Lightning is a bad mario kart item

This is probably going to be the weirdest thing I’ve ever written, in all honesty. But I have actually been playing a ton of Mario Kart over the last few weeks, and have very strong feelings on this: lighting is a bad item, in Mario Kart 8 specifically.

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So, for those of you unaware (seriously how have you not played Mario Kart by now), lightning is an item you’ll only ever get when you’re way behind. It strikes everyone else on the track instantly, spinning them out and shrinking them, heavily reducing their top speed. The higher your placing, the longer you’ll be shrunk for. And finally, you’ll lose all your items when struck. So now that we’re all on the same page: lightning sucksssssssss.

The problem with lightning is that every aspect of it plays into the bad randomness of Mario Kart, and never takes advantage of all the good the series often does with RNG. At more serious levels of play in Mario Kart (yes, they exist) it basically becomes an RNG management game, with you having to weigh your options up between using items, when to use them, where item boxes will hit and what you might get, all that good jazz. It’s about knowing what’s coming and what is likely to be coming. Lighting just chucks that all out the window completely and utterly.

Problem one: it's instant why is it instant

Every single item in Mario Kart besides this one item will typically have some sort of warning coming your way. Shells have a travel time, bananas can be avoided, etc. The second lightning is used, it hits, no warning whatsoever. This just sucks. I know, I know, everyone gets hit by it (i’ll get to that, trust me), but it really screws with the whole flow of the game to just have one item you have no way of knowing is coming.

Problem two: you lose all your items this is not good

Again, one of the main issues with this item is that it plays by its own rules: you drop all items you’re holding when you get hit by it. This totally messes with about the top 5 or so, who usually exist in this state of being very vulnerable to the person behind them, and it’s generally much easier to gain offense than defense in this game. The problem is again, point 1: it’s instant, and you have absolutely zero way to predict when it’s coming (there’s no way you’re tracking when the guy in 11th is going to hit an item box). It’s RNG you can’t maintain an eye on that’s a huge blow to your place in the race, and it’s not very fun to deal with.

Problem three: it interacts badly with defenses against it

This is a bit of a mix with point one, but essentially this issue is that again, it’s instant. The only two defenses you have against lightning are a bullet bill or a star, as you’re totally invincible while using them. This could make for interesting counterplay in the lower ranks, maybe holding on to these valuable items… except, again, you have no way of telling when lightning is coming or who has it. This essentially makes who dodges lightning 100% random, and sometimes you’ll get a massive boost off of the item just because you happened to use a defense at the right time, not because you smartly took a risk and weighed your options.

This also kinda negates the saving grace of lightning, which is what everyone gets hit by it. Well, sometimes people just won’t get hit by it I guess. It’s just so nonsensical to me that in a game where putting up your best defenses is the entire point, an item that you can’t see coming can totally take that all away, and maybe it sometimes won’t.

At the end of the day, though I am exaggerating a bit, lightning feels very out of place in Mario Kart. It’s a series based off crazy items and RNG, yes, but it’s always been very controllable and skill influenced RNG. The better you play, the better the RNG will fall for you. Even the hated blue shell gives you several seconds of warning before it hits. Lightning falls totally and completely outside of that zone. It’s RNG you can’t see, it’s RNG you can’t influence, and it’s RNG that will randomly just not hit. Lightning is bad RNG, and bad for Mario Kart.