Dash Panel
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Boost Pads (also called Dash Panels, Zippers, Rainbow Boosts, Rainbow Ramps or Turbo Tiles) are special zones that appear 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 common spots found in the Mario Kart series, they are distinguished by their colour and how they speed up the specified racer. The Boost pads received major redesigns later in the series, as they rarely appeared in Super Mario Kart as small yellow arrows. In Mario Kart 64, they were just as rare and were yellow squares/rectangles with red arrows. In Mario Kart: Super Circuit (Mario Kart: Advance in Japan) they were still rare spots and had the same design as Mario Kart 64. Mario Kart: Double Dash had a major redesign for boost pads, they were now pads with faint arrows and rainbow colouring flowing through them, Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii had the same design with few changes, but in Mario Kart 7 there were Orange Boost Pads to speed up the racer and Blue Boost Pads. Mario Kart 8 has been confirmed to have the same boost pads from MK7 and a new type which is a Blue Circle pad or Anti-Gravity pad that activates the antigravity wheels.
Diddy Kong Racing
Objects that behave similarly to a boost pad in the Mario Kart series appear in Diddy Kong Racing, where they are known as Zippers.
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.
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.
