Mario Kart Items: How Have They Evolved? 

Thanks to Milanote for sponsoring this video! Sign up for free and start your next creative project: milanote.com/designdoc0723

I always disliked the change to the fake item boxes. They should blend in with the existing item boxes, not be obviously fake

I will forever defend the Blue Shell. It's annoying when you're in first, but catch up mechanics are vital to a fun kart racer. Making it so you can dodge it balances it enough that it managers to serve as the great equalizer it was meant to be.

One thing that I noticed as a kid was that the blue shell from 64 had two purposes. The first is obviously homing into first place. The second function is quite unique. If you hold it behind you instead of launching it, it'll actually act like an infinite shell. No matter how many items hit it, the blue shell won't disappear.

39:00 Oddly enough, the Blooper actually gets a noticeable buff in 2-Player local. Because the split screen is vertical rather than horizontal, the ink ends up covering closer to 75% of the screen which makes it much easier to run into shells or bananas. Still not great, but a step in the right direction imo.

Something you neglected to mention about Mario Kart 8 and 8DX is the significantly longer post-hit invincibility. This makes it much harder to get comboed by opponents. This also led to one of my best item plays ever. A common strategy in MK8 frontrunning is running into a banana or obstacle if you see a Blue Shell coming your way. One time when I was frontrunning in single player on GCN Sherbet Land, I was frontrunning and had lap 2 almost complete when I spotted a Blue Shell on the map. With a Banana Peel in my inventory, I strategically threw the peel at the starting line banner, which bounced off and hit me allowing me to tank the Blue Shell.

I think it's kinda funny that the thundercloud was SO bad it is replaced in most modern MKWii modpacks, where instead of shrinking you, you get a mega mushroom

This may be a hot take but I think MKWii's POW block is a very solid item because it forces your opponents to really think about their next move as the POW block appears on their screen and they have like 2 seconds to react. They may go out of their way to go off a ramp and be safe in the air, or they may purposely slow down at a turn to avoid crashing into a wall, meaning that they will have to accelerate back up. It's a nice way to give a weaker lightning to players in the middle of the pack

personally i'd love to see peach/daisy's double dash special come back: the protection hearts, i think it's well balanced between protecting you and then gives you two more items to play with once you hit them

I'd like to see the Bowser Shell (and maybe giant items in general) return as an alternative to triple items. Pretty fun using a big item that's more likely to hit something.

I‘m pretty sure when you drop a Red Shell behind you in Super Circuit, it stays put in place and homes onto the next driver that drives closely past it

Really, whoever's idea it was to let you hold the items behind you deserves all the raises. It gives so many items much more depth.

I think the main discourse on Blue Shells stems from the fact that in the earlier games, there were skill based ways to dodge one without an item. In DS, you can time a drift release to the apex of the Blue Shell’s circle animation to just barely skirt past it, but that’s really hard to do and nearly impossible to figure out for most casual players.

The thing about 7 for me is that it's a perfectly good game that has absolutely no unique identity of its own, and where everything unique it does (Lucky 7 and underwater driving, I think?) are also in 8, meaning it's very difficult for it to be anyone's favourite Mario Kart. ...It's also the first time I actually purchased Mario Kart rather than occasionally playing it at a friend's place, so it has a bit of a special bit of nostalgia for me.

Items in Mario kart always feel great and understandable because of their association with their original counterparts. Compared to most other kart racers where the items are just generic rockets and such, which don't have much personality

It feels like the joke about item Boo and King Boo falls flat when the king always has subordinate Boos around.

39:03 The Blooper always had that effect of making the CPU skid around since DS, it's just the original Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U didn't have this effect so it's infinitely less useful there

Seeing how items have changed over the years got me thinking: how is the 1up mushroom not in the series yet?! They can make it a defensive item that can take one hit for you, but isn't immune to boos. Basically the hearts from double dash, but covers one hit only.

There's a pretty significant bit you missed about the Red Shell in Super Circuit! When dropping it behind you it would still lock on to racers and chase them down. The difference is that one you dropped behind would instead target the next person to drive past it rather than whoever was in front of you. Basically, it was a banana that would chase you down even if you avoided it.

