I find that I am a blueshell magnet. Maybe you are too. Usually, I know when one is coming too, especially on multiplayer. My peripheral vision is really good at picking up blueshells on other peoples’ screens and more often then not, I am the recipient.
The original Mario Kart did not have blueshells. Blueshells were introduced in Mario Kart 64. The concept of a blue shell was that it would race ahead of you and attack the person in first. If there were other racers in the way, it would bowl them over in the process.
This was a great item for people who were in 7 or 8 place. It nailed the person in first but did a bunch of damage along the way. By hitting other racers it gave the last player a chance to catch up and get back in the game.
With Mario Kart Double Dash All that changed.
Now the blue shell had wings and flew along the track till it reached the person in first. Presumably this is because the tracks began to become more complex and had jumps and rockets and tunnels which didn’t allow for shells to follow the path easily.
This wouldn’t necessarily be bad, but what didn’t change were the requirements to get a blueshell. To get a blueshell you had to be fairly far behind, usually in 7 or 8th place. Consequently this weakened the usefulness of a blueshell.
No longer was a blueshell a helpful means of gaining ground, now it was an item of spite. Knocking out the person in first rarely helps the person in 8 or for that matter 12 place (I’m looking at you Mario Kart Wii). A blueshell tossed by someone who can’t possibly win is almost like making an obscene gesture. “I can’t win so screw you!”
A blueshell thrown by someone in last is more of a help to anyone in 2 or 3 place than anything else. A well timed/placed blueshell can determine who wins the race, but it gives the decision to the person in last.
It’s worth nothing that it is possible to receive a blueshell while not in last or second to last place, but it’s typically rather rare.
The blueshells themselves have different quirks, depending on which Mario Kart you are playing. It’s interesting to note their lock-on time. In some games it’s entirely possible to get hit with a blueshell while in second place if you are passed at just the right time.
Another quirk of note is the frequency of blueshells based on the mode played. I haven’t done as much ‘research’ as I would like, but with. Mario Kart Double Dash, in mirror mode, I can see 7 blueshells in one 4 race grand prix. On the other hand I can play through all 4 cups on 50cc and only see one blueshell.
Obviously, I would expect mirror mode to be harder, but a blueshell is the one item which only hurts one person. Every other item is capable of injuring anyone on the track. A blueshell is only guaranteed to take out one person. Frequent appearances of thus blue item is just punishment for the best racers.
So let’s think about this. If I’m a good racer, and good enough to get a half or a quarter of a lap ahead of my opponents, what good will a blueshell do? If I’m far enough ahead, I’ll stay ahead of everyone else, and if I’m good enough to get that far ahead, I’m good enough to get that far ahead again.
Now in Mario Kart Wii, it’s even less likely to get a blueshell if your in the top half of racers which I think is silly because there are 12 racers rather than 8. The proper place for a flying blue shell should be 2-5th place.
I can’t prove this, but it always feels like I get hit with more blueshells than anyone else. Granted, I tend to spend more time in first, especially against the computer players, but when other people are in first I don’t see as many blueshells as when I’m in first. Again, it’s hard to see blueshells if you are not in first or somewhere close, but I just can’t shake the suspicion that the computer hates me.
Only recently have I learned (about) a technique to dodge blueshells. It’s possible, but takes quite a bit of practice. Honestly, this just makes the blueshell even more useless, since it now neither helps any nor provides cathartic pleasure.
So what is the point of the blueshell? Items like the green shell or banana have had a constant mission throughout the years, but it seems to me that the blueshell doesn’t know what it wants to be. Some of this is Nintendo being stupid with their item choosing algorithms (but that’s a whole different blog post.)
What do you think about blueshells?
It seems to me that Blueshells are no good as they currently are. I would propose a system that has several kinds of shells that take the place of Blueshells. Assuming 12 places:
1. Flying Blueshells: Like Blueshells curently do; they fly into first, and have a massive explosion. Around 3-6 place.
2. Blueshells: Like in 64, they run across the ground, and might hit anybody. They hit everyone with Greenshell strength, then at the end, they explode like a Flying Blueshell. 8-12
3. High Octane Blueshells: Like Flying Blueshells, except the explosion at the end is about 3x as big, in all directions. 8-12, but rarer than normal Blueshells.
4. Mega Blueshell (Goldshell?): Dive-bombs everybody in-front of you, hitting them with normal Blueshell explosion power, and hitting like a High Octane Blueshell at the end of it’s run. 8-12, but only 1 out of 6 Blueshells turn out to be this.
5. Revenge Blueshell (Dark Blueshell?): Only in first place, very, very rare. Like a normal Blueshell, but in reverse, exploding on 12th place.
All numbers are just guesses, I have no research on good item placement, nor on rarity.
–SSJ Ranulf.
As in a previous post, at a certain point in the game, it’s only goal is to f*** you up as you try to get that precious triple star rating (I know Phil will have an article about that soon). I agree that in it’s current use on the Wii, the blueshell is not really a fair item unless you look at it from this point of view: someone is going to throw it and someone is going to get hit by it, IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN! And you have two options: piss and moan about it, or deal with it and win in spite of getting hit by a blue shell.
I feel that it’s too powerful of a weapon for any higher place than 8-12 to get it, but it doesn’t help those places at all really. I think the blue shell that was created in Mario Kart 64 is the ideal blueshell: it’s given to one of the last places and wrecks everyone in front of them (but then what do we have lightening for?) And here’s an idea to fix the “tracks becoming more complex” excuse: put wheels on the blue shell instead of wings and then it goes through the course just like a kart does.
Bottom line, since we DO have lightening, why not just ditch the blueshell all together?
Now we have even more than lightning, though. We have squids and pow boxes not to mention giant mushrooms and bullet bills. Blueshells *are* really just punishment.