Mario Kart DS Items: All Items & What They Do

Drive through an Item Box to spin the roulette. The further back you are, the stronger the items: leaders mostly get Bananas and Green Shells, while the back of the pack gets Stars, Bullet Bills and Lightning.

Items: 17
New items: Bullet Bill, Blooper
Hold behind: L or X
Throw back: Down + L or X

Item	What it does	Grand Prix places
Mushroom	A single short speed boost. Use it to cut across grass or sand, or to recover after a hit.	2nd–7th
Triple Mushrooms	Three boosts, one per press. They circle your kart until used.	3rd–8th
Golden Mushroom	Boost as often as you like for a few seconds: tap the item button repeatedly.	6th–8th
Item Box	Drive through one to spin the item roulette. Your position (and your kart’s Items rating) decides what you get.	–
Fake Item Box	Looks like an Item Box but flips over any kart that hits it. Hold it behind you to block shells.	1st–3rd
Banana	Spins out the first kart that drives over it. Drop it behind you or throw it forward.	1st–4th
Triple Bananas	Three Bananas that trail behind your kart; drop them one at a time.	1st–3rd
Green Shell	Fires in a straight line and bounces off walls, knocking over the first kart it hits.	1st–4th
Triple Green Shells	Three Green Shells that orbit your kart and fire one at a time.	2nd–5th
Red Shell	Homes in on the kart ahead of you. Hold a Banana or shell behind you to block one.	2nd–6th
Triple Red Shells	Three homing Red Shells that orbit your kart.	3rd–6th
Spiny Shell	Flies along the track to the race leader and explodes, also hitting anyone close by. At high speed, a hop and mini-turbo timed just right can sometimes dodge it.	4th–6th
Star	Makes you invincible and faster for a few seconds; karts you touch are knocked over.	5th–8th
Lightning	Shrinks and slows every opponent, making them drop their items.	6th–8th
Bob-omb	Throw or drop it: it explodes after a moment, or when a kart comes near, hitting everyone in the blast.	2nd–5th
BlooperNew in DS	Squirts ink over the screens of the racers ahead of you, hiding the track. New in Mario Kart DS.	3rd–6th
Bullet BillNew in DS	Turns you into a Bullet Bill that rockets along the track on autopilot, bowling over karts. New in Mario Kart DS.	6th–8th
Boo	Makes you invisible and untouchable for a moment and steals another racer’s item.	3rd–7th

Places show where a player can get each item in Grand Prix races. See the exact odds for each place.

Item tips

Keep a Banana or shell held behind you while you are in the lead to stop Red Shells.
Look closely before driving into a lone Item Box: a Fake Item Box has no question mark, does not spin and shows up red on the map.
Fire Green Shells backwards at close range to hit a racer tailgating you.
Save Mushrooms for shortcuts across grass, sand or snow.
In Battle Mode the racers with the fewest balloons or Shines get the best items.

FAQ

How many items are in Mario Kart DS?

17 items you can get from Item Boxes.

What new items are in Mario Kart DS?

Bullet Bill and Blooper debuted in Mario Kart DS and have appeared in every Mario Kart since.

How do you block a Red Shell?

Hold a Banana, a shell or a Fake Item Box behind your kart by keeping L (or X) held down.

Can you dodge the Spiny Shell?

Sometimes: in the faster classes a hop and mini-turbo timed as it lands can get you clear, and a Star, Boo or Bullet Bill protects you.

Sources & picture credits

Guide text is original retrogameindex writing, checked against the Super Mario Wiki and the Mario Kart Racing Wiki. Kart statistics, staff ghost times and item odds are the values from the game data as transcribed by the Super Mario Wiki. Screenshots, renders and artwork © Nintendo; local copies archived from Super Mario Wiki file pages (listed on the image gallery).