Mario Kart 8 – Can There Be Multiple Blue Shells at Once?

Generally speaking your speed on the ground will be faster than your speed in the air, and therefore you will want to get back on the ground as quickly as possible. In certain cases gliding will open up a strategic oppurtunity, such as reaching a new area, taking a shortcut, or giving a benefit applicable only to those who choose to stay in the air. For example near the end of the course Mount Wario, there is a gliding segment where several hoops can be found in the air (see figure 1), which grant a small boost of speed when flown through. In such cases your own judgement will need to be used to decide what is the best opportunity, by weighing both it's measure of benefits & risks.

Figure 1. Flying through these hoops will grant a small boost of speed.

However, if you choose your kart customizations correctly, you can gain an air speed that is equal, or nearly equal to your ground speed. If you can find a combination that provides such a kart then it would essentially be best to remain in the air, since you would not be losing any speed, and you could leave yourself open to new strategies.

I hope this helps! :)

Short answer: No

The decision to remove wheelies from Mario Kart 8 was an intentional one. The reason stems from the fact that, due to poor design decisions in Mario Kart Wii, the bike became an over-powered vehicle. This is a statement attested to in general by players and developers alike.

The main factors that over-powered bikes were:

• Overall Speed - Bikes generally had higher speeds than karts. The two fastest combinations in the game both require bikes.
• Wheelies - Gave them an additional speed advantage that karts did not have.
• Inner drifting - Allowed for sharper curves that karts could never perform.

The developers of Mario Kart Wii attempted to balance this situation by limiting how bikes boosted via drifts: granting only blue boosts, instead of the more powerful orange. This however had little impact.

Enter Mario Kart 8

The developers have made every attempt to balance bikes, while still retaining their spirit. The first and most obvious change in gameplay mechanics is the removal of wheelies as you noted. This makes them more on par with karts.

Other mechanical changes to bikes in Mario Kart 8 include:

• Increasing the drift angle to be less sharp.
• Giving them access to orange speed boosts, just like karts.

All of that said, as Matt has stated, when boosting via mushrooms if a player is using a bike in Mario Kart 8, the character will perform a wheelie. This is simple eye-candy and has no known effect on gameplay.