Lakitus are Koopas who ride clouds through the skies, mostly dropping Spiny Eggs on Mario or Luigi. When they are defeated, their clouds can be ridden for a short amount of time. In other games, however, they appear to be taking on friendly roles, such as refereeing races, umpiring tennis and baseball games, and even filming Mario's adventures. Many of the sports game manuals refer to Lakitu in the singular, indicating that there may only be a specific individual Lakitu involved (who is named for his species, as Toad or Yoshi), and Mario Kart 7 introduces a unique, playable Lakitu character. After being asked what video game character would represent him the best, Shigeru Miyamoto replied that Lakitu would, as it "seems to be very free, floating in the air, going anywhere", a type of personality Miyamoto can apparently relate to.