Mario Kart DS item probability distributions

The following tables are used in Mario Kart DS to determine the probability of receiving an item when an Item Box is opened. Even though the karts influence the probability of obtaining each item through their Items statistics, only the tables for one case are stored in the game's files; this case presumably refers to the use of the Standard karts, that have an Items statistics of 66. The probability is coded as percentage multiplied by two. The distributions are presented in the order used in the code.^[1]

Races

In the races, the item probability distributions are chosen depending on the rank of the driver when the Item Box is opened.

Grand Prix races

Grand Prix races, drivers controlled by players
Item	Rank
Item	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
	45	25	15	5
		55	40	25	20	10
	90	30	15	5
File:FItembox.png	35	20	10
		30	40	45	40	35	10
			10	30	55	60	70	30
		10	20	20	10
				10	20	15
File:Thunderbolt - Mario Kart Wii.png						10	20	45
		15	25	20	10
	30	15	5
			5	15	15	5
					10	25	40	25
						15	35	55
File:Bullet Bill Mario.jpg						10	20	45
			10	15	10	5
File:BooMKDS.jpg			5	10	10	10	5
Unused Item

Grand Prix races, drivers controlled by software
Item	Rank
Item	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
	60	25	35	30	30	25	15	10
	15	70	35	30	15
	50	35	25	20	15	15	5
File:FItembox.png	35	20	10	5
	10	20	40	40	45	70	70	30
			15	25	35	40	45	55
		10	15	15	10
				10	15	15	15
File:Thunderbolt - Mario Kart Wii.png								25
		5	15	10	10	5
	30	15	5

					5	10	20	25
						5	15	30
File:Bullet Bill Mario.jpg							10	25
			5	10	10	5
File:BooMKDS.jpg				5	10	10	5
Unused Item

VS races

In the case of online VS races, two tables of item probability distributions are found in the game's code, both of them having the same values. Only one of them will be presented here. It must be noted that those tables have the probabilities coded for 8 players, while in the final game only up to 4 players can participate in an online VS race.

Local VS races, drivers controlled by players
Item	Rank
Item	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
	40	30	15	5
		60	45	30	20	10	5
	90	30	15	5
File:FItembox.png	35	15	10
		25	35	45	40	35	10
			15	30	55	65	75	25
		5	20	20	15
				10	20	20	10
File:Thunderbolt - Mario Kart Wii.png								35
		10	20	15	5
	35	20	5
			5	15	15	10
					10	30	35	35
						15	45	60
File:Bullet Bill Mario.jpg							15	45
		5	10	15	10	5
File:BooMKDS.jpg			5	10	10	10	5
Unused Item

Local VS races, drivers controlled by software
Item	Rank
Item	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
	80	25	35	30	30	25	15	10
	15	70	35	25	10
	45	30	25	20	15	10	5
File:FItembox.png	30	20	15	10	5
		20	35	35	45	65	60	20
			10	25	35	45	55	60
		10	15	15	10	5
				15	20	20	20
File:Thunderbolt - Mario Kart Wii.png								25
		5	15	10	5
	30	15	5

					5	10	25	20
						5	15	30
File:Bullet Bill Mario.jpg								35
		5	10	10	10	5
File:BooMKDS.jpg				5	10	10	5
Unused Item

Online VS races
Item	Rank
Item	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
	60	35	30	25	20	5
		50	45	45	40	30	10	10
	100	40	20	10	5
File:FItembox.png	30	20	10
		30	40	35	30	20	10
		15	35	40	45	55	60	45
	10	10	15	20	20	10
				10	15	20	15	10
File:Thunderbolt - Mario Kart Wii.png						5	25	30



				5	8	20	30	35
					2	15	25	40
File:Bullet Bill Mario.jpg							20	30
			5	5	8	10
File:BooMKDS.jpg				5	7	10	5
Unused Item

Special cases

These distributions are used in special cases (such as Missions mode; for example, the 8th distribution is used in the special Item Box of DK Pass, and the second during Mission 6-4. The last five distributions do not allow to obtain any item, it is possible that they are not used in the game.

Special cases
Item	Distribution
Item	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
					1					40	200
							1	1
	200					100
File:FItembox.png
		200				100	9	9
			200				190	100
									200	40

File:Thunderbolt - Mario Kart Wii.png
					199					120


				200				90

File:Bullet Bill Mario.jpg

File:BooMKDS.jpg
Unused Item

Battles

In the battles, there are three distributions each.

Balloon Battle

For Balloon Battles, items are determined by the number of balloons above the kart.

