In Mario Kart, you have to wait a few seconds before receiving an item from an item box. As a kid, I always thought mashing L sped up this excruciatingly long (2-5 second) process.
However, there are a few other ways I could imagine Mario Kart handles this operation. The waiting period could be determined by:
- Your current placement
- Your currently/previously held items
- Your character/kart (this may only be a factor in Double Dash)
- Randomly
Is it possible to influence how fast your receive your item, or is it determined by other factors?
Best Answer
Yes, you can get your items faster by pressing the item button to interrupt the roulette. I don't know the exact numbers, but it's pretty simple: Normally you get an item after a certain period of time, and you can press the button to receive it earlier, though there is a minimum roulette time (it can't be instant).
In MK8 specifically, this is the only pure factor in roulette time: it's fixed, but you can interrupt it earlier after a point. However, when playing online, the roulette doesn't stop until it successfully hears from all other players that they know what your item is. As a result it will roll slower in games with more laggy opponents.