I'll never forget Nintendo for not making the Super Horn a Yellow Shell. Considering in Mario World it gives Yoshi earthquakes and Koopa Troopas invincibility. It could have worked as a defensive item *and* cover all four shell types in World.

Double Dash was my entry into the series - I never owned the console myself, but my best friend did and we spent SO many afternoons just playing Double Dash for hours on end. It may be the memories of it, but to this day, it's still one of my absolute favorite entries in the series.

Please talk about Tour! Its item system is so interesting and different from the rest of the series, to the frenzies, the change to the mega mushroom, the way item boxes work, and of course the character-specific items

Real shame the red shell physics from MK Wii didn't return, breaking the shell by hugging the inner wall of a corner was sick as hell

One thing to mention: the red shell behaves as a green shell when thrown backwards, it does not home in on the player behind you as some might think Edit: except Super Circuit

29:12 I actually am surprised they completely ditched the POW Block after just one game. The fact that it's reactable and has counterplay makes it much more palatable than lightning, and I had hoped they would somewhat combine them moving forward; such as by giving the lightning a quick start-up animation and/or sound effect that lets you account for it if your reaction time's good enough, for example. I also wasn't bothered by the Thundercloud that much, because I saw the merit in its risk/reward balance between passing it on to someone else for safety, or keeping it for the speed boost and trying to catch up with someone further ahead at the expense of possibly being shocked yourself. As for Mario Kart item stories, I have a great one from a few years back in an 8 Deluxe friend lobby. It's Toad Harbour, and I'd been trailing in 2nd all race, but I grab a double item from the last set and pull four red shells. A blue's just gone past, so once the explosion wears off I start firing my reds. But I'm also thinking that I really don't deserve to win off such a powerful last-second item pull, so I stop and turn around at the finish line, timing the last one so it'll hit after she's already passed it and taken first place with me following behind. What I didn't account for what that she'd see me stopping and turning around, _and slow down herself,_ meaning she doesn't get across the finish line and I barely squeeze in front. And so unless you know that was my intention, anyone watching a clip of that going down would probably think I'm gloating! And by "a clip of that" I mean it, it's at DarlingEndearingFishCmonBruh if anyone wanted to see for themselves :)

I do kind of like the fake item box because of the fact it doesn't block items. I know that may annoy many people because they can't use it to defend themselves, but I find that creates an interesting dynamic in the games it appears in. It creates a more offensive item for 1st place that you have to use to slow down oncoming players, in addition to preventing 1st place from making as huge of a lead because they can't defend themselves with one, similar to coins in mk8. I don't think 1st place necessarily needs more defensive items, so having an offensive item can at least make things more interesting while in the lead.

Correction: you CAN fire a homing red shell backwards in Super Circuit (kinda). When you place it down, it will remain stationary until another racer drives by, then it will sound off a couple beeps and then head straight for that racer!

The distance-based special item ratio sounds a lot better than previous games. I remember reading someone suggest having a Plunger item that acted as a grappling hook against the racer in front of you, slowing them and catapaulting you past them, or just letting you attach to them for a while like cargo. They also had an idea for something that created several illusionary copies of the user across the track, but that would be hard to balance with modern place-monitoring systems and AI drivers.

I'm so glad to see me and my friends aren't the only idiots that do "blue shells only" rounds. It's so hillarious!

In terms of stories around items in these games, I will always remember the time I outran a blueshell in DS. Turns out you CAN avoid being hit if you hold onto a mushroom and use it at the last second just as the blue shell starts to come down and hit the track.

Dude I'm still looking for that intro music it's so good!

