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{{trope}}
[[File:
The Desert. Hot, dry, dusty, and ''sandy''. Technically, the scientific definition of a "desert" is "a large, arid ecosystem that receives less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of precipitation per year". Thus, deserts can be rocky, cold, and even covered with perma-frost.
Still, as far as video games go, the ''best'' deserts are the type with sand. [[Rule of Cool| That's how it is.]]
The video game desert is a vast, hot and dry place, usually with [[Build Like an Egyptian|Egyptian-style pyramids]]. It can be a big part of games set in a [[Scavenger World]]. Thankfully, heat stroke and dehydration are usually not a problem.
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Some desert worlds have stages that take place in or on the Pyramids; others may include oil refineries as part of the stage or in the background. Cities and towns in this world are often [[Qurac|Arabian]] in appearance, even if the people do not quite fit the distinction. The music will also usually be Middle East inspired.
Enemies in this world usually include vultures, snakes, [[Scary Scorpions|scorpions]], [[Sand Worm|huge sandworms]], giant antlions at the bottom of sand traps and other [[Big Creepy
Provided you manage to enter the desert without having to accomplish some kind of [[Impassable Desert|quest]] beforehand, you'll have to deal with [[Quicksand Sucks]]. Also common are [[Sand Is Water|rivers and whirlpools of sand flowing into]] [[Bottomless Pits]]. Camel may be found around here, usually to ride. [[Aladdin (Disney film)|Watch out, they spit!]]. Flying carpets and dust devils are another common mode of travel. Be assured that you will going to a [[Temple of Doom]] at some point. The nongame varient is the [[Thirsty Desert]].
Named for the Desert world in ''[[
{{examples
* The desert in ''[[
* The Despair Desert in ''[[
* Desert Buttes of ''[[Backyard Sports|Backyard Baseball]]''. No quicksand, though, as it's a sports game.
* Gobi's Valley in ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]''.
* In ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'': Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, late in the game, one of the optional sidequests place the characters in a desert, where shifting to a new screen uses up one of your supplies of water. If you lose it all, you collapse and end up back at the entrance. Luckily, you are given several opportunities to stock up on water before entering and while in the desert through oasises; however, some of these oasises are mirages.
* ''[[
* ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' games each have a Huge Desert in them. The one in 3 is unique because you can only cross it by using the stars to navigate and walking during the day saps your health. It takes at least a week of game time to cross the desert.
* Reptilia in ''[[Bug
* This is the theme of two levels in ''[[
* Sandy Grave and the Forgotten City in ''[[Castlevania]]: Portrait of Ruin'' both start in the desert and lead into pyramids.
* Sand Zone from ''[[
* Fiery Sands, the third dungeon in ''[[Children of Mana]]'', is one of these
* Earth Dragon Island in ''[[
* Sand Ocean from [[F
* ''[[
* Aegis in ''[[Contact (
* Area 5 of ''[[Contra]] III: The Alien Wars'' is a top-down desert with 'shifting conveyor belt sand' and 'swirling spinning sand.' The boss of the level must be fought while on 'spinning conveyor-belt sand', forcing the player to turn at the same speed of the spinning sand in order to keep the boss's weak point at sight.
* ''[[Diablo]] II'', Act II is set in the desert surrounding the city of Lut Gholein in the region of Aranoch. Prince Jerhyn, ruler of the land, is dressed in white robes and a turban, and has (or had, rather) a harem living in his palace, which has a giant onion-shaped dome [[Qurac|typical of Mughal architecture]].
* ''[[
* The Noise Dunes of Fantasy in ''[[Eternal Sonata]]''.
* Pretty much every ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' game has a Huge Desert somewhere.
** The one in ''[[
** Bikanel Island in ''[[
** ''[[
*** The area around Bastok is also a badlands type area (described ingame as a desert), but doesn't fit the strict "endless sand dunes" definition.
** Pretty much the whole start of ''[[
** Final Fantasy VIII has the aptly named [
** The Lynari Desert in ''[[Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles]]'' is extremely large and requires purposefully sinking in quicksand in order to access the rest of the map. There are [[When Trees Attack|cactuar]], [[Snake People|lamia]], and scorpion enemies. In single player mode, the moogle companion is easily tired in the extreme heat of the desert.
* ''[[
** A second desert later on in the game isn't as hot, possibly because of all the sandstorms caused by dust-devil lizard monsters.
