The Mario Kart franchise has never really been particularly 'difficult', per se - at least not when you compare it to something like F-Zero - but there are undoubtedly moments when it feels like the whole world is against you. Indeed, the games have occasionally been labelled as "unfair" thanks to moments of relentless bad luck. Thankfully, these incidences are rare, but goodness, it can feel completely debilitating when it happens.
Take the below short clip from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for instance, posted on X by user @ArtistRemaining. Taking place during a race on the N64 'Yoshi Valley' track, the player takes a cheeky shortcut on the third and final lap, however the speed boost from two mushrooms lying on the bridge causes the kart to careen off the side and into the void.
After being plonked back onto the course by Lakitu, the player gets knocked off not once, not twice, but three more times in quick succession, swifly losing pole position and landing all the way back down in 12th place.
The mishap reminds us of an infamous video from Mario Kart Wii in which a player gets hit by a blue shell, a red shell, a kart, another red shell, and a final kart to fall off the track. Oh, and then a Bullet Bill knocks them off again.
It's a harsh reminder that, regardless of how good you claim to be at Mario Kart, incidents like this can happen to anybody. All it takes is one false move before the rest of the pack sends you, well, packing.