Lakitus are Koopas who employ clouds as vehicles. However, Lakitus themselves have a rather different appearance than the normal Koopa Troopas; Lakitus have very different heads with much smaller, circular noses, all generic Lakitus wear thick goggles, and Lakitus have a ring pattern on their shells rather than the hexagon pattern featured on those of Koopas. Also, while most Koopas (other than the [[Dry Bones]] of certain [[Paper Mario (series)|''Paper Mario'' games]]) have no hair at all, Lakitus are usually depicted with three small strands of hair, or (as seen in ''[[Mario Superstar Baseball]]'') a small clump of black hair.
[[File:CloudlessLakituSMW.png|frame|35px|]]
However, Lakitus are most differentiatable from Koopa Troopas in that they simply ride clouds. These clouds have changed over the years perhaps even more than Lakitus themselves; although 8-bit [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] games depicted Lakitu as riding a cloud identical to certain [[block]]-like cloud platforms (except with a green outline rather than black due to graphical limitations), ''[[Super Mario World]]'' (which still included these small platforms of old) gave Lakitus more realistic, larger clouds to commandeer.
Lakitu is a Koopa who floats in a cloud. That cloud is really the only thing that sets him apart from a normal Koopa Troopa. He is a little bit chubbier than a regular Koopa, but he is still a yellow shade. He lacks shoes like the other Koopas, but it's OK because most of the time he is in a cloud, so you can't see his feet. He has three black strands of hair on his head. When he is a referee in Mario Kart, his shell is green, but when he is a driver, he has a red shell. It's all about moderation, you know.
