-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
How is the Blue Shell anything but terrible game design?
- Thread starter Nazgul_Hunter
- Start date
Uncle Rupee
Banned
The Blue Shell and the non-random item drops killed my love of MK (so, basically since MK64). The rubber-banding I can deal with, but the other shit ruins it.
Yep. Happens to me all the time. You get screwed sometimes, while other times you are the one who ruins the race for somebody else... even if you lose. Good times all around, lol.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Most items in Mario Kart, but specially in Smash, are anything but fair and balanced, the cheapness of it is what make the game.
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
But as the op says it doesn't help the people who use them unless they are in 4rth or higher. If your in the bottom of the race the best you can hope for is to be second or third to last. Other items are waaaay more useful than the blue shell.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
If you know the blue shell is coming for you, press the brakes. Either let someone else pass you to take the blast, or take out 2nd and 3rd place too.
friskykillface
Banned
Mario Kart 64 had a purple spike shell that hit every other person , plus you could hold it and hit people along the way
I've gotten the blue shell in 5th/4th place and it helped me get to first
Also had it hit me while in first on the last lap and I finished in 5th place
I've gotten the blue shell in 5th/4th place and it helped me get to first
Also had it hit me while in first on the last lap and I finished in 5th place
Beelzebufo
Banned
Exactly haha. If these items were as terribly unbalanced as people say, I wouldn't get first all the time.
InsaneZero
Member
Keeping first place is easy when you can hit second place with a green shell after he just finishes recovering from eating that red shell from third place, who just managed to be rolled by a star from fourth place but fell off a cliff afterwards.
Op seems to have a poor understanding of what the game is actually trying to achieve. If this would be a competitive game with the focus on "pro gaming" then you might be able to make this case. However, it is not. It's a casual game which is first and foremost about fun and blue shells lead to fun, tears, salt and tension. You don't have to like it but directly comming to the conclusion that this equals terrible game design is terrible in and of itself.
Why do people say this? If you play in the GAF tournament, the most skilled drivers always win 85% of the time.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
No. This only hits people ahead of you. It's more balanced and fair than lighting since it wouldn't punish those behind you as well. It also wouldn't have the lasting effect of being tiny and slow.
It's incredibly easy to hold first place in a Mario Kart game as most other racers will be using the more hectic items on eachother. Having the blue shell attack everyone, but focus in on first place keeps the lead racer in a position of danger.
that was a blue shell...
Mario Kart 64 had a purple spike shell that hit every other person , plus you could hold it and hit people along the way
I've gotten the blue shell in 5th/4th place and it helped me get to first
Also had it hit me while in first on the last lap and I finished in 5th place
that was a blue shell...
Save 'N Quit
Banned
This should be the definitive definition for a blue shell.
Waluigilicious
Member
The lightning ends up benefiting people behind you more than punishing them really.
Maybe in the old games it was better to be in 2nd or 3rd, but not in MK8. 2nd and 3rd don't get enough weapons to pressure 1st place, it's mostly coins or green shells etc. If people want to get rid of the blue shell then they'd have to give 2nd and 3rd more red shells to make up for it.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
It does do that if your in the way (or at least that's how remember in most implementations haven't played MK8). Hitting literally everyone would just be another lightning.
FoxnHurley
Member
Nothing is more annoying than coming around the last curve during the last lap and hearing a blue shell home in on you. That said, whenever I know that one is coming for me, I'll quickly check to see anyone is close behind me. Let off on the gas with the surety that the blast radius from the shell will also hit other racers nearby. If I'm going down in a ball in fiery blue flames, I'm taking you with me...lol.
I believe that there was one installment of Mario Kart where you could avoid being hit by a blue shell by hit a booster along with the use of a mushroom to escape the impact of the explosion.
I believe that there was one installment of Mario Kart where you could avoid being hit by a blue shell by hit a booster along with the use of a mushroom to escape the impact of the explosion.
Fbh
Member
It's an arcade racer designed with the E rating at heart. The idea is that anyone can pick it up, have fun and have a chance (even if it's small) of getting first. A big part of the fun comes from how quickly everything can change, how you can go from first to 9th in a few secconds
Friends raging because they got hit by a blue shell or other items and got from first to 8th in the final lap is half the fun of this game, IMO. It's what keep people laughing, raging, screaming which in the end is why this is such a fun local (and online) multiplayer game.
If you want a serious driving game where the only thing that counts is your skill then there are other types of racers for you.
Friends raging because they got hit by a blue shell or other items and got from first to 8th in the final lap is half the fun of this game, IMO. It's what keep people laughing, raging, screaming which in the end is why this is such a fun local (and online) multiplayer game.
If you want a serious driving game where the only thing that counts is your skill then there are other types of racers for you.
