Dash Panel

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One of the Boost Pads that appear in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.

Boost Pads (also called Dash Panels, Zippers, Rainbow Boosts, Rainbow Ramps or Turbo Tiles) are special zones that appear mostly in the Mario Kart series. The appearance of these panels have changed throughout the game's history. Boost Pads are used to increase speed of the player's Kart, especially to be used to achieve maximum speed on big jumps and slopes. If the player uses a Mushroom on any of these pads, nothing will happen; however, the player will go faster if the player slipstreams on it.

Appearances

Mario Kart series

Boost Pads are one of the main road elements in Mario Kart games, appearing in almost every title in the series. However, their design vary from game to game.

Super Mario Kart

In Super Mario Kart, Boost Pads appear as yellow arrows and are very rare. They appear in seven courses: Bowser Castle 1, Mario Circuit 2, Ghost Valley 2, Bowser Castle 2, Mario Circuit 3, Bowser Castle 3, Ghost Valley 3. CPUs never use them, so the player can easily get to the first positions by using them. In Mario Circuit 2 the boosters are used to make a large jump and are mandatory. Except in Mario Circuit 2, Boost Pads don't appear in Time Trials in Super Mario Kart.

Mario Kart 64

Donkey Kong on a Boost Pad in DK's Jungle Parkway.

In the Nintendo 64 title, Boost Pads are set in three courses, Royal Raceway, DK's Jungle Parkway and Koopa Beach. They appear as yellow and red pads, used to launch karts over large gaps (similar to the cannons that appears in future Mario Kart courses like Maple Treeway and Airship Fortress).

Mario Kart: Super Circuit

In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, they again appear as yellow and red pads and they are very common. They appear in fourteen courses: Riverside Park, Mario Circuit, Boo Lake, Cheese Land, Bowser Castle 2, Cheep Cheep Island, Sunset Wilds, Snow Land, Ribbon Road, Yoshi Desert, Lakeside Park, Broken Pier, Bowser Castle 4 and Rainbow Road. They provides again a burst of speed like in Super Mario Kart but are often used to make large jumps like in Riverside Park.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

In this game, they are flashing rainbow panels and rectangle-shaped. From Mario Kart: Double Dash!! the Boost Pads appear in almost all courses.

Mario Kart DS

Yoshi on a Boost Pad in Wario Stadium.

In Mario Kart DS, Boost Pads keep the same rainbow coloration but rather than designed as panel that changes color over time they are designed to be a rainbow that scrolls forward due to technical limitations. In this game the Boost Pads are more rare because they rarely appear in retro courses. Games older than Mario Kart: Double Dash!! keep the original boostser design (like in GBA Bowser Castle 2).

Mario Kart Wii

Baby Luigi on a Boost Pad in Luigi Circuit.

In Mario Kart Wii, they have a similar design to Double Dash!! but in most courses the color only changes from red, orange, yellow and back to red through the color spectrum. Retro courses from games older than Double Dash!! that contains Boost Pads keep the original design (an example is DK's Jungle Parkway).

Mario Kart 7

In Mario Kart 7, with the new feature of gliders, Boost Pads are color-coded:

• Orange Boost Pads increase the speed of the karts like in all other games.
• Blue Boost Pads are placed at the edge of ramps (so the player can make tricks on it, and activate the gliders, allowing them to soar through the next area.

Mario Kart 8

In the Wii U game, they are still color-and-shape-coded and have pixelated animations of their shapes and colors like the ones in Super Mario 3D World:

• Orange Boost Pads increase the speed of the veichle.
• Blue Boost Pads with arrows activate the glider feature, and are placed on ramps or edges like in Mario Kart 7.
• Blue Boost Pads with circles turns the wheels orizontally and activates the antigravity feature. It ends automatically, often after a ramp or a gliding section. When going backwards, the anti-gravity activates automatically turns on and turns off when passing over the anti-gravity Boost Pad.

Diddy Kong Racing

File:Zippers.png

From Left: the Car Zipper, the Plane Zipper, and the Hovercraft Zipper.

Objects that behave similarly to a boost pad in the Mario Kart series appear in Diddy Kong Racing, where they are known as Zippers. When racing in a kart, they appear like in Super Mario Kart, but when racing in an hovercraft or in an airplane, they are triangle-shaped but retain the Super Mario Kart look.

Mario Party series

Mario Party 9

Boost Pads (known in this game as Dash Zones) appear in Mario Party 9 in the minigame, Speeding Bullets. They are used to accelerate the character's speed when they are used. These Boost Pads are orange in colour and are arrow-shaped. In Time Attack, a bonus challenge for Speeding Bullets is to not miss a single Dash Zone.

A Boost Pad also appears in Snow Go to help the players crossing thick snow. In Time Attack mode, the bonus challenge is to use it in all five laps.

Mario Party: Island Tour

In Mario Party: Island Tour, Boost Pads are present in two minigames: Gyro for the Gold and Mr. Blizzard's Snow Slalom. In the former, they are used to cross gaps between the platforms of the obstacle course. In the latter, it has the same look from recent Mario Kart Boost Pads, and is used to launch the character's snowball at Mr. Blizzard.

Super Mario 3D World

These objects make their debut in the Super Mario series in Super Mario 3D World, for the Wii U. This time, they are square-shaped, and feature a pixelated diamond animation. Once a character runs on it, it will blink and give them a boost. Boosted characters cannot stop running or crouch (and so cannot long jump), and have problems making direction changes any sharper than 90 degrees. All characters run at the same speed when boosted. Jumping will slow boosted characters down slightly, especially if an ability such as floating is used, but they'll immediately return to full speed upon landing if the boost has not yet run out. Template:BoxTop