donkey Kong Country series[edit]
Donkey Kong Country[edit]
Mine Carts in Donkey Kong Country are made of metal, and are the main feature of two levels, Mine Cart Carnage and Mine Cart Madness. After jumping into a Mine Cart, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong lose control of the Mine Cart's speed and can only jump with it, having to cautiously dodge any obstacle, pit, or enemy along the way, including abandoned tipped Mine Carts. In Mine Cart Carnage, only one Mine Cart is ever used, with them carrying it with them when they jump. Due to the Mine Cart's weight, the jumps are lower and harder to control than normal. In Mine Cart Madness, the Kongs instead use several Mine Carts throughout the level, meaning that they leave the Mine Cart when they jump. As such, they must land back into the same Mine Cart or into the following Mine Cart at the start of the next railing, though the jump physics are normal and there are no track obstacles aside from pits. Both levels feature Krashes, a type of Kremling that rides a Mine Cart. In the former stage, they ride in the opposite direction of the Kongs to try to ram into them. In the latter stage, they sit motionlessly at the starting point of the rail during a few instances of jumping over pits to the next Mine Cart. By jumping on the Krash, the Kongs can hijack its Mine Cart and ride it.
According to designer Gregg Mayles, the Mine Cart levels were inspired by the minecart chase scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.[1] The tall, metallic design of the Mine Carts in this game reflect the ones in that movie.
Mine Carts are replaced by Roller Coasters in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Toboggans in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
Donkey Kong Country Returns / Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D[edit]
Mine Carts in Donkey Kong Country Returns are rideable vehicles in six levels: Crazy Cart, Rickety Rails, Grip 'n' Trip, Bombs Away, Prehistoric Path, and Roasting Rails, most of them being in the Cave world. A difference from before is that if Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are hit even once while riding in a Mine Cart, the vehicle is destroyed, and the Kongs lose a life immediately.
The Kongs ride inside the cart and jump with the cart in the levels Crazy Cart, Bombs Away, and Prehistoric Path. At the end of these levels, damaged rails throw the Kongs off the cart and onto the concluding platforms.
The levels Rickety Rails, Grip 'n' Trip, and Roasting Rails instead have the Kongs stand on top of the carts; such carts are indicated by being filled with blue crystals. As such, they jump off the carts. Sometimes they have to land back onto the cart, but other times they have to land on different carts or on nearby platforms. When jumping from these carts, the Kongs can be moved while airborne. As such, the player has to carefully move them back into a Mine Cart, otherwise they fall directly through the track rails and lose a life. (Holding forward keeps the Kongs in alignment with the cart, but activating Diddy's Barrel Jet reduces their speed and therefore unaligns them.)
Some Mine Carts are being ridden by Mole Miners and Skellirexes, serving as obstacles. Some levels have Mole Guards riding carts on different tracks that attack using explosives. Mine Carts with blue crystals cannot be ridden by the Kongs, since they bounce off of the crystals.
In the boss level of the Cave, The Mole Train, the train's Mine Carts are filled to the brim with bananas. Instead of being vehicles, these carts are normal moving platforms for the boss fight against Mole Miner Max and the other Mole Miners.
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, the game's Nintendo 3DS port, still has Mine Carts, In the new Cloud world, the level Mischievous Moles incorporates crystal filled Mine Carts, being split more half and half between cart riding and standard platforming. The player can purchase Crash Guards while in New Mode, enabling a Mine Cart to take additional hits before breaking.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze[edit]
Mine Carts in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and its Nintendo Switch port are rideable objects ported over from Donkey Kong Country Returns. They can now take up to two hits under normal circumstances, with a third being added with the use of a Crash Guard or in the Nintendo Switch port's Funky Mode. Hard Mode, however, reverts Mine Carts to their Returns incarnation, where taking damage even once will cost the player a life. More camera angles are utilized while riding a Mine Cart, such as a behind-the-back perspective, and unlike before, Mine Carts can be carried into Arrow Barrels. Mine Carts are used in the levels Trunk Twister, Sawmill Thrill, High Tide Ride, and Rocket Rails; unlike in Donkey Kong Country Returns, there are no levels where Donkey Kong jumps separately from the cart.
Club Nintendo[edit]
A lorry in the Club Nintendo comic "Mario's Picross" is found by Mario in a pyramid after he tries escaping from a Chomp Rock. Mario jumps into the lorry which immediately begin to move very quickly. Though he manages to escape from Chomp Rock, the rails reach a dead end eventually, causing Mario to crash through the pyramid's wall.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars[edit]
Trolleys (also referred to as mine cars or mine-cars in the remake) in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars appear in the Mole Mines, where partway through the mines, if Mario takes a lower path with tracks, he will be knocked back by a trolley ridden by a Shy Guy, who runs off leaving a Frog Coin behind after crashing. Another trolley appears in Moleville Mountain, where it is ridden on a track consisting of two parts: a "3D" maze-like course collecting speed-boosting mushrooms, and a "2D" portion collecting coins. The goal is to clear the mines in the fastest time possible.
