Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is out later this month, but Nintendo NY is already in full-swing promoting the game. The retailer encouraged its Twitter followers to contribute their best Mario Kart-themed poetry yesterday, in honor of both the upcoming game and National Haiku Day — and fans were quick to prove exactly what comes to mind when they think of the series.
@NintendoNYC This is my moment
— NYSleepy (@SleepySSB) April 17, 2017
I can win this thing right now
Is that a blue shell?#MK8DHaiku
The blue shell is perhaps the Mario series’ most diabolical item, so of course it became a popular topic for the budding poets in Nintendo NY’s Twitter feed. We’ve all been there: You’re speeding along your favorite Mario Kart track (Baby Park from Mario Kart Double Dash!!), holding a comfortable first-place lead into the final lap. Then, all of a sudden ... you’re out. A shell has knocked you straight into oblivion, and it’s not some ordinary red or green shell. It’s that damn blue shell, a spiky demon with wings that closes in on whoever’s winning the race without fail.
The blue shell is a terrible, terrible thing. As any fiction writer knows, it’s the things that hurt us the most that inspire the best art.
@NintendoNYC @Joo0ooony I can hear it now
— Mic The Mercy (@MicDaMicrophone) April 17, 2017
The taste of utter defeat
I despise Blue Shells
@NintendoNYC A single blue shell
— Jason S (@LionelHutz590) April 17, 2017
The bane of my existence
First place waves goodbye#MK8DHaiku pic.twitter.com/oTYMxQmwIe
@NintendoNYC I AM IN FIRST PLACE
— Mike Bliss (@MiKeBlisS) April 17, 2017
OH NO IS THAT A BLUE SHELL
I AM IN LAST PLACE
:'( #mk8dhaiku #nationalhaikupoetryday
@NintendoNYC You see the finish
— NintendoGamer64 (@LithiorKingdom) April 17, 2017
You hear it flying at you
A blue shell hits you#MK8DHaiku
@NintendoNYC Begin Rainbow Road
— Jeremy Zorek (@enjineer_jfz) April 17, 2017
Last lap, I'm ahead in first
Oh no, a blue shell!
@NintendoNYC #MK8DHaiku
— Angry American Voice (@SleepySheaBear) April 18, 2017
Close to finish line
A sudden blue shell attacks!
Filing for divorce.
Nintendo NY went on to retweet its favorite original haiku, although, curiously, none of its picks had anything to do with the damned blue shell. True Mario Kart fans know what’s up, though. They know.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe comes to Nintendo Switch on April 28.