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In Mario Kari Wii (which I played way too competitively back in 2010) the blue shell is not at all an issue if you play to win. If the other players fail to cat

In Mario Kari Wii (which I played way too competitively back in 2010) the blue shell is not at all an issue if you play to win. If the other players fail to catch on, its existence can only help. First, learn all the shortcuts in the game. Some of them are quite good and they're all online. Then: For all but the last lap your job is to stop anyone from getting far ahead and to lay back in about 8th place. Cycle through boxes (just use them) until you get a star, ideally. Hold on to that as you enter the final lap. Half-ish way through the final lap, while still in a far back position (5th to 8th), use the star right before you pick up your next box. Since you picked it up while in a poor position, it will be something good like another star or a golden mushroom. Thanks to the rubber-banding (such as the blue shell!), first place won't be very far ahead, and the star should advance you to near first, if not first. When a blue shell comes at you, you will have the ability to dodge it with the mushroom or invalidate it with the star in your inventory. Or just use your 5-8th place powerup in 1st or 2nd if no blue shell is coming and it will last you to the end anyway. Proceed to victory. Point being: If a gameplay mechanics are not fair, don't worry about them, just think about how they can be worked to your advantage. 99% of players think of the blue shell, but its a canard. Very few think of the powerup hoisting, but that's whats going to win you the game. The final act is your friends complaining that you always seem to win and are unaffected by the blue shell. Here again it works for you as a punching bag of plausible deniability. Yes, the unfair and random blue shell is why you always seem to win...

ufo 9y ago
Does this ever devolve into something similar to bicycle with everyone going slow to avoid being first at the start and then doing a mad dash right at the end?
- simonsarris 9y ago
  Not exactly, since 4 out of 8 players are usually AIs, but yeah if everyone "figures it out" it does feel more like cycling. Sometimes someone tries to totally break ahead one lap in advance with the hope that the gap will simply be too big, even with a shell, which is kinda analogous to an "attack" in cycling.
- dsacco 9y ago
  I'm not a bicyclist; what is this strategy and why is it used? You can't aggressively impact another player's performance in bicycling as you can in Mario Kart, right? So what is the benefit? Is it as simple as conserving effort to just match pace until you see who around you needs to be outpaced, or is there something more complex here?
  - thaumasiotes 9y ago
    I'm also not a bicycle racer, but as I understand it the problem with being in first is that you have to do all the work to get the air out of your way.
  - chch 9y ago
    Also not a cyclist, but [1] is a good (and slightly comical) view of this technique. In Sprint cycling, which is just three laps, it was found to be a good technique to stay behind the lead rider, because you have the advantage of surprise, and can draft[2] in the last lap, passing them at the last second. This strategy evolved, and then you end up with two bicyclists jockeying for last place, with bicycles nearly standing still. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkkTSVVrPYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkkTSVVrPYk [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drafting_(aerodynamics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drafting_(aerodynamics)
- johnbrodie 9y ago
  Yes, in the velodrome races. Here's a video from 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAhlewcOxAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAhlewcOxAI
SmallDeadGuy 9y ago
They changed the nature of powerup probability distributions to be based on distance from first, rather than position in race. It's now entirely possible to get a blue shell in 2nd if the person in 1st is half a lap ahead of everyone else. Your point still stands, but you need to maintain a large distance from 1st which A) is much harder to tell what distance threshold you're at and B) is usually too far to recover in 1-2 powerups. I much prefer the new system, most ranked games of mario kart tend to involve the majority of people in a large group using the weaker, more skillful items to pull ahead. If any one person pulls too far ahead of the group for any reason then the entire group suddenly gets a huge shift in powerup strength to close the gap again.
- dsacco 9y ago
  That's interesting, do you have a source re: position versus distance from 1st for item distribution? That invalidates a swath of my blue shell analysis downthread.
  - SmallDeadGuy 9y ago
    The Mario Kart 8 item probability distribution information from the wiki: https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Kart_8_item_probability_distributions https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Kart_8_item_probability_dist... I thought they changed it in 7, but apparently it was 8 so only the Wii U and Switch versions use these distributions.
- crtasm 9y ago
  Are you referring to the Wii game or Mario Kart 8 on WiiU?
zitterbewegung 9y ago
Yes, if you learn the strategy above and want to play to win you can do this. But, I think the problem really exists in the Experience for Casual players. Unfortunately that would impact people that aren't Casuals so its really a trade off.
ldp01 9y ago
Mario Kart Wii seemed to take rubber-banding way too far in general. Mario Kart 8 feels way more balanced in that sense. You don't need to deliberately hang back until the last lap anymore, and the distribution of items feels much more reasonable.

