Well, for starters, the donut area is too simplistic. The skyscraper arena is useless because it's too small and too easy to fall off. We never use it. As for the other two arenas, it's annoying to have to search for the other players in those 3D mazes. It's annoying to drive to where someone else is on the map and find that they're a floor above or below you. It's also annoying to fire a shell at someone, and they avoid it by dropping off the edge of the platform and falling down a floor.

Super Mario Kart's battle mode had things like that, too, but they were more balanced-out. For example, someone could avoid your attack by using a feather to jump out of the playing field. But first, you'd have to get the feather. Then you'd have to decide whether to hold it to avoid an attack with it, or ditch it to try to get a weapon, instead. And then, even if you succeed in using it to evade the attack, there is a chance the other player could grab another shell and get you as you're being lowered back into the arena. But anyone, anytime, can avoid an attack on those 3D maze forts by dropping over the edge, and that's really cheap and annoying.

However, Mario Kart 64 can be played with three or four players, and Super Mario Kart cannot, so that's the one, and only, advatage its battle mode has.

BTW, I've also been playing Gigawing on our Dreamcast. I'm beginning to have a real fondness for these shoot-em-up type of games. I also recently finished Life Force without using any codes.


--Pepto-Dash!!