Cannon (Mario Kart series)

A Cannon is a track feature seen in various tracks in the Mario Kart series. It is a somewhat uncommon feature that appaers in a few tracks throughout the series. It launch racers into parts of the track at very fast speed, or allows them to reach places that normally can't. Cannons take on different forms, going from normal cannons to the more common barrel cannons. In Mario Kart: Double Dash!! to Mario Kart Wii all cannons started with a boost panel and made racers immune to the effects of Lightning Bolts, POW Blocks and Spiny Shells while in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8 all cannons use gliding panels instead. In the latter games, players are no longer immune to the effects of items.

Mario Kart 64
In Mario Kart 64, Boost Pads serve as a predecessor of the Cannon, which actually have the same purpose. They appear in two courses, Royal Raceway, and DK's Jungle Parkway.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Cannons make their first appearance in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! where they are featured on two courses; DK Mountain and Rainbow Road. In DK Mountain, the cannon takes the form of a barrel cannon, most likely to suit the Donkey Kong theme of the track. In Rainbow Road, the cannon takes the form of a long, vertical tube going straight upward.

Mario Kart DS
Cannons return in Mario Kart DS, Once again having two appearances; one in Waluigi Pinball and another in Airship Fortress. In Waluigi Pinball, the cannon takes the form similar to that of a pinball launcher. In Airship Fortress the cannon takes the form of an actual cannon rather than a barrel cannon seen in many other courses.

Mario Kart Wii
In Mario Kart Wii, Cannons are a bit more frequent, as they appear in three Nitro courses (DK Summit, Maple Treeway and Rainbow Road) and one Retro course (GCN DK Mountain). Both DK Summit and Maple Treeway return to using a barrel cannon, both of which are located near the beginning of the tracks while Rainbow Road uses a Launch Star design, to fit the Super Mario Galaxy theme the track used.

Mario Kart 7
In Mario Kart 7, cannons appear less frequent due to the introduction of gliding. However the returning DS Waluigi Pinball, Wii Maple Treeway and DS Airship Fortress all retain their cannons, though now use gliding panels instead of boost panels. When a player goes through one of the cannons, they are unable to steer while gliding.

Mario Kart 8
Mario Kart 8 uses again Cannons frequently and is the first Mario Kart game to add a Cannon to a retro track (N64 Yoshi Valley). Aside from the aformentioned Retro track, Sweet Sweet Canyon uses a donut themed cannon near the beginning of the track and Cloudtop Cruise uses an actual cannon at the end of the airship section, similar to that of Airship Fortress.

Other appearances
Cannons also appear in some Dream Events in the Mario & Sonic series, commonly in the events taking place in Mario Kart locations. One appears in Dream Ski Cross, which takes place in Mario Circuit and another in Groove Pipe Snowboard which takes place in Mushroom Bridge.