ufo 9y ago

Does this ever devolve into something similar to bicycle with everyone going slow to avoid being first at the start and then doing a mad dash right at the end?

simonsarris 9y ago
Not exactly, since 4 out of 8 players are usually AIs, but yeah if everyone "figures it out" it does feel more like cycling. Sometimes someone tries to totally break ahead one lap in advance with the hope that the gap will simply be too big, even with a shell, which is kinda analogous to an "attack" in cycling.
dsacco 9y ago
I'm not a bicyclist; what is this strategy and why is it used? You can't aggressively impact another player's performance in bicycling as you can in Mario Kart, right? So what is the benefit? Is it as simple as conserving effort to just match pace until you see who around you needs to be outpaced, or is there something more complex here?
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  I'm also not a bicycle racer, but as I understand it the problem with being in first is that you have to do all the work to get the air out of your way.
- chch 9y ago
  Also not a cyclist, but [1] is a good (and slightly comical) view of this technique. In Sprint cycling, which is just three laps, it was found to be a good technique to stay behind the lead rider, because you have the advantage of surprise, and can draft[2] in the last lap, passing them at the last second. This strategy evolved, and then you end up with two bicyclists jockeying for last place, with bicycles nearly standing still. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkkTSVVrPYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkkTSVVrPYk [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drafting_(aerodynamics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drafting_(aerodynamics)
johnbrodie 9y ago
Yes, in the velodrome races. Here's a video from 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAhlewcOxAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAhlewcOxAI

SmallDeadGuy 9y ago

They changed the nature of powerup probability distributions to be based on distance from first, rather than position in race. It's now entirely possible to get a blue shell in 2nd if the person in 1st is half a lap ahead of everyone else. Your point still stands, but you need to maintain a large distance from 1st which A) is much harder to tell what distance threshold you're at and B) is usually too far to recover in 1-2 powerups. I much prefer the new system, most ranked games of mario kart tend to involve the majority of people in a large group using the weaker, more skillful items to pull ahead. If any one person pulls too far ahead of the group for any reason then the entire group suddenly gets a huge shift in powerup strength to close the gap again.

dsacco 9y ago
That's interesting, do you have a source re: position versus distance from 1st for item distribution? That invalidates a swath of my blue shell analysis downthread.
- SmallDeadGuy 9y ago
  The Mario Kart 8 item probability distribution information from the wiki: https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Kart_8_item_probability_distributions https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Kart_8_item_probability_dist... I thought they changed it in 7, but apparently it was 8 so only the Wii U and Switch versions use these distributions.
crtasm 9y ago
Are you referring to the Wii game or Mario Kart 8 on WiiU?

zitterbewegung 9y ago

Yes, if you learn the strategy above and want to play to win you can do this. But, I think the problem really exists in the Experience for Casual players. Unfortunately that would impact people that aren't Casuals so its really a trade off.

ldp01 9y ago

Mario Kart Wii seemed to take rubber-banding way too far in general. Mario Kart 8 feels way more balanced in that sense. You don't need to deliberately hang back until the last lap anymore, and the distribution of items feels much more reasonable.