Car (obstacle)
- This article is about the obstacle in theMario Kart series. For the standard vehicles fromDiddy Kong Racing andDiddy Kong Racing DS, seeCar. For theYoshi transformation fromSuper Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, seeCar Yoshi.
- See also:Cargo truck,Pickup truck,Bus
| Car | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 A car with aToad driver, as seen inMario Kart World | |||
| First appearance | Mario Kart 64 (1996) | ||
| Latest appearance | Mario Kart World (2025) | ||
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Cars in theMario Kart series appear as obstacles in urban, street, or highway-themed courses. They typically travel at a constant speed along with the rest of the traffic. They always follow a set path; when traveling along a multi-lane road with other traffic, they will typically drive in the middle of their respective lanes and use turn signals if switching lanes, making their behavior very predictable. If the player hits a moving car, they will usually flip over and, inMario Kart DS andMario Kart Wii, lose their item. They cannot be destroyed or removed, but they can usually be launched into the air by driving into them while using aSuper Star,Bullet Bill,Chain Chomp, orMega Mushroom, or by hitting them with aSuper Horn,Super Bell,Giga Bob-omb,Spiny Shell, orBowser Shell. Moving cars may also honk their horns if they hit an item or the player. However, some courses may have stationary cars, which display none of the above properties and will merely act as walls when a player runs into them.
History[edit]
Mario Kart 64[edit]
Moving cars first appear inMario Kart 64, exclusive toToad's Turnpike. All cars are a pinkish off-white color and share the same engine sound asToad'skart. If a player hits a car, they will not lose their item. In this game only, cars will haphazardly drive between lanes and cannot be launched or otherwise moved by any means. The cars seem to take inspiration from a 1971 Nissan Skyline C10 and the 1989 Mazda 121.
Mario Kart: Double Dash!![edit]
Cars also appear inMario Kart: Double Dash!!, onMushroom Bridge andMushroom City. Both courses feature red, yellow, and blue cars, with "POW" on their license plates, as well asBomb-cars. In this game, if a player hits a car, they will spin out and not lose their item.
Cars with the appearance of a three-wheeled,Mushroom-shaped pickup truck also appear on the main streets of these courses. Although they slow drivers down when bumped into, they do not make them spin out, instead releasing a Mushroom that will pop out and land on the road. This makes the Mushroom-shaped car one of the few obstacles in the game that can help the player in some way. These cars do not appear in Time Trial mode, likely to prevent players from obtaining extra Mushrooms. The sound the Mushroom car makes when bumped is the same sound that is played when a power-up item comes out of a? Block in mostSuper Mario games.
Mario Kart DS[edit]
Cars also appear inMario Kart DS, onShroom Ridge and the returning classic courseGCN Mushroom Bridge. Both courses feature red, yellow, and blue cars. However, inGCN Mushroom Bridge, the Mushroom cars and Bomb-cars have been removed. If a player hits a car, they will lose their item. All three cars are based onPrince Skylines, with minor differences.
In Mission 4-3, Mario must race against a red car to thefinish line on Shroom Ridge. This car moves much faster than cars normally move.
Mario Kart Wii[edit]
Cars also appear inMario Kart Wii onMoonview Highway. The course features blue, red and yellow cars, with "POW" on their number plates, and are nearly the same as the cars fromMario Kart: Double Dash!!, but with a lack of tailfins. However, their speed is dependent on which part of the track they are on, a behavior exclusive to Moonview Highway. If the player hits a car head on, the player will be squashed by the car in the same way as being run over by someone with a Mega Mushroom, and will have a lower speed and drive flat for a short while, and hitting the back or side of a car will cause the player to flip over as usual. In both cases, the player will typically lose their item.Bomb-cars also return, now under the name "Bob-omb Cars."
Additionally, red convertibles driven byMiis appear onCoconut Mall. These behave differently from other cars in the series, driving back and forth across the width of the track.
Mario Kart 7[edit]
Cars also appear inMario Kart 7 onWuhu Loop andMaka Wuhu. The course features two types of cars:Wii Coconut Mall's red convertibles and taller blue cars. If a player hits a car, they will not lose their item. Alongside Wuhu Loop, the red convertibles also reappear inWii Coconut Mall, retaining their behavior fromMario Kart Wii.
