Lightning from Mario Kart Wii.
Lightning, also referred to as Thunderbolt or Shock, is a destructive attack/recovery Item that can damage almost every player in a Mario Kart race. Usually obtained in 9th place or lower, it shocks every vehicle ahead of and behind the user, shrinking them. With almost no defenses against it, it represents Mario Kart's heartless reputation of unfairness quite well.
Usage[]
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Diddy Kong suffering and shrinking too a bolt of Lightning on Wario's Gold Mine.
After the player activates the Lightning, a dark cloud instantly and simultaneously appears over all racers ahead of them. The cloud shocks each one with a blazing bolt of lightning, which makes them lose any Items they might have, spin out, decelerates and then shrinks their Kart/Bike to a tiny size. The fractioned weight of the player affects their Speed, and also, they can be bumped around into barriers a lot easier now. The process of growing back to normal size starts from lowest to highest rank, with 12th and 11th usually returning to normal size almost instantly and the first place racer taking about ten seconds. This makes Lightning a great equalizer Item.
Defenses[]
To defend against Lightning successfully is based on pure chance. Drivers with a Star, Bullet Bill, or Mega Mushroom activated will not be affected (Drivers with an activated Mega Mushroom will shrink to regular size). Drivers airborne from a cannon are also immune. Most of these Items are obtained in lower places, and there aren’t too many cannons throughout tracks, so players in 1st-5th place have a very poor situation.
Mario Kart Trivia[]
- The Thunder Cloud Item is based off of Lightning, in which it does the same damage but only to one Character.
- The POW Block functions similarly to the Lightning in that it causes players to lose their items, but it gives them a warning a few seconds in advance, only affects racers ahead of the user, and can be avoided if the player is in the air while it goes off.
- Lightning was originally called the Thunder Bolt, up until Mario Kart: Super Circuit.
- In some Mario Kart games (Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart 8), racers struck by Lightning could be ran over and flattened like a pancake by normal-sized racers as if with a Mega Mushroom.