Donkey Kong 64[edit]
Mine Carts in Donkey Kong 64 appear during the Mine Cart Ride challenges in Jungle Japes, Fungi Forest, and Creepy Castle, done by Diddy Kong, Chunky Kong, and Donkey Kong respectively. The main objective of each challenge is for the Kongs to collect 50 coins (or 25 in the final Creepy Castle challenge) while riding their Mine Cart for a Golden Banana reward at the end. If the Kong takes damage while in the Mine Cart, they lose some health and a few of their obtained coins. From the Mine Cart, they can also lean either left or right to activate a switch. Krashes from Donkey Kong Country return in the Mine Cart Ride challenges, retaining their role of riding Mine Carts. Mine Carts in the minigame Minecart Mayhem! have to be ridden by the Kongs around the different rail paths while making sure to not crash into a cart with a TNT Barrel.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga / Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga Bowser's Minions[edit]
Mine Carts in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and its Nintendo 3DS version are the focus of the minigame Mysterious Mine Carts, where the brothers split up trying to collecting red and green diamonds, all while avoiding obstacles.
Yoshi's Island series[edit]
Yoshi's Island DS[edit]
- “Tired of hoofing it? Then to hop in that cart and go for a ride! You can even jump in it when it's moving!”
- —Message Block, Yoshi's Island DS
Carts in Yoshi's Island DS are objects that Yoshis can enter in two levels: High-Speed Cart Race and Quit it Already, Tap-Tap!, and a Mine Cart rides the track on its own when entered. Yoshi can jump, but with the momentum of the cart he will always land back in it unless he lands on another platform. A cart in Spear Guys' Village Found! appears in a village hut, although is blocked off by walls.
Yoshi's New Island[edit]
- Main article: Mine-Cart Yoshi
A Mine Cart in Yoshi's New Island is the transformation that the Yoshi takes on by entering a Whirly Gate in certain levels; this form is controlled using the Nintendo 3DS's gyroscope, while pressing any button causes the Yoshi to jump.
Donkey Kong Barrel Blast[edit]
Minecarts in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast appear in the Scorching Canyon course, as environmental objects that characters can ride in.
Paper Mario series[edit]
Super Paper Mario[edit]
Minecarts in Super Paper Mario are present in Chapter 5-3 of the Floro Caverns and function similarly to rollercoasters. One of the minecarts requires the player to flip into 3-D while riding it to move on through the level. According to The InterNed, the music that plays during the minecart ride is "Truck GO".
Paper Mario: Sticker Star[edit]
Minecarts in Paper Mario: Sticker Star are treated like an amusement ride famous within Shy Guys. They appear in in Bowser's Snow Fort. These carts are red and have a Shy Guy face marked on the sides. Mario can again jump with them to avoid gaps and collect coins. Some scraps of the rails must be collected via Paperization. The music played while riding minecarts is entitled "Go Go Trolley!", and is a remix of Super Mario 64 theme "Slider".
Super Smash Bros. series[edit]
- SmashWiki article: Minecart (vehicle)
Minecarts in the Super Smash Bros. series have sometimes appeared, most commonly as interactable objects. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Minecarts appear in certain levels of The Subspace Emissary, and to activate it, one must jump into the Minecart, which has an arrow that indicates the direction it is moving. In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Minecarts from Kirby Super Star appear in The Great Cave Offensive, which also appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and the player can both ride in them as well as push them out of the way. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Steve uses a Minecart from Minecraft for his side special move, which can be used to move faster or trap players.
Mario Kart series[edit]
Mine Carts in the Mario Kart series (which spells them "minecarts") appear mainly in the Wario's Gold Mine course introduced in Mario Kart Wii and returning in Mario Kart 8 and its Nintendo Switch port. Minecarts can be seen going along the mine tracks, contain gold, and have Wario's emblem on the sides. In Mario Kart Wii, Minecarts function as obstacles in some parts of the course, and anyone who hits them will be knocked away. This would no longer be the case in the Mario Kart 8 iteration, since this game features minecarts hovering on anti-gravity rails, allowing players to perform Spin Boosts upon touching them.
Minecarts sometimes appear in the background of a course, and in such cases are not interactable objects. In Wario Shipyard from Mario Kart 7, also returning in Mario Kart Tour, some minecarts appear near the sunken ship. Minecarts in Mario Kart Arcade GP DX are rode by Mole Miners in the background of Bananan Labyrinth.