As someone who wants to make a kart racer (-ish) I adore this discussion on items in racing games. So yes, I'd enjoy a follow with the Mario Karts that don't exist. From what I've seen in the arcade game I played, too many and too superfluous. And admittedly, some of the Tour items are pretty good (only some, I'm looking at you "Super" bombs and banana barrels)

It's interesting how the Fake Item Box (which when abbreviated is "FIB", pretty interesting and something I literally *just* noticed while writing this) slowly went from looking like a legit Item Box to looking like an odd Item Box. Something I would've done to make the Fake Item Box more useful is make it give items *negative* effects by running into it. You still lose speed after hitting it, but now the item you have suddenly doesn't work like normal. Interesting tidbit about Mario Kart 7. Both the Fake Item Box and Mega Mushroom have item IDs mean they were either leftovers from Mario Kart Wii or were actually planned to be in the game. CTGP-7, a mod for Mario Kart 7, adds back these unused items (on top of adding new courses and playable characters) and makes the Fake Item Box harder to notice by giving it the color scheme of the normal Item Boxes when far away and slowly changes back to the color scheme given in Mario Kart Double Dash/Wii depending on how close you get. Also, Fake Item Boxes can't be seen on the minimap in CTGP-7, making sudden surprises both fun again and also annoying.

With kart racers and items in mind, perhaps Design Doc could do a video comparing how other kart racing games, from the popular Crash Team Racing and Sonic All-Stars Racing to the more niche and obscure ModNation Racers and Diddy Kong Racing, handle their item systems (along with individual items).

I'm certain it's been said by now but in Double Dash Parakoopa juggles but Koopa stacks the shells. Other characters can juggle and stack too, with Mushrooms only, but getting hit makes them drop all but 1 item in their hands. For clarity too, Rainbow Road in Double Dash has a chance for shooting stars to fall on the track before the big launch rainbow, which was seen in the video itself. This usually spawns a star by itself.

I honestly find handheld games in general fascinating. From 1989 to 2019, Nintendo basically had to every once in a while take a step back and develop games for a less powerful system than their main one. The results were... quite interesting.

even though it became very situational later on, I actually love the idea behind the feather. A short, super quick bounce into the air to avoid projectiles and do mini-shortcuts. It wouldn't be as broken in 3D mariokart titles, but it feels really fun to use!

I think the reason MK8 Deluxe made it so easy to lose the Blooper Ink is due to fact that it lacks something that previous MK games with the Blooper lacked - a second screen. As you pointed out, for the most part, you can make your way around the course by looking at the mini-map on the second screen, so if the Blooper ink got on the main screen and actually impaired the screen, you just moved your focus to the mini-map on the second screen. Since the Switch doesn't give that option, the Blooper ink can't linger too long without majorly disrupting gameplay.

in 8 they should’ve gone the full way with the blooper ink making you slippy, making you take more time to recover from spinning out, it should also just last longer too, that would help it.

I love the bananas in a conga line in MK64, I love ceashing the line to an opponent and the rest of the bananas spread out in the spot, so satisfying. Bananas were never as cool as in MK64, and NOBODY TALKS ABOUT THEM!

In MK64 you can hold the Blue Shell behind you, like a normal shell, but it’s a fantastic shield that doesn’t disappear (I can’t remember what does make it go away). Firing a red shell in 1st will make it go round the entire track in the centre, creating an extra hazard for the racers.

As someone who's been addicted to Mario Kart as of late, thanks to all of the booster course pass hype for MK8DX, this video came at a perfect time.

2:25 - Super Mario Kart 8:55 - Mario Kart 64 14:50 - Mario Kart Super Circuit 17:07 - Mario Kart: Double Dash! 22:11 - Mario Kart DS 26:25 - Mario Kart Wii 31:03 - Mario Kart 7 35:29 - Mario Kart 8/ 8 Deluxe Here are timestamps if anyone wants to skip to a game.

I still think the POW block has interesting mechanics, because, even if tricking allows you to keep most of your speed, It locks your trajectory, A POW quake on a sharp turn and you are basically guaranteed to hit a wall or fall, without strategy. That and the removal of the item you were holding, and items are paramount in MK wii. There is also the Fake item box, a really bad defensive item, since red/green shells just pass through it when you are holding the FIB behind you. But this also makes it an interesting obstacle: A well placed FIB cannot be really countered, even when you have say triple shells out, there is no choice but to avoid it. Also fun fact, the MK8 piranha plant always tries to eat what's next to it, even other drivers using stars for example, it can also eat a blooper when it tries to attack you. Pretty neat.

i miss the super leaf so much!! it was my favorite item in 7, pretty unique but still incredibly useful for avoiding hazards if you can time it right. if there's one item i'd like them to bring back, it's that one! also, the pow block was kind of fun just to see if you could time the controller shake correctly

It’s great that Deluxe brought back the double item mechanic, but I still miss having an exclusive item for each driver.

