Mario Kart 8

High in the mountains, above a sea of mist, lies Thwomp Ruins, the ancient remains of a long-lost civilisation that is slowly being reclaimed by nature. There’s a sense of history and mystery to this track that few other courses in Mario Kart possess. Who knows what undiscovered precious artefacts might be hidden here? Of course, we’ll likely never find out because, instead of preserving the ruins for future generations, they were turned into a racetrack for Mario and his crew to zoom through with reckless abandon.

This is a more intricate, decision-based track than the others in the Mushroom Cup, featuring several small, sharp turns and branching paths. It’s a thrilling course that almost feels like a mini adventure in itself – it’s Mario Kart meets Indiana Jones. You’ll find yourself racing past a huge, gushing waterfall, through a temple courtyard, along cliffside roads, and into dim passageways illuminated by flaming torches. The ruins are mostly abandoned… except for the Thwomps that give them their name. Big, blocky, and more than happy to crush you or otherwise impede your progress, angry Thwomps are scattered around this track. And who could forget the giant Thwomp mouth that serves as a cave entrance?

Thwomps are huge blocks of animated stone that spend most of their time waiting, suspended in midair. When Mario passes below, they crash down with amazing speed. They are often used by Bowser as traps within his castles and fortresses, but can also be found in caves and mountains throughout the Mushroom Kingdom.

In Japanese folklore, several supernatural entities and spirits are referred to as yōkai (‘strange apparition’), and Thwomps may have been inspired by one of them – the nurikabe. Originally, this yōkai – which is said to have plagued Japanese travellers for centuries – was described as a living invisible wall that impeded or misdirected people at night, causing them to be late or get lost. Over time, however, the nurikabe (whose name translates to ‘plaster wall’, by the way) took on a corporeal form. In traditional depictions, it usually looks like a square-like behemoth, often with three eyes. Circumventing this rocky demon was generally a futile endeavour, as it could extend itself forever on either side. Only by hitting it in a specific spot could you pass and carry on your way. The earliest English description of a Thwomp called it a type of ‘stone ghost’, although a better translation of the original Japanese manual would be ‘stone spirit’ or ‘stone demon’ – either way, this ties the Thwomp quite closely to its (presumed) nurikabe influence.

There is another Mario enemy that was likely inspired by the nurikabe, called Whomps (right). These, too, are living rectangular stone slabs, though they are more mobile and anthropomorphised than Thwomps, with snaggletoothed faces, simple hands and arms, and stumpy, legless feet, allowing them to shuffle around. If they spot Mario, they will waddle over and try to crush him by falling flat on their faces on top of him. They can be defeated by ground-pounding a weak spot on their backs after they fall over.

While Thwomps more closely resemble the older, more traditional version of the nurikabe, Whomps resemble illustrations of this yōkai created by esteemed manga artist Mizuki Shigeru. Mizuki allegedly encountered a nurikabe while stationed in New Guinea during World War II. While walking alone through the jungle at night, he suddenly found himself unable to move forward or backwards. Seemingly walled in, Mizuki sat down and rested, and he was able to continue his progress after only a few minutes. The beast he claimed to have encountered is now a character in Mizuki Shigeru’s GeGeGe no Kitarō series, a long-running manga about the adventures of various folkloric creatures. This version of the nurikabe has entered Japanese popular culture, and there are now statues of them in various places around Japan.

The music for Thwomp Ruins is somewhat unique for Mario Kart; it is both upbeat and, at times, hauntingly mysterious, and it fits the track’s adventurous feel quite nicely. The liner notes in the Mario Kart 8 soundtrack say this about the music for this track: ‘This is a bit of a tricky number, with the rhythm written in triplets. We use [an Indonesian] gamelan instrumentation¹ along with metallic effects to add an ethnic feel. […] We added some thudding percussion here and there to give an image of a Thwomp shaking the ground.’

It’s fun to think about the history and purpose of Thwomp Ruins. Not only are there real Thwomps still dwelling here, but old Thwomp carvings can also be seen on some of the temple walls. Who built this place? And why did they revere Thwomps so much? Was this perhaps the place where Thwomps were initially created, by some now-forgotten civilisation?

With the Mushroom Cup now over, I’ll be looking at the tracks from the first retro cup next time, starting with the dairy farm-turned-racetrack that is Moo Moo Meadows.

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1. The gamelan is a traditional musical ensemble from Indonesia, particularly Java and Bali. It is the biggest collection of instrumentalists playing together outside the Western orchestral tradition. There may be as many as 30 or 40 players in a large gamelan, playing metal instruments such as gongs and metallophones. I know this because I have read Sir David Attenborough’s account of one of his early adventures in Indonesia, in which he was particularly enamoured by gamelan music. ↩︎