All items & effects

Illustrated item table

Items and effects

Item	Picture	Effect
Banana		A peel that makes a kart spin when hit. Throw it ahead or leave it behind.
Triple Bananas Introduced in Mario Kart DS		Three peels trail your kart and can intercept attacks before being released.
Green Shell		A straight-moving shell that rebounds off walls. Fire forward or backward.
Triple Green Shell		Three green shells orbit your kart for protection; launch them separately.
Red Shell		Tracks the racer ahead when fired forward. Firing backward removes its homing behavior.
Triple Red Shell		Three homing shells circle your kart and can be fired individually.
Bullet Bill Introduced in Mario Kart DS		Temporarily transforms your kart into a fast, automatically steered Bullet Bill that knocks racers aside.
Bob-omb		A throwable bomb that detonates on contact or after a delay, catching nearby racers in its blast.
Fake Item Box		A deceptive box that knocks over racers who drive into it, rather than giving them an item.
Golden Mushroom		Allows repeated speed boosts until its short duration expires.
Lightning		Shrinks vulnerable opponents, slows them and makes them drop items. Invincibility protects racers from the strike.
Mushroom		Provides one burst of speed, useful for crossing slowing terrain or clearing Blooper ink.
Triple Mushroom		Provides three separate Mushroom boosts.
Star		Temporarily grants speed and invincibility, and knocks aside racers you touch.
Spiny Shell		Flies toward first place and explodes around its target; nearby racers can also be caught.
Blooper Introduced in Mario Kart DS		Obscures the view of racers ahead with ink. A Mushroom boost or boost panel clears the screen.
Boo		Briefly conceals and protects your kart while attempting to steal an opponent’s item.

Using items

Hold a direction when using supported throwable items to aim forward or backward. Defensive shells and bananas can intercept attacks. Your race position influences the item-box selection. The source uses some Double Dash artwork for returning items.