Additionally, Maka Wuhu marks the first time a car appears as a stationary obstacle with a single car appearing at the beginning of the track. This car's appearance is chosen at random, appearing as either of the two types or as a yellowpickup truck whenever a race begins.
Mario Kart 8 /Mario Kart 8 Deluxe[edit]
Moving red cars also appear on the classic coursesN64 Toad's Turnpike inMario Kart 8 as well asDS Shroom Ridge,Tour Berlin Byways, andWii Moonview Highway inMario Kart 8 Deluxe. Black cars also appear on the aforementioned courses exceptWii Moonview Highway. The new design of the cars resembles the typical styling of real-world cars from the 1980s and 1990s, specifically theToyota Comfort. Yellow taxis with blue details andGreen Shell Taxi branding also appear on these courses and function identically to the cars, taking their places at random. If a player hits a car, they will not lose their item, and if they were not driving fast enough they will not flip out either.Bob-omb Cars also return on Moonview Highway.
N64 Rainbow Road andUrchin Underpass also feature moving cars, though they are outside the track and thus of no consequence to the player.
Wii Coconut Mall's red convertibles return once again and are now occupied byShy Guys. They behave differently than in prior titles. Originally, they could no longer move, being parked on the sides of the track while facing drivers diagonally. Rather than causing racers to spin out, they merely acted as walls. This was changed in the 2.1.0 update. In all modes other thanTime Trials, the Shy Guys will drive back and forth. Occasionally, they will do donuts, and if a player hits one at that time, they will flip over as usual.
Stationary cars also appear onTour New York Minute andTour Berlin Byways. On New York Minute, they take the appearance of taxis and are found just before the final turn on laps 1 and 2. On Berlin Byways, they are found midway through the track on lap 1 and just after the first turn on lap 3. Several courses also feature stationary cars outside the track.
Mario Kart Tour[edit]
It has been requested thatmore images beuploaded for this section. Remove this notice only after the additional images have been added.Specifics: In-game models
Moving cars also appear inMario Kart Tour onGCN Mushroom Bridge and its R variant,DS Shroom Ridge and its R variant,Wii Moonview Highway and all its variants, andBerlin Byways and its R and R/T variants. The courses generally feature red, green, blue, and white cars; the former two have new designs while the latter two are similar to the design used inMario Kart 8 andMario Kart 8 Deluxe. The sedans all resemble a real-world car from the 1980s and '90s, specifically theToyota Crown Comfort. In this game, instead of making racers flip over, moving cars simply slow them down as a wall would; they are otherwise similar to those of previousMario Kart games. When taken out by a player, they give "Car" bonus points.Bob-omb Cars also return on the normal and T variants ofWii Moonview Highway andGCN Mushroom Bridge.
Stationary cars also appear onGCN Mushroom Bridge R and R/T,DS Shroom Ridge R/T,Wii Moonview Highway R/T,Berlin Byways and its R and R/T variants, Berlin Byways 2 and all its variants, Berlin Byways 3R,Sydney Sprint T,Bangkok Rush and its R variant, and Bangkok Rush 2 and its R variant. The stationary cars use the same models as the moving cars. Although they act as obstacles to block the player's path, they can always be bounced on to perform atrick if the player lands on top of them. The taxi version also retains its model and appears onNew York Minute T, New York Minute 2T, New York Minute 3T and 3R/T, and New York Minute 4 and all its variants.
Red convertibles appear again onWii Coconut Mall, which are occupied by Shy Guys like in the course'sMario Kart 8 Deluxe rendition; in the regular variant, they move back and forth across the track like inMario Kart Wii andMario Kart 7, while in the R variant, they are bigger and completely stationary, similarly to version 2.0.0 of8 Deluxe, though they now lie parallel to the course's borders rather than diagonally, and invisible boundaries redirect drivers away from them when approached.