** The sequel has another desert, although there is no heatstroke mechanic there. Instead, there's a monster that digs through the sand that must be lured into a certain area with judicious use of the "Pound" spell.
* The first stage of ''[[Gradius]] III''.
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* ''[[Guild Wars]]'' has several: The Crystal Desert in ''Prophecies'' (including pyramid teleporters, sandworms and ghosts) and the Desolation in ''Nightfall'' which includes sandworms {{spoiler|that you can ride through a Pac-Man maze}}.
* [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place|Antagonistan]] in ''[[Heavy Weapon]]''. The boss is appropriately enough, a giant robotic [[Sand Worm]] that leaps out at your tank from under the sand.
* The Kar-Nyar Desert in ''[[The Horde (
* The Dunerys level in ''[[Hydorah]]'' comes complete with sandstorms, a [[Sand Worm]] like boss, and even a [[Temple of Doom]].
* The Deserts around Spargus City in ''[[Jak and Daxter|Jak 3]]''.
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** ''[[Space Quest]]'' has the planet Kerona, where you will die of thirst unless you drink the dehydrated water in your survival kit.
* The Great Sandsea in ''[[The Last Remnant]]''.
* ''[[
* Pretty much any ''Zelda'' game has one of these.
** Gerudo's Valley and the Haunted Wasteland in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
** The Lanayru region in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
* ''[[Little Big Adventure]]'''s Desert Island may not fully fit this trope, but it is still interesting, especially in the second game. Here we got: [[Qurac|Arabian]]-themed buildings, a camel, a wizard on a flying carpet, a [[Temple of Doom]]... and homicidal moving cacti (really).
* ''[[Magical Battle Arena]]'' has the Desert Planet stage taken from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''.
* Every ''[[
** ''Mario Kart 64'' has Kalimari Desert.
** ''Mario Kart Super Circuit'' has Yoshi Desert and Sunset Wilds.
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** ''Mario Kart Wii'' has Dry Dry Ruins, a desert-themed battle course called Thwomp Desert, and Desert Hills as a retro track.
** ''Mario Kart 7'' has Shy Guy Bazaar, and Kalimari Desert as a retro track.
* Several of these are to be found in the ''[[Mega Man (
** Pharaoh Man in ''4''.
** Flame Man from ''6'' takes place around in an [[Qurac|Arabian]] temple filled with oil.
** Overdrive Ostrich's stage in ''[[
** The first ''[[
*** Part 2 kicks off in a desert as well, and has you face off against a titanic Scorpion robot.
** ''[[Mega Man ZX]]'' features a desert as well.
* The first and second stages of ''[[Metal Slug]]'' 2 and X.
* Sector 3 - PYR in ''[[Metroid]] Fusion'' ([[Hailfire Peaks|also]] a [[Lethal Lava Land|lava level]]), and parts of Chozo Ruins (''[[Metroid Prime]]'') and Agon Wastes (''Prime 2: Echoes'').
* ''[[My Sims]]'' has a desert region, accessed by pickaxe.
* The Selenetic age in ''[[Myst]]'' is a desert island with a touch of [[Lethal Lava Land]] and a [[Rollercoaster Mine]].
* The Ruborian desert in ''Overlord''.
* The Dry Dry Desert in ''[[Paper Mario (
** The Gritzy Desert of ''[[
** And Yold Desert in ''[[
** The Dry Dry Desert makes a return in ''[[
** Teehee Valley in ''[[
* Motavia in ''[[Phantasy Star]] I'' and ''IV''.
* ''[[Pokémon]]'' has a few examples of this.
** ''[[
** Oh yes, and in ''Emerald'', there's the Mirage Tower that disappears into the sand once you get a fossil from it. Clearly a load-bearing fossil. Also, underneath the desert is the Desert Underpass where the other fossil that disappeared before in Mirage Tower becomes available.
** ''[[Pokémon Colosseum]]'' and ''[[Pokémon XD|XD: Gale of Darkness]]'' take place in Orre, which mostly IS a Shifting Sand Land.
** ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' have Resort Desert and Relic Castle, with the latter featuring quicksand you can fall through.
* Nearly all of ''[[Quest for Glory II]]: Trial by Fire''.
* The Planets Aridia and Tabora in the ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' series.
