Roving Racers

The Roving Racers are a quintet of multicolored Koopa Troopas that appear in Super Mario Odyssey. They wear backwards caps that correspond to their shell color and race Mario across the different kingdoms in a minigame called Koopa Freerunning.

Super Mario Odyssey
During the Koopa Freerunning minigame, each Roving Racer takes a different path to the finish; 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. In each kingdom's race, Mario must come in first place to obtain a Power Moon; after doing so and hitting the kingdom's Moon Rock, he can rematch them and gain another Power Moon if he comes in first place again, with a gold Koopa that tends to take shortcuts and always finishes before the other Roving Racers replacing the purple Koopa. Mario can rematch the Roving Racers indefinitely after collecting both Power Moons, earning fifty to one hundred coins for coming in first place depending on the kingdom. The Roving Racers can perform moves that Mario can, such as the Cap Throw; they can also capture enemies and ride Jaxis, but appear to be rapidly spinning inside their shells with yellow sparks surrounding them when doing so. They notably have longer arms and legs than other Koopa Troopas in order to match Mario's body proportions.

The Roving Racers race Mario in a similar vein to Cosmic Mario from Super Mario Galaxy, and their role is reminiscent of Koopa the Quick from Super Mario 64. In order to participate in the race, Mario must find and talk to the green Roving Racer, who can be found in every kingdom after the completion of the story (except for the Cloud Kingdom, the Ruined Kingdom, the Dark Side, and the Darker Side). The Koopa Freerunning leaderboard is always next to him. If Mario approaches the green Roving Racer while capturing an enemy, he will complain about how he does not have time to deal with it.

Mario Kart Tour
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.

Koopa (Freerunning) was added after his red, blue, purple, and gold counterparts, making him the first driver to be introduced after his variants.

Red Koopa (Freerunning)

 * 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!

Gold Koopa (Freerunning)

 * Mario Kart Tour Twitter:
 * The hat, the shell, he's got it all! Gold Koopa (Freerunning) is here to prove that all that glitters is gold! His special item is the Coin Box, and subscribers to the blue Gold Pass can earn him by collecting Grand Stars during the New Year's Tour!
 * Gold Koopa (Freerunning) is going for the gold in the Gold Blooper! They're together in a set available now.

Trivia

 * Predating Super Mario Odyssey by 24 years, the cover to Super Mario Compact Disco featured a green Koopa with a backwards red cap.
 * Two years before Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Maker and its Nintendo 3DS port feature red Koopa Troopas wearing backwards caps when Mario uses the Big Mushroom, similarly to the red Roving Racer.