Minecarts in Mario Kart Tour have three karts designed after them, including the Clanky Kart, the Clackety Kart, and the Gold Clanky Kart, all based on the Mine Carts from Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker[edit]
Mine Carts in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and its ports function similarly as usual, but introduces a gameplay mechanic where players can throw turnips from one by aiming with the Wii U GamePad's gyroscope sensor. In the Nintendo Switch version, the player cannot use the gyroscope sensor to aim in TV or tabletop mode. During normal gameplay, this section disables the pointer interaction of the game in every version; however, using co-op mode with two Joy-Con allows Player 2 to interact with the environment on screen normally, and can still fire red turnips from the same place Player 1 can. This allows players to collect more coins that were not previously possible to collect in Mine Cart-based levels.
During the credits of Episode 1 and Episode 3, Captain Toad and Toadette ride a Mine Cart together as they return home from their adventures. The Mine Cart travels through many locales based on previous levels the player has played in either episode, before landing in either the Mushroom Kingdom or the Sand Kingdom (Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS only).
Mario Party 10[edit]
A Mine Cart in Mario Party 10 is a noninteractive object moving on a circular rail while carrying bananas on the eastern side of the Donkey Kong Board. It sports a similar design to the Mine Carts in Donkey Kong Country Returns.
Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge[edit]
Minecarts in Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge carry Mini Diddy Kong throughout his levels. They are spotted on small platforms, and the character can get a ride from a minecart if fallen inside. However, they cannot be controlled whatsoever, as they follow the paths they are currently preparing to roll on. It is best the player installs girder platforms above the pits encountered on the paths so that the minecarts can follow their ways undisturbed. They stop only after crashing into a ledge, and respawn on the same small platforms aforesaid. Minecarts borrow the appearance they had in the latter Donkey Kong Country games.
Minecraft[edit]
Minecarts in Minecraft have been retextured Mine Carts from Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker in the Super Mario Mash-up pack.
Yoshi's Crafted World[edit]
Mine-Carts in Yoshi's Crafted World are rideable objects that Yoshi can stand on top of to ride. Some Mine-Carts also contain springs on them. Mine-Carts appear in Mine-Cart Cave, where their main purpose is to be pushed into certain parts of the level in order to fill up gaps, defeat some enemies and allow Yoshi to jump up to higher areas. If a Mine-Cart reaches a dead end, it can no longer be pushed. While the Mine-Carts in the level have green wheels, a Mine-Cart with red wheels and a flag appears in the background as a craft, and another as a costume.
Profiles[edit]
Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge[edit]
- Electronic manual: "Can be ridden by a Mini Toy."
- Play Nintendo: "Your Mini can travel in safety and style with the Mine Cart. Just tap the red button to start the cart moving. Place Girders in the right spots to help guide the cart along the right path."[2]
Gallery[edit]
- For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Mine Cart.
Yoshi's Island DS sprite
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker artwork
LEGO Super Mario set
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | トロッコ[?] Torokko |
Truck, a general term for a trolley or cart in Japanese, from the English loanword「トラック」(torakku, truck) | |
| Chinese (simplified) | 采矿车[?] Cǎi Kuàng Chē |
Mine Cart | |
| 矿车[?] Kuàng Chē |
|||
| Chinese (traditional) | 採礦車[?] Cǎi Kuàng Chē |
Mine Cart | |
| 礦車[?] Kuàng Chē |
|||
| Dutch | mijnwagen[?] | mine cart | |
| French | Chariot de mine[3] | Mine Cart | |
| Wagonnet[?] | Cart | ||
| German | Wagen[?] | Cart | |
| Italian | Carrello[?] | Cart | |
| Carrello minerario/Carrello della miniera[?] | Mine cart | ||
| Vagoncino[4] | Little wagon | ||
| Korean | 광차[?] Gwangcha |
Mine Car | |
| Spanish | Vagoneta[?] | Cart | |
| Spanish (NOA) | Carro de mina[5] | Mine cart |
References[edit]
- ^ "I based the #DKC minecarts on the amazing scene from #TempleofDoom, but the simple, fast and exciting fun it ended up being could have been a far more complicated (and almost certainly worse) experience. The #DKCArchives #7 reveals the original design #WorldDonkeyKongDay #DKC25" – Gregg Mayles. Post by Gregg Mayles. X. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- ^ Nintendo (April 14, 2020). Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge Items. Play Nintendo. (Archived August 16, 2020, 21:52:14 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
- ^ Ensemble d'extension Course de chariot de mine de Diddy Kong 71425 | LEGO® Super Mario™. Boutique LEGO® officielle FR (French).
- ^ Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge Italian e-manual, section 9
- ^ Club Nintendo (Chile) La Jungla de Donkey Kong: Edición Especial. Page 45.
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- Trains
- Hazardous objects
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker objects
- Donkey Kong 64 objects
- Donkey Kong Barrel Blast
- Donkey Kong Country objects
- Donkey Kong Country Returns objects
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze objects
- LEGO Super Mario objects
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga objects
- Mario Kart Wii objects
- Mario Kart 8 objects
- Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge objects
- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars objects
- Super Paper Mario objects
- Super Smash Bros. series objects
- Yoshi's Island DS objects