Spieler Eins
Member
Worst first post I've seen in quite a while. If you're skilled and racing against casuals, they won't have a chance regardless of their items. Once everyone is on the same level, the blue is nothing but annoying shit. Triple red for 2nd and 3rd is more than enough.
The best balancing would be MK7 without blue shells.
The best balancing would be MK7 without blue shells.
InsaneZero
Member
If you agree with this sentiment, then you can also quite easily see how being first place is easy mode when second and third place are barely managing to keep themselves in those positions, much less trying to get to first.
Shrek Kart?
Beelzebufo
Banned
Triple red is much worse in competitive play haha. You're guaranteed to hit them at least twice, where blue shell isn't even a guaranteed hit once (super horn).
Holy Order Sol
Member
baleoce don't give no fucks about no blue shells
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
The fire flower is much more annoying to me than blue shells.
Wyndstryker
Member
The blue shell is part of the rubber-band design of Mario Kart. If there wasn't a rubber-band sort of design it wouldn't be there.
InsaneZero
Member
I can count how many blue shells I've been hit while in a leading position with on one hand. And the number of times I've lost that position at the end with less.
I can't tell you how infuriating it is to go from second to last due to being hit by consecutive shells from different people.
Goldenmoney
Member
The blue shell is better now since it hits other people too.
I wish they had included an online mode with items disabled. Then all the "serious" racers can go there and bore themselves to death.
I wish they had included an online mode with items disabled. Then all the "serious" racers can go there and bore themselves to death.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
In 64 it hit whoever was first literally whoever was first so when a blue shell was unleashed both first and second would decelerate maybe even reverse to avoid being first. Since me and my brother often played with CPU's one would eventually pass by (unless a massive lead was accrued) while we had both stopped moving, get hit we'd laugh and then get back to the business at hand.
Ecto311
Member
Because nintendo knows what they are doing. If we knew what we were doing when making games we would be making them and taking that shit out I suppose.
I dont mind it if I am way back in a match because I know what it is going to do and take a bit of pride in knowing there is almost no stopping it. Almost since I found that using the box with the AOE effect explodes it. This is a gif of me doing this.
I dont mind it if I am way back in a match because I know what it is going to do and take a bit of pride in knowing there is almost no stopping it. Almost since I found that using the box with the AOE effect explodes it. This is a gif of me doing this.
I've considered making a thread to defend it as an absolutely necessary evil unless there's a good alternative that hasn't been discovered. If it didn't exist 1st place would be the safest place to be, even more so than it already is. If you're going to have items in the race to whack on other people with then there needs to be a very reliable item to reel 1st back towards the pack to account for everyone else having people hitting them from all directions. I hope that's an easily understood explanation.
Because nintendo knows what they are doing. If we knew what we were doing when making games we would be making them and taking that shit out I suppose.
I dont mind it if I am way back in a match because I know what it is going to do and take a bit of pride in knowing there is almost no stopping it. Almost since I found that using the box with the AOE effect explodes it. This is a gif of me doing this.
Nice.
dragonfart28
Banned
Riposte
Member
If that were the case, items would be even more imbalanced or damaging and have fewer counters, like Smash Bros levels of stupid. As explained the blue shell does serve a purpose of balancing: it's meant to balance out the fact being in first place makes all offensive item use more advantageous to you because you are rarely the target.
"Competitive" and "party" are not two dichotomies. Mario Kart is a fundamentally competitive game, as it is with almost all videogames, where people race each other. It also can be played at a "party" or with a party, seeing how it is multiplayer focused, and this party may even include people who are good at videogames. Tournaments like EVO are "parties", gatherings of enthusiasts.
Not only is it possible for someone to think the blue shell is bad game design, they could say a "casual" direction is a lesser form of game design.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
Exactly.
With blue shells, you can recover in pretty short order. The bullshit begins when you get hit with a parade of items rendering you motionless for 3-4 seconds.
Coolio McAwesome
Member
It's my observation that people who complain about Mario Kart being unbalanced usually suck at the game. Sure, the game is designed in a way that the better player won't necessarily win 100% of the time. However, if you play for an extended period against a supposedly inferior player and lose consistently to them, then you really aren't as good at the game as you think you are. A skilled player won't necessarily win every game, much in the way that a skilled poker player won't win every game. In the long run, if you lose consistenly, you just aren't very good.
Amazeballs
Member
I haven't played the game much admittedly but from my experience 2nd place tends to get triple shells while 3rd place tends to get both shells and boosting items. 1st place has the highest chance of getting coins. That's just anecdote and you know how that works in the context of statistics.
Speaking of which, is there a list of compiled item appearance rates? People should get on that.
Yeah, this. The lack of triple banana peels broke the balance for triple shells, but even then, it's not difficult to maintain first place if you don't mess up on the driving portion.