The Feather is an Item that made its first appearance in the first Mario Kart game, Super Mario Kart. After a 25-year absence, it made a suprising reappearance in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's improved Battle Mode. The item give the user a small boost into the air allowing them to take advantage of various shortcuts.
Uses
Super Mario Kart
A Feather will let any racer who is equipped with it do a high jump into the air (and if that's not impressive enough, they also do a midair spin!) It's a great recovery Item when you're driving on a track with lots of edges and shortcuts that you can hop over that were otherwise inaccessible without a Feather. However, it is a dangerous Item to use on courses that have barely any railing and large areas that you can fall off the racetrack, such as Bowser Castle 3 (SNES). So you gotta be careful not to screw up and go flying off the edge of the course.
Feathers can also be used defensively against Items such as Green Shells and Bananas. You can simply evade an incoming Green Shell (or a Red Shell) by hopping over them. And Bananas are no longer a problem, cause now you can jump!
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
The item is almost the same. It is no longer usable in, can be used the steal a balloon in Balloon Battle as with the Shine in Shine Thief, and some coins in Coin Runners) and acts like a trick in giving the player a speed boost as well as a animation.
Mario Kart Tour
Feathers return in this game, with the only difference being altered animations and no longer stealing destroyed ballons.
Mario Kart World
The Feather is set to return in this game, with a new animation and a return to appearing in regular races.
Trivia!
- The Feather was going to make another entry in Mario Kart 64, but it was deemed useless and thus the idea was scrapped.
- However, the code is partially still within the game.
- The item roulette icon for it appeared several times on screenshots of the Super Mario Kart R build shown at Shoshinkai '95 (look in the gallery.)
- This same icon was found in its original quality in the July 25th, 2020 iQue leak.
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Feather is the first Battle Mode-exclusive item.
Gallery
| Regular Items | Banana • Green Shell • Red Shell • Mushroom • Lightning • Starman • Feather • Coin • Boo |
|---|---|
| CPU-only Items | Poison Mushroom • Yoshi Egg • Fireball |
| Banana • Triple Bananas • Green Shell • Triple Green Shell • Red Shell • Triple Red Shell • Spiny Shell • Bob-omb • Mushroom • Triple Mushroom • Golden Mushroom • Bullet Bill • Blooper • Lightning • Starman • Fire Flower • Boomerang Flower • Potted Piranha Plant • Super Horn • Crazy 8 • Coin • Feather*/** • Boo* | ||||
| * - Exclusive to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. • ** - Only available in Battle Mode. | ||||
| Regular Items | Banana • Green Shell • Red Shell • Spiny Shell • Bob-omb • Mushroom • Bullet Bill • Blooper • Lightning • Starman** • Mega Mushroom • Super Horn • Coin • Feather*** |
|---|---|
| Special Items | Boomerang Flower • Bubble* • Triple Green Shells • Double Bob-ombs* • Dash Ring* • Giant Banana • Heart • Fire Flower • Yoshi's Egg • Triple Mushrooms • Ice Flower* • Giga Bob-omb* • Bowser Shell • Banana Barrel* • Lucky Seven • Bob-omb Cannon* • Birdo's Egg • Hammer* • Mushroom Cannon* • Triple Bananas • Coin Box* • Super Bell* • Super Leaf • Capsule* |
| * - New to the series. • ** - Exclusive as an Item in some Challenges and in Multiplayer. • *** - Only available in Battle Mode. | |