In Mario Kart Wii, every character gets their own vehicle modifier(s). And they are a big reason for why Funky Kong dominated the competitive scene; he had the highest top speed bonus in the game.

As a kid who played a ton of MKDD, I sort of had to make up my own games to keep it replayable, so sometimes I tried to see what different item combos I could end up capturing with the princess hearts. I'd try to get like a Bowser Shell and giant banana or something.

The item system is a balancing act between control and chaos. Too much control and things will get boring. Too much chaos and Wii happens. I think Double Dash and 8 hit a fine balance and make the game still fun while having some goofy moments to look back on with a smile. As for my favourite item? I love the Chain Chomp/Bullet Bill and the Bowser Shell.

Another reason why I think the fake item boxes have become redundant other than the fact that they obviously look different to normal item boxes is the placement. Throwing a FIB doesn't really make sense because boxes tend to be in a symmetrical line/pattern, and a lonely FIB in a chaotic spot stands out like a sore thumb. If FIBS automatically aligned themselves to an existing box line it would be more believable.

24:53 fun fact, I actually did this quite a bit as a kid! My DS had a broken top screen that would randomly turn off, and when it did in the middle of a race, i would finish using the bottom screen only--I got quite good at it haha!

The emotional rollercoaster of getting hit by a red shell right before the finish line, but you get launched *just* far enough to still cross it.

What do you think will be the new special feature for Mario Kart 9? Personally, I think giving each character something unique - a passive ability where your miniturbos last longer; or an ultimate ability that activates after reaching 20 coins or so - would be pretty interesting and fun. Maybe pair co-driving comes back from Double Dash or ... the Thunder Cloud...

The first item story that comes to my mind is when we had just gotten Double Dash. My older sisters (and the younger sister's boyfriend at the time) were playing a four player vs, so it was just the four karts on the track (Cheep Cheep Beach or whatever it was called). We were pretty well clustered, but my eldest sister was in fourth place and grabbed a Blue Shell, then immediately pulled into first place as she went to throw it. It looped back around and blew her up, and the rest of us got caught in the shockwave. I also vaguely remember an incident in Mario Kart 64, where I think I got hit with a green shell on a ramp in Wario Stadium and got blasted backwards to a ways before the ramp. I mainly remember my reaction, which was to shout "hell what the?!"

With DS the trick is, you have to place the fake item box inside a real one, multiple in the same line if you can.

I'm sorry are we just gonna ignore 22:57 which has the coolest banana snipe I've ever seen in my life

Thank you very much for making this. I am getting into game design and doing a game jam right now and being able to watch this at 2x speed and find all of the valuable insights to be gained from the item design is a blessing. I typically play and make pvp based games, but a teammate had a great mechanic worked out so we went with vehicles. Really helping round out my lack of knowledge for kart game items post N64 era. Cheers!

An interesting video idea would be an analysis of those same powerups across different franchises. Every kart racer has a similar staple set of powerups, and even some non-kart ones like Wipeout, Blur and Rollcage/GRIP, and yet they all have their distinctions, like Wipeout giving Missiles low tracking with wall bounces and essentially combining red and green shells as a result.

Wii and double have my favorite item balancing, the sheer chaos is incredible when playing with friends.

36:16 the wiiU DOES have the handheld map/items mode! You tap on the map icon on the right. REALLY OP in battle mode.

