[11] Initially, the blue shell was impossible to stop or dodge once fired, until Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001) and subsequent games allowed ways for the targeted racer to do so, albeit only with combinations of precise timing and specific items.

"[20] Alex Langley's The Geek Handbook names as one of Mario Kart 8's greatest frustrations, to be hit by a blue shell shortly before reaching the finish line.

[22][23] In 2017, Keith Stuart of The Guardian included the blue shell as one of the "11 greatest video game objects" in history, calling it "the most controversial item in the Mario universe.

"[24] Calling it "The Great Equalizer" for its enhancement of the elements of struggle and luck, Kotaku's Nathan Grayson considered the blue shell to be the most despised, and best, item of the Mario Kart series.

[25] Kotaku's Yannick Le Jacq considered the blue shell to be the most notable and game-changing among Mario Kart's "most notorious" items, adding that this made it "a lot more fun" to use in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U too.

[26] Maxwell McGee of GameSpot considered the ability to destroy the "dreaded" blue shells with a new item, the Super Horn, to be a particularly exciting feature of Mario Kart 8.