I guess I'm the only one who just found this game somewhat amusing. I remember it being a lot more fun on SNES and especially N64 (I played that battle mode more hours then I care to remember, a friend of mine owned a video game rental place so me and the rest of my JR High friends would just hang out there all day playing Mario Kart and Golden Eye). I think its mainly the horrific rubber band AI that just does me in. The game actually is easier if you stay in dead last till the final lap then just use the super powered items it dumps in your lap (bullet time, gold shroom ect). If you make the horrid mistake of doing well then you are punished in such a horrific manner I hear the UN is thinking about classifying it a genocide. Blue Shell, Red Shell, lit bolt, Red Shell, Guy with star running through me. I've gone from 1st to 10th in 20-30 straight seconds of bouncing into the air more times then I can count.
On the bright side though, It is kind of satisfying to be on the other side of the wiicaust. A few of my wives friends came over, they're kind of stuck in some sort of time warp; they're in their late 20s and all they do is play Wii. They talked endless smack about how great they were in Mario Kart (I have yet to play through all the tracks 3 months after getting it) so we raced a few times with other racers. Every time I'd hang back in the 6th-9th range, let them be first going into the last lap and without fail the rubber band AI blasted me to first during the last half of the lap.
I still miss the N64 version though, if you could get really good at power-sliding in that game you could win by half a lap so skill mattered. For my money I would MUCH rather have a proper Gran Turismo 5, now there's a racing game that will take weeks of my time away.
PSN ID: ChosenOne feel free to add me
