Roving Racers
| Roving Racers | |||
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 Screenshot from Super Mario Odyssey | |||
| First appearance | Super Mario Odyssey (2017) | ||
| Latest appearance | Mario Kart Tour (all colors) (2023) | ||
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- “We're the Roving Racers! We rove the globe—racing in every kingdom that we can get to!”
- —Green Roving Racer, Super Mario Odyssey
The Roving Racers are a quintet of multicolored Koopa Troopas that appear in Super Mario Odyssey. They each wear a backwards cap that corresponds to the color of their shell and shoes and race Mario across the different kingdoms in the minigame Koopa Freerunning. The Roving Racers' role is reminiscent of Koopa the Quick from Super Mario 64, but mechanically they are more like Cosmic Mario from Super Mario Galaxy.
History[edit]
Super Mario Odyssey[edit]
To start Koopa Freerunning, Mario must talk to the green Koopa in a kingdom. The Roving Racers appear in most of the kingdoms following the completion of the story, but they do not appear in the Cloud Kingdom, in the Ruined Kingdom, on the Dark Side, or on the Darker Side. A Rankings Board is always next to the green Roving Racer, allowing the player to see the leaderboard for Koopa Freerunning. If Mario approaches the green Roving Racer while capturing an enemy, he complains about how he does not have time to deal with it. As with all non-player characters in the game, a conversation can be initiated only while Mario is not capturing anything.
During Koopa Freerunning, Mario competes against the red, green, blue, and purple members of the Roving Racers in a Regular Cup race from one point in a kingdom to another. Each Roving Racer takes a different path; the red Koopa Troopa is always the first of the four to finish, followed by the blue Koopa Troopa, then the green Koopa Troopa, and finally the purple Koopa Troopa. If Mario gets first place in the race, the green Koopa Troopa gives him a Power Moon after returning to the non-minigame state of the kingdom. Each kingdom has a different race and therefore a different Power Moon. After collecting the Regular Cup Power Moon from Koopa Freerunning in a kingdom, Mario can rematch the Roving Racers indefinitely in that kingdom to earn coins.
If Mario has broken the kingdom's Moon Rock and has the Power Moon for winning Koopa Freerunning in a kingdom for the first time, the Regular Cup race is replaced with a Master Cup race. A Gold Koopa joins the Roving Racers in Master Cup races, replacing the slowest Koopa (which is the purple Koopa). The Gold Koopa tends to take shortcuts, and through doing so, it always finishes ahead of the other Roving Racers. If Mario wins this race, a challenge made more difficult because of the Gold Koopa, the green Koopa gives him another Power Moon. After collecting a Power Moon from the Master Cup version of Koopa Freerunning in a kingdom, Mario can rematch the Roving Racers indefinitely to the Master Cup race in that kingdom. He earns 50 to 100 coins for coming in first place depending on the kingdom.
The Roving Racers can perform all the moves that Mario can, such as the Cap Throw; they can also capture enemies or objects and ride Jaxis, but instead of actually capturing the enemy or riding the Jaxi, they tuck into their shells and spin rapidly while yellow sparks surround them. This means the real enemy, object, or Jaxi is still available for Mario to use. The Roving Racers have longer arms and legs than other Koopa Troopas, matching Mario's body proportions. This is likely due to their ability to use Mario's moves.
Mario Kart Tour[edit]
All five Roving Racers appear in Mario Kart Tour as playable drivers. Named Red Koopa (Freerunning), Blue Koopa (Freerunning), Purple Koopa (Freerunning), Koopa (Freerunning), and Gold Koopa (Freerunning), they were introduced in the London Tour, 2021 Summer Tour (as a reward for placing high in the ranked cups), Singapore Tour (as a reward for placing high in the ranked cups), 2023 Mario Tour (as a reward for placing high in the first ranked cup), and 2020 New Year's Tour, respectively (the first four as Super drivers and the last as a High-End driver). Their respective special skills are the Fire Flower, Ice Flower, Double Bob-ombs, Triple Green Shells, and Coin Box. While the Super-class Koopas use Pipe Frames and Super Gliders matching their respective colors, the Gold Koopa simply uses a black Pipe Frame and Super Glider.
Koopa (Freerunning) was added after his red, blue, purple, and gold counterparts, making him the first driver to be introduced after his variants.
Profiles and statistics[edit]
Mario Kart Tour[edit]
Red Koopa (Freerunning)[edit]
- Mario Kart Tour Twitter: This Koopa Troopa is decked out in all red, making for a hot look! It's the perfect outfit to pair with his special item, the Fire Flower. Get out there and heat up the track![1]
Blue Koopa (Freerunning)[edit]
| Special skill |  Ice Flower
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| Favorite courses (Three items per Item Box) |
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| Favored courses (Two items per Item Box) |
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* indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 3. ** indicates a favored course upgraded to a favorite course after reaching level 6. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Purple Koopa (Freerunning)[edit]
| Special skill |  Double Bob-ombs
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| Favorite courses (Three items per Item Box) |
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| Favored courses (Two items per Item Box) |
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