[quote name='AHEADAMUS']
Anyway, quit whining and just enjoy the thrills! Some of the online mismatches would be so much worse without these items. Besides, it wouldn't be Mario Kart.[/QUOTE]
I disagree completely.
I remember playing SNES Mario Kart for hours and hours when my cousin visited (he was in college at the time, and it was all they'd play apparently) and maybe beating him once. He was just better than me at the courses, hopping and dragging around corners with precision. It took skill to stay close enough to him to be able to even use a red shell, much less longball him with some bullshit blue shell that never misses / can't be defended, or with those mega red shells they have now that track fully around corners and such. I remember feeling a particular rush when shooting red shells at a distance, because there was a good chance it'd miss. Now there is nothing, because unless i shoot it directly into something else, the shell will hit. Boring.
I'm not really sure why they'd go to such lengths to make things artificially 'even'. Isn't the point of competitive gaming (and I don't mean competitive in the sense of pro gaming, tournaments, etc) to prove you're better than someone else?
The other night I (finally) got a race that wasn't 1-on-1, and the kid that won was CONSISTENTLY in last until they got a barrage of ridiculous items and ended up in first. It's really frustrating to beat the pants off of someone for 2.75/3 laps only to get hit with a blue shell (or two, or three) and lose. That's not competition, it's not even fun.
Just now I was having a good round with a snaker (1-on-1) down one race going into the final. Last lap, I pull ahead of him by a hair. Rounding the last turn, I get hit with a blue shell. Are you SERIOUS? Not only was he right on my ass at the time, there was never more than 2 seconds separating us at any point in the race.
The blue shell is garbage. I'd even take the N64 version of the shell -- the one that stays on the ground and can hit anyone in front of the person firing it up until reaching the leader, who can defend it with a well placed shell or dragging banana peel. This flying, indefensible nuclear blue shell has got to go.
The point is, it WOULD be Mario Kart without the blue shells. In fact, it would be a better Mario Kart.