Nintendo DS Wiki:Dry Bones

Dry Bones is a skeletal counterpart of Koopa Troopa that appears in a few Mario titles for the Nintendo DS. Dry Bones first appear in the Nintendo Entertainment System title Super Mario Bros. 3, and their first appearance in a Nintendo DS title is Super Princess Peach.

Super Princess Peach
Dry Bones appear as enemies in Super Princess Peach. They only appear in Shriek Mansion and Bowser's Villa. They are able to throw bones at Princess Peach, and the bones can be blocked by a swipe from Perry. If a Dry Bones itself is hit or jumped on, it crumbles and revives itself in about three seconds, which is relatively fast compared to previous games. Dry Bones can be defeated permanently with the Joy vibe's cyclone or the Rage vibe. This is the first game to depict Dry Bones with their modern appearance.

This game also introduces a variant known as the Sad Dry Bones, which weeps openly whenever it is seen. Like normal Dry Bones, they are able to throw bones at the Princess, except that these bones are much faster and more difficult to avoid.

Mario Kart DS
In Mario Kart DS, Dry Bones makes his debut appearance in the Mario Kart franchise. Dry Bones is an unlockable playable character, unlocked by winning every Nitro Cup (i.e. the Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, Star Cup, and Special Cup) in the 50cc Grand Prix; this is the first time where Dry Bones is playable on a Nintendo DS game, let alone handheld game consoles in general. Dry Bones's personal karts are the Standard DB, the Banisher, and the Dry Bomber. These karts have the best handling and acceleration stats in the game, but are middling in weight and speed. Dry Bones can also use any other kart in the game when certain criteria are met. Dry Bones is the staff data used on Donut Plains 1 and has a time of 1:08:027 in the Dry Bomber. He is also the staff data on Banshee Boardwalk and has a time of 2:14:403 in the Dry Bomber. His weight class in this game is light, like with Peach, Yoshi, Toad, and Shy Guy, though is lighter than all of them. His emblem is the side of his skull.

New Super Mario Bros.
Dry Bones are common in the various Towers and Castles of New Super Mario Bros.. Much like previous platformers, when Dry Bones are jumped on, they briefly crumble; in New Super Mario Bros., their head detaches and bounces away. Once they collapse, the Dry Bones soon revitalize themselves by reattaching their heads. If the head falls into a pit or lava, it takes longer for it to reanimate itself. If their bodies are destroyed while crumbled, the head will remain for some time before eventually despawning - if they were in the process of rebuilding themselves, the head will freeze in place momentarily. Finally, as in the previous platformers, they are immune to fireballs.

A new variant, Super Dry Bones, is also introduced. Similarly to their smaller cousins, they can be found only in various castles and fortresses. It takes a Ground Pound to crumble them briefly, and they revive themselves as quickly as the normal Dry Bones do. Both types of Dry Bones can be entirely defeated by a Mega Mushroom, a Starman, or a Blue Shell. Super Dry Bones cannot take any damage from Mini Mario. Also, Dry Bowser, a skeletal counterpart of Bowser inspired by Dry Bones, makes his debut in this game.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3
In Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Dry Bones do not physically appear, although the backboard of a basketball hoop in the Pirate Ship stage is designed after a Dry Bones's head.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
In the Nintendo DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, a Dry Bones is located at Icepeak, and is competed against as a rival in Curling. Dry Bones does not allow the characters to progress further into Icepeak unless they win against him in Curling.