2008-05-03 22:42:24

Dear Mario Kart, STOP CHEATING!

I've had Mario Kart for the Wii since last Monday, though I have only played it 2 days of the 6. It took a couple races to get used to driving with the wheel, but now it's like second nature. I was very surprised at how easy it was to get accustomed to the wheel and at how accurate it was. It wasn't long until I had gold cups across the board in the 50cc class. But somewhere in that journey, the AI got smarter. It realized that it couldn't beat me, so it did the only thing it could do to make me stop winning races, cheat.
You might think, yeah right, the game doesn't cheat. I thought the same thing. Let's start with the first time the computer used it's omniscience to beat me. It was the last race of the 50cc Mushroom Cup and I was, of course, in the lead. I was on the home stretch, about to claim the gold cup, when the unthinkable happens. I got hit with green shell, the spun out because of a POW, then got hit with a red shell. I took last place in that race, and as a result, got the silver cup.
Some may say that I just have bad luck. Yeah, that's what it is. The computer just decided to wait until 4 races into the tournament with 3 seconds until I win to unleash every weapon in its arsenal. Bad luck, riiiiiiight.
But wait, it gets better. On to the Leaf Cup where everything gets out of control. I was in third place, because I had just gotten hit with a green shell (those AI drivers have scary accurate aim), when the weirdest thing happened. I got hit with a spiny (blue) shell. Let me give you the exact definition of the spiny shell from the Mario Kart manual:

Spiny Shells find the vehicle in first place and explode on impact. Any vehicle caught in the blast will flip or spin out.

So, let's play a little game of "What's Wrong?" Anyone notice? Yeah, I was in third place, why the f*#$ did I get hit with a spiny shell. And that's not the worst part. As soon as I recovered from one spiny shell I got hit with another spiny shell, and then when I landed I got bumped off of the track and into the abyss. I placed last in that race.
Luckily, in the end, my awesome driving skills enabled me to overcome the cheating and get gold cups across the board... until I got to the 100cc. That's a whole different story. Getting hit with 6 weapons in a row... tell me something isn't fishy there.

Back

4 comments

2008-05-04 09:52:43

smasher/karter says...
I have been struck by lightning then immediately hit by 2 red shells or one blue shell, in fact I remember being in second and hit by a blue shell.

2008-05-08 15:20:07

Conrad says...
Never am I disappointed when I visit this site.

2008-06-24 18:22:54

anon says...
Hit by a spiny shell when in third? Were you near the end of the race and first and second were already across the finish line? I've seen this type of behavior, in offline as well as online racing, many times but wouldn't consider it to be the system cheating...

2008-06-24 21:36:43

slonkak says...
I've been hit by spiny shells from almost every place in this game. I don't know how it happens, but it does. There's probably some logical, programmatic reason for this, but I still consider it cheating. :)