Blue shell

The Super Mario series features some visually similar figures which pre-date the blue shell, such as the red Spinies from the original Super Mario Bros. (1985) and blue Koopa Troopas from Super Mario World (1990). In Mario Kart 64, racers in 4th-8th place can obtain the Spiny Shell. Since the release of Mario Kart: Double Dash, the series sees the Spiny Shell being more common to characters closer to the lead (if the leader pulls away from the rest of the pack). In releases after Mario Kart 64 and prior to Mario Kart 7, it is unable to hit characters on its way to the lead, as it flies above the track using wings rather than gliding upon its surface. There are few techniques possible in some Mario Kart games to evade a Spiny Shell, such as using a timed boost from a Mushroom item in Mario Kart DS onwards. In Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Kart Tour, and Mario Kart World, it is possible to use the new Super Horn item to destroy blue shells. A toy model of the blue shell is included in the limited edition package of Mario Kart 8. A blue-shelled Koopa General (voiced by Scott Menville) appears in the 2023 film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, obliterating much of the film's depiction of Rainbow Road after shouting "Blue shell!" as a battlecry. ==Development==

In a 2011 interview with Kotaku, Hideki Konno, who directed Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64, was asked about the blue shell's inclusion in the series. He stated that it was introduced in Mario Kart 64 to keep players together due to the limited processing power of the Nintendo 64 and that "we wanted to create a race where everyone was in it until the end". ==Reception==

Alex Langley's The Geek Handbook names being hit by a blue shell shortly before reaching the finish line as one of Mario Kart 8 greatest frustrations. David Murphy from PCMag and Jamie Andrew from Den of Geek both called the Blue Shell the “Blue Shell of Death”. In 2017, Keith Stuart of The Guardian included the blue shell as one of the "11 greatest video game objects" in history, calling it "the most controversial item in the Mario universe." Calling it "The Great Equalizer" for its enhancement of the elements of struggle and luck, Kotakus Nathan Grayson considered the blue shell to be the most despised, and best, item of the Mario Kart series. Kotakus Yannick Le Jacq considered the blue shell to be the most notable and game-changing among Mario Kart "most notorious" items, adding that this made it "a lot more fun" to use in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U too. Maxwell McGee of GameSpot considered the ability to destroy the "dreaded" blue shells with a new item, the Super Horn, to be a particularly exciting feature of Mario Kart 8. Steve Watts of GameSpot said in 2022 that "the Blue Shell has become synonymous with Mario Kart" and is now an icon within video game history. ==References==