The Mushroom-shaped cars fromMario Kart: Double Dash!! also return onGCN Mushroom Bridge and its R and T variants, as well asWii Moonview Highway R and R/T. They act much like in their debut game, releasing a Mushroom when bumped into or hit with an item such as aBanana,Green Shell,Bob-omb, etc. They can additionally be launched into the air by hitting them with aSpiny Shell,Super Horn, orSuper Bell, or by driving into them while under the effects of aFrenzy,Mega Mushroom,Bullet Bill, or aSuper Star. Interacting with a Mushroom-shaped car in any way grants the player bonus points, with the action being displayed as "Car".
Mario Kart World[edit]
Moving cars return inMario Kart World alongside the other traffic found throughout the world, once again featuring new designs; one of them now resembles a 1950s-1960s American convertible, with windows similar to theAMC Pacer. Their windows are also now transparent, showing the drivers,Toads,Shy Guys andKoopa Troopas being among them. A new toy-like car themed afterToad's Factory can also appear on routes, dropping various items, such asCoins, as it zigzags around traffic. Hitting cars from certain angles causes players to become unbalanced instead of being knocked over. Otherwise, players are still slowed down significantly less than in previous games. It is now possible to bounce off of cars by landing on top of them, which will provide a Coin.
Cars can occasionally veer off the road, or park. Passengers may leave parked cars at certain tracks and walk around, despawning after entering a pipe or a building.[1] Public transportation vehicles such as buses may pick up passengers at bus stations. During Free Roam, cars stop if a player drives in front of it.
Unlike in previous games, it is now possible to "destroy" cars, either by using aBob-omb orHammer, or crashing them with the controllablecargo truck.
Gallery[edit]
A car inToad's Turnpike fromMario Kart 64
A blue car atMushroom Bridge fromMario Kart: Double Dash!!
A red car atMushroom Bridge fromMario Kart: Double Dash!!
A yellow car at Mushroom Bridge fromMario Kart: Double Dash!!
A mushroom car at Mushroom Bridge fromMario Kart: Double Dash!!
A car at Mushroom Bridge fromMario Kart: Double Dash!!
A blue car inShroom Ridge,Mario Kart DS
A red car in Shroom Ridge,Mario Kart DS
A yellow car in Shroom Ridge,Mario Kart DS
Cars in Moonview Highway fromMario Kart Wii
Cars in Moonview Highway fromMario Kart Wii
Cars in Moonview Highway fromMario Kart Wii
Cars in Moonview Highway fromMario Kart Wii
A car in Moonview Highway fromMario Kart Wii
A car in Moonview Highway fromMario Kart Wii
A car in Moonview Highway fromMario Kart Wii
A blue car in Wuhu Loop fromMario Kart 7
A red car in Wuhu Loop fromMario Kart 7
Cars in Wuhu Loop fromMario Kart 7
Cars inN64 Toad's Turnpike fromMario Kart 8 andMario Kart 8 Deluxe
Cars inN64 Toad's Turnpike fromMario Kart 8 andMario Kart 8 Deluxe
More cars inN64 Toad's Turnpike fromMario Kart 8 andMario Kart 8 Deluxe
Cars inN64 Toad's Turnpike fromMario Kart 8 andMario Kart 8 Deluxe
A black car inDS Shroom Ridge fromMario Kart 8 Deluxe
A red car inDS Shroom Ridge fromMario Kart 8 Deluxe
A yellow taxi inTour New York Minute fromMario Kart 8 Deluxe
Model of a black car fromMario Kart 8
Model of a red car fromMario Kart 8
Model of a taxi fromMario Kart 8
Mario Kart World
Mario Kart World
Mario Kart World
Mario Kart World
Mario Kart World
A car based on astation wagon inMario Kart World
A car based on amuscle car from the 1960s inMario Kart World
A taxi inMario Kart World
A police car inMario Kart World
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | くるま[2] Kuruma | Car | |
| Chinese(Simplified) | 汽车[2] Qìchē | Car | |
| Chinese(Traditional) | 汽車[2] Qìchē | Car | |
| French | Voiture[2] | Car | |
| German | Auto[2] | Car | |
| Italian | Automobile[2] | - | |
| Auto[?] | Car | ||
| Korean | 자동차[2] Jadongcha | Automobile | |
| Portuguese | Carro[2] | Car | |
| Spanish(Latin American) | Carro[2] | Car | |
| Spanish(European) | Coche[2] | Car |
