Well, I can understand it when I'm playing with Humans, since that's part of the challenge.
When its the CPU it just feels like the game is being an [dark hold].
The thing with the CPU is that while you are sometimes subject to lousy timing/luck, you will nowhere NEARLY be as frequently gang-banged.
As I continue to try and bite and claw my way up to that coveted 10,000 VR mark (damn my completionist instincts), I find myself more and more raging at this game's lack of any mercy invulnerability time. It's not any one item; it's the fact that when you're hit, you're a sitting duck for further punishment. It's not uncommon to take 3 or even 4 hits in a row, or for somebody to ram you off the edge while you're stunned. That really shouldn't happen. In MK64 it wasn't an issue because of the low number of human players.
Oh, and the Blooper has to either be cut or demoted to a "common" item like the Banana Peel, because it is USELESS. The only reason it's worth jack against the CPU is because it causes them to swerve. I can't tell you how frustrating it is when that thing pops up in your item box while you're in 5th or 6th place and everyone around you is getting Stars, Triple Shells, and Gold Mushrooms.
Finally, any timed item that continues to occupy your item box while in use needs to have a kill switch. At least with the Fire Flower you can use up your ammunition, but it's annoying as heck when a Tanooki tail or Bullet Bill gives out JUST AFTER the items.
Also on DeviantArt, Rumble, DLive.tv, and the Fediverse (@freespeechextremist.com and @bae.st)