When I play online, I'm better than everyone else skills wise 99% of the time. Every single time, I work my way (via skill) up to the top three then, almost without fail, I'm hit with some shit and it's instantly back to 7-10th. Then, guess what happens? I work my way back up, through superior driving skills, to the top three, only to see it get erased by ANOTHER item.

That's how modern MK plays online. If you're someone like me who is ultra competitive, you can't play and enjoy yourself because it's not designed to reward that kind of play. It's a game that is designed to have fun with and not take seriously (which is fine if you're into that sort of thing). 

The first Mario Kart, you had ZERO chance to win against your friends unless you had serious skills. The most deadly item back then was a red shell only THOSE red shells were alot harder to use. In MK8, those little fuckers are like mini blue shells. In the original game, you had to basically be within striking distance to make use of them. 

The only MK I can't remember playing very well is the N64 version, so I can't vouch for whether or not it was a skill based game but the others? Only the original can lay claim to that title. It was the only console MK that I can remember where skill>luck.

No surprise here, todays Nintendo was made for kids not joking theres even and article stating that Shigeru Miyamoto said games needs to be easier, it was an article posted I think last year don't know where I read it.

Is saddens me how Nintendo took a different ways and totally forgotten the people the gamers that make Nintendo a huge gaming company in the first place. :/

Still a savior emerged from ashes of a broken contract to save us all :)

its not just Nintendo that made games easier its all companies. Nintendo games need a difficulty button that does not require you beating the game first to unlock. I hope the new Zelda has some sort of difficulty switch.

Ha ha ha, bless your soul!

lol..I know that didn't sound right but I'm serious here. I rarely see anyone who I can't catch up to around corners or beat straight up. I would gather that around 1% of players online are really great racers. That's just my observation. If there weren't any items in this game, I'd easily finish in the top 3 every single race save the rare fuck up here or there and I don't consider myself some kind of racing God.

It's not only Nintendo, it's everybody. There is a race to the bottom these days. Companies figured out that easier games=more people play=more money. They want everyone to feel like a winner because the majority of people in this world are sissies who can't handle even the slightest bit of challenge before quitting to find something else that pads their fragile ego.

Sorry for the necropost

While looking for an old post I found this thread: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=25884
The subject at hand was discussed, how the VGChartz community then saw the challenge of MKWii.

And the obligatory MK8 perspective: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=191102

No way, this is the best Mario Kart ever, and if you want challenge, ok, play Online, that´s all.

Mario Kart can have as much depth as it wants but so long as it has the heavy reliance on RNG and intense rubber-banding, it will always be "casual".

So much bull :)

The "story" mode got more casual/easy which doesn't make a multiplayer game more casual.

On Double Dash you could hit walls (ride them) and you had to to be one of the best on track. How is that casual? On other karts wall hits even gave you a hidden boost if performed correctly. On MK8 now wall bounces can do the same. Really casual that is.

How is MKWii more core when you can easily take back #1 after being hit by a blue shell? You always get the right items in that game to get back to the front (unless there actually are people who know how to play properly and easily beat you by 20 seconds). You can still dodge the blue shell in 8 with a shroom so no need to camp on a horn.

Holding more shells = harder/more core? If anything it makes Wii even easier because you can throw 6 times without even thinking about it. And the next item box is giving you exactly what you need anyways.

Retro courses being simplified? Lol. Play some karts that are older than Wii and then play Wii and tell me the retro tracks aren't overly simplified there as well including WAY too wide. "The game has to hold 12 players at once on the track" is no excuse for those crazily wide tracks.

Sorry to say that: but you're simply thinking that you're good - but you still have to face reality that you aren't.

There are some drivers around with (insane) 99.999 points. Guess what: they always win or are in the top three. At least when playing with players < 20.000 points.

I'm currenty around 9.200 points and have driven against one 99.999 guy (or girl - its the MiiVerse . I had no chance to get him which didn't surprise me at all. But what surpised me that I can't excactly see on the replay HOW he/she made it THAT fast. I'm speaking here about 1/3 to 1/2 lead of a round at the races end...

MK8 IS skill based to no end. Congrats to Nintendo for that. And shame to the journalists who wrote about unbalanced items etc. 

Scientific research has shown that to master something you've to repeat it 1.000 times. It's unrealistic to assume that those with 99.999 points got them by always getting 25 points for the first place (if so they would have only made 4000 races), so it is save to assume that they races every single track near or more then 1.000 times.

Just by multiplying the number of tracks with 1.000 with 3 minutes of gameplay per track shows how dedicated those players are. Others would call them "nuts" - but hey - everbody can do with their time what they want...

Back to the MK Wii vs. MK8 issue: MK8 leads to more defensive racing regarding the items. Having only one item disturbs the "clue" of a track like Warios Goldmine where dropping a Banana into the path of the followers was a really good idea...

But in the end MK8 is far more balanced then MK Wii. And it needs more skill. Hopefully they will bring back Rainbow Road and Maple Treeway from MK Wii within the second DLC pack. I guess that those will even play better in MK8.

Oh - something not to forget: having the ability to GLIDE and ANTI-GRAVITY means that you'll need THREE-TIMES the skill compared to MK Wii. As in these situations the gameplay changes and as a gamer you've decide what excactly gives you an advantage over the others. 

Again and again kudos to Nintendo to give as a game which is accessibly to everybody but offers depth for those who are dedicated and rewards the skilled ones.