Yeah, no, I have done pretty well online in the previous games. I haven't jumped online yet until I knock out the 3 stars and that is definitely taking me longer than usual.

I did the same thing before I went online. However, most of the people online are awful. I'd say jump online then go back to playing the computer. You'll soon see the computer is pretty predictable and shockingly easy so long as you don't screw up.

If it was just the computers, that isn't a big deal. But a poorly timed blue shell or red shell can prove disastrous and this game seems a lot more unforgiving with the item hits (which is nice they made falling off less hurtful)

I was on Pirahna Plant Slide yesterday. I had 3 mushrooms and was going to boost over the grass and ramp to finish the map. A lightning bolt stranded me miniaturized in the grass and I took 7th.

Follow the paths the top online ghost time trials take precisely (easier said than done I know but stay close) holding an item behind you and you'll be so far ahead it won't matter if you get hit by lightning , blue or red shell.

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Follow the paths the top online ghost time trials take precisely (easier said than done I know but stay close) holding an item behind you and you'll be so far ahead it won't matter if you get hit by lightning , blue or red shell.

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Word. Holding an item behind you has been a must since at least Mario Kart 64.

What's your online rating, chipotle? I haven't played online all that much, except with my 5 year old daugher, who for some reason likes doing that. Unfortunately, she also likes using the gamepad, so she ends up racing online under my profile, which despite her mastery of 50cc single player mode has been detrimental to my rating.

The last couple nights I've decided to play a bit online and try to move into a positive (>1000) rating. My wife doesn't understand why I would care since "It's just a number." She's right, but that's how I am. I've moved up to 1200 so far. It's kind of slow going since I don't think I've ever gained more than 25 points max from a race. I've seen plenty of people over 2000, and I think last night I saw some kind of mythical creature with a rating over 10,000.

Think I'm at 2500 right now. It's a slow crawl.

The point system is kinda screwy I think. It's really about how much you've played rather than the score reflecting how good you are. I've beaten several 4k + folks who were just ok and been annihilated by players still in the 2k range.

I despise the frequency of coins at higher rankings. I use up a green shell or banana to protect me and then hit consecutive coins with nothing to block.

I also really miss holding one item behind you and grabbing a second item in the reserves.

Yeah, that was a big change to items. Hurts better players. Now you have to make a hard choice between maintaining a defense or trying to get something that will help you advance. In a lot of games, hard choices are interesting, but in this case I dislike the change.