Lakitu

Lakitus are Koopas who ride clouds through the skies, mostly dropping Spiny Eggs on the ground or near the player. When they are defeated, their clouds can be ridden for a short amount of time. In other games, however, they take on friendly roles, such as refereeing races, tennis and baseball games, and even filming Mario's adventures. Many of the sports game manuals refer to Lakitu in the singular, indicating that there may only be a specific individual Lakitu involved (who is named for his species, as Toad or Yoshi), and Mario Kart 7 introduces a unique, playable Lakitu character.

## Mario Kart Series

A Lakitu starts taking on more friendly roles in the Mario Kart series. It has many responsibilities throughout the series, guiding the race most of the time. It most prominently appears as the referee, holding a starting light with a fishing pole which tells the drivers when the race begins (except for Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Tour), and signals the drivers what lap or section they are currently in. Occasionally, in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, a Cheep Cheep is caught on the device. Another role it has is signaling the players if they are driving the wrong way, doing so in three different ways: it shows a yellow flag with an "X" on it in Super Mario Kart, a sign saying "REVERSE" in Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit, or a U-turn arrow sign since Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. In Mario Kart 8, Lakitu even puts the drivers in the right direction if they do not do so within five seconds outside of Time Trial mode. There is a secret in Mario Kart Wii regarding this: Lakitu can be crushed by a Thwomp when signaling about going the wrong way. However, in the next two installments, Lakitu quickly evades the hazard without getting crushed. If the driver crosses the finish line at the end of the race, then Lakitu will come in while waving the checkered flag.

Another role Lakitu has in the series is helping out the drivers when they are in a bad situation by transporting them back onto the track. This applies when the racers are falling into a void, a body of water (that they cannot drive through), or lava, or when they are going out of bounds of the track. However, as a penalty for falling, they have to wait a few seconds before they can drive again, usually losing some position, and in Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8, Lakitu also charges the player with up to three coins if they have any. In the lattermost game, Lakitu appears immediately to save the drivers without them having to plummet. In Mario Kart Wii's Rainbow Road and Galaxy Colosseum, the drivers are shown burning up on re-entry into the planet's atmosphere as they fall.

Mario Kart 8 gives Lakitu another role, namely filming for Mario Kart TV. This lets the player replay the whole race or the best highlights. Other characters, such as Toads, film for the service as well.

In Mario Kart 8, if the player fails to finish in the top three, Lakitu appears clapping in place of a trophy on the results screen, and "Nice try!" is shown instead of "Congratulations!". Additionally, if the CPU on an end-of-race results screen happens to get stuck on a wall, then they will be pulled by an invisible Lakitu.

### Mario Kart 7

Mario Kart 7 marks the first playable appearance of a Lakitu in the series. This playable Lakitu has a red shell, unlike the non-playable Lakitu which has a green shell like in previous games; this is the third appearance of a Lakitu with a red shell, the first being Super Mario World, which was released 21 years prior to Mario Kart 7. Lakitu is in the feather weight class, giving him high acceleration, handling, and off-road stats while giving him low speed and weight (he shares these attributes with Toad, Koopa Troopa, and Shy Guy). It is unlocked by winning the 150cc Lightning Cup.

In races that contain underwater driving, the non-playable Lakitu will be sporting a snorkeling mask, as well as its cloud sporting some goggles similar to Lakitu itself. The race tracks that use this are Cheep Cheep Lagoon, Piranha Plant Slide, Wario Shipyard, Rosalina's Ice World, N64 Koopa Troopa Beach, GCN Daisy Cruiser and Wii Koopa Cape.

### Mario Kart Tour

The red-shelled Lakitu once again returns in Mario Kart Tour as a playable character. It was added as a playable character during the Tokyo Tour, with the Triple Green Shells as its special item, which is shared with Iggy, Koopa Troopa, and Dry Bones. The non-playable Lakitu referee gives out tips to the player on the loading screen and announces the results in ranked cups. Occasionally, the referee wears costumes themed after the tour, such as a Halloween costume during the 2020 Halloween Tour, a New Year's costume during the 2020 Winter Tour and Rosalina Tour, and a Spring costume during the 2021 Yoshi Tour. The Lakitu referee in the New Year's costume debuts in the New Year's 2021 Tour as a playable character.[3]

(Not all MK games appear)

### Trivia

* Lakitu's sprite in Super Mario Kart is almost identical to his sprite in Super Mario World. The only difference is that the Lakitu of Super Mario World has red eyes while the Lakitu of Super Mario Kart has green eyes (making it appear similar to its counterparts Lakitu in a Pipe and Fishin' Lakitu in Super Mario World).
* After being asked what video game character would represent him the best, Shigeru Miyamoto replied that Lakitu would, as it "seems to be very free, floating in the air, going anywhere," a type of personality to which Miyamoto can apparently relate.[4]