Correct me if I'm wrong, but Mario Kart 8 is the only addition to the Mario Kart series where players can hit one another with items while flying through the air (not counting Bullet Bills and blue shells). Do you think Nintendo should have kept this the way it is, or make it easier?

I'm fine with the way it is, then again I'm skilled at Mario Kart. I like that it adds to the challenge of the game, making me take more time to get a 3-star rank on each cup. My friends aren't as skilled, so when they get hit in midair with an item I feel bad for them and sometimes get angry at the game.

If I get hit with an item while flying over a pit, I inevitably fall into the pit and likely fall down the ranks too. When I'm playing in Grand Prix mode, I think that's only somewhat fair. The CPU's tend to have an easy time hitting me with items so I can fall far behind even if I'm playing better than them. However, if this happens in online races, I really don't care. I don't get a bunch of unlockables by beating people from all across the world. And I've always liked how difficult online races are, since I face at the most 11 players who are equally or more skilled than me.

Actually, I think Double Dash already allowed for mid-air hits besides blue shells. Bob-ombs, for example, or even a very well aimed Fake Block could do the magic.

I don't see why you can't be hit in mid-air. It's just a weapon on itself, you can abuse it when you don't want anybody ahead of you but you can refrain from using it because it's easier to aim on the ground or you can pass them by sheer speed. It adds to the fun, and being immune in the air is rubbish, if you ask me.

Re-Volt or Crash Team Racing already had mid-air hits in the 90s, defying all laws of gravity by having items floating on the air (how fun it was in CTR to leave Nitro Crates in the trajectory of a jump), so Nintendo has taken a long time to put this in place. Other kart racers were getting ahead easily, and one change to avoid that was to allow mid-air hits.

EX Palen : You said it all. Time to close this thread... just kidding.

I should have figured other kart racing games would have allowed this already. But I'm surprised Double Dash did that too. Yeah, being able to use items in midair adds to the fun. Whenever I do that to someone, I want to laugh hard!

Pacman+Mariofan : That also occurred in Mario Kart 7. (the game that introduced gliders)

It sucks when you're the one who ends up getting hit with the item, especially if it's a red shell. But when you're the one hitting someone else, it's awesome, especially if you can do it with a bomb-omb.

gamerforlifeforever : Oh, that makes sense. How in the world did I not know that? Either I'm just that forgetful or I never got hit in midair in Mario Kart 7. You nailed it right on the head. Hitting someone else in midair makes me so proud of myself for it actually working. Then I get super mad when I get hit in midair because I was making progress.

Theres a reason that mario kart has always allowed players to be hit mid air by items and that's because it adds so much strategy to the game (if used correctly, not with luck).

When playing with other players (especially on teams) using items at different times in order to knock someone twice, is an extra part that allowed teams to take out a very strong opponent easily. This makes playing with other people much more interesting, when you know how to properly time things.

I agree that this is extremely frustrating, and I honestly could live without it, but over my years of playing many mario kart games, I've gotten pretty good at working with the CPU at hitting another player in the air (when I'm not out in front of course), so I have come to appreciate this feature.