It was a great idea on paper but in actual races with human opponents it was useless. It was never fast enough to catch first place and it was easily dealt with so it was no longer a threat. It only annoyed to the people that were already losing. If someone managed to zoom into first place while second and third are fighting and gain distance, then they were guaranteed a win as no item or racer could touch them.
I wasn't actually implying that because SEGA (just a master-name for whoever under their corp is making the Sonic game at the time) was making more than one game at the given time that it hindered the quality of them, I just meant that SEGA should stop whoring Sonic out, and just focus on a particular game for that particular year without overloading us with so many different flavours of Sonic, which ultimately ends up in us not having a definitive experience, and rather just many mishmash games which don't always feel like they belong in the Sonic universe. When I said 'better', I literally meant, SEGA (as a whole) should just focus on ensuring the premier Sonic titles are grade A games, like Sonic Colours was, and like Sonic 4 wasn't. Having not meant what you thought I did, actually, yeah, it can affect the game oftentimes- 2006 showed us this with Sonic The Hedgehog and Sonic Riders, both of with weren't great, with many of the same team members working on both.
You do have a bit of a point there. I've noticed online racing lately it seems like whoever is in first place near the start of the race usually manages to stay there while people in 4-6th are in constant shuffle as they get reamed with items. I used to do reasonably well with Banjo, but now it seems like I just get constantly hit with things before I get my speed up (his acceleration is terrible), and I can't retaliate in time. Still...I just freakin' hate that Spiny Shell.
What the blue shell should do is knock everyone ahead of the player that activated it and have a guaranteed hit on first place. If the last player gets the blue shell, it's pretty much worthless to them because he's not fighting just for first place, he's fighting against everyone else for a higher position.
The blue shell in Mario Kart 64 *can* hit everyone between you and the first placed, but only as long as they are in the middle of the road. It can't be deflected by green shells or red shells (or bananas / fake items), only by ghosts and stars, or another blue shell. Yes, the first placed can get a blue shell, and the easier way is to get one of the special bonus items like the one in Koopa Troopa Beach.
Which is why Mario Kart 64 is the last Mario Kart game with any sense of balance. I don't know what they were thinking when they made the blue shell only hit the driver in first. It became a tool of spite, not a tool to level the playing field. Dreadful.
I'd think that's technically Super Circuit by virtue of having the same item system. I know we're getting off topic though so I will add this: Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing was flawed, but it was still a good game and quite impressive for being a first shot at it. A sequel would give them a chance to fix the areas where it came up short.
Goddamn technicalities SaSASR needs more diversity. I can quickly become bored as fuck playing that game. Do that in a sequel and it's golden.
Am I the only one who felt Sonic R could've been a good mainstream Game for the Saturn without the racing bit to it? I just finished playing the Grand Prix as Sonic, and all I was hoping for were more rings and some enemies to bop. Then I tried to spin dash Adventure-style, and my dreams were crushed.
