Items
Items are powerups that can be obtained by racers and used to attack other players, speed up, take shortcuts, or defend against attacks. You can get an item by opening an item box during a race. In some cases, you can also use items that are lying on the track. You can hold up to two items at a time. The items available in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are listed below. Click one to see more details and strategies.
Item Box
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has both single and double item boxes.
Double item boxes are often placed in "inconvenient" locations, so you have to take slightly slower lines in order to get two items.
Most item boxes are laid out in a horizontal line, so you will usually get at least one item just by driving.
However, it is often possible to drive right between two item boxes and get no items at all.
This is more likely to happen if you have a kart combo with a small hitbox.
After an item box is opened, it disappears for a short time before it can be used again.
Item Roulette
Once you open an item box, the "item roulette" will begin. You'll see the available items scroll by until it lands on the item you will receive. The front item slot will finish the roulette before the back item slot.
The item roulette takes 190 frames (3.1 seconds) to complete, but it can be ended early by pressing the item button 60 frames (1 second) after the roulette starts.