For the solitary Red Shell page, click here.
Triple Red Shells on Mario Kart Wii.
Triple Red Shells is a highly sought after Item in the Mario Kart series. It gives the player not one, not two, but THREE Red Shells to launch at opponents.
Because of their sheer effectiveness on a racer's position, Triple Red Shells can be acquired in the 8th-5th place range.
Usage[]
Offense[]
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Birdo with Triple, or in this case Double Red Shells on Rainbow Road. (She used one.)
After receiving the shells from an Item Box, players can press the Item button (varies by use of controller) to equip the trio of Red Shells. They circle around the player's Kart/Bike clockwise, and can be launched by pressing the Item button again. Like the usual Red Shell, each one will travel along the track towards the closest racer, locking on to them, and knock them over on an almost guaranteed impact. The Red Shell closest to the front of the vehicle will be fired, as with Triple Green Shells.
It's best to pause about 3 seconds between each Red Shell shot; with Triple Green Shells, a lot of players fire all three in rapid succession, as at least one would be a hit. Red Shells are far more accurate than Green Shells though, so there's no need to spray n' pray. These homing shells only fail if they have protection or hit an obstruction, which is rarely. To max the damage done by Triple Red Shells, wait for the enemy racer to recover from the first shell before firing the second (Launching all three in 1 second won't do much at all, as Red Shells have no effect when a player is already knocked over- so, you'd be wasting Red Shells, which is not good at all). If done correctly, the opponent (or possibly opponents) in front of you will be stalled at one point in the Track or Battle Stage for a painfully long amount of time.
If the most pressing matter is a player in the back, Red Shells also have a backwards fire ability. Just press down and the Item button simultaneously, and a Red Shell will be sent hurtling backwards, although they lose their ability to hone in on another player.
A final method of knocking opponents with Triple Red Shells is to simply bump into another player with them. Using them as a "battering ram" though makes them just as powerful as Triple Green Shells, and it's usually more practical to shoot the Red Shells. However, if an enemy player is only a foot in front, it may be smarter to smash into them, as Red Shells need a longer distance to lock onto racers (so it will just go straight off into the horizon, doin' nothing).
Defense[]
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Koopa Troopa won't be in tenth for long with Triple Red Shells...
Another option, not common with Triple Red Shells but still worthy of note, is using them as a revolving barrier from incoming Items. It's most likely that racers get Triple Red Shells in the lower places, meaning players behind them get Bullet Bills and Stars, both of them easily capable of smashing through the shells. For this reason, they are usually used for attack. They also have the same protection disadvantages of Triple Green Shells, such as the tiny yet sometimes vulnerifying gaps in between each Red Shell and their gradual exposing of the players Kart as they are destroyed.
Vulnerifying is a word that I made up but means that it makes you vulnerable.
Mario Kart Wii Trivia[]
- Along with its Green Shell triplet counterpart, the Triple Red Shell first appeared in Mario Kart 64.
- They've been in every Mario Kart game since (besides the arcade versions), but only were allowed to be fired back starting in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.
- In most Mario Kart titles, including Mario Kart Wii, Triple Red Shells can't be picked up by CPUs, only the player(s).
- Along with the Triple Green Shells, Triple Red Shells were Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa's Special Item in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.
- Many fans of the Mario Kart series believe the best Item ever is the Spiny Shell, with its deadly ability to explode right on top of first place almost unchallenged. However, a fair match to that title is Triple Red Shells, coming in second place or even first place on some lists, such as WatchMojo [1].
- It's especially feared in Battle Mode, where Triple Green Shells can kill a single racer easily, one shell per Balloon.
- Mario Kart 7 an Mario Kart 8 released the Lucky 7 and Crazy 8 Items, respectively, which can surmount the Triple Red Shells is deadly proportions, giving the player 7 or 8, depending on the game, Red Shells when the Items are set to "Shells Only". It is just too much.