POW Block

History:

For many years Item Factories within the Mushroom Kingdom had manufactured their only superweapon against the Koopa Troop - the POW Block. Soon the POW Corporation was established as an LLC distinct from the Mushroom People, and it grew to create other products, including Cars sold along the Moonview Highway. Once activated, the POW would magically stun anything connected to the ground. Through some controversy, the POW Corporation was able to petition their Block into the 2008 Grand Prix, but it as many of the racers, namely the Koopa Troop, found that such cavalier use of the weapon made light of the damaging effect it had had on their people over the decades, it has not been seen since.

The POW Block appears in:

Wii


The POW Block works similar to the Blooper in that it affects all of the racers ahead of the activating driver. Once activated, it will appear above the heads of all the other drivers and countdown to a devastating spin-out effect. True to its use in the mainstream platforming Mario Games, though, it can only affect the racer if he or she is on solid ground. Thus it is negated by jumps, cannons, tricks, and even well-timed hops. It is therefore not as effective an item when competing against seasoned racers, although the timing can be difficult during complex crowded race scenarios or tricky portions of the course. Therefore, the POW is most effective if it is activated just prior to a crowd of racers, a particularly hazardous section of course, or right before a jump, but not during it, which would cause competitors to lose momentum going up a ramp.

The POW does not affect racers who have activated a Star, Bullet Bill, or Mega Mushroom.

Chain Chomp Wheel

History:

While typically the Koopa Troop had invested in small-scale Battle Courses simply integrated onto their many Island Beach Properties, such as Battle Course 2 and Palm Shore, they went all-out for the Epic Construction of the Chain Chomp Wheel. Off the cliffs of Koopa Cape the Troop experimented with more Pipe Technology, eventually building a giant underwater dome that housed an enormous yet docile Chomp. Bowser, with ever the controlling interest in the investments of the Koopa Troop, nevertheless named the Arena, Chain Chomp Wheel to apply the terror commonly associated with the ravenous Chain Chomps. Also despite its resemblance to a roulette, it has no officially sanctioned gambling use, although Bowser has been known to take bets on where the Chomp may chomp a Racer.

Wii:

Chain Chomp Wheel is very much the spiritual successor of Tart Top, itself a successor of both Cookie Land and Big Donut, so this may be seen as a slicker departure altogether from the pastry theme. Essentially though, all these courses have a large circular battleground around a smaller, non-traversable center. In Chain Chomp Wheel, this center area is actually reachable with some difficulty, but is essentially a large circle surrounded by boost ramps that shoots the player through a large rotating star. The great thing about hitting the Item Box in the Star's Center is that it always contains a Star.

This arena is massive. The ring around the center that contains the majority of the Item Boxes as well as the semi-eponymous Chomp is the Kill Box for sure and a great spot to leave a ton of Defensive Items like Bananas or Fake Item Boxes. Around the fringes are some panels that can boost players to other Item Boxes on high, which is good area to collect and fire Offensive Items like Shells or Bob-ombs. There is a bit of trickiness when the rotating plates aren't moving in the same direction you are, which can lead to some slow or shifted racing, but none of that is mandatory. The biggest danger is the Chomp, but that moves slow enough to be avoided easily, as long as you're paying attention.

The high number of Dash Panels present also make it easy to both escape harm and undo any obnoxious Blooper effects. Like Funky Stadium, this course finds a nice balance between being big enough to avoid overwhelming players and also being open and intimate enough to ramp up the action. It's also a groovy place to drive by and try to spy the Unagis swimming by the window. And as mentioned earlier, if we're getting technical about things, there is no actual Chain Chomp present in this course.