** Tabora is sort of a [[Hailfire Peaks|double dip]], as the caverns below the desert are filled with [[Lethal Lava Land|hot lava]].
* The Kharidian Desert in ''[[
* Most of ''[[Sands of Destruction]]'' (both the video game and the anime) takes place in a world like this.
* ''[[Secret of Mana]]'' has a massive desert in which, when you crashland in the wrong location, is an endless ocean of sand until you get picked up by an Airship. After that part you find the village and the desert becomes seemingly smaller. Odd that.
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* ''[[The Sims]] 2'' has Strangetown, which is located in the desert, although its actual Sims are mad-science/supernatural themed rather than Arabian.
** The Sims 3's first expansion pack, World Adventures, has Egypt as a travel destination.
* Nasr and the Temple of Pyrynn in ''[[
* [[Sonic the Hedgehog]]:
** Sandopolis Zone in ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles
** Hidden Base and Sand Ocean in ''[[
** And the first level of ''[[Sonic and The Secret Rings]]'', fitting for a game based on the [[
** Shamar in ''[[
** Sand Hill in ''[[
** Mirage Road in ''[[
** An obscure example - Yellow Desert in ''[[
** Dusty Desert in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006
* The second worlds of both ''[[Super Mario Bros
** And ''[[New Super Mario Bros
*** And ''[[New Super Mario Bros
** The sixth world of ''[[Super Mario Bros
** And, of course, our lovely [[Trope Namer]], ''Mario 64''.
** Birabuto (the first world) of ''[[
** ''[[
* Arabian Night from ''[[
* The main Mushroom'''y''' Kingdom in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl''. It's World 1-1 of the original ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', [[After the End|although looking a bit less lively]]...
* Similar to the ''Golden Sun'' example, ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' has a desert area where you have to find cacti that contain water for your party to fill their canteens with. When they run out of water, they start to take damage.
* A good 90% of the maps in ''[[
* [[Tomb Raider|Lara Croft]] has been to Egypt a couple of times. Averted, in that, when you are in Mexico in ''Underworld'' it is scruby and wooded, rather than being a stereotypical American desert.
* In keeping with the [[Wild West]] theme, practically all of ''[[Wild
** Sand rivers and ocean themed areas appear in most of the other games in the ''[[Wild
* The Wasteland levels in ''[[Video Game]]/Wonderboy'' and ''[[Adventure Island]]'', where [[Wizard Needs Food Badly|food]] [[Drought Level of Doom|is scarce]], unsurprisingly.
* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', the Silithus desert is home to sentient insects with quasi-Egyptian architectural tastes, and the Tanaris desert is just a massive box of sand with a few oases and troll ruins ''very'' loosely scattered around the map. Post-''Cataclysm'', Tanaris has become a popular vacation spot due to the dramatically increased size of the beach area.
** Desolace, Badlands, and Durotar verge on this with a bit more of a sense of wasteland than
** Introduced in Cataclysm is Uldum, which combines this trope with a culture clearly modeled on Egypt with a south-flowing Nile-analogue to boot.
* Shows up without fail in every ''[[Fire Emblem]]'', short of ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Fire Emblem: Thracia 776]]''. Tends to be [[That One Level]] as well due to reduced mobility for all units except for [[Squishy Wizard
* The second stage of Ice Cream Island in ''[[Kirby]]'s Adventure'' and its GBA remake is a desert island.
** ''Kirby's Dreamland 3'' gives us Sand Canyon as the third world.
** ''[[Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards
** Sky Sands from ''Kirby Air Ride'' is a desert track. And not to mention, Top Ride's Sand track.
** ''[[
** Raisin Ruins in ''[[
* The Sandsea in ''[[
* ''[[
** And [[Sand Worm|a giant hulking sandworm]] that can [[Nightmare Fuel|swallow you whole]]!
* The first Ark level in ''[[Halo 3]]'', and the Sandbox/Sandtrap multiplayer maps.
* The South Shrine from ''[[
* If you've never actually played ''[[Journey]]'' and only know it from, say, [[YouTube]] videos, you might think the whole game is this. Truthfully, it's only about half the game, yet it still arguably has far more [[Scenery Porn]] than any other desert in video games.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:The Ground Beneath Our Feet]]
[[Category:Video Game Settings]]
[[Category:Shifting Sand Land]]
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