Several things I want to post about, but I'll start with a progress update.

My 3 star victory in the Star Cup was mostly frustrated by the way Electrodome played out, but my victory on Mount Wario was awesome enough I felt like recording it.



I had this kind of rivalry going with Gold Peach until shortly before the third checkpoint. Then my superior driving really pulled ahead. I had been holding on to the three Green Shells for a while. Then someone hit me with a Lightning bolt at the second to last turn (I think it was the Shy Guy, due to how fast he moved up after it hit). But poor Shy Guy ran smack into the shells I dropped, which was kind of hilarious. Victory was mine!



But I just finished getting 3 stars for the Special Cup at 150cc, leaving me with only four cups to go (until I unlock Mirror Cups). It was the most clutch ending ever, because Rainbow Road is bulltrout with how the AI works at 150cc.



Serious photo finish there. I just don't even... I probably only won that by like a tenth of a second.




So, I'm taking a little break. I've gotten 1900 coins, BTW, so I'm closing in on 2.5k (from what I've heard, at 2.5k I'll have unlocked all of the vehicle parts except the gold ones).

You guys may have noticed that I'm back to bikes. Karts were super helpful for a while, but I really need the acceleration, especially at 150cc with how bad the items get.





Now, on to more general thoughts.

I find myself wishing that there was a bit more to this game. The features they have are absolutely brilliant, but I do feel that they could easily have improved it. I'd add in things like challenge modes, completing certain races or portions of races with particular conditions, items, kart setups, etcetera. Similar to challenge matches in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but with racing sections. While we're at it, we could add in some collectables. For this, I was taking inspiration from the Tony Hawk series to add in little things over the maps, designed to require particular execution to acquire. This would help familiarize people with techniques, shortcuts, boost points, and so on. They've done this with their platformers, why not with racers as well?

I also think they need to make the catch-up items more common. There are too many attack items. This sucks, because it means that being in the middle of the pack is a death sentence. All of the powerful or AOE attacks are restricted to lower places, so the main pack is getting hit over and over, losing all their coins, having their progress halted, etcetera. While the leader only has to worry about items from second and third, tops. Sure, the Blue Shell may be feared, but it doesn't actually do the guy in eighth place a lot of good. If you can pull to the front, staying there is just generally about not screwing up your racing (to the point that you can get hit by a Blue Shell and still achieve victory by a substantial margin in most races). More items to boost progress (or make them more common) would mean those in the rear would actually have a chance to catch up. Instead, if you're in the rear, you're going to stay there, because there's this giant wall of fireballs, shells, bananas, and piranha plants in between you and first.