It always seemed like a kiddie game that’s not meant to be taken seriously, but apparently a bunch of people in their 20s and 30s take it very seriously.
Why? Isn’t it pretty much random and unfair by design?
Do people really get hours of fun out of losing races due to catch-up mechanics?
If you must know, I’m actually not a Mario Kart fan, played the older ones but haven’t touched the series since DS. More of a Kirby Air Ride and F-Zero GX kinda guy. But I can still understand the appeal well enough to not post this kind of thinly veiled “I’m mad that other people like something I don’t” thread.
Now you’re projecting.
I’m just going to ignore you.
Projection is when you said “I guess you’re just upset because someone was critical of something you like.”
I think people are very much taking this less as an “I’m curious, why do people find this fun? I want to understand” post, and more of a condescending “I think it’s not fun because I have taste and am presuming people who think it is fun do not until proven otherwise, now prove me otherwise” post. Some people, including me until I saw these comments, were seeing your post body that tells us why you don’t like the game less as sharing your own perspective and wanting someone to show you a bright side, and more as trying to denigrate people who see it as fun. I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I think you can reread your post body and see how people might interpret a far less curious, far more judgmental tone from it.
To actually answer your question: I played Mario Kart Wii mostly as kid against the computer and other people, and a few times as an adult against other people. I like to think I was good at the game, that skill mattered and it wasn’t random and unfair. I won almost every time both against the computer, and against other humans. So I just didn’t perceive the game as “mostly random and unfair.” (Although now that I think of it, when I had the option I’d usually switch all items to Strategic against the computer, eliminating a lot of the catch-up items, so perhaps I did perceive it initially and just removed it from my experience to the point I don’t remember it? Although when I played against other humans it was usually on their console at their place with their settings, which probably didn’t have it set to Strategic.) The catch-up mechanics could sink me if I made a mistake, but if I drove well the whole course I almost always came out in front. Perhaps you’re thinking of later editions that I never played and have no opinion of, or the computer plays badly and the people I played against were bad at the game?