Mario Kart Wii Items

As with the tradition of the series, Mario Kart Wii features items in normal gameplay. The items vary depending on where a player stands during the course of a race. While in the past, the items have been beneficial, Mario Kart Wii for the first time features items that are detrimental to a player.

The items include: One or three bananas, one or three green shells, one or three red shells, Bomb-Omb, blue shell, fake box, one or three mushrooms, gold mushroom, Bullet Bill, Blooper, Lightning Star, Mega Mushroom, POW Block and Dark Cloud.

The Dark Cloud is the only item that can automatically hurt the player that picks it up. After several seconds, a lightning bolt strikes, shrinking the player. A player can avoid the lightning by bumping into another player's kart or bike, thus transferring the Dark Cloud to that person.

In normal gameplay against the CPU, as well as online gameplay, all items are on. In versus mode, players have the option of tweaking the types of items that show up. The options are: Balanced (all items available and given out based on race position), Aggressive (those not in first are given offensive-type items) and Strategic (Red or Green shells, mushrooms, bananas, POW Blocks and Bomb-Ombs only). Players can also turn off items in versus play.

The latest Mario Kart game is Mario Kart Wii, available for the Nintendo Wii. It is the first Mario Kart game since Mario Kart DS As with past games, players take part in an All-star race featuring some of Nintendo's past and presently popular characters, including Mario, Bowser and Peach (Princess Toadstool).