Falling Pillar

Falling Pillars are recurring obstacles in the Mario Kart series. They first appeared in Mario Kart Wii on the course Dry Dry Ruins, and have appeared a few times throughout the series since.

Mario Kart Wii
Falling Pillars first appear in Dry Dry Ruins in Mario Kart Wii, where they take the form of. In this course, the pillars are decorated with various hieroglyphs depicting various emblems from certain characters such as Mario and Peach. Once a pillar has fallen on the ground, they can be used as ramps, aiding players in performing Jump Boosts and they can be used to perform shortcuts throughout the course too.

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Falling Pillars return in Mario Kart 8, this time they appear on. Here, they look and act more or less identically to how they looked and acted in Mario Kart Wii. Once again, they begin to fall as racers approach them on the second lap, and remain on the ground until the end of the course. Also like before, they can be used as a ramp once they have fallen over.

Mario Kart Tour
Falling pillars appear again in Mario Kart Tour in Piranha Plant Cove and Piranha Plant Cove 2. Unlike their previous appearances, they do not resemble Egyptian obelisks, and instead are more oblong-shaped, are darker in color and feature engravings that glow bright blue. These pillars appear just ahead of the course's starting line, and fall over as the course is played, as indicated by an official social media post highlighting the course.