A few other notes: The Mushroom is typically not seen as much but a speed booster or shortcut maker, except multiple games with blue/spiny shells allow you to dodge them with a properly timed boost right before it lands, giving people that get to first with a mushroom an extra way out. The star's speed boost in 8/Deluxe has been significantly reduced, making the item weaker compared to prior iterations but still just as effective at driving over grass or avoiding hits. Also gives you a nice boost to acceleration. Also in 8/Deluxe, the Blooper reduces traction/turning capability so it actually does something beyond just covering the screen in ink. This isn't too notable on most slower speeds where you'll just turn a little wider, but it can be especially rough at 200CC speeds as it becomes much harder to take corners and requires much more braking to avoid falling off or hitting walls. Finally, Bloopers are mildly threatening. The Piranha Plant item can lunge even faster by hitting the item button repeatedly while it's active, making it even more terrifying for a shorter speed boost as each chomp takes a bite out of its longevity.

The red shells in super circuit when dropped behind you will stay in place until someone drives past it then it will lock onto them.

Believe it or not, there is *one* practical use to glancing at the bottom screen in MK7: It lets you see when another player uses a Blue Shell, a lot earlier than you would know otherwise. If you're very distantly in first, that's not any help; but if 2nd place is close to you, you can intentionally slow down and let them take the lead - and the Blue Shell's attention.

The way I’d like to see items evolve is to literally have them evolve. Like if you get an item box while already holding an item, it can become a big version. Or if that’s too strong, maybe boxes or gates where you lose coins but can reroll or evolve. Gives a little reward for saving up and can give some nice double dash throwbacks.

Honestly, one of my favourite takes on the "first place killer" item comes from SRB2Kart's Self-Propelled Bomb. As soon as one gets launched, everyone in the race hears a loud alarm, and the bomb starts beelining it towards first place, even going *through* stage obstacles and walls. However, it only ever *matches* the speed of the player in first - meaning if they play perfectly, they can always outrun it. But now the player in first can't slow down under any circumstance, or else the bomb hits them. Making tight turns becomes a lot more difficult when you're unable to tap the brakes, and getting perfect drifts becomes all the more important to get a slight moment of distance between you and the bomb. (But the bomb will be right back on your tail once that boost expires - it gets the speed boost too.) Though of course, if the player in first somehow manages to slip into second place (without slowing down, mind), then the bomb will change targets, even if it's been going for that player for a while.

In n64, the best defense item is the blue shell which is op, the only way to get rid of a blue shell is another blue shell.

It would be cool to see you guys talk about the evolution of the karts in Mario Kart. Great video!

30:34 I love the explosions and how you actually flip in the air instead of roll to the side like in mk8

Coin is so interesting tbh. I personally think it’s a pretty good item for balance in MK Deluxe while it’s pretty bad in the original 8. Prevents first from getting multiple defense tools, forces them to go double item, but gives +2 coins for speed. But then again, the modern fake item box is so poorly designed imo, it could technically replace the coin. Instead of +2 coins it gives just a pretty weak trap item. Personally I prefer the coin, since I hope fake item box does get reworked in a future game.

The funniest moment in Mario Kart 8 was when I found out that you can actually control the bullet bill. I never told my friends, making them curse their bad luck when they constantly got hit by my bullet bill no matter how they evaded.

In Mario Kart DS the Blue Shell can be dodged by using a drift boost at the right time. This technique is called "Blue Shell Dodge". It is very difficult to do, but I have heard legends of people who could do it consistently.

All time favorite situation will always be Double Dash on Baby park with giant bananas and bowsers shells. Pure chaos. Hate that the 8 version has a wall in the middle to stop items from crossing over but at least its there with 12 racers.

Your docs on mario karts and other racers are extremely helpful and detailed! I'm myself trying my hand at a mk clone game, and those docs have proven to be a strong helping hand. Thanks!

I've said this for years now but Mario kart 8 has always had the most consistent item balance in the series

They should bring back the banana system from MK64. If you don't turn too sharply and tap the brake you can fully stop yourself from spinning out. Made placement on corners a bit more important and added a little skill check.

I would love a video going over all the arcade items

So happy double dash gets the love it deserves. That game is incredible, and the battle mode is unmatched.

The other day I was wondering what the item suite would look like if the red shell were removed. It's one of the most iconic items, but from a certain design perspective it doesn't seem that great. It doesn't help you go faster, it just slows down another player, and not even the most important player, just the player in front of you. It's selfish, not strategic. If you only care about coming in first, the red shell only really helps you if you're in second. It might even make it harder to reach first if second place has to spend their items covering their back while first place gets further ahead. I don't think I'd mind seeing the Bob-omb or something similar with more interactions move into the red shells position in the game, especially in the back of the pack. The simplicity of the red shell is part of its strength though. Using the item and then your position moving up by 1 is a good feedback loop. It's the easiest to understand element of item strategy that is really important to the game. The constant threat of getting red shelled is important. You can outmaneuver bombs, bananas, and greens, but you have to spend your items to deal with a red shell or fall behind.

My into to the series was double dash, so when tripple items spun around you and you could hold items behind you again it was like a wild innovation.

There's an interesting take on a catch up item in 2RB2Kart, a fan made kart racer based on Sonic. It's a bomb that homes in on first place and follows behind them. However, if first place can keep top speed and not make a single mistake, they can outrun it. It provides a challenge to skilled players, while still working well for those not at that level.

i would like to add that in double dash the car you pick matters since baby cars can't hit the big karts and are hit backwards istead if they colide, the big karts are slower but better for driff ,normal karts are better for dashing and double dashing on curves and baby karts are faster but worse on curves, you can also get a boost at the start of the race if you press in the right momentum and a double boost if you switch characters while doing it the thing about the karts behaving different matters more in the minigames map the game was very chaotic and i have a lot of funny memoriesfor that, it was the only thing that joined the family in a room so i remember all the stuff 😂

I liked the thundercloud from a gamedesign perspective, before it existed, items were always good, so no matter what you'd want the box. the cloud added some uncertainty to that. If i had to pick two items to come back for 8 deluxe it'd be the cloud and the fake item box

Mario Kart 64's Green Shell will always be my favorite version of the Green Shell because it will bounce indefinitely until it either hits someone or goes off the track. Green Shell is also the reason why I prefer the old version of Rainbow Road 64 because it had rails on the entire track and it wouldn't be uncommon to see multiple Green Shells bouncing around as you complete laps.

24:58 hi, im the weirdo that did this a lot when i played this game. It honestly gives you a competitive advantage cause you can eyeball all of the other players' items, it also helps with lining up your shots without having to look back and not see where youre going

"There are no returning new characters from Mario Kart Wii in Mario Kart 7" Rosalina: 🧍🏻‍♀️

So here's a random fun fact about the coin item specifically in 8DX. You can not have two coins occupy both item slots at the same time.* Therefore, if you do only have a coin and are about to hit a single ? block, it's better to wait till after you get the new item before using the coin. Plus, if the coin is in the first slot, it's a perfect Boo defense. I've had way too many instances of a Boo taking my defensive item before getting hit a few moments later. *okay, I actually have gotten double coin once from a double box; however, this instance was in a laggy online match, and the roulette had been spinning for a good 10 seconds.

It’s worth noting in Vanilla MK8 you could very much get combo’d, but at some point in deluxes lifespan around 2018 it was patched and you have WAY more invincibility frames completely removing combos. Also in deluxe you can never get two coins, so if you’re in first and get a coin it’s worth holding onto until the next set of items because you aren’t getting another

43 MINUTES?!? LETS GOOOOOOOO

I really like how the item system works in Mario Kart Tour! I'd like the next Mario Kart game to keep it, minus the character-specific "Favorite Course" limits. Character-specific special items and Frenzies need to make a comeback!

TBH I'd love you to give the arcade spinoffs & Tour a once-over for their items. Tour especially. The arcade game items are... mostly worthless, honestly, or are just duplicates of existing staple items. Tour's new items are honestly really interesting, and I'd love to see most of them make a return in a console Mario Kart game. Tour uses the regular/special item distinction that was introduced in Double Dash. The Feather is back in Battle Mode as of last year, and there are 13 regular items are mostly staple items, as well as the Mega Mushroom, returning from Wii. The Star can't be normally gotten, since that's tied to a new mechanic called Frenzy, where you are given the power of a star, an infinite amount of a specific item to use for a short time (albeit usually a nerfed version of that item). I'm not sure of the exact mechanics behind Frenzy, but I think the chances of it happening when you hit an item box is based on distance from 1st place? The special items are where it gets fun. In terms of returning items... all the triple items are there, of course, as well as double bob-ombs, the fire and boomerang flowers, the Lucky Seven, the Super Leaf, the Bowser Shell, the Giant Banana, the Yoshi/Birdo Eggs, and the Hearts. But the NEW special items are really interesting. Ice Flowers freeze drivers they hit, but the driver maintains any momentum they had, drifting in that direction until they unfreeze. Bubbles act sort of like a fragile Star that doesn't have the smooshing power of a Mega Mushroom (quickly carrying you forwards for a set amount of time, but popping if you hit anything damaging). Dash Rings put 3 rings in your path to drive through, giving you a speed boost as you drive through each one, but also giving drivers behind you and near you a chance to use them as well. The Giga Bob-omb serves as a Bob-omb that has a larger explosion and (somewhat poorly) homes in on its target. Hammers throw several hammers ahead of you, which either bounce around for awhile until they despawn or hit someone, or hit the driver in front of you. The Super Bell is basically the Golden Shroom equivalent of a Super Horn. Coin Boxes are like Golden Shrooms but for the Coin item, but instead of giving YOU coins, it throws the coins all around you for yourself and racers behind you to collect. Capsules are similar to hammers, but they come in 3's and rotate around your kart before you throw them like Triple Shells or Triple Bananas do. Lastly are the Banana Barrels, the Mushroom Cannon, and the Bob-omb Cannon, which are basically give you cannons on your kart to fire their respective item onto the track in front of you (and yes, the Banana Barrels kind of suck as a result because you often just end up driving into your own bananas). ...I accidentally left this entire post in the comment box for a full day, oops

Genuinely love your ad transitions.

I actually have an idea for buffing the blooper and making it at least decent. When it's used on an opponent, it will block more of their screen because that's it's main purpose. Not only that however, the ink will not just make the kart more slippy, but it would also slow down the racers. Not by much but just enough for players behind to catch up. (This last part however can be removed if it contradicts what the main purpose of the blooper is. One last thing: COINS are fine as something you collect on the road but they should not be something that take up item slots.

Two score?! It's full doc time!

Aw, I was hoping you'd mention the part that *is* good about Wii's items for competitive players. The items you grab aren't just based on your broad position like 4th or 9th, they're based on your distance from other players. This replaces the usual diceroll from a pool of items with distance management as players jockey for position.

I'm sad that you didn't mention the special tricks of the red and blue shells in Super Circuit (GBA). You can drop them behind you, and they sit there like a proximity mine, the red shells will activate and chase the next person behind them, and the Blue shell will patiently wait for the driver in 1st to come around again. It's mostly sad that these functions are almost entirely unknown cause they were ONLY in this one less than favorite game.

A couple of my favourite Mario cart moments is banana sniping. There is something so satisfying about hitting someone directly with a banana, and I’ve even done it mid glide a couple of times

You should also have mentioned how you can't get karted in MK8 because after getting hit with something like a shell, you're invincible from other shells for a short while.

The banana in MK64 had one other really unique feature that I don't think any other game had: you could stop from slipping. If you drove straight over a banana peel, you'd have a split second to press brake and not spin out. Even as a kid I felt like that was a fun little challenge every time I accidentally ran into one.

Double Dash is taking me BACK I think I spent half my childhood playing that game

Hot take: Blooper in MK8 is actually not terrible. The ink blocking your screen still makes next to no difference, but the increased slipperyness when turning can make a huge difference on bendier tracks and on higher ccs, where drifting on turns is already super tight and a bit more slipperyness can send you careening into the off-road or off the track. It legitimately becomes one of the best items when racing on SNES Rainbow Road and Neo-Bowser City with 200cc, especially if you’re using an outside-drifting kart, which is more prone to the effect. If it wasn’t for the opportunity cost of being an ~8th place item, and if it wasn’t so easy to remove, it would be an above-average item imo. As it is now, it’s still ok but hard to see the overall slowing effect the slippery drifting creates due to it being a global item