Balloon Battles, drivers controlled by players
Item	Number of balloons
Item	3+	2	1
	65	35	10
	35	55	80
	45	15
File:FItembox.png	25	10
	20	20	2
		10	13
	5	15	10

File:Thunderbolt - Mario Kart Wii.png
		15	10
	5	15
			20
		5	25
			5
File:Bullet Bill Mario.jpg
		5	10
File:BooMKDS.jpg			15
Unused Item

Balloon Battles, drivers controlled by software
Item	Number of balloons
Item	3+	2	1
	95	75	15
	35	55	80
	20
File:FItembox.png	15
	25	20	15
		5	10
	10	15	10

File:Thunderbolt - Mario Kart Wii.png
		10	20


		5	25

File:Bullet Bill Mario.jpg
		10	10
File:BooMKDS.jpg		5	15
Unused Item

Shine Runners

It is not currently known how items get distributed in Shine Runners.

Shine Runners battles, drivers controlled by players
Item	Distribution
Item	1	2	3
	60	35	5
	40	60	70
	50	15
File:FItembox.png	25	10
	10	10	1
		5	4
	15	20	15

File:Thunderbolt - Mario Kart Wii.png			15
		25	10
		15
			35
			25

File:Bullet Bill Mario.jpg
		5	5
File:BooMKDS.jpg			15
Unused Item

Shine Runners battles, drivers controlled by software
Item	Distribution
Item	1	2	3
	90	70	10
	40	65	85
	25	5
File:FItembox.png	15	5
	20	15	8
			2
	10	20	10

File:Thunderbolt - Mario Kart Wii.png			20
		10	20


		5	20

File:Bullet Bill Mario.jpg
		5	10
File:BooMKDS.jpg			15
Unused Item

References

^ A transcription of the item probability tables used by Mario Kart DS.

Navigation

[1] A transcription of the item probability tables used by Mario Kart DS.

[1]

Mario Kart DS
Drivers and their karts		Mario (Standard MR · B Dasher · Shooting Star) • Luigi (Standard LG · Poltergust 4000 · Streamliner) • Princess Peach (Standard PC · Royale · Light Tripper) • Yoshi (Standard YS · Egg 1 · Cucumber) • Toad (Standard TD · Mushmellow · 4-Wheel Cradle) • Donkey Kong (Standard DK · Rambi Rider · Wildlife) • Wario (Standard WR · Brute · Dragonfly) • Bowser (Standard BW · Tyrant · Hurricane) • Princess Daisy (Standard DS · Power Flower · Light Dancer) • Dry Bones (Standard DB · Banisher · Dry Bomber) • Waluigi (Standard WL · Gold Mantis · Zipper) • R.O.B. (Standard RB · ROB-BLS · ROB-LGS) • Shy Guy (Standard SG)
Cups and courses	Mushroom Cup	Figure-8 Circuit • Yoshi Falls • Cheep Cheep Beach • Luigi's Mansion
	Flower Cup	Desert Hills • Delfino Square • Waluigi Pinball • Shroom Ridge
	Star Cup	DK Pass • Tick-Tock Clock • Mario Circuit • Airship Fortress
	Special Cup	Wario Stadium • Peach Gardens • Bowser Castle • Rainbow Road
	Shell Cup	SNES Mario Circuit 1 • N64 Moo Moo Farm • GBA Peach Circuit • GCN Luigi Circuit
	Banana Cup	SNES Donut Plains 1 • N64 Frappe Snowland • GBA Bowser Castle 2 • GCN Baby Park
	Leaf Cup	SNES Koopa Beach 2 • N64 Choco Mountain • GBA Luigi Circuit • GCN Mushroom Bridge
	Lightning Cup	SNES Choco Island 2 • N64 Banshee Boardwalk • GBA Sky Garden • GCN Yoshi Circuit
	Battle Mode	Nintendo DS • Twilight House • Palm Shore • Tart Top • Block Fort • Pipe Plaza
Items and objects		Banana • Blooper • Bob-omb • Boo • Bullet Bill • Cannon • Coin • Dash Panel • Emblem • Fake Item Box • Fire Chain • Green Shell • Item Box • Lava • Lightning • Mushroom • Red Shell • Shine Sprite • Spiny Shell • Super Star • Triple Bananas • Triple Green Shells • Triple Mushrooms • Triple Red Shells • Trophy
Species, enemies, and obstacles		Angry Sun • Big Bully • Bubba • Bus • Bumper • Car • Chain Chomp • Cheep Cheep • Chief Chilly • Eyerok • Firesnake • Flipper • Ghost • Goomboss • Lakitu • Monty Mole • Moo Moo • Pianta • Piranha Plant • Pokey • Pinball • Pendulum • Puddle • Rocky Wrench • Swoop • Thwomp • Truck • Venus Fire Trap • Walking Tree • Wiggler
Techniques		Drift • Hop • Mini-Turbo • Rocket Start • Slipstream • Spin Turn
Miscellaneous		Boss arenas • Finish line • Gallery • Item probability distributions • Media • Pre-release and unused content • Sponsors • Staff