There are many reasons for the success of the Mario Kart series, and Mario Kart World takes advantage of them all. Colorful tracks, an ever-expanding roster, tight mechanics, and, of course, the chaotic items. While skill is an important factor in Mario Kart World, items can drastically change the course of a race. Powerful items can jump players into first place, or see them get blasted to the back of the pack. However, some items are just disappointing. These items are either too situational, poorly balanced, or completely underwhelming. Getting one of these items can leave players frustrated, especially seeing other players get good items.
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Six items in particular stand out in Mario Kart World as having no place there. Nintendo should have removed these items or given them much-needed modifications. As it is, getting these items from an item box instead of something that could help you win the race is almost worse than getting no item. Mario Kart World’s worst items are listed below.
6) Super Star
At first glance, the Super Star seems like one of the best items, and you may wonder why it’s here. Temporary invincibility, faster speed, and the ability to knock other racers aside by driving into them should make this a dream come true. However, the Super Star has one major flaw that holds it back: its duration and speed.
The duration of the Super Star is far too short in Mario Kart World. It is even shorter than it was in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and this was already too short. Not only that, but the speed it gives is lackluster compared to Mushrooms or a Bullet Bill. Players often burn through a Super Star without it having any significant outcome on the race. For an item that should make the player feel all-powerful, Mario Kart World has dropped the ball on the Super Star.
5) Kamek
There is no doubt that Kamek is one of the worst items in Mario Kart World and shouldn’t even exist. The only purpose is to unlock secret characters. Aside from transforming all players into that character, this item does absolutely nothing to hinder your opponents or give you an advantage. Even worse, Kamek is no longer a playable character because of this mechanic.
It’s hard to understand why Nintendo made this decision. Instead of removing Kamek from the roster and creating a pointless item, there could have been overworld locations or missions to unlock secret characters. Instead, players merely get to watch Kamek fly around and not do anything with its illusion powers. If Nintendo truly wanted to make Kamek an item, anything else would have been better.
4) Feather
The Feather makes a return in Mario Kart World and has a new effect to boot. With it, players can leap over obstacles and attacks, but can now also use it to access special parts of the course. But the question is, why is this mechanic tied to an item? Players already can bunny hop and charge jump, so why not allow them to use this mechanic to access special parts of the course?
Taking away this aspect of the Feather shows how basic this item is. It can effectively be replaced by holding an item behind your kart. This blocks the incoming attack just as thoroughly as jumping over it. In fact, it’s better because you don’t have to rely on timing your jump right. If Nintendo wanted to bring the Feather back, it should have been given a boost rather than the ability to jump on special areas.
3) Blooper
Introduced in Mario Kart DS, the Blooper was meant to disrupt races by squirting ink across opponents’ screens, preventing them from being able to see. It sounds powerful in theory, but ultimately becomes a mere nuisance rather than an actual hindrance and remains largely ineffective across every iteration.
The ink is barely an inconvenience, as many players have track layouts memorized. This makes obscuring a portion of the screen pointless, as many players don’t need to rely on sight. Even worse, the ink can be wiped away by boosting and disappears after just a few seconds. Compared to other items like the Lightning Bolt or Battle Shell, the Blooper is a waste of an item block.
2) Question Block
Nintendo really took one of the worst items in the Mario Kart series and decided to buff it rather than remove it. The Question Block is a boosted version of the Coin, allowing players to collect several at once. But they could already do this simply by driving and picking up Coins on the course. Dedicating a second item slot to getting Coins is wasteful, especially considering the potential for other items.
While collecting Coins for a speed increase is nice, it’s easy enough to do this without using items. Instead of giving Coins, the Question Block should have had some other effect. Something random would fit the nature of the Question Block in the Mario world. Or it could have been an item that is thrown and inflicts random effects, which would work too. Instead, Nintendo decided to give out more Coins to the racers behind you at that.
1) Coin
No item is worse than the Coin in Mario Kart World. Sure, you get a slight speed boost for collecting these, but this isn’t worth making it an individual item, especially with the addition of the Question Block. You can already pick up Coins on the ground while racing, so there is no need for it to be included in item boxes. This should have been fixed in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but instead, Nintendo doubled down on it.
Even if one argues that collecting coins is used to unlock new karts and that having them as an item increases the odds of getting them, it’s still pointless. Free Roam offers so many easy-to-access coins, and you can collect up to 20 just by racing. Simply playing the game and driving is enough to eventually earn you all the unlocks without having to waste an item slot.
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image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
