The POW Block and Lightning I can handle. Those hurt everyone but the user, giving the user a chance to move up in the ranks. I’m cool with that. But the Blue Shell explicitly punishes you for doing well, and may not even help the user if they’re in, say, 10th place. It’s just a giant middle finger to #1.
Not that I haven’t giggled maniacally when I’m in 3rd place and see #1 and 2 get nailed. But it would be better overall to not have it.
I beat 50 and 100cc easily enough, but I’m starting to encounter difficulty in 150cc. I may have to try someone other than DK, although he’s just been fantastic for me. Right now I’m going back to the 50cc races and working on getting stars in driving skill.
I’ve finally got gold trophies in all races except one – the freakin’ banana cup in mirror mode is killing me. It’s the last race I have to get gold in and I just can’t seem to get past the oval tracks with a barrage of items hitting me every five seconds (the ice one and the beach one).
I’ve been playing an hour or so online each night and I can’t believe there are people out there who have three gold stars next to their names (meaning they three-starred every cup). I think I have two 50cc cups and one 100cc cup that I got a star in – I don’t know if I have the patience to get good enough to try for more stars. It’s gonna be a while before (heck, if) I can unlock everything.
I also discovered that my online experience has been the Peter Principle in action. I do pretty well in races with a bunch of 6000-7000 score people, but if my points get higher and I get matched up with 8000+ people, I get absolutely blown out and I lose enough points to drop me right back to my level of incompetence. I have been at about +/-6500 points for a while and I don’t see myself getting significantly higher anytime soon.
Oh, and I use the Gamecube controller. I tried the wheel and it just didn’t fit right in my hands. The buttons you need to press are too close to the edge, and I hate the tiny little “2” button for the gas. I much prefer the big fat green button on the GC controller. I think 20 years of controlling video games with my left thumb has left me incapable of adapting to anything new. My son, who is 13, uses the wheel exclusively and kicks butt with it, so I guess that means I’m just too old for the new technology.
I’ve gotten gold in all the 100cc and 150cc races. Haven’t played 50cc yet.
I use the wheel. Haven’t had any problems with response or turning the wrong direction. In fact it works far better than I expected it to.
Mario Kart is the reason I wanted a Wii . . . and to be honest I haven’t played in over a week. Like someone else said, it’s just Mario Kart 64 1.5. I wanted customized multiplayer races, online voice chat, more tracks, etc.
Yup. And in 150cc, if you lead for laps 1 and 2 you are GUARANTEED to get blue-shelled on lap 3. This has never not happened to me. It blows.
This is how I get the boost. Holding the button when the 2 appears makes me spin out.
As for how far I am. I’ve got gold on all 50cc and 100cc cups. I’d probably have all the 150cc ones too, but I’ve been playing the online battles and the Tournament a bunch too.
And the Wheel is OK, but I prefer the Classic Controller.