Summary

TheMario Kartseries has been around long enough to finally feel pretty secure in its item choices. After decades of playing the field with winners like the Red Shell and relationship testers like the Thunder Cloud, Nintendo has largely found out which ones work best with the audience they have. Or have they?

As fun and chaotic as things can get inMario Kart 8 Deluxe, there are still some old favorites we miss. The mobile titleMario Kart Tourmay have brought some of the classic items back, but these need to be in the latest mainline game as well.

An image of a Yoshi Egg and Birdo Egg in front of Yoshi and Mario driving a kart in Mario Kart Double Dash

8Yoshi/Birdo Egg

First appearing in Super Mario Kart for the SNES, the Yoshi egg had a magnificent glow-up when it returned in Mario Kart: Double Dash on the GameCube. Where first it simply sat on the track waiting for potential victims like a bored cop, its newer version became a fragile yet game-changing projectile.

Yoshi and Birdo Eggs fly at enemies like a typical homing Red Shell, but break apart after a while, even if they don’t hit anything. The real treasure is how they drop up to three random items when they break. Considering how delightfully messy Mario Kart 8 Deluxe races already are, wouldn’t that be the perfect little boost to the mayhem?

Fake item boxes from Mario Kart 64 Double Dash DS and Wii over an image from Mario Kart 64

7Fake Item Box

One thing modern Mario Kart seems to be lacking is a truly jarring halt in momentum. Even if you fall off the stage, Lakitu is quick to bring you back without you losing much pace. But previous games weren’t afraid to absolutely stop you in your tracks, prompting many to learn some fun new profanities.

The Fake Item Box did just this, especially inits Mario Kart 64 debut. Going after a precious item only to find yourself launched straight up in an honestly pretty brutal explosion potentially changed the entire race, and bringing that back into modern Mario Kart could very well introduce just the right amount of fire and brimstone into game night.

A feather from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe over an image of Mario and Bowser Jr in Battle Mode

6Feather

Now, the Feather is technically still part of Mario Kart, serving as a rather strategic item in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Battle Mode. But it still has yet to return outside of that context since its debut in Super Mario Kart, which is a shame given its multitude of possibilities.

The Feather is simple: it lets you do a big jump. This alone can be used to create impromptu shortcuts if done in the right spots, but Mario Kart 8 Deluxe added the ability to attack others with it as well. So a multi-utility item like this could really raise the skill ceiling of future games.

The Bowser Shell item from Mario Kart Double Dash and Tour in front of Mario and Yoshi on a kart in Double Dash

5Bowser Shell

Like the Yoshi and Birdo Eggs, the Bowser Shell is one of the character-specific power-ups seen inthe arguably peak Mario Kart: Double Dash. It also similarly mimics one of the regular shells in the game, in this case the Green Shell.

But rather than breaking apart after hitting another racer, this little champion keeps on trucking, continuing to sow its chaos throughout the track. Come on, you know your races need more of that. Mario Kart Tour has wisely partaken of its destructive power, but let’s get it back in the mainline.

A Chain Chomp item from Mario Kart Double Dash in front of an image of Mario and Yoshi in a kart

4Chain Chomp

Have you everused the Bullet Billin other Mario Kart games and thought “gosh, could I make this cause more mayhem?” The Chain Chomp is your friend, and very much nobody else’s.

The Chain Chomp, as it appears in Mario Kart: Double Dash, drags you behind it with a nice speed boost. But you can also release it and let the beast roam free, burning the countryside. How has that only happened once in the series? Let the angry monsters lose!

A Banana Bunch item from Mario Kart 64 in front of an image from the game

3Banana Bunch

While not technically absent from the series, the Multi Bananas have been considerably nerfed over the years. you’re able to get bunches of three these days, but back in Mario Kart 64, you could drag a whole five of them behind you like a gorilla’s wedding limo.

It’s a small change, but adding just a couple more bananas back into the bunch could really improve how wild these races can get. Litter the ground with the discarded fruity skins and let anarchy reign.

The Mega Mushroom item from Mario Kart Wii in front of an image from the game

2Mega Mushroom

The Lightning Bolt shrinks down every other racer, allowing you to squish any of them you come across. But that seems a remarkably inefficient use of resources. Why not focus things a bit? Expedite the squashing process?

That’s where the Mega Mushroom comes in. Appearing exclusively in Mario Kart Wii, it instead enlarges the racer who uses it, allowing you to flatten anybody without changing everyone else’s body mass first. Makes more sense than lightning, right? Since when does a good shock work like that?

A Giant Banana item from Mario Kart Double Dash in front of an image of Mario and Yoshi on a kart in the game

1Giant Banana

What’s better than five bananas? One big one with a grumpy face. Seen only in Mario Kart: Double Dash as a special item for Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, along with a few others, it feels like a real power move, turning such a simple item like a banana into this monstrosity.

The Giant Banana explodes when hit, leaving behind three regular-sized ones. So, chaos begets more chaos, andthe mayhem of Mario Kartcontinues its vicious cycle. If that’s not the very essence